Easter Sunday

We spent a lovely Easter Sunday worshipping at our church, resting afterwards, with a short throw-a-few-eggs-in-the-yard hunt for the kiddos.  I do need to say that we look forward to someday hunting eggs with at least a few cousins though!

First time eating Peeps for all three...and they were thoroughly enjoyed by the girls, but Asher could have passed on them.

True excitement in finding her first egg!

And our two loyal spectators, of course.

General Update

I forgot to post last time about how healthy and happy our children are lately!

The twins had their one-year well visits and are two thriving almost-toddlers!  Asher weighed in at 20 lbs 12 oz, 31.25" long.  He is expected to be around 6'1" someday!  Geneva weighed 20 lbs 6 oz, and measured 29.75" long....someday to be around 5'7" tall.  The best part of the whole visit was the Dr.'s reminder that Sydney only weighed 17 lbs 14 oz at this age.  I guess as twins they are not lagging at all!  Asher loves to "talk" on the phone these days, whether it be a toy phone or my iPhone, and whenever he hears Dan's voice on speaker phone he just laughs and laughs.  Geneva is already carrying around dolls and saying "baby" as she hugs the baby and pats its back.  Where do kids learn this stuff?  It is so cute.

Our Sydney is a bundle of imagination, as usual.  Her latest obsession is Diego and "playing Diego," rescuing animals and such.  I often find her in her room playing with babies, singing made-up songs, and building things with blocks.  This week we signed her up for preschool in the fall at Iroquois (Grand Rapids Christian).  At (almost) 3 years old, we feel this little social butterfly is ready to spend some time with her peers, learning letters, singing songs, and whatever other happy activities those teachers get paid for.  I'm sure my expectations are much too high, but hey, that's okay too!  We have no doubt that she'll just love it.  And I am looking forward to grocery shopping and running errands with only two kids during those 2.5 hours.

I am also looking forward to the onset of warmer weather, some major landscaping projects around our house, opening the pool (or should I say I'm looking forward to DAN opening the pool?), teaching the kids to swim, and lazy days in the sunshine (which are really more like messy days of sunscreen, sand, and me trying to squeeze in a page or two of reading!).  I could also add to this list: grilling in the evenings, daylight until 10pm, camping, and vacations!  Yay for summer!  Please come soon!

For now, I'll leave you with this Easter teaser, which seems to be a hit, judging by the comments on Facebook:

More April Activities

A neighborly egg hunt & brunch and a visit from the grandparents rounded out our last weekend. Just a few quick pics:

And a failed attempt to take a photo of the 3 kiddos before church on Sunday..... take 2: Easter Sunday. After that, I'm hiring a photographer.

Pella Party

This month we took a "practice" road trip to visit our friends in Pella, Iowa. I say "practice" because we plan to drive to Winnipeg in the summer to visit Dan's brother, which is at least twice as far. The kids made us proud though and were great travelers, we had beautiful weekend weather, and our time with friends was priceless. It is always especially fun to see all our kids play together and get to know each other a bit better, which is evidenced by the many photos of them (the kids) and not a single one of the adults.

We Love Visitors

As I mentioned previously, Sydney and I had been counting down the days for my mom's arrival.  She came to visit for 10 days and, as usual, we had a wonderful time together!

On the twins' actual birthday, we decided to go see the butterflies at FMG.  This has been a springtime ritual for us since Sydney was born, and it has been really fun to see how much she remembers about the butterflies and how even children under age one can follow them with their eyes and find them fascinating.  First of all, can I just say that it is nearly impossible to get all three of these kids to look at the camera at the same time?

Also enjoying a surprise weekend visit from Pake!

Birthday Celebration!

One year.  Man, how it flies when you're having fun!  (Or is it when you're busy?)  The twins officially turned one on March 30th and we partied with friends the following weekend.  Our pinwheel-themed party was a success, they loved the cupcakes, and didn't even freak out over all the attention!  Sometimes I seriously cannot believe how great my kids are.  The best.  Really.  And so darn cute.  Here are some highlights: