Easter weekend

I came down with strep throat the saturday before Easter, but that didn't stop me from celebrating (mildly :)
This year felt very centered around Christ, as it should. Mainly because Brooklyn is really starting to talk more and more about the Lord. When tete brought her easter basket to family dinner at my parents the week before we made her tell us PRIOR to tearing the basket apart why we celebrate easter. She said "easter is for Jesus and (long pause) to give me TREATS (at the top of her lungs). So stinkin funny. Her favorite item was the princess lip "glass" as she calls it. So we had to do some posin!

On saturday we went to Sauvie's Island with some awesome peeps for an egg hunt. I didn't know at the time I had strep, but felt awful so didn't breath on anyone, sucked it up and put on a smile. Glad we went, as Brooklyn had a great time visiting the pig and running for chocolate eggs.

 Checking out the pig with Brae, Emily & Canon

 Ready to start the hunt!

Then on Sunday we went to brunch with the whole fam! Brooklyn was not in the mood to mess around with Easter pictures. I was in so much pain from the strep I didn't even think to get a family photo. 

Reading some books on the couch with daddy after nap. Perfect Sunday afternoon.

5 months old, how is that possible

My sweet baby boy, today you are five months old. I am shaking my head in disbelief. That flew by! You are truly a gift from God. You brighten my life in ways I couldn't imagine; and to think, while you were still in my tummy I couldn't fathom loving anyone as much as your sister. I'm not sure how my heart is contained in my chest anymore, it has grown so much since I had you.

You are the happiest baby I have ever met. You seem to like me the very best these days (although you don't withhold that million dollar smile from anyone, that's just the way you are) you definitely light up when you see mama come in the room. I secretly relish that, because I know there will be a day that you want no part of me (sniff, sniff). You have the best belly laugh, and you do it often!

You will not take a bottle. REFUSE. I am sure if I left you all day and you were hungry enough you would cave, but the thought of that breaks my heart, so I will continue to be a sucker and you will continue to nurse exclusively.

You and your sister have been on many adventures, you won't remember any of these, but you have been a pirate on her ship, a princess at her ball, a ballerina at her ballet, and much more! She loves to dress you up, do tummy time with you (which you are still not a fan of) and make funny faces to get you to laugh. Every morning when you wake up she loves to throw open your door and come look at your face and she says the same thing every day "well good morning mister mister! how was your sleep?" She sure loves you. We all do.

Your aunts and grandparents think you're pretty fantastic too. When we get together you get passed up and down, back and forth so that everyone can get some Benny love. You are a great sport about it...until you get hungry.

Which leads me to my final note. You love to eat. Well, nurse right now. But you are ready to eat. Your eyes follow our food from our plates to our mouths while you drool. It actually makes me feel bad, you seem THAT interested. Soon buddy, soon you will get to try all that delicious food. You remind me a lot of your dad in that area. When his blood sugar levels drop he gets cranky pretty quickly until he gets some food in him. The only times I really ever hear you cry or see you ticked is when you are super hungry or tired.

Your stats at your 4 month appointment were:
2ft 2 in (75%)
15 lb 6 oz (50%)- but you just got weighed yesterday and you are already up a pound!
17.5" head circ (95%)

home sweet home?

A few weeks back we really started looking at the real estate market vs rental market. We had a great talk about our vision for where we would like to live, how long, etc. Loooooong story short, Matt emailed me on a monday (the day after we had really decided to start praying about buying vs renting for another few years- as was our plan) with this little quaint home. I looked up it's location and loved it. Drove by, scheduled a showing with our favorite realtor (Emily Booth ;) and saw a lot of potential. It was like a scene out of house hunters, where you walk in and the furniture and little fixes make for a cosmetic mess, but you for some reason can see past all of it with a vision of what it could look like if it were yours. The pro's: huge beautiful yard for my babies to play in, 2 miles from my whole world, 25 min commute for matt (instead of an hour now), great school district and will be a great home to hold onto forever and have as a rental down the line. Con's: small, close to the freeway.

So we are in the midst of inspection negotiations, and if all goes well we will be moving in a month. I keep shaking my head thinking, man this came along fast...but if there's one thing God has taught me it's that He moves at His own pace and His plans always blow mine out of the water.  

BEACH!

We took off during spring break for three nights at the oregon coast. It was FABULOUS! So needed. The kids did terrific in the car, the weather was amazing and we made some of the sweetest memories to date. I could not stop posting pics because I could not stop taking pics. So feel free to skim...there are a lot and this is my virtual photo album :) Ben- happiest baby ever The only girl in a tutu on the beach

Pelican brew pub where we went to lunch in pacific city on Thursday. yumm.

This was the beach that was a 5 min walk from our house

Friday we headed to the aquarium in newport

Ben's view

love this one. she got these sharks at mo's and they didn't leave her sight the rest of the trip!

Playing on the front porch of our "special beach house" as B called it

Donuts for breakfast!!

Ben and I shopping at the outlet's on the one rainy morning

Dad and Bean sampling saltwater taffy

She picked a sucker and was PUMPED about it

Lot's of reading and snuggling in this chair

Saturday night matt made fresh steamer clams paired with crusty bread for dipping. So good!

Nye beach in Newport- the sun came out and it was so very beautiful

Dinner on the last day in Newport

The last night Brooklyn locked herself in her room which was very intense and scary. We actually thought we might have to break the door down at one point. We were singing through the door with Brooklyn to calm her down, so sad. At last we calmed her down enough to turn the lock back. I ended up falling asleep with her in her room because she was so shaken up. Other than that, it was wonderful, mostly relaxing ;), delicious food and lot's of loves and cuddles. We will definitely be going back next year!