we are family.

We celebrated Easter with our first annual family Easter egg hunt. All of the grandkids are officially mobile now, and it was so much fun to watch them toddle (and some of them run) to fill their baskets with those bright plastic treasures.

this was Jude's signature egg-hunting move: 

grab the egg & open immediately!

our super-cute egg hunting competition, little H

but I think cousin R was unofficially the egg-hunting champ

and little B started walking just in time

to join in the egg-hunting fun

Jude was fast on his feet, but I did manage to snap a few priceless pics amidst all the action...

And, now for the pics of our finished garden! You may remember our "before" picture...

and now, our after pic...

and things are really starting to grow!

and when was the last time you blew on one of these?

it was fun to watch Jude experience the magic of blowing on one of these,

but he had his own, quicker method of making the little fuzzy things fly...

he is ALL boy : )

no way.

I put off posting for a few days because I didn't feel like I had anything exciting enough to share. I mean, everyday I am mesmerized by the activities of my beloved toddler, but I know that I am bias : ). Well, lately he has been saying the kind of things that raise the question, "Where did he hear that??" For example, yesterday his favorite phrase was "no way."

I have no idea exactly when or where he picked it up, but he no longer says plain old "no." EVERYTHING is "no way!"

Me: "Jude, do you like these flip flops? Do you want to wear them?"
J: "No way!"

Me: "Jude, do you want to go swing?"
J: "No way!"

Me: "Jude, tomorrow you get to hang out with Daddy! Won't that be fun?"
J: "No way!"
Me: "Jude, that's not very nice--that would hurt Daddy's feelings."
J: "Waaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!" He started sobbing so hard I had to explain that it was really okay, it's just not nice to say 'no way' to some things...we have the most sensitive child on the planet.


Today, the word was "ghost." Richard had some fun with this one. We were all up pretty early this morning and Jude walked into our closet, walked right out, shut the door and exclaimed, "Ghost!!"

He did it again when I was in the bathroom. I have to use our downstairs bathroom with the lights off during the day. It is directly across from our front door, and Jude always ends up flinging the door open just to make sure I'm still there, so I keep the light off to avoid a peep show for the FedEx guy or whoever happens to be at our front door. Today he walked into the dark bathroom, closed the door behind him and whispered "ghost." Richard had fun convincing me that Jude was seeing things in our house. This evening as Jude shut the pantry door and exclaimed, "Ghost!" I realized he wasn't saying "ghost" at all--he was saying "Closed!"

I hope I never forget these things. Lately my favorite thing is when Jude reaches his arms up to me and says, "Carry you, puhweeeeease?" which he picked up from the many times I've asked, "do you want me to carry you?" He also calls the Zoo "You". I tried to get him to practice "zzz, zzz, zzz, zzz," to which he replied, "ya, ya, ya, ya." I can't wait to hear what he says tomorrow : ).

And here are a few pics from our most recent car wash.

spring break 2011

I thought it would be fun to blog about each day of our spring break experience. I had the grand idea that I would blog each day, but seeing how it's already Friday it looks like I'll be cramming our fun into one long blog post! I hope you enjoy...

Since I was off the Friday before the break, we kicked things off with a trip to the Atlanta Zoo.

I think I may have been more excited than Jude

Jude's buddy "Bops" joined us 

(aka Richard's dad)

Jude posed for a picture

or two

he was pretty excited about petting this guy

but not so much this one...

or this one

despite his expression, he LOVED the train ride--

he was just REALLY ready for a nap

On Saturday and Sunday...
Richard, "Bops" and Jude started preparing the ground for our first garden.

have I mentioned how much Jude loves dirt?

I mean, REALLY loves dirt.

was I nervous about having this big digging 

machine in my front yard? absolutely

and I was equally nervous about how our yard 

would look in the aftermath, but it looks pretty cool--

"after" picture coming soon

On Monday...

we went to the park.

I.

love.

this.

kid.

On Tuesday...

I can't remember what we did, 

but I'm sure that it was fun : ).

On Wednesday...

we blew bubbles.

this has to be one of my all-time favorite pictures. ever.

On Thursday...
we made a big trip to the post office for some monumental mailing.

Yep. It's official. We've started the adoption process once again! We know we have a long journey ahead of us, but we're excited to begin : ).

And, last but not least, I present to you our son's most recent discovery. I noticed him doing this yesterday as he was organizing (yes, he sorts things out and organizes them by common colors, styles, etc...) some markers. He stepped back from his line-up of markers, put his finger to his chin, and then shook his head. We call it: his "thinking" face. Don't forget to turn off the music player at the top so you can hear!

March happened.

Why the sudden lapse in posts? Did you miss me and pics of my sweet boy? Well, all I can say is that March happened.

I used to love the month of March. It is, after all, the month that I was born. I celebrated my birthday with my favorite people in the whole wide world--my family.

My grandmother & I celebrated
our birthdays together--my 31st, her 78th : )

Jude helped blow out the candles

...but it turns out his cardio
is not as good as my grandmother's : )

...so she helped him out

 can you believe this? does my sister know me well or what?

 and she was afraid I wouldn't like the purse she picked out

     for me--it looks like it was made to go with my shirt : )

                                

So, as I said, I used to love March. Then I became an Art teacher. And I found out that I have to share my birthday month with the beast that is known as "National Youth Art Month." "National Youth Art Month" is a wonderful thing, but what it really means is that every art show in America is squeezed into a 31 day period. I was lucky enough to have 3 of these shows within a span of 5 days. 1500 art pieces mounted and displayed later, I ended up with no sleep and a respiratory infection. BUT, one of my students won 1st place and "Best in Show" and will get to meet the Mayor and have her artwork displayed in City Hall!

Also, during the month of March, I completed the painting for baby Abby's nursery! I had so much fun working on this piece. Before I reveal the painting, I want to give you an idea of the colors and theme I was working with. Here is baby Abby's bedding...

And this is Abby's lamp shade...

Jennifer, Abby's mom, really wanted to tie the flowers into the painting and for it to be very girly. She also wanted to have a Bible verse, Psalm 91:11, somewhere in the painting. I had the best time bringing all the elements together...

I loved the little pop of pink on the edge of the canvas (Abby's walls are the light green in the background of the painting)--it was actually my hubby's suggestion. Know of anyone in need of some custom nursery art? I can't wait to start on another one!

Gianna Jessen

I had the privilege of meeting this amazing woman last night and hearing her story firsthand. Her story is one of those that, after hearing, you know you will never be quite the same. Even more amazing is the amount of compassion and LOVE that she possesses despite the way that she came into the world. (Be sure to turn off the music player to the right before watching : ).

Gianna Jessen Part 1

Gianna Jessen Part 2