April Snapshots, Part Two

And continuing with April (must catch up before baby!)....

My sister came out for our dear friend's gorgeous wedding. We enjoyed visiting with her and celebrating our friend's wedding. It was held in the rose garden at the Nixon Library--so pretty, all the bushes were in full bloom! And followed by a fancy dinner in the Nixon Library banquet hall.

Dustin got to meet baby Daisy for the first time

Picture does not do justice to how beautiful everything looked

No visit is complete for Rand and Ella without some time at the beach.

Elizabeth and I left all the kids at the beach with grandparents and headed up to Ventura to visit our grandma and introduce Daisy. She was well adored by all at the retirement home; Grandma enjoyed showing off her beautiful great grand daughter.

Tippy, our injured chick, got to spend a few weeks as our only chick, well-pampered by my fourth graders. Happily, someone from craigslist was willing to give Tippy a home. Elijah would like Dustin to build a chicken co-op so that we are able to keep chickens.

Tippy's bower

 

Magnets at preschool

Train tracks!

Buildng rockets with pattern blocks

Heritage Park is five minutes from my OB's and is an island park based around "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." The boys love it, so we've been trying to go after my appointments.

Apparently, the snack I packed was too small, so
Josiah decided to start eating the stale bread we'd
brought for the ducks

One afternoon they worked on making sea turtle habitats:

Their structures are becoming steadily more elaborate and detailed.

April was also the month of processing the big earthquake we had right at the end of March. The epicenter was only a couple of miles away, so the earthquake itself was pretty jarring and we had days of aftershocks. Elijah handled it pretty smoothly and now can confidently tell you our earthquake procedures. Josiah had a much rougher time and was afraid every little house creak was the start of an earthquake. No more reading in bed alone at naptime (one or two earthquakes did happen then) and room time was relocated to the living room, so he could be close to the group. He still (in June) regularly talks about what to do in case of an earthquake.

First Day of Summer

We ended the day by watching the stars come out, complete with Josiah's running commentary on it all.

Saying good-bye

Elijah and my Grandma, 2010

We said good-bye to my Grandma this week. We miss her, but are thankful for the hope of heaven.

April Snapshots, Part One

April was a full month--time with family, a wedding, Easter, a trip to Hawaii, Josiah's birthday, and, of course, normal life!

Building a suit of armor out of construction paper and duct tape

Elijah spent lots of time with his Legos

Dustin worked hard on getting the garden built.

Lots of dirt and gravel to move

He even had some helpers!

Dustin's parents came down for the weekend; we had a lovely time visiting with them.

The place where I went to get baby girl's nursery bedding (hurray for Craigslist) was close to the beach, so we enjoyed a morning there.

When Josiah saw the caps I gathered for the beach,
he immediately wanted to switch his for his
beloved knit hat.

Elijah enjoyed running in and out of the waves

Josiah still strongly prefers to play in the sand and have people
bring him buckets of water

Building the castle wall

Making a satelite

Reading in our freshly potted front patio

Josiah set up this jousting tournament

One of J's favorite trays at preschool: dot paint letters

Playing with their second cousin

Lego play!

And more Lego time

Lego Penguin

In April, Josiah made the overnight switch from drinking a gallon of milk a week to not drinking it all.

Both boys continue to sit with us during church (although both are happy to come with me when I help in "Josiah's" class twice a month); the whispered threat is that if they are too wiggly/distruptive then they will be sent to Sunday School class where they can play, talk, eat snack, hear a Bible story.

Major themes are: castles, space shuttles, and Revolutionary War.

Josiah told me, "I want to study animals," and followed up by suggesting we visit the zoo so that he could watch the animals. He has since been reading Ranger Rick, Jr. daily and his new favorite tv show is Wild Kratts.

He's 3!

Josiah turned three at the end of April! While he definitely loved being two, he has happily switched to doing everything in multiples of three (3 kisses, 3 strawberries, 3 stories, etc.) and is quite bothered when he is only allowed 2 pancakes or 2 stories.

His birthday fell on a fourth grade day (and the day after Dustin and I got back from Hawaii); my mom made him delicious chocolate cupcakes to share with his beloved friends.

My mother's helper comes Mondays in the late afternoon, so Josiah was delighted to play with dear Ph. And then we had a family dinner in the evening (spaghetti, cucumbers, and strawberries).

Presents were opened.

Legos were built while I cleaned up from dinner and got ready for dessert.

He had a sea turtle cake, since I turned down his request for a British Revolutionary War cake. Unfortunately, I did it all wrong--apparently it was supposed to have chocolate frosting (it was a chocolate cake, though) and the sea turtle was supposed to be inside the cake so that he could be swimming through the water. I think it turned out cute.

We think he's a pretty special three year old!