More April Pictures

Letting our caterpillars-turned-butterflies go!

He's cute.  He's alive.  There's a connection...

Red Sox/Orioles game at Camden Yards

Oh the trauma of watching beloved stuffed animals get washed...

And coming out clean on the other side….phew!

Curly

"My daddy says my hair is too long and too curly…."

"….what does he know anyway?"

Easter

With Gramps arriving after our visit with the
Caslers, we had a quiet Easter weekend at home.
Marcus figured out hunting for eggs very
quickly and actually helped his older
brothers find some of their more difficult eggs
hidden at Yia via and Papa's house! :)

Then Easter Sunday we joined some friends
for a very cold and windy sunrise
service at the beach.

Before France

In April, our good friends came for visit before they leave for France for a whole year.  Even though we didn't leave the house, it was a fun weekend sharing our new home with them.   Now if only we can figure out a way to visit them across the ocean in their 'new' home next year!

Say, "cheese"

When a camera is brought out, these are the faces I get from my youngest:

Once again….

...I find myself with months passing and no blog posts getting done.

I have taken pictures.  I have made a few posts on Facebook.  I have shared pictures and events on Instagram, but somehow getting the pictures off of the phone or camera and onto this blog just hasn't happened.  I guess this is why blogging is becoming obsolete.  But I want to blog and I need to blog so that I have these pictures and memories preserved for me!  So, please forgive me if you have seen some of these pictures or heard some of these stories on another social venue….


Here are some of my favorite pictures of Marcus from March:

After fighting sleep the whole way through the store, Marcus lost the battle while I was distracted at the check out!

Boots and a bike.  We love Spring!!

Eli offered this comforting hug during one of Marcus' many tantrums.

Ready to move!

This Saturday we are planning on moving into our new home!!  We just found out this afternoon that we have passed our final inspection and are waiting for our occupancy permit.  Cannot wait to be living there and to have the move behind us.

Every Day

We are in a coloring phase at our house--which means, that we use a lot of crayons, colored pencils, scrap paper and tape.  And it also means that I pick these same items up and put them back in their container about 100 times per day.

With all of these original 'works of art' casually lying around the house, it is pretty sad that most days I notice the crayons on the floor more than the masterpieces...

Death Valley

This past weekend we ventured up to the Nelson's for a visit.  They had plenty of kids, plenty of snow and plenty of hills... so we went sledding!  Not something we get to do much of around our area.  It was a lot of fun, but climbing the hill was more work than I remembered!

Howdy partna'

Asparagus, otherwise known as….

Last night at dinner I served roasted asparagus (which is actually a favorite with everyone).  At one point Eli reported that he was almost done with his 'asparagus', but we couldn't make out exactly what he called it.  After a few repetitions in order for us to hear how he was saying it, he got annoyed and decided to sound out each syllable for his slow parents.

He yelled, "SPA-GARE-A-GRIS!"

The Perfect Tree

We went hunting yesterday….

for the perfect tree….

 It was a group effort…. (by the way, democracy in tree picking is WAY overrated!)

We literally killed it…..

….and it's ours!
Merry Christmas!!

3 Score and Zero Years

Last night we celebrated my father's birthday.  The kids were not invited but somehow 

we managed to have a quiet, relaxing, enjoyable dinner without them.

Crushy

These are some recent Eli expressions….plenty of personality here!

In our family we have some words that I call 'bathroom' words. They are not to be used during every day family life and certainly not at the table, or in the car, or especially in polite company.  (Ladies, if you are having trouble thinking what words I might be referring to, just ask a male of any age that is nearby.  I feel certain they can name 4-5 of them without batting an eye.)  During the course of a day I may overhear these words and I have to remind the boys that I don't want to hear them because they are bathroom words.

Well, this week after a bath the older boys were huddled in their towels just outside the tub, I was busy cleaning up the tub and getting Marcus dried off when I heard Eli say a 'bathroom' word.  I automatically said, "Eli, I don't want to hear those words."  There was silence and then under his breath he said, "We're in the bathroom."
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A fews weeks ago when the Red Sox were playing Detroit, Steve overheard Eli offer the Tigers a trade.

Eli: "Hey Tigers!  How about we take Verlander and you take Dempster 'cuz he's crushy (which means lousy in Miller-speak)."

Big Boy!

This past week, Marcus has decided to start talking.  Still no 'mama' :(  but he has started to say truck-"rrrrrruck" and ball and a very clear "uh oh".  He is also most insistent to sit at the table with his brothers and feed himself with his own bowl, spoon and fork.