Catching Up Part Four

Margaret Mary and "Margaret Mary," a doll she made all by herself.

MM with another doll she made. She even hammered the two pieces of wood together!

Henry with a "sharp sword."  He loves knights and soldiers.  His still asks to listen to the Nutcracker each day!

Excuse the harsh lighting!  MM with another creation.  This one is a tree with a river and a rock.

When Peter smiles he sticks out his bottom jaw.  We think its adorable!

Not sure what this is, but another thing MM made outside. 

Papa and Peter looking at tractors online.  Peter would yell with great excitement at each Craigslist listing, "that one! that one!" 

Note both he and Papa are in flannel pjs and peter is holding a cow. :)  Jason has been taking Peter to Mass by themselves on Wednesday nights to help train him to behave in Mass.  Peter will tell you all about it "Papa, Mass, Me. Swing, Tractor!" (translation: Papa takes me to Mass. Afterwards we swing and go look at tractors!)

MM insisted I take a picture of her dolls. She made the hat in the middle with a friend who is teaching her how to knit.  

That;s it for posting tonight, I hope to post MM's birthday pics soon!

Part Three: Easter!

Henry now insists like dressing like papa for Mass. Since we don't have toddler bowties, Jason just ties on one of his.  The result is a HUGE bow that only Henry could pull off.

Ready for the Easter Hunt at the Murreys!

Only Henry could pull off this outfit. 

Peter didn't understand that you should look for eggs first and eat the candy later.  With every egg he found, he plopped down on the ground and ate is slowly....

This big girl knew what to do!

How many of these can we eat before Mom calls it quits for the day?

One of the best parts of Easter was having our friends from Florida come to visit!  The kids played SO WELL together and discovered this game while the Moms were inside cooking (The Dads were in charge). I was quite upset when I came to check on the kids and saw this happening, but when I saw how safe it was I couldn't help but take pics).  Can you believe they all piled up on there?

Down they go!

They all loved it!

This Easter was weird because we totally thought we would be moved into the house we were under contract for by then.  Half the house was packed up and so we celebrated on a smaller scale: Mass, chocolate banana muffins, Easter treats and the annual Easter party at the Murreys.   We were so blessed to have friends in town to help distract us from the fact that we weren't in the house yet.  The Easter party went till about 5ish and the kids fell asleep on the way home. It was perfect!

Peter is Two!

It's pretty easy to please a two year old on their birthday.  Peter awoke to presents, balloons and an adoring family.  He loved being sung to and loved his presents.  "Mine!"  (He's two allright!).  The pics are black and white cause the lighting is horrible in the house we live in.

"Peter got a tractor!"  Tractors are probably Peter's favorite thing.  He points out everything that looks similar to a tractor when on the road driving "tractor! big! "

Waiting for his cake.  When asked what kind of cake he wanted, he said "chocolate."

He loved the attention!

Ice cream and chocolate brownies!  

Peter is such a blessing to our family.  He is light hearted, funny and simply adores his big brother and sister.  He follows Henry around and wants to do everything Henry does.  We can't get enough of him at this age. When he runs, his big cheeks flop up and down and he goes more up and down then forward.  When I tell him to come, he runs away, but does so with such delight! he just wants to be chased!  He loves adventure and playing outside.  He talks up a storm and says 2-3 word sentences.  Peter just makes us smile. Happy 2nd Birthday!

Part Two

Margaret Mary and her cousin Sierra.  We traveled to Durham for Grandmother's birthday and loved seeing all the cousins.  MM is just so delighted that there are other girls in the family!

Our Family with Grandmother, the birthday girl!.  This picture says it all.  Me, pregnant and tired looking, Peter with his gut hanging out, Henry looking nervously away and MM lost in some kind of day dream. :)  Grandmother looks radiant and beautiful as always! Jason looks pretty handsome if I say so myself!

MM with a "fairy doll" she made all by herself out of a napkin, a tulip poplar flower and a dandelion.  What I love most about her art is that she is always satisfied with the product and happy. 

Another beautiful barn she has built!

MM explaining her artwork.  A house with a rainbow above it with a sidewalk surrounded by pasture and flowers.

It's becoming a habit... Part One

I'm sorry to say its becoming a habit: long picture posts trying to play catch up on everything that has been going on.  A long time ago (about 9 months ago) I posted frequently with lots of pics and stories.  The kids have changed so much in the past 9 months and I'm sad that I don't have everything documented, but on some days simply taking pictures is the best I can do,  uploading them, editing them and then posting to this blog is too much.  So here you go, another long picture post.  Maybe with the baby coming soon I will get back into the habit of posting frequently!

What one does, the others are sure to follow

"Oh please Jesus, let the baby be a girl!" (MM talking to my belly)

Peter loves laying on the carpet playing with trains and trucks.

Candlemass (The Blessing of the Candles)

Leisure. Note the cape and sword.

Henry LOVES his Annie.

We shot and butchered our pigs with the help of a great neighbor.

He's dead all right!

Because we all knew Jason was going to do this...

It was really fascinating to watch the pigs get cut up.  The kids were enthralled.

Have I mentioned how much Henry loves the cat?

"Just LOOK at her mama, just LOOK at her!"  I imagine Henry saying this to me about a girl he likes someday. :)

Apples and getting dressed up for Mass.

Peter LOVES the chickens. 

One of Margaret Mary's many "buildings" outside. The girl is always creating.

The field dogs. The kids love them and the dogs let the kids hang all over them.  Too bad they are obsessed with running away.  They somehow get out of the pasture 3-4 times a week.

We sold Bonnie in anticipation on moving into a new home.  The home fell through and we miss our skinny sweet cow. (We won't miss milking her though; the girl had HUGE teats!)

The last walk up to the barn with both our cows.  We still have Abigail but she does not like cuddles; so that makes us miss our Bonnie even more!  She went to a good home though.

Part two to come soon! (I uploaded 717 pics... don't worry, I will only post my favorite!)