2 are 3

Happy Birthday Anya and Bree! Last year it was hard to believe they were two. The first year went so fast!




But things have started to slow down- we've stayed not only in the same state, but the same house for the last two years. This birthday is a lot easier for me to swallow.



We'll be celebrating for them in Utah, but the real day is definitely worth mentioning!

"Matches and lighters are tools, not toys!"

Today we went with our homeschool group to the Central Ohio Fire Museum and had a great time!
Our guide was a real firefighter, and donned his gear in front of the children, explaining each step as he went.




By the time he got his mask on, he had been talking to them for about ten minutes. They weren't afraid at all.





Then Boots the Mouse made his appearance.

Boots and the fireman talked about the difference between toys and grown-up tools- specifically matches.

They LOVED the mouse! And paid attention!



We took a tour of the museum, and our guide rang a bunch of loud bells on different firetrucks.

Then they got to play on a firetruck, slide down a firepole, and dress up in firefighter gear. The twins didn't quite understand everything, but it was a real blast! I totally want to do this again next year.

"Chicken!!"

Here's our Easter weekend in a nutshell:
Easter Sunday- If it weren't for a guideline we gave Mia on the indoor egg hunt, to leave the ones on the floor for the twins to find, Anya and Bree wouldn't have found more than one or two. Mia found most of the eggs outside so quickly, the twins started just pointing them out to her because they figured it was her job to clean them up. ;D
Didn't matter in the end- every egg got dumped into one big basket and put where only Mom and Dad could reach them. *burp* I love how they are all too young to worry about who gets what. Enjoying that while it lasts. ;D

We headed over to our friends' house for an Easter sitting with their new little chick. They think they're weird for getting chickens. Don't worry guys- I think raising chickens is actually in vogue right now. Yes, I just used "chickens" and "vogue" in a sentence.
I know Bree would love it if we could jump on that wagon. The girl wasn't just enamored- she was obsessed. She kept calling to little Aurora (the chick,) "Chicken? Chicken! Chicken!!" like she expected it to come peeping over to her. She would have loved, held, and squeezed the first egg out of Aurora had she been given the chance.
All three girls were really enchanted by the little ball of fuzz. Toward the end they seemed to understand that they couldn't squeeze her, and we trusted them to just touch her gently while we got some shots. When it was time for chicken to go to bed, Bree lost it.

Monday- We went to Slate Run Historical Living Farm and watched the first sheep shearing of the year. The girls got to pet a little lamb. Bree found another chicken to beckon.
Mia spent a lot of time patting horses. I caught a glimpse of her face as she finished patting a huge work horse they were returning to the stable. She turned away and sighed contentedly, looking positively radiant. I can't think of a better word to describe her expression. This is a girl who screams when house cats move toward her. Who hides behind me when she sees dogs approaching a hundred yards away. But she'll stand at the feet of this 1800 pounds of animal, and jump up to pat it's muzzle.

It was so fun for me to see my girls' unbridled affection for all these creatures- their yearning to nurture and adore. Even counting the General Conference we DVR'd, it was the most pagan of Easters I've ever experienced. Made me want to have a baby. Well, now- that's handy.

Happy Easter!

This has been the most eventful month... not much of it good, a lot of it really bad. I'm so grateful for everything about this picture. This day and what it means, my children, good friends, husband near, beautiful spring, and the gifts of nature we have to enjoy. I needed this today.

Mia's first "performance"

A few months ago, Mia started taking violin lessons from our awesome friend Maury Bevan. I thought it would be good incentive for her to practice if she knew she was going to perform a song for her friends, so I organized a little talent show with our homeschooling group. After hauling a bunch of stuff and kids to an unforseen hassle getting into the library meeting room, I didn't have time to plug in our battery-dead video camera, and hadn't brought my camera either. So I took a picture of her in our backyard when we got home to commemorate the event.
She played as well as you'd expect a four-year-old beginner to play I suppose- right up to the second to last note. Trying to figure out that missing note took as much time (it seemed) as the rest of the song had taken, but eventually, she got it. :)

This morning was the ward's Easter party. Such a fun time!! They had an Easter hunt for all the kids, divided into different age-groups (so thoughtful!) and a pancake breakfast that magically didn't involve the usual line-up of everyone in the ward. I'm not sure how they pulled that off- but it was awesome. Oh, wait- Zach got the food. My magic Zach. ;D



"Ring around the rosie!" with our buddy Abby!



Great violin lessons in Gahanna, Ohio!! Call Maury Bevan! I'll give you her number! ;D

There y'are

With my first pregnancy, I was so excited about my belly growing, I had a pregnancy sitting done at around 36 weeks.


With the twins, there was the whole "two-kids-in-there" excitement factor, so I remembered to get a shot at 23 weeks or so. It was Feb 2, and they were due May 21. You do the math, I'm pregnant.


This time around- even though I was going to take some shots for this kid's baby book (gotta be fair,) I wasn't really excited to post them. It just doesn't seem as exciting the third time around. Maybe if it were tripets or something...

But I'm getting requests, so here's from today.
My friend took the one with the white shirt, which kind of hides my lumpy lump, so I took another without it when we got home.


Since we all know what everyone does when they see these shots, and before I get a bunch of hate mail: I'm SIX FEET TALL. If you are also six feet tall, go ahead and compare your prego belly.