May

Picture #1: I don't know when exactly it happened but I marvel at how grown up Sasha seems to me now. She is almost 3 1/2 and so much more independent than she was even 6 months ago. She loves to make up competetive games with complicated rules, "play track" with me up and down our long hallway, and every evening "play rough" with Dad down in the basement. A girly girl she is definitely not. Her classic line these days is "Tell me a super super scary story" She especially likes tales about wild animals chasing people and bizarre/gory emergency room stories! Dolls. No. Princess stuff. No. Listening to terrifying dinosaur sounds on the computer over and over. YES! She still loves to listen to books and can now read a lot of words herself. Her current favorite book is "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and loves listening to "Peter and the Wolf" in the car.

Picture #2: Phil's parents came out for several days. We went on a beautiful hike along a creek in the Jemez mountains. Sasha promptly fell into the freezing cold creek within the first 5 minutes and refused to wear her wet shoes so had to do the rest of the hike barefooted (did I mention above that she is quite stubborn?) Sadly this area is being completely desroyed by a huge fire even as I type this as you may have heard today on the news.

Picture #3: We rode the "World's Longest Cable Car" up the Sandia mountains in Albuquerque one day with Phil's parents and had a lovely lunch at the crest.

Picture #4: Jack loves his fresh fruits this summer, especially watermellon. What a mess there is to clean up after every meal these days! It is so nice to go out to eat once in awhile just to not have to clean up after everyone. We bought a Roomba on sale the other week. As dorky as it is, it is functional for this time in our lives and Jack is mesmerized by it.

May pics

Picture #1: Jack in all his mealtime glory. The boy loves to eat-- escpecially orange and yellow vegetables. He is just now showing some signs of teeth starting to push through but his toothless gums have not stopped him from devouring bread, pizza crusts, pretzels, blueberries, and grapes just to name a few. And despite his appetite, he is a wiry little thing--not a role of fat on him!
Picture #2: Mothers Day kiss from Sasha. We went out for a delicious over the top champagne brunch at this lovely lodge a couple miles from our house with my mom, dad, and Megan. Then Megan, my mom, and I went on a hike while the kids were napping. A perfect day!
Picture #3: Tomorrow we sadly hand the keys of the Infiniti over to an 18-year-old kid who can use the 2-door speedster more effectively than we can with 2 little kids. Though we both cringed at the thought of driving and owning a big vehicle at one time, we are enjoying the space in our Mazda CX9 that we got this spring. I make Phil drive it though.
Picture #4: Jack and Sasha taking their first bath together. Jack thought he was in heaven and Sasha was the proud big sister happy to show him how it's done.

Easter

Easter was a big hit this year, both the secular and the religious aspects of it. I don't know how many times Sasha requested that we read the Easter story from her children's bible story book and now every night her bedtime prayer starts out "Dear God, Thank you that Jesus rose from the dead." I wonder what her real understanding is in her little 3-year-old head! We had lots of fun dying Easter eggs and hiding them. The second day of hiding we had to make a new rule though that eggs could not be hidden in cabinets or drawers after an egg went MIA for a day.

We went down to Albuquerque Easter weekend and Megan and I threw a 60th birthday party for my mom at Megan's house-- a Greek inspired meal complete with lamb kabobs, spinach pie, tabbouleh, and a Tres Leches cake just to shake things up a bit. Megan and I happened to be dressed exactly alike. It's in the genes....

Sasha and Jack sitting pretty in their Easter outfits before the church service at Albuquerque Mennonite.

We enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner after church at my mom and dad's house with Megan.