Peek-a-Boo, Joshy!

I am just downloading our videos from our camera and am finding some good ones. This is a month or so ago, I think. Very cute.

Happy 80th, Pappy!

This month we celebrated Grandpa Lochhead's 80th birthday!

Scott, Colleen, and Aunt Perri threw a shin-dig to celebrate this beloved ol' geezer, whom we affectionately call Pappy, G'pa, Grandpa Lochhead, and Harv.

He was pretty shy about all the attention... :) Love this guy!

Costco carrot cake...it was like it was ALL of our birthdays! :)

We loved getting to spend quality time with Perri and Taylor. The day they came over from the west side Taylor had just found out he got a job working for BNSF Railway Co. Such great news...a perfect fit job for this adventursome guy!

Bruce and Patty's family--Ward and Vicky and Dalton and Melanie--came and we had a great time catching up. Every time we get together we say we should do this more often!

Looking over some pictures of Harvey and Bruce's parents that Patty found.

Kevin and Jen being shy wallflowers...

Colleen made a fantastic slideshow spanning Harvey's 80 years...we watched it and watched it...telling stories and laughing.

Gracie and Janie--or, as Gracie insists: "Janers."

...and the pestering little brother at their heels...

Dorothy made this beautiful quilt for little baby Lauren and Angela. It is so lovely!

And more crafty people in the family: Colleen made this bbq-ing apron for Harvey--long enough to wrap around him (which is important if you have seen G'pa bbq...).

And the family pic to conclude the day.

What a great 80 years, Pappy! Keep them coming!

We love you so much--and are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Little Miss Mary Poppins

Fancy Nachos

Fancy nachos are what we ate for dinner, but that title seems to fit

this pile of kids in a wagon with all their "toppings"...

Lochheads, Van Sickles, and Nelsons all in one spot!

Look closely to see Jacob reaching to pull happy Kai's hair...

Kai didn't like it...

...not one bit.

Jacob in his trendy black Seattle-wear.

Kai riding the bike.

Hmmm...this duo looks to have some serious trouble potential...

So sad to have to say goodbye.

We had such a great time with the Nelsons!

More Jacob

I was so excited to take pictures of a baby that stayed in one spot! I could've taken pictures of this cute guy all day!

Baby Jacob Comes to Visit!

We were THRILLED to have my college roommate, Susannah, and her husband Marc and their sweet, sweet boy, Jacob, come to visit last week! Jacob was born last August, and we have been aching to meet him. When our Spring Break plans to go visit them in Seattle fell through, they came to visit us on their Spring Break!

Our family fell in love with Jacob--and all the things that came with him: his toys, highchair, jammies, and his parents! Grace and Josh inspected him and kept him entertained for two days on the floor of our living room. Josh tried his best to teach Jake to crawl--he's so close!

LOVE the hair comparison shot from this angle. Josh is 13 months, Jacob is 8 months.

Seriously, folks. Those eyes and that hair and those cheeks...this Jacob boy is irresistable!

I realize that I took no pictures of Sooz or Marc--or us together! It's pretty much about the kids, now. We had a few fun outings--we went for a stroll around Whitworth on Friday and the weather cooperated! Marc let Sooz and I go to a kids' clothes consignment shop during nap time, the Van Sickles came over for fancy nachos, and Marc got to experience Didier's for the THIRD time in his life. He SAYS he went to Whitworth... We had a great visit with them.

Thank you so much for traveling to spend time with us, Nelsons!

Bright Copper Kettles

Sunlight pouring through the window during nap time.

Spring HOPE--observed in a jar.

Seven dozen Snickerdoodles for Rogers track athletes...make that 6 1/2 dozen...

Put Another Candle on the Cake!

We got to spend the weekend at the farm April 16-17 to celebrate more of our family's April birthdays. This year was special for both Ben and Mom--Mom turned SIXTY and Ben's birthday was on Earth Day (always) AND Good Friday. A double bonus. :) We had a family party on Saturday night for both of them--the Morrows, Lochheads, Mosers, Weber grandparents, and the Dobroths helped us celebrate BIG. :) Or at least CRAZY. :) We had a great time staying up late talking with Christi, Tom, Megan, and Zach and Carmen. In addition to the birthdays, Tom and Chris came up to help Zach move home--he got a great job in southern Idaho!!! Way to go, Zach!--and to celebrate Mom's Weekend with Megan at the UofI. We were sad that G'ma Caroline wasn't here with us--and missed that common base of her house--but I know our family was excited to spend such great quality time with Christi's family and we are excited about all of the fun Moser family time that we hope will invade Mom and Dad's house, now.

Dad didn't get to have a surprise party last year for his 60th--we would've, but Mom thought it would've jinxed him--but he was determined to surprise my mom with one for her. Monday night her brothers, parents, and Katie and Ben's families surprised her at Rooster's Landing for dinner. She was floored! We so wanted to be there...but we were excited just thinking about what was waiting for her Monday night...

"Moooooom! Joshy's Making a MESS!"

The Josh-Alarm often goes off when I'm attempting to get some task done. I come upstairs to find an entire tub of Gracie's too-small clothes unfolded and strewn about the hallway. I also find a boy grinning ear-to-ear, giving excited grunts and bouncing, up and down, beside the tub.

Josh loves to snuggle things up to his face. I watch him pull out a couple more items, snuggle them for a second, and then fling them to the ground.

I sigh and think I'll let him have fun for a while before we start to pick up. As I'm in the bathroom, the Josh-Alarm goes off a second time: "Mom! Joshy just fell in the tub!" I don't hear crying, so I don't run right out. But when I do get there, this grinning boy greets me from inside the tub. "Joshy, you're such a curious man!" Gracie sings.

You Need a Haircut, Josh.

What?!? It's taken me over a year to get this peach fuzz grown!

What's a mullet? What's wrong with that? It keeps my neck warm and fashionably flips out over my collar...

[After trimming during several parts of the day]

Wha-la! We're out of the 80's!

No wave in this boy's hair. Stick-straight with a cowlick in the back.

Kalei's Birthday Tea

Kalei is EIGHT. How did this happen?!?! One day I'm picking up a premie outfit to take to the hospital for her to come home in and the next I'm getting her chapter books for her birthday. Sigh. Did I mention something about hearts hurting in the last post? Same thing here. This sweet girl was the guest of honor at a birthday tea that we hosted during break. All three girls had a great time sipping from teacups and eating an entire sleeve of blueberry bagels from Costco. I enjoyed every moment of removing strawberry jam stains from the tablecloth--all the while remembering how much fun they had. Happy Birthday, Kalei Nalani! We love you.

The 1st Salon Haircut

Gracie's hair was starting to get a bit unruly.

Hair needing detangler

+

girl who didn't like having her hair put up

=

RAGAMUFFIN DAUGHTER.

Spring Break was the perfect time to take her to the salon.

She held very still. Notice her tongue out in most of these pictures. I don't think she uttered a word while we were there--we are finding that she just quietly takes things in (with wide eyes) the first time she experiences them. And then, of course, she's the expert talking your leg off about the experience in the car immediately following!

Notice Dad's untrusting look...hair cuts are tense events for people with naturally curly hair...

It turned out adorable! I thought it would make her look younger again, but it did the opposite. She's a walking 3-year old now. :) Quit getting so big so fast, Grace. It makes your mom's heart hurt.

Mary and Rosarita

Gracie got to see Mary Poppins for the first time over Spring Break and she LOVES the movie! We have been watching it and singing sugary spoon-filled songs all around the house.

So I wasn't too surprised when I heard Gracie say from the shopping cart, "That lady looks like Mary Poppins!" as she pointed to the lady on the Rosarita refried beans can. Then she thought about it for a minute and said, "Actually, she's BLACK." Taken aback by this phrase, said very loudly in the canned food aisle, I asked her what she meant. "Mary Poppins is black, you're blue, and I'm pink!" Oh, clothing color. Phew!

Can I take a picture of me?

Grace Face.

Wallowa Lake in the Off-Season

We talked G'ma Joan and Papa Greg into watching the two little Lochheads for an overnight during break so that Jeff and I could have a kid-less adventure. This was the first time we've left Josh overnight--and we all survived! :) Josh and Grace had a great time at the farm without us--"See you tomorrow, Mom!" Grace said as we left--and Jeff and I got to drive a couple of hours to Wallowa Lake. We'd been hearing about Wallowa from Jeff's family and wanted to go check it out.

Verrrrry cold temperatures. Snow seems to follow us wherever we go on Spring Break. Even when we went to Albuquerque...but that's another story. Everything at the lake itself was closed down for the off-season, but we got to drive around and get a point of reference for future conversations of the place. We both thought that it must be a pretty happening place in the summer... We stopped at the resting place of Chief Joseph just long enough to take a few pics and be glad that we were wearing our thermal-wear as a second layer.

Jeff saw this Bed & Breakfast in Joseph (1 1/2 miles from lake) online before we left and we decided to check it out upon arriving. Once they showed us the Mirror Lake Suite we signed up quickly to stay overnight here!

We ate our way through Joseph--great food and fun shops to peruse. We even took in a couple games of bowling.

Jeff obviously dominates in this sport. I wanted him to give me pointers and he was very shy about giving me suggestions for improvement. I think he was scared of my potential. :)

Very cool artwork in the town--these are bike racks that we think my dad could make, so we took a picture. What do you think, Dad? Just a little winter welding project?

The snow hadn't started to melt yet--tried to capture that in a picture or two.

We HAD to take a picture of our amazing bathroom in our room. Shower with four different modes including foot and back massage, huge jacuzzi tub, and Jeff's personal favorite...

...the $4,000 toilet with amazing cleansing tricks. Comes standard with heated seat and remote control features. Needless to say, I lost him for part of our stay. :)

It was such a beautiful place to stay. Fabulous breakfast in the morning, a few more stores to see, and then we were off to reclaim our kids. What a fun break for all of us! Thanks, G'ma Joan and Papa Greg! (Gracie accidentally called me G'ma for days after this and she came home with a G'ma Joan phrase that she uses SEVERAL times a day: "Oh, for heaven's sake!")