Easter - 2012

For Easter this year Grandma and Papa Randy came down to Boise to celebrate with us.  Since they had to leave early on Easter day we decided to have a big dinner on Saturday night with Uncle Johnny and Aunt Brandy as well:

Grandma really enjoyed playing with her grandkids:

Drew really enjoyed wearing his sister's sunglasses and hamming it up for the camera:

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny left baskets for Isla and Drew:

Drew was way more into dumping the grass out of Isla's Easter basket than playing with his new toys:

He finally came around and played with his new duck when we went outside:

After our guests left and the kids had their naps we went to the park to enjoy the beautiful sunshine.  I can't get over how grown up Drew looks in this picture:

Both our kids love the slides.  They could do this non-stop if we let them:

Thanks Grandma, Papa Randy, Uncle Johnny and Aunt Brandy for celebrating with us this weekend!

Student of the Week

Isla was Student of the Week at daycare last week.  Being student of the week basically means that she gets to bring pictures and toys from home to share with her class.  Before her week began Isla and I spent time making a poster board with all of her pictures and a worksheet that told everyone more about Isla.  She did such a good job filling out her worksheet and we didn't have to help her on any of the questions - she had an answer for everything (I was especially proud of her answer to "What do you want to be when you grow up?"):

The bag of toys that she brought for show and tell consisted of the following: her baby, baby's blanket, sunglasses, purse, wallet, box of crayons and chap stick.  Completely random, but all of the stuff that she loves.

Drew - 18 Months

It dawned on me the other day that I have been a total slacker when it comes to posting pictures of Drew.  I'm sorry buddy for giving you the second child treatment - I will try and do better.  Our Drew man is now 18 months old and is EVERYWHERE!  Case in point - this is what most of the pictures I take of him look like:

He loves to be outside and throw the ball for Hank:

His vocabulary is growing and some of his most used words are Mama, Dada, Isla, Papa, Nana (Anna), Grandma, and outside.  He loves to do puzzles, throw the ball, go get it and then repeat the process again, play basketball, and share his food with Hank (lucky dog!).  He has recently started to dance anytime he hears music.  His dancing mostly consists of him stomping his feet and jumping up and down, but it is quite cute.  He is such a sweet boy and loves to give hugs and kisses (which just melts his Mommy's heart):

   We love you Drew man!

First Trip to the Dentist

A couple of weeks ago Isla finally made her first trip to the dentist. I was totally prepared for a short trip and thought we would be lucky if she even sat in the chair.  This girl likes to surprise me though and I was shocked when not only did she sit in the chair, she let the hygienist clean her teeth!  I was so proud of her.  I am very happy to report that she doesn't have any cavities:

Grandaddy

Grandaddy in Sun Valley - Christmas 2005

About three weeks ago the world lost one of the greatest, most gentle souls when my Grandaddy passed away.  His health had been fading in the last couple of weeks and he even expressed to his daughters that he was ready to go.  I definitely wasn’t.   As my older and wiser cousin Erica said “the world just doesn’t seem right without him in it” and I couldn’t agree more.

It is so hard for me to express to people the kind of man my Grandaddy was.  He lived his life with integrity, honesty, loyalty and laughter.  Although he didn’t say much, you always stopped and listened when he had something to say.  The relationship he had with my GrandmaDeDe was a love story for the ages.  He absolutely loved my GrandmaDeDe and never once did anyone see them argue (I’m sure they did argue, but they kept it behind closed doors as to not involve anyone else).  I remember vacationing with them at their condo in Maui and we were all getting ready to go out to dinner.  My GrandmaDeDe was the last one to come down the stairs and I watched my Grandaddy watch her come down the stairs and with a big smile on his face tell my GrandmaDeDe that she looked beautiful.  My heart stopped and I knew at that moment that I would be the luckiest girl in the world if my husband looked at me that way after fifty years of marriage.  It was amazing to see his love for her even when GrandmaDeDe’s health deteriorated due to her battle with Alzheimer’s.

With my Grandaddy I got to share my love of crossword puzzles, sudoku, salads, blackberry wine and a good old fashioned hat party.  I only hope that my family and I can continue the wonderful legacy that he has left behind. 

To celebrate his life, Ryan and I headed to Bellevue, WA with the rest of the aunts, uncles and cousins.  I can’t think of a better group to celebrate with:

I love you, Grandaddy. Until we meet again . . . Sergeant, over and out.

Weekend at Home!

After traveling for two consecutive weekends, I finally got to spend last weekend at home.  Don't know why I was so excited about staying home and cleaning and organizing my house, but I was.  Saturday we met the Hamiltons and half of the Bordners at the zoo so the kids could play:

The rest of the weekend was filled with cleaning, shopping and playing outside with the neighbors.  Pretty low key weekend, but it was just what I needed!

Girls McCall Ski Getaway #3

A couple of weekends ago I was lucky to attend the third annual Girls McCall Ski Getaway.  Mrs. Hamilton graciously hosted us at her cabin in McCall.  Again we had phenomenal snow along with good food, drinks and conversation.  I bet we skied more than 10 runs on Saturday at Brundage and my legs were shot at the end of the day.  Here are all of us girls apres-ski:

I have to apologize for my camera - the lens was pretty foggy after spending all day in my ski jacket.  We treated ourselves Saturday night at the Shore Lodge with dinner and drinks:

We had so much fun and I'm hoping that there will be a fourth annual trip next year . . .