This Is Why We Love Spring.

 It means we get to see the sun a little more often and we go to the

PARK!!!

   

 It also means that the spring flowers begin to bloom which means there are 

TULIPS!!!!

 

And that is why we love 

SPRING!

(including many other reasons by the way.)

A Little Bit of Maia

Maia is just one who loves to sing and dance.  Its an all-the-time occurance for her.  For instance, the other day we were going to go to the zoo for the morning and she says " I am going to sing the elephant song."  Her song consisted of a little bit of the elephants, but soon became about all that was around her including Paxton and I.  She then sang it to the elephants at the zoo.

She also has been really interested in flowers.  We will go on a walk and she is constantly asking me what kind of flowers are those mama.  So I have been challenged in knowing my spring flowers.  The other day we were walking to Laurelhurst Park and she was noticing the Rhododendrons she said "mama look the rhodedondons" and then we kept walking and she said "Look the camellias they are the circle ones."  I was pretty impressed with how she could differentiate between the two since they both grow on trees/bush and can be similar in color. 

Here is a little taste of Maia's sing and dance.

A little bit of Paxton

Hello Blog!  It has been a long time. So much has changed with the little guys and it happens so fast, I can barely keep up.  Paxton especially has just been changing so fast all of a sudden it feels or maybe I have not been able to savor every moment since I am busy with two kids.  However, in the last month he has gone from moving a little backwards and being really frustrated to army crawling everywhere and sitting on his own and now is pulling himself up to stand with our furniture.  He loves playing games with us like peek-a-boo, so big, and row row row your boat.  Sometimes I will be holding him and look over to see him putting his blanket on his face hoping I would realize he wants to play peek-a-boo.  Maia has started to have him chase her around the house by crawling and saying "come on Paxton or where did Maia go?" 

 So this is a little snippet of Paxton doing an army crawl to our backdoor and then playing a game with me. 

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Farm Fresh Apples

We all got to go to out to the farm a couple weeks ago.  We had a nice time visiting Joanne and then we picked some apples and pears to take home to make delicious things out of them.  At least at our house there has been a lot of apple butter, applesauce and even an apple crisp that has come from those apples.  Its been fun.  These kiddos also did a great job at helping retrieve some fruits too.  They are mighty good farm hands. 

 

Traveling kids

Who needs a mama, when they can do it themselves.  Well maybe not all by themselves, but Maia sure was having a blast pushing her little brother around in the stroller at 9:30pm while waiting for our delayed flight.  This late at night, you do what makes them happy. 

Dedication

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This past Sunday we were given the opportunity to dedicate Maia and Paxton at church.  It was a special time to be able to pray for our kids and to be challenged to raise these kids the best we can and teach them about Jesus in the way we live.  What a special opportunity!  

Maia all dolled up in her pretty dress.

Some of the other families who were dedicating their kiddos.

Introductions

Prayer time

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween our kiddos turned into a monkey and a little chicky.  It was a fun year to have a two year old getting into the dressing up and trick or treating.  We had a lot of fun going around our neighborhood.  Maia loved that she got to pick out candy from a bowl and put it in her bag.  This sort of thing has been a common thing for her.  That is, carrying around bags with books, puzzle pieces, blocks, mainly anything small enough to put in a bag and tote it around the house.  So trick or treating was a very exciting thing.  I don't know how much she realized it was candy she was getting, but just the fact of getting something was fun for her.  We as parents enjoyed getting to meet some of our neighbors and eating the candy ;).  One of our neighbors had some benches by a fire in their back yard for trick or treaters to come and relax.  That was our favorite, just a chance to meet neighbors, sip apple cider and enjoy a warm fire.  

Our monkey and little chicky

The little monkey showing off her tail.

I (Jeanette) had a blast carving these pumpkins, Maia was not too into the carving part, but loved the pumpkin faces.  She often looks out our window to make sure they are still around.

Thats a happy little chicky!

Pumpkin Patch

I Love Fall and all that is in it.  The air just seems clear and fresh with its crispness.  The the leaves so vibrant in their orange, red and yellows as they contrast against the clear blue sky.  And of course there is the pumpkin patches, this has become one of our family traditions.  We've gone twice now to the one on Sauvie Island and found the trick is to go on the week day.  So nice and low key!  So thats what we did.  And we had fun! We  picked out a pumpkin, rode on a hayride and petted some animals.  Oh yeah, and Maia climbed on a hay pyramid.  I think that was the highlight for sure.  Here a just a few of pictures to show you how much fun we had!!!