Bunnies & Princesses

Guess who inherited Dad's bunny whispering skills? Hannah has been hard at work loving on these bunnies with her spare summer time. Our white bunny, Cad, is the least friendly of the bunch and also the fastest, but Hannah appears to be the great tamer. She caught him the other day when he was found out of his cage, and he will come to her to be petted. She's brave, too -- check out his nails below (thanks, Callie for the pictures):





We knew the train set would become old news. Drew still likes it, but he also likes the times when his sisters break out their princesses for him. "Princess" is a big part of his vocabulary right now. If he was like Jacob, we would say that it's just because he has a thing for cute girls. I chalk Drew's interest up to the novelty of something new. Notice the tongue sticking out in great concentration as he plays with these things. Jacob was sure eager to hop in a picture -- someday he might not be so glad when he gets teased about playing princesses with his brother Drew. Callie had the great idea to take the princesses to church to keep Drew interested and quiet during Sacrament Meeting. I thought it was a great idea and I did it. Boy was he mad that I didn't bring the Pooh Bear figurines. He was pretty upset and emptied the entire bag, not settling down until he found the matchbox cars. I guess he's still pretty masculine after all.

Father's Day with flare

Gotta love it when the kids are old enough to come up with their own gifts for holidays. Jacob had this planned out on his own for weeks, down to the faux hawk that he created by himself. Happy Father's Day, Tyler!

The knowledge that boy #3 was on his way was one of the biggest shocks of my life. I was so sure we were a family of predominantly girls. The activity and noise level of just two boys has been a challenge for me and to think we were adding to the fire... it took awhile to get over that.

Thankfully, I've learned just a little bit since the shock, and am so excited to welcome with open arms our new bundle of boy, because what this world needs is more REAL MEN. I can't think of a better way to contribute to the world at large than raising a few boys to grow up to be like their daddy, and I want to thank my wonderful, skilled husband for the real man that he is -- a hard-working, devoted father and husband. When I come out of my room showered and dressed (and pregnant) for the day and Jacob says "Wow, Mom, is that a new outfit? You look great!" I know whose example of respecting women that I have to thank. The fact that both boys think it doesn't get better than to work out in the garden with Dad or mow the lawn tells me they are developing a love for caring for the earth and contributing to their future households. Today when Tyler and I both took a nap I could hear someone doing the dishes. Imagine my surprise later to find out that Jacob was our sneaky dish washer. Real men love to serve! Over the last couple of months I've seen many qualities in my little boys that give me great hope for who they will become. Here's to adding some mini Tylers to the world's population!

Worth 30 hours in the car

This is the blurry, in-action shot of what warmed my heart last week -- an adorable group singing their hearts out to Raffi as we were cooped up in the car for hours on end.

Gas & food prices: minimal
Time with our cousins: priceless

Chi-Cow!

A few weeks ago Drew celebrated his second birthday. Lightening McQueen's "ka-chow" comes out "chi-cow" from Drew's mouth, but with plenty of gusto. I guess you can say his parents are whooped because he got a little spoiled -- thanks again to the local classifieds. It's been much quieter around here since the train table joined our household and it's the first thing Drew asks for every morning.

Growth

One of the "downs" of buying our house was that there was a tall, city-owned lamppost next to our driveway. Tyler can't stand light pollution so this was a serious factor to consider. Fortunately, the way our windows are situated it doesn't affect us inside much, and Tyler reasoned that he could plant a great big pine tree.

Reality: pine trees are expensive. And when it is one of eleven trees that you are planting all at once, you can't afford to get the nice seven or eight foot tree you envisioned. Last fall we came home with a three foot pine tree, and it still felt like we had to break the bank to buy it.

Jump ahead to this spring. We had a gorgeous day and I was out inspecting all of the new trees, clipping suckers and surveying growth. What a thrill it was to find one or two peaches & nectarines on our various tiny trees! Wow! The little pine tree is what gave us a bit of a scare. It was COVERED in little tiny green balls. What dismay we had to think that we bought a pine cone factory! They were interesting, though, so over the weeks we kept checking them out. A couple weeks ago Tyler was out mowing the lawn, and as the creek was running dangerously high I was out front keeping an eye on Drew. I plopped down next to our tiny pine tree and started looking at the mysterious "pine cones", but they were getting awfully long and looking like...pine needles! What we thought was pine cones was really new growth, and loads of it! Relief over not having pine cones, and excitement that our little tree was flourishing just made my day.

We were so tickled over our happy tree that was obviously flourishing. I mean, it was covered in growth that was almost two inches long! I felt like I was on cloud nine for days. I smile every time I look at it. What a thing perspective is. We are doing cartwheels over two inches of growth when what we really want is a tree ten feet taller than what we've got. This has been a thought-provoking experience for me. We're happy because our tiny tree is progressing. Sure it has a looong way to go, but it's headed in the right direction and we can tell that just by looking at it. Our fruit trees that we hope to yield bushels from in years to come are pleasing us with one or two pieces of fruit for the year. What a good reminder to me that even though I'm in the earliest stages of what I hope to become, and where my Heavenly Father knows my potential is, that He really still can be happy with my "two inches" of growth -- as long as it's in the right direction.