happy birthday to B!!!

yep, today is my mother in law's birthday. most of the time we call her B, that's what the kids call her, but i still call her marsha. marsha is not a typical mother in law, she is wonderful! she raised her children to love the lord above anything, to have confidence in who they are, and to love unconditionally. i know that both mark and sarah would agree. i have had the priviledge of marsha being apart of my life for 12 years. over those 12 years we have grown very close. i love talking with marsha while sipping a diet coke. i love her encouraging notes that appear in my mailbox or inbox. i love her generosity. i love that she wants to spend time with her family. i love that she treats me like her very own daughter. i love how she loves all her grandchildren. i love marsha!! happy birthday b!! hope you know how loved you are.

here she is with some (notice i am not in the picture :)) of her favorite people...

our monkey...

is 11 months old! i can't believe how quickly these past 11 months have gone by. i feel like i say that all the time, but i really do feel like it was just yesterday that i was counting the days until i would meet him for the first time. jack continues to smile constantly, but is becoming more opinionated each day. this morning i was about to cut up his banana as i do almost every morning when he started SCREAMING and shaking his head. he did not want that banana cut up in little tiny baby bites, no he wanted it just like a big boy- whole! i hesitated to give him the whole banana, monkey style (as we refer to it in our house), but then thought- why not. the screaming turned to a HUGE smile when i handed over the "monkey banana."

he did great, no choking, and gobbled up the entire thing!

just another reminder that jack is growing up and will be ONE soon. he is still not walking or even interested, but he is trying to talk more and mimics our words. he continues to bring joy to our family.

are you kidding me???

that is what i have been asking myself since mark left town YESTERDAY!! seriously, he wasn't even gone 4 hours before the bathtub wouldn't drain and the toilet was gurgling in the kids bathroom. we got through that crisis by calling my brother in law {christman} who called his plumber who assured me all would be fine until he could come and fix the problem the following day. relieved that all was going to be ok, olivia and i sat down to watch a movie before she went to bed and we noticed some birds chirping away. they were not outside in the trees where they belong, nope they were in the chimney. as the movie went on they got louder until one ended up in the fireplace, flapping it wings like crazy!! by this time it was late and i was not about to call christman again, so i just prayed this little fellow would not get out of the fireplace and went to bed. tonight the bird is back and crazier than ever. the bathtub and toilet are fixed, but tomorrow i will be calling a chimney sweep to help with operation tweet tweet! all this and mark is only been gone not even 24 hours. i think it is going to be a long 12 days!!

oh how i love this little girl...

i have to be honest, lately we have been having some really hard days. we both struggle to "control" each and every situation. just when i think i can't take it any longer she will say the sweetest thing or smile her precious smile. i know that i am the luckiest mommy in the world because my olivia has an incredible imagination, the biggest heart, asks the most interesting questions, and loves unconditionally, even if she brings out the worst in me at times.

bye- bye daddy...

see you in 12 days!!!

(i apologize for the terrible photo. i am not so good with the camera on the phone and the kids were not cooperating.)

we had our last lunch date with mark for a while. he is going to Papua New Guinea for a video shoot. we will miss him terribly and be ready for another lunch date as soon as he gets back, but he is going to have an incredible trip. he is going to have the opportunity to experience the culture and landscape of one of the world's least explored destinations.

easter fun...

we have been having so much fun celebrating easter.

o, j, and i took a trip to the arboretum at the beginning of the week...

i wish i was able to get some better pictures of o & j together, but they were not really in the mood on this particular morning. we still had a great time looking at the BEAUTIFUL flowers.

on thursday afternoon we headed to the lake for more easter fun with the bowlins and fifers. sarah is the designated photographer when we are together, so check out her blog for details. the highlights include family fun, an easter savenger hunt, a big ole egg hunt, and some games.

we came back saturday night from the lake so that we could celebrate easter sunday at church and then with the blanchettes.

a rainy easter sunday morning...

olivia still looks so pretty in her dress.

our little family right after church...

then off to celebrate with the blanchettes...

olivia's easter gifts-- gardening tools and boots to help gramps in his garden.

gramps and jack hanging out before dinner.

olivia posing with easter eggs she found.
then posing with uncle sean after she found ALL the eggs.

it was a wonderful week filled with lots of fun and blessings, but what i am most thankful for is my savior, jesus. his death and resurrection was for me, for all of us! so that i (we) will one day live in heaven with him. but as our pastor reminded us on sunday, the resurrection is also about the present-- because jesus rose on the first easter sunday, i get to have a real relationship with him everyday. thank you jesus for loving me and dying on a cross for me thousands of years ago, thank you for being my best friend and everything that i need today, and for allowing me to have life eternally with you.

hope everyone had a very happy easter!!

baking with ivy...

was so much fun!! last night our sweet friends, drew and ivy came over for dinner and a baking experiment. the plan was to feed the boys well so they would be content while ivy and i attempted to recreate "bakerella chick cake pops." now i'm not saying that they even compare, but it was really fun and we had a great time. lots of laughing, especially with mark's quote of the night, "are those the tweezers we use on our toes!" (no, we don't use tweezers on our toes, at least i don't! ha!) we did use tweezers to help place the feet and wings.

here are some pictures of the final products...

one cute little chick!

all wrapped and ready to share! (we thought it looked like we were suffocating them, but what are going do! :))

the other great thing about this little project was my friend jenny also gave them a try. we have been chatting and comparing notes the last couple of days which has been so fun. jenny doesn't have a blog, but her friend missy blogged about jenny's chick cake pops. click here and check them out, they are pretty cute!!

i must admit i had no reason for this endevor just thought it would be fun. i also had very low expectations that they would look remotely similar bakerella's. she is the master of cake pop cuteness, since they turned out OK i think i will give most of these to olivia's class as a little "happy easter" treat!

coming soon-- cupcakes!!