Easter Weekend

Have you ever had one of those rare, wonderful days when everything in the world seemed right and you just couldn't believe how lucky you are? That's how this entire weekend felt for me. I just kept looking at Rob and Viv and our friends (and thinking of those of you who weren't present) and feeling overwhelmed with gratitude, love, and happiness.

Before the weekend even began I was in a great mood because of a new cheery tablecloth on our table (thank you Target!) which was topped with some amazing tulips (thank you Trader Joe's).


Saturday morning we started our Easter weekend with a going-away party for some friends of ours (the Mosinskis) who are, unfortunately for us, headed to Seattle.

Apparently the Easter bunny made it to this party as well because there were plenty of eggs for the little ones to hunt. It didn't take Viv long to catch on to hunting for eggs. Here she is running after the first egg she'd spotted:


But her friend Carly wanted it as well:


Sensing the competition, Viv quickly swooped in and swiped the egg:


After a short negotiation process in which we tried to teach Viv the art of sharing,


she claimed her first Easter egg (Carly's daddy wouldn't let Carly take the egg)



and she was off to find more.






After I had had my fill of this euphoria, Rob wanted a turn:



Once Viv had worn both of us out, she sat down to take inventory of the goods:


Completely satisfied, she sat back and took in this new-found bliss referred to as an Easter egg hunt.


We all came home and took a two hour nap to recover!


Sunday was equally wonderful. The speaker/teachers at church did a fabulous job of helping us all focus on the real spirit of Easter. It was a treat to dedicate three full hours to pondering all that our Savior has done for us and to celebrating His life and resurrection.


After church we took a few photos of all of us in our Easter attire:



That night we went to our friends', the Davies, house where they had prepared the most amazing dinner I think I have ever eaten. The dinner consisted of 6 courses, each symbolic of something related to Christ and/or His resurrection.

Course One


Unfortunately, I enjoyed Course Two far TOO much and neglected to get a photo.

Course Three


Course Four


Course Five


Course Six


I'm so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ who has made forgiveness, change, and eternal life possible for all of us through his loving, selfless, courageous sacrifice. And here's to the best Easter ever and the two people (Rob and Viv) who made it so. I'm looking forward to many more to come!

Peeping Viv

Vivi has found a new pastime! Each time we lay her on the bed to change her, she crawls right over the window, stands up and starts beating on the glass and talking to the passersby outside. The demand for this activity is, as yet, unsatiable. Usually we have to slowly remove her from the window while distracting her with an extra-animated version of "If You're Happy and You Know It" to avoid a meltdown.








Here's the view from outside:

Baby Modeling

My friend Melissa is the most creative person I know. She is currently 7 and 1/2 months pregnant and, because she didn't have room in her one bedroom for a full-size crib, she and her husband MADE their own smaller version (that's right--from scratch!). She entered the crib into a do-it-yourself contest and made it to the top twenty (they announce the winner next week). Once she became a finalist, they asked her to send in more pictures of her project. She wanted a baby girl model for her photos and, as her baby is not born yet, she asked if Viv would come for a photo shoot. Here are the pictures she took of Viv in the fabulous crib:






Isn't that crib amazing? Melissa painted the delicate white design on the side of the crib herself.

As I know many of my friends are crafty people looking for great project ideas, I will go ahead and recommend that you all check out Melissa's blog. She posts many of her projects and includes tutorials for most of them so you can make it yourself if you want.

Here is a purse she recently made which I LOVE:

(Melissa, I hope you don't mind me pirating off of your blog!)

So here's to Melissa, her creativity, resourcefulness, and fabulous taste in baby models!

Ode to A CHRISTMAS STORY

Narrator: Aunt Clara had for years labored under the delusion that I was not only perpetually 4 years old, but also a girl.
Dad: He looks like a deranged Easter Bunny.
Mother: He does not!
Dad: He does too, he looks like a pink nightmare!


OUR VERSION



Natalee: Look at these darling Easter Bunny ears I picked up in the dollar bins at Target!
Rob says: (trying to appear excited) Ya, those are great.
Rob thinks: Curse those Target dollar bins!
Viv: [Silently devising a plan to maximize the attention these bunny ears could get her]






OTHER GREAT QUOTES FROM "A CHRISTMAS STORY"

Ralphie as an Adult (narrating): Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap. Though my personal preference was for Lux, I found that Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor - heavy, but with a touch of mellow smoothness. Life Buoy, on the other hand... YECCHH!

Ralphie as an Adult (narrating): In the heat of battle my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan.

Mother: All right. Now, are you ready to tell me where you heard that word?
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master. But, I chickened out and said the first name that came to mind.
Ralphie: Schwartz!

Ralphie as Adult (narrating): Some men are Baptists, others Catholics; my father was an Oldsmobile man.

Flick: Are you kidding? Stick my tongue to that stupid pole? That's dumb!
Schwartz: That's 'cause you know it'll stick!
Flick: You're full of it!
Schwartz: Oh yeah?
Flick: Yeah!
Schwartz: Well I double-DOG-dare ya!
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] NOW it was serious. A double-dog-dare. What else was there but a "triple dare ya"? And then, the coup de grace of all dares, the sinister triple-dog-dare.
Schwartz: I TRIPLE-dog-dare ya!
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Schwartz created a slight breach of etiquette by skipping the triple dare and going right for the throat!


Almost makes me look forward to winter again! ;)

Why Is No One Sharing Their Favorite Song(s)??

Favorite Song(s)???

I can't decide what my FAVORITE is, but here are some of my favorites....

Nelly Furtado "Try"


Peter Breinholt "What About"


Sheryl Crow "Difficult Kind"


Oasis "Live Forever"


Gin Blossoms "Allison Road"


The Corrs/Bono "Stars Go Blue"


Bill Withers "Lovely Day"

Foo Fighters "Everlong"

Alanis Morissette "Everything"


Amos Lee "Colors"

I also love most everything by Guster, Gwen Stefani, Kenny Chesney and Barenaked Ladies.

Now it's your turn! I'm dying to know everyone else's favorites.

Growing Up Too Fast!

Rob and I are unequivocally convinced that Vivian considers herself an adult. For instance, she is an active "participant" in adult conversation, she lets out a burst of frustration when she feels she is not given equal time in a conversation, she pretends to "get" our humor (she laughs when we laugh), she wants to do everything without help, she prefers food from silverware rather than baby spoons,if there is an adult cup within eyeshot she will not use a sippy, if there is adult food in sight, she refuses her pureed bananas, etc., etc., etc.


However, my favorite manifestation of Viv's delusions of adulthood is her desire to make sure all is fair when it comes to food.

For the first few months of my trying to "introduce her to solids", Viv was unyielding, eating only a bite here or there and then snubbing. Then, upon my offering her her own spoon as a peace treaty (just to hold, not to feed herself), she initially consented to eating very lady-like portions. However, this only lasted a few weeks.

This is how things go now:
I give Viv a bite of baby food which she graciously takes so long as she has spoon or finger food in hand.



She takes a few more bites without any trouble, but manages to spill enough of the baby food onto her tray to make a huge mess. She proceeds to roll her hand, spoon, or finger food around in this mess until it it thoroughly coated. Then she sticks out the mess in my direction, fully expecting me to eat up. She will not eat another bite nor put her hand down until I do.



Needless to say, I have swallowed more than my fair share of nasty gunk in the last few weeks.
Here are a few more shots of our very grown up little girl eating away:




I'm honestly unsure what I did for entertainment before she came along.