Catching up..

Shortly after Christmas, Allison got her first loose tooth. Nearly 2 months later, it still wasn't coming out. Even after it was holding on by a thread, she resisted us pulling on it (and by resisted, I mean straight up freaked). Her solution was to write a cute note to the tooth fairy. This was all her idea. I helped her with spelling as I did other things. I had no idea what she was writing. Too hilarious!

She put this not under her pillow, and the tooth fairy wrote her a note back stating she had to let her mom and dad help her pull it. Several days later, she finally relented and that tooth came out on the farm!

She has lost 1 more since then, and just yesterday told me she has 2 more loose!

On that same farm visit, Jason and I took the older two on a 4 wheel ride around the farm. We had a great time with no other distractions. Hay bales were always one of my favorite things as a kid!

This guy...he's a bit of a handful. He hit a whole new level at the start of the new year. He MUST climb on everything he sees. 

He doesn't stop. Around this time we also started to become concerned about his speech. I will share more later when I get caught up in pictures. He seems to have a true delay in his speech and we are working with a speech pathologist to develop strategies to help him. He is truly our caveman! Point and grunt!!

I think she is just beautiful. We butt heads a lot, and definitely don't see eye to eye on everything (well we both agree that we want things our way!), but this girl is just amazing. So smart, beautiful (her freckles are coming in...YAY!), and is really coming out of her shell socially. She is bold and brave, and we are starting to see glimpses of who God is creating her to be...and she's awesome!

There was a time in March when we thought spring was coming (yeah right). The kids are really starting to play together more. Allison and Andrew enjoy making up games. Isaac is able to hold his own (except for talking), and they seem to be genuine friends - which, as a parent - is huge!

We didn't plan anything special for Spring Break. I was working and we knew we would take a trip to Florida later in April. So, we hit up a bowling alley and then to the T-Rex Cafe (don't think I have any pictures of that). Allison seemed to enjoy it the most. Andrew thought it was great for a while, but he soon lost focus. We had paid for two games, and forced our way through one and a half. Isaac wandered with me into the arcade and spent his time making trouble. It was fun, and a good memory to make. Don't know that we are a bowling family, though.

After Spring Break came Easter. Every year I feel like I fall short of helping my children understand Easter. I suppose that is something that many parents struggle with. It's not vital that my 1, 3, and 6 year old understand the intimate details - but it seems they know that Jesus died, was buried, and on the third day rose again for our sins. The essentials of the gospel right there. What more could I ask for!

We let the kids do a little Easter egg hunt around the house. Isaac helped me cook a pancake breakfast!

We don't do much in way of Easter baskets. I always pick up a few dollar store type toys and some candy. Isaac was thrilled with his maracas!! Allison and Andrew dyed some Easter eggs, then it was off to church.

There have been a few years that we have hung out with some friends here in town since neither of us have family here and can't always travel. We had lunch and let the dads hide some eggs in the yard. It was a beautiful day!

(Allison had decided it was too hot for leggings and had rolled them up...but they are there!)

Isaac's love for the canine continued with Tex. This kid is obsessed with dogs. Some would say that is a sign that we need one, however, as part of his obsession, he must physically lay down on every dog he sees. I don't know many dogs out there that would allow this. So, we just let him harass our friends' dogs!

Believe it or not, this was the best of the pictures I got of all three kids. It was nearly 3 and no one had napped. They were hopped up on sugar and fun and absolutely not interested in sitting still and looking at a camera!

I'll end this post with these two boys. People ask if they play well together. Until recently, they didn't play together at all. Andrew is not really a baby kind of kid. He's relatively indifferent and is happy to entertain himself most of the time. Recently, though, he has been more interested in his brother. By interested, I mean that he likes to harass him and get angry when Isaac interferes with his stuff. But there are moments when I see them together - like below. Andrew just walked up to Isaac and started hugging him when he was eating a snack. Totally unprovoked. He was happy to pose for me and I was happy to capture the moment. I think they will be friends...I think...