Three!

I can't seem to come up with anything deep, or even comprehensive, about my baby girl on the event of her birthday, so here's my favorite picture the very talented Andrea Martin took of her earlier this week:

Easter 2014

What a fun and busy day! We all got up around 6 and opened baskets and had a small egg hunt in the living room. Hudson got some baby yogurt drops in his eggs and Henri got her favorite gummy snacks. Then a mad dash to finish up all the cooking I needed to do for lunch, getting everyone dressed in their coordinating outfits (this year it was shades of pink, grey, and navy blue), and off to church for our annual breakfast. Lots of visitors and it was LOUD! Really fun. Henri went to children's church and the teens put on a special puppet show for the kids which she really enjoyed. I try to keep the kids with me in service for the first half which is the songs and readings, but Hudson decided to sing during prayer so I took him to nursery. He actually lasted until final prayer so I got to hear the sermon! (He started to scream when his snacks ran out, haha). Then the church puts on an egg hunt for all the kids. This year Henri learned there was real candy inside the eggs (last year she just played with the eggs) and she was thrilled. I told her she couldn't have any, but then she handed me a chocolate and said I could have one while she had one, so I figured it wouldn't hurt :) Lunch was our traditional meal at our friends, the Allen's, and like always there was a ton of amazing food and great fellowship. We changed up the routine a bit by driving to Arnold Arboretum for our post meal walk. Then it was time to head home....with a detour to the auto parts store for a battery as ours was completely dead. It's nice to have a car that starts when you turn the key! Anyway, now watching the marathon on tv and imagining that I could do that some day while acknowledging the fact that I can't run a foot. We'll probably settle for a walk to the park later on :)

Henri checking out her etch a sketch, Hudson examining his puffs

His first cuppie! He figured out Henri's straw cup and loves water, so he got his own. He's very excited

Clearly she had a good time egg hunting

Showing off more candy

My boys

Oh boy, more candy

Gorgeous day for a walk

Still a little early for much to have bloomed. Probably gorgeous in a week or two

All snuggled in and refusing to nap

The walking gang

Hen with her friend MJ. Clearly lack of a nap is starting to show.

All the forsythia was in bloom

Us :)

HOT weather

OK, I wasn't as big of a fan of this winter as I have been of others past, but I never wished it to be summer. Hate the heat. Somehow we skipped straight from frigid to sweltering with Henri begging to get out the water table to cool off. Fortunately the weather app assures me we're headed back to manageable temps. April is one crazy month! It was in the 80's the year Henri was born....Anyway, we've been spending as much time as possible outside, and it's amazing the difference it's been making in the kids (and my) disposition. Aiding in the unlimited outdoors time is the fact that I have finally finally fiiiinnnnnaaallllyyyy finished studying. I took my boards last Wednesday and shockingly passed. I'm a midwife. The next few weeks are going to be crammed with some really fun stuff, so hopefully I remember to pull out the camera to capture some of it. :) And for some reason these pictures loaded all out of order. Sorry.

Playing mail carrier, a favorite game. Hudson is hoping for a letter (Lego's in this case)

Hard to see, but we decorated our front door for Easter today

The lone daffodil that survived the groundhog attack. 

Last week we met up with Papa, Anna, and a friend for some beach time

My favorite men

Papa brought a kite and Henri was mesmerized

Some day we'll get a decent family photo

Park play

Hahaha, I just love these pictures from him trying spinach. Had to post another one :)

How Hudson likes to travel in the stroller; with his feet propped up on the tray

He loves to be outside. Don't have him in your arms when you open the door to check the mail. He thinks you're taking him outside to play and the fit that ensues is not pretty

Henri's really loving the cargo netting this year

Pretending to be a spider

In the space of a few hours today all of the leaves popped out. I've never seen it change so fast.

Spinach is yuck

I was making dinner tonight and Hudson was insistent that he get a leaf of spinach. I handed him one, he took one bite, and then went into a rage of ripping it up and throwing it everywhere. Safe to say this was not an instant hit :) We'll keep trying.

Spring has sprung!

We have been soaking up every possible second outside. The double stroller is proving it is worth it's weight in, well, itself. Seriously, this stroller weighs about 3 tons empty. I'm banking on it to get me in shape for the summer. Anyway, we are emerging from hibernation. The kids are both having huge leaps in their development. Henri is becoming very physical. The difference in what she'll try (and succeed at) on the playground from last fall to now just shocks me. She's still timid, but she's climbing the cargo netting to the top, spinning on the twisty seats, gleefully calling everyone at the park "friend" and joining in their play. And a development I'm not thrilled about is that the "why" stage has hit. Hard. Expected, but still suuuupperrr tedious. And she potty trained. In a day. I suppose there's a chance it won't stick, but last Wednesday we put on undies and we haven't looked back. I knew this already, but my mom really is always right. She said to wait till Hen turned 3. I (almost) did, and voila, no stress :)
Hudson is starting to follow instructions. He comes when called (and if he doesn't, Henri pretends to run away and Hudson chases her so I use her a lot to herd him), shoots both arms in the air when you ask him how big he is, waves "hi" and "bye", and gives high-5's. Of course he thinks any attempt to make him use sign language is hysterical so the "please", "more", and "thank you" is lacking. He's pretty much eating whatever we're having and has a very accurate internal clock. 5:15 on the dot he's melting down if he's not in his high chair getting at least a snack. Avocados were a hit (Hen still hates them) and Cheerios are his love language. He's still not up on knees but I can't imagine how he could move any faster than he does now. And he went to nursery by himself for the first time ever. There were some tears when I picked him up but I think he did just fine (and he'd suckered the workers in to giving him a whole container of cheerios to eat...).

It's going to be a rough summer. He just wants to get in to everything 

First line of 2014! Slept soooo well that night :)

My flowers are up! Well, they were until the groundhog snipped them off :(

Phone picts; we went for a "hike" on Saturday

Found this huge and awesome playground close to home

Hens version of hiking

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