Virginia's Tulips

I just LOVE tulips.  All flowers make me happy, but tulips really make me happy.  Some day, I'll get around to planting some tulips at our house, but in the meantime, I've been enjoying Grandma Virginia's tulips next door.  

I thought it would be fun to get some pictures of my beautiful girls with those beautiful tulips. . .

The girls, however, didn't really care for my "fun" idea. . .

 Not sure if the sun was too bright or they were sad that Virginia wasn't home, but they pretty much cried the whole time I was trying to take their pictures.

 That's when my sweet boy flashed his pearly whites and said, "Mommy, I'll smile for your picture!"  Love this boy so much.

Some Jayhawk Autographs!

The boys were pretty pumped when Russ told them that KU Seniors Elijah Johnson, Kevin Young, and especially Travis Releford would be signing autographs today.

We got there early and there was already quite a line to meet the ball players.  The boys couldn't wait!  Before we left, I told them to find something for the players to sign.  They each brought their favorite basketball.

 Oliver's favorite ball has been well-used.  Maybe someday he'll be able to play with a ball that doesn't have holes in it and actually holds air.

 By the time the players arrived, the line stretched a couple of blocks long.  This picture shows the first part of the line, and the arrow is pointing to our "place."

 The boys became less and less patient as time went on, and Violet made lots of friends, as you can imagine . . .

 . . . until finally we could see the players through the window!

 First up, Kevin Young. . .

 . . . who really gave Oliver a hard time when he kept taking back his signed picture.  He was such a fun guy to watch, always smiling and having fun.

 And yes, he did sign Oliver's Jayhawk basketball. He said, "This one's got a lot of miles on it!"

Next up, Elijah Johnson. . .

 . . . and then the favorite, RELEFORD!

 Oliver talks ABOUT Releford all of the time, but when he actually had the chance to talk TO him, he got all nervous and shy and almost forgot to even say "Thank You."

 There's one happy boy!

 As you can see, the girls were equally impressed with getting to meet the KU players.

In addition to their balls, they received really cool autographed pictures.  These will be hanging on their walls in no time, I'm sure.

 We're really going to miss these seniors next year!

7 Months!

Here we are at April 20, which means my Sweet Evelyn is 7 months old!

It has been another wonderful month with our chubby little princess.  She is tipping the scales at 19 lbs 3 oz, still fluffy and squishy as ever.  She has started getting up on all fours and thinking about crawling.  I'm in no hurry for this!  She still hasn't popped any teeth through (which I'm thankful for!), and got her first taste of baby cereal this past week.  She continues to be a fabulous nursing baby, and "saves up" for me on the days I work.  It melts my heart when I walk in the door after a long day at work and see her face light up and her little legs kick in excitement.  (If I don't immediately come feed her, however, that excitement quickly fades . . .) I'm still trying to soak up as much of this sweet baby as I possibly can, because I know all-too-well how quickly this time passes.  She is just such a blessing, and I'm so very thankful that I get to be her mommy!

A Little Spin Art

Last weekend Wellsville hosted their annual Car Show downtown, and we braved the chilly spring weather to check out some of the super cool cars!

The boys even got a chance to "drive" one of them!

 While we were walking down Main Street, we came upon a couple doing some "spin art" and of course, the kids wanted to make their own creations.

 Here are their finished masterpieces (standing in front of Daddy's office, where he had to go back to work -- so glad Tax Season is over now!).

The next day, they decided they'd like to try to make some spin art at home, and I had heard how this could be accomplished using a salad spinner, so I googled it and we went to work. . . First put the paint on the paper plate.

 Then place the plate in the salad spinner and SPIN SPIN SPIN!!

 So they didn't turn out quite as cool as the ones made with the fancy machine, but the boys sure had fun with it.  Here is all of their finished artwork!

Look Out Nashville!

For Violet's 3rd birthday last September, Grandma Jo got her this little "Backyardigans" guitar.  Who would have ever guessed that this guitar would become such a popular toy??

In the 7 months since her birthday, Violet not only plays her guitar (all waking hours), she makes nearly everything else into a guitar as well. . . dolls, spoons, shoes, pencils, you-name-it, they ALL become a guitar to be played by Miss Vi.  It is so cute watching her "strum" away on everything she can get her hands on.  So I had been talking with my mom about trying to get Violet a guitar with actual strings for her to strum on, and Grandma Cheryl wasted no time finding this brand-new soprano ukulele as an "I love you" gift for our sweet girl.

Grandma Cheryl plays the baritone ukulele and brought her instrument along with Violet's new one so they could duet a bit.  You couldn't wipe the smile off of Violet's face.

I love how hard she seems to be concentrating on her chords.

As much as this girl LOVES the guitar, I think she could seriously have a future playing. . . Now if only we could get Calvin going on the drums, Evelyn the keyboard, and Oliver of course could lead us in vocals.  I see some serious jam-sessions in our future!

Pure JOY.

The Sweetest Tax Deductions

Happy Tax Day!!  April 15 (or 16th or 17th, depending on the year) is one of my favorite days because this is the day I get my husband back!  When Calvin was a baby, Kyle & Sara gave us an adorable little "Tax Deduction" onesie.  If you remember, Calvin is my Christmas Eve baby, but was actually due on New Year's Eve.  While some people are excited to possibly have the New Year's Baby, my CPA husband was much more concerned that the baby be born before the end of the year so we could claim him for all 365 days!  I've searched through pictures and somehow didn't have one of our original tax deduction in his onesie.  But here is the picture of Calvin and Daddy on Tax Day 2006 anyway.

And here are Daddy and Oliver on Tax Day 2008. . .

And Daddy and Violet on Tax Day 2010. . .

And our final sweet Tax Deduction on Tax Day 2013!

Here's to having our best refund ever!  Love these sweet little tax deductions!

Heart Walk 2013 Coming Soon!

The Heart Walk 2013 is coming up on May 18, and we'd love to have everyone's support as we participate in this event for the 5th year!  Remember that all money raised by the CHD Families team will stay in the Midwest and be used exclusively for CHD research!  Here are a couple of pictures of our fun from last year . . .

(Look for the stroller in the lower right-hand corner)

This year's t-shirt looks to be pretty cool!

If you'd like to join us for the walk, we'd love to have you!  It is always so fun with the children's activities and plenty of booths to peruse.  Mark your calendars for May 18!  Click here to visit our Heart Walk page. Thanks in advance for your support!