Easter!

While the Christian adult world celebrates the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, their children revel in a smorgasbord of chocolate and pastel sweets, get new clothes, and hunt for eggs. While we attempted to instill some recognition that this is actually a holiday about Jesus into the psyche of our children, I'm pretty sure all they've gotten out of it so far is a sugar high.

The haul

Naturally, I made the mistake of laying out the goodies on the table for them to discover upon arising.

Jammies and bed head attest to the fact that an actual breakfast and getting ready for church was far from their thoughts.

Myra wanted me to show you her Princess chocolate bunny. The ears did not last for long after this picture was taken...

Even Duncan got in on the action with some M&Ms. He loves M&Ms. Perhaps more than life itself.

New clothes were fun, too. Duncan was adorable in his suit and big boy shoes. Myra loves her purple dress and was so excited about her new shoes. Can you believe I didn't take a picture?? There are a few of the dress here.

After church, we hunted for eggs. The kids had a blast on Saturday coloring them. Logan even got creative and made a striped one. Egg hunting went quickly, but it was such a beautiful day, we decided to just hang out outside.

Duncan did what Duncan does best - climb and be adorable.

Spelling

One of the kids new favorite videos is all about spelling and sounding out words. I'm thrilled that they like an educational video, but I had no idea it would do such an effective job actually teaching them something.

Her handwriting is a work in process, but Myra wrote "Pop" without any assistance at all. It is one of the words they spell frequently on the video, so she's seen it a few times.

Logan, not to be outdone, spelled "Dad" and then demonstrated his understanding of the word by insisting that Daddy some down and see that he "drew him". Dad is also a word they spell on the movie (which is all about filling out an application form for the Best Dad of the Year Award), but Logan did sound out each letter as he wrote it.

Then he surprised me by sounding out and writing "Mom" all by himself! (The last "M" is a little small - he says it is a lower case m.) In the movie, they never spell Mom at all, and don't really talk about sounding out and spelling other words. I was pretty impressed with my little guy. Words are hard for him.

Nostalgia

Duncan hasn't needed many clothes, since Logan had quite the impressive wardrobe and he's pretty much set with hand-me-downs. Sometimes I run across a particular favorite from Logan's babyhood, and I can't believe Logan has gotten so big, and that Duncan is getting that way, too.

Here's Logan is his tractor overalls. And Daddy's crocs. Logan's love for crocs began early. He still refuses to wear anything else.

Same overalls, different baby! Duncan is a few months younger than Logan in this picture. And mesemerized by Despicable Me, therefore not even looking at the camera. That's a good thing though - once he sees it, he will not stand still. Picture taking is an impossibility with the busy little guy.

I love my boys.

(And my girl, too. She doesn't wear tractor overalls, though. More's the pity.)

Spring!

Since we've been here in Utah, I've missed a lot of things about Texas. Don't get me wrong - I like Salt Lake! The people are friendly; the mountains are amazing; we actually have seasons - but Texas, well it's just Texas! And I miss it. Especially I miss the Bluebonnets.

All winter I would look forward to the appearance of these sweet blue blossoms. It meant Spring was here; Easter was coming; we could wear shorts again! This year, the inevitable Bluebonnet pictures started to appear on all my Texas friends' Facebook walls. Oh, my heart broke! It was still snowing here! Everything looked dead, and I couldn't even imagine Spring. I was so homesick.

And then these appeared. In. My. Yard! Tulips!! My favorite flower in the whole world - growing wild at the side of my house!!

Everything is blooming! Even the bushes! Everywhere you look is a riot of color - daffodils and hyacinth growing on the side of the road - it's amazing!!

Myra loves them all. She brought me this one. Isn't it lovely, with those deep red and cream petals and the bright yellow heart?

Side note: I know this poor blog has been sadly neglected. Is anyone still reading this? Life has been a little on the crazy side lately, but I think we're working toward a new routine. I'll try to keep you posted.

Duncan is 1!!

I cannot believe how quickly this year has flown by, but it has and my wee mannie is one year old.

He was so small...

But he's gotten so big and learned to do so many things!!

Like his brother before him, he is a very physical child. He climbed before he learned to crawl. He is saying a few words - Mama, Dada and No being the most often used although we occasionally hear yeah and fishie. He loves to eat and insists on drinking from a sippy cup - forget the bottle!

His favorite sippy cups have straws, so we got him a couple for his birthday. Logan thought he would like this pink one, and he does!

He loves books, particularly interactive ones with flaps to turn or buttons to push.

He also is enamored of anything with wheels, particularly tractors and trains. If it has wheels and buttons to push, well that is just a bonus!

He's a very musical fellow and his favorite "toy" is the piano downstairs.

He has decidedly un-toddlerlike taste in movies. His all time favorite is Despicable Me, but he also really enjoys The Incredibles and Toy Story. He won't watch "baby" movies like Baby Einstein or Elmo. He despises Hello Kitty and cries whenever Myra asks to watch it. We're on the same wavelength with that one...

For his birthday, I made Minion cupcakes, which were a hit with all the kids (and the adults, too if we're being forthright).

They were yummy.

Walking!!!

Duncan took his first steps on Thanksgiving. He's been slowly working up to real walking with a few steps here and there, but crawling is definitely faster! Today we caught his progress on video!

How cute is that kid???

Snow, and a big day for Logan.

We had our first "real" Utah snowfall last night.

The backyard looked kinda like a Christmas card. We've had a few small snowfalls that didn't stick, so Logan has been asking me on a near daily basis when it was going to snow.

He was pretty stoked.

Myra was excited, too. They sat at the front window and just watched it fall. I suggested that they have some breakfast and get dressed so that we could play in it...

Snow is good to eat.

and it crunches when you walk on it. Can you see how deep it is? The weatherman said we'd only get 3 inches, but it is at least 6.

Duncan didn't know what to think,

but Daddy convinced him to give it a try.

Even the ducks at the Jordan River temple were enjoying the chill.
After we played in the snow a while, it was time for a haircut for Logan. That is a pretty traumatic event for him, so after surviving his haircut, we went to Ikea, and got Logan...

a big boy bed!!! He chose the frame and the bedding. He's so excited to have a new bed that I'm pretty sure he's forgotten all about the haircut, but doesn't he look cute?

It doesn't hurt that the house still looks like this. The kids are fascinated by the snow.