St. George's day photo shoot

Every year it gets a little more fun and challenging to do our St George's day photo shoot!

Gone are the days when the babies will just sit and smile sweetly, with the English flag as a back drop. These days they would rather crawl under it, wrap themselves up in it, scrunch it up, fight under it...you get the idea.

It makes for some very...er...vibrant pictures.

Just for comparison, here are a couple of photos from past years.

2008-

2009-

I should probably point out to my American friends that St. George's day is not really celebrated in England, and certainly not with photo shoots like this. I just do it because I want my kids to have a sense of both parts of their heritage, and it's convenient to remember to take pictures on a certain day. So, April 23rd it is!

A rainy day

My babies are so much fun. I love them enormously.

I think that a child's curiosity and exploration are some of the most inspiring things to behold.

Getting ready for Easter

A few days before Easter, Luke and I made these yummy treats. I almost didn't bother because the shops were all sold out of Cadbury's Mini Eggs, but decided to use 'Robin's eggs' instead. (They're like Maltesers with a hard shell) Obviously not as good as Cadbury's, but oh well...at least there wasn't a massive bag of the best chocolate in the world sitting around the house.

Then, we went up to the ranch for a couple of days. There had been some snow, so the kids got to go on the snow machines with grandma. At one point, she had three kids on the snow machine, and three on a sledge being pulled behind.

While we were there we dyed eggs for Easter. It was my first time ever dying eggs (at age 28- I know!). I loved doing it and after everyone else was finished, Trev's mom, Trev and I were the only hardcore ones who kept going until all the eggs were dyed.

Luke searching for the perfect colour crayon.

Watching with delight as the egg changes colour.

We also had lots of free time to just play inside. It's amazing how much the kids love to play with different toys, and different playmates.

Here are Luke and Corben being little rascals, I think they were stealing some crackers and got caught in the act.

And Corben at it again, this time with chocolate chips! He is such a cute little boy, how can you say no to that face?!

The little ones got some chocolate chips too.

What a fun couple of days!

Mail mail mail mail....box

This year we've been trying so hard to get birthday gifts out to all of our siblings, parents and grandparents. I can't say that they've all made it on time, but so far, we haven't missed one.

We've been making a lot of trips to the post office, and I have to say that Luke is quite an excellent helper. He loves to carry the packages all the way there, while repeating the name of the intended recipient over and over. At first he was reluctant to hand the parcel over when we got there (read: huge tantrums) but he is really good now.

Generally, Luke likes to point out mail-boxes, mail-men etc. where ever we go. He's so cute how he says it- mail mail mail mail...box. Like he's trying to remember what comes after mail. I love it!

Eiderdown

Now that our marriage is three years old, we decided that we needed to get some nice new bed linens. Or more specifically, a feather duvet (down comforter).

So, the first day of spring break, we left the children with Trev's parents, and headed out for a day of shopping and fun. Our destination was Ogden, which isn't really exotic, but it is close and had everything we needed. It was lovely to be able to walk around the shops without worrying about the kids being bored or naughty! We purchased a lovely duvet, a white duvet cover, and pale green sheets. I wanted something quite neutral that we can change the look of easily with pillows and accessories.

After we had finished shopping (and to be honest, neither of us are really hardcore shoppers, so it didn't take very long) we had a nice lunch, and then headed to our hotel. It was called 'Cedar Pines', and was only built in 2009, so everything was fresh and clean. We checked on movie times, and decided to go and see 'Brooklyn's Finest'. Unfortunately, it was a horrible film and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. We came out feeling thoroughly depressed. The only thing to cheer us up was Uno and some late night snacks.

The next morning we slept in- blissful! Returning to the ranch to see our children, we felt completely refreshed and happy. Oh why can't we do this every week- even once a month would be nice!

3

Three busy, fast, happy, educational, unexpected, challenging, wonderful, exciting, fun, together years.

With you.

Can't wait for the next 3 x infinity.

Oh

Alas, along with the fun parts about turning one, there are also the not-so-fun parts, including the 12 month immunizations.

Lainey has had quite a bad week as a result, with a fever reaching 103 F. She's needed lots of extra cuddles, so we've had lots of this:

and this:

and now and then, just a little of this:

Poor baby. I love the cuddles, but I don't love to see you sad.