We Miss Aunt Hannah!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outdoor Joy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter

We hosted the family Easter celebration at our house this year, mainly because we weren't ready yet to trek up to Flagstaff with the twins. Unfortunately the Easter weekend was a hot one, but we had lots of fun with everyone here!


Anna and Justin ("Dust-in," according to Josiah, who always associates this uncle with guitars) enjoying the Easter Sunday dinner: Greek chicken kabobs, grilled veggies, fruit salad, Arabic bread, broccoli salad, and Texas sheetcake for dessert. Yes, quite the nontraditional combination. :)

Hannah and me

"Uncle D" (pretty much the coolest uncle ever, and Josiah's excuse for throwing random objects--he vividly recalls Uncle D throwing a football and references him when I ask little J not to throw stuff in the house!), Grandma, and Pa

Easter egg hunt!

Yes, that's a piece of bread in Josiah's hand. He loved finding the eggs, and this was before he discovered they contained chocolate. He was still happy to munch on the bread at that point.

Unwrapping . . .

. . . and tasting. Immediately he said, "Mo!" (more).

Our happy boy.

Girls, girls, girls . . . and one Josiah

While Josiah may not clearly foresee what life will look like with girls for siblings in the future, he does know he's outnumbered by babies. He's sometimes quite sweet with them--often giving them kisses and imitating my voice in saying, "Hi, sweetheart!" to each. But he's also quick to take out his frustration or innate boy-longing for violence on them. His kisses sometimes leave teeth-indents on their heads, and his hand-holding sometimes turns into a death squeeze. He's thought about jumping from the couch onto them in their rock-n-play cradles. Thankfully we've stymied those attempts thus far! But the girls are getting tough even as we endlessly train Josiah to be gentle.

On that note, here are some pictures of the girls, and a token one of our cutie-boy. I hope eventually he and his sisters will genuinely love one another and be the best of friends!


Guess who put the leaves on Lydia's head?
 

He's a challenge, but we love him. :)

Lydia in white--mid-March.
 

Lydia on the left, Abby on the right
 

Abby, looking suspicious
 

Mama and Lydia, who I think looks incredibly cute, even if she has a big, bald, alien head :)
 

Me and my girls!
 

Aunt Hannah and Lydia. Aren't they beautiful?
 

Our sweet Lydia. (Abby wasn't cooperating the afternoon we took these pictures. She was pretty upset and thus we didn't end up with nice photos of her. I promise some good ones of her in the future.)

Games and Faces

Grandma Dortha got Josiah this lion mane and mask. He loves it--especially on other people who are willing to dress up as the lion and pretend to get him, or eat the "food" he throws them (usually stuffed animals and matchbox cars).

Here's Aunt Hannah the lioness:

 

And the Daddy Lion in his den . . .

Josiah wasn't actually too thrilled to be caught. He loved the game, but it was a little too real for him. When Daddy pulled him into the den with a growl, he started crying. He was much happier to chuck "food" to the lion and run away. He was happy to sacrifice his cars (one of which gave Daddy a bad bruise), stuffed animals, and even his doll "Baby Abby" to the lion.

And to cap off the post, here are a couple of Josiah's signature faces--first his "cheesy smile" and second his "happy face" (the latter which is much funnier in person).

 

 

Life with the Sisters

Here's a quick picture update on life with the girls in March:

Grandma and her granddaughters . . .



. . . and the unruly grandson, complete with the lion mane and mask Grandma bought him.

Daddy was sick one day, and all three joined him on the couch.

Josiah kissing Lydia

Tummy time for two! Lydia is on the left and Abby on the right.

Josiah joins in . . .

. . . with some kisses for Lydia.

Pa and Grandma with their three grandchildren--and the iPhone!

Ha--I love the faces here.