Finally some nice weather!

Yesterday was beautiful, so we spent lots of time playing outside.

Abby (in her "knight" costume) planting some seeds for our garden.
Jude being goofy on the slide.

Jumperoooooo!

Jordan is LOVING his Jumperoo! He nearly leaps out of our arms when we hold him, so Jumperoo lets him jump safely :)

Check out those lashes...

Giggle Pants & Mr Serious

Jordan has a range of expressions, but lately he's either smiley & giggly or...

very serious.

Happy Mommy's Day

This was my 5th Mother's Day, the first one with Jordan, second with Jude, and fourth with Abby. On my very first Mother's Day, we celebrated the lives of our amazing little boys, Josh & Jonah in a memorial service here in Thunder Bay. I am so very blessed to have been entrusted with the upbringing of these beautiful, fearfully & wonderfully made little ones. I am equally as blessed to have spent only a little while with Josh & Jonah.

Jude had his first time out today, for trying to pull his sister by the hair. Abby thinks that life is a bit more fair now that she's not the only one getting time-outs. Jordan had oatmeal cereal for the first time yesterday and ate the whole bowl, crying when it was gone. I made a bit more for him, of which he ate half.
Abby helped me prime the addition yesterday afternoon and rode her bike at Boulevard Lake with Daddy this afternoon. She's getting to be so big!

"CRASH!!"

We were outside on the deck when Jon pulled down the shed (single-handedly I might add). There's something very attractive about watching the guy you love pull down a shed with brute force :)

Anyway, Jude was also very impressed and became obsessed with "CRASH", the heap that was once the shed. He would randomly run to the window or door to go outside saying, "crash, crash, peese Mummy?"
Termites? Is this what termites do to wood? Do we even have termites in Thunder Bay?
"bye bye crash"...

Jon and his friend Tom tore apart the roof of the shed and then Jon started cleaning up the site so we can start building the kids' play structure.

Next step...

Next, Jon spread several inches of soil over the concrete slab that was the shed floor and built a retaining wall to hold back the soil. The play structure will go in this area. The platform will go on the side closest to the trees so that we can eventually build a tree house/fort in the trees.

When You Thought I Wasn't Looking

I came across this poem and thought I would share it....we really do only have a short time with our little ones, before they're all grown up. This poem encourages me to make it all count.

"When you thought I wasn't looking
You hung my first painting on the refrigerator
And I wanted to paint another.

When you thought I wasn't looking
You fed a stray cat
And I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking
You baked a birthday cake just for me
And I knew that little things were special things.

When you thought I wasn't looking
You said a prayer
And I believed there was a God that I could always talk to.

When you thought I wasn't looking
You kissed me good-night
And I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn't looking
I saw tears come from your eyes
And I learned that sometimes things hurt --
But that it's alright to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking
You smiled
And it made me want to look that pretty too.

When you thought I wasn't looking
You cared
And I wanted to be everything I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking --
I looked ...
And wanted to say thanks
For all those things you did

When you thought I wasn't looking."

Mary Rita Schilke Korzan ©1980
http://onceuponapoem.com/index.html