Happy Easter from the Tulips Fields

This last Saturday we ventured to see the Tulips with family and friends. It was a perfect day, so sunny and a lot of flowers in bloom. Amelia was happy but wanted to be very independent and free... so I didn't get a lot of cute pictures, but this first one is my favorite.



Amelia with Nana. You can see it was so sunny, it was hard to look at the camera sometimes. I don't mind too much though I am so happy to have so much Sun at this time of year.


Did you ever wonder what the Seattle flower looks like...



Michael's favorite- the Ninja Tulip!


Amelia loved playing with all the kids that were running around, and this frog got a lot of love from her as well. She fed it and kissed it and took a ride on it as well :)

The family Picture! We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. We are so thankful for Jesus Christ and all he has done for us!

Wonderful thoughts

There is a blog written by someone who was in our last Church ward that I like to read, and she just wrote a wonderful post that I wanted to share. It is about the Gospel and parenting. I like to collect as many bits about parenting that I can, and hopefully remember and use as I learn how to be a parent and teach children. Here is a link to her blog called A Tender Heart.

http://heidisblog.biglaughs.org/2010/03/23/thoughts-from-counseling/

Recipes

Here are some neat recipes for the Easter season, and one recipe I just think sounds yummy :)

The first is Bird Nest Cookies from the My Recipe Book Blog!

.

The second is called Resurrection Rolls, and I found it on Sugar Doodle... I thought it was a neat idea. Here is what the post said-

Crescent rolls melted butter large marshmallows cinnamon sugar Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in. Give each child a marshmallow, this represents Jesus. Have them dip the marshmallow in melted butter, which represents the oils of embalming. Then dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar which represent the spices used to anoint the body. Then wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up, but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside.) This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death. Place in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. The oven represents the tomb. When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, He is risen. (The marshmallow and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.)

NOTE: I had problems the first time I made them. I re-did them last night and they worked. What I did was I cut the large marshmallow in half. Then instead of baking them on a cookie sheet I put them into cupcake papers and baked them in the muffin tin. They worked MUCH better and they were hollow inside. When I did it the first way with the whole marshmallow and on a cookie sheet, they oozed marshmallow everywhere and were not hollow).

And the last recipe is Frosted Banana Bars from the My Recipe Book Blog.


I have not made any of the recipes but I am super excited to try them!

catching up with pictures

First of all Amelia would like to say Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone! We go to the library every Wednesday and they made a pot of gold today!





When I ask her to smile this is what I get these days :)


But I do think she has such a sweet face.



The last weekend we went down to my Dad's house to celebrate Sean's Birthday! It was a lot of fun, and good to see everyone. We missed Heather because she was coming over the next day and we didn't stay over night. Gretchen pulled out these punching balloons and Cora and Amelia had a ball with them. I love the kids hair with the balloons.









This is Amelia's friend Jordan. His mom and I have been friends since before high school. They come over after the library most wed. and have a play date. It is fun to watch them grow up together!


Amelia is getting good at dressing herself. She can put on a hat and socks sometimes all by herself, and almost a shirt. She can get her legs into pants, but she can't get them all the way up yet.



Amelia does such silly things that keep me smiling. She likes to walk around with her toy basket on her head, or sit in pots. Sometimes she will walk around with our shoes, but it is really cute when she tries to put our shoes on her dolls feet. :)


My mom has found some great toys that get passed around to the different grandchildren. This little dog is one of them, however I don't think he will be leaving our house. Amelia has claimed it as her little buddy. She carries it under her arm everywhere. On this morning she wouldn't put it down for breakfast, so I let her take it with her into her highchair. She would feed her dog and then feed her self. Give him a kiss and a pat. It was so cute!




We have been trying to clean out our 3rd room, to make space for the new baby. So for family home evening one night we went and bought a cabinet and Michael put it together with the help of Amelia.

A little while ago Amelia was sick, and I let her watch a little of a movie because I can't carry her around everywhere all day long when she doesn't feel good. So we made her a nice spot on her teddy bear. I thought it was cute!



Melissa had a birthday! I was glad they came over so we could help celebrate! She had a yummy ice cream cake, that was green and white.

Blog change

This blog is officially changing from "all about Amelia" to a "family" blog. It is only fair, because we have a new little boy on the way and we don't want to leave anyone out :) We just had our second ultrasound- to get the remaining pictures, and they confirmed it is a boy for sure. I will try to post pictures soon... but here are a few facts about this little guy.

Nickname: Joe-Joe
How far along am I: 5 months- only 4 left! Yikes!
What has been different with this pregnancy: He is a real kicker! My tiredness has gotten better, but I am still more tired then I would have thought I would be, and definitely more tired then I was with Amelia in this second trimester. I have more cravings with this pregnancy. Boy it is different to be pregnant with a toddler around. I forget I am pregnant all the time, those kicks help me to remember :)
What does Amelia think: We have on occasion told her there is a baby in my belly. Her first response is to look at us like we are crazy. The second was she pointed to her belly and said baby. We told her nope. Then she would lift my shirt layers up looking for a baby- she gave up. Now she gently pats my belly and even tried to kiss it once. Not sure if she is catching on yet, but she is doing lots of mothering to her little dog toys and her baby dolls. It is so cute! She will be a wonderful big sister.

Pit Viper

Michael has been telling me lately that Amelia is like a Pit Viper. He says she doesn't always know what she is doing, and that you have to be quick and not get to close in order to not get hurt. He usually says this if I am laying on the floor. She is bound to pick up some large object that you have to be careful will not land on your head, or when she sits in your lap, be careful she doesn't spontaneously decide to throw herself backwards into your face. She also loves to climb all over you, and pounce on your belly if you lay on the floor... not good for me being prego. So I try to only lay on the couch now.

This advice comes from a guy with quick reflexes, and it is difficult for my slow tired body, especially in the evenings, to move very fast to avoid collisions with the wild and crazy Amelia. But the more I think about it, I think it is true. She loves to do silly things, and to run around, but if you wish to be with her on the floor and be safe... you better be on guard for the pit viper :)

Day 2 Pictures for Daddy

Happy little Amelia in her pink fuzzy sweatshirt.


This pictures is with Amelia's Great Grandpa Jim. It was fun to see him today at my Dad's house.

Pictures for Daddy

Here are some pictures for Michael...

Crazy Hair!
Crazy Faces!


Crazy Little Girl.

Family Home Evening

Our Church encourages each family to have a special time set aside each week that brings family members together and strengthens their love for each other, helps them draw closer to Heavenly Father, and encourages them to live righteously. We call this Family Home Evening and we have it every Monday evening. Typically we have been doing it with just Michael and I. We share things we have learned from the church magazine, or through our own scripture study, or we do a fun activity like watch a movie, or go and visit family we don't get to see all the time.

This week however we decided Amelia is old enough to start having Family Home Evening with us. So we got out a big blanket that we all sat on, and we sang "If your Happy and You Know It", and "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home", said a prayer, showed her some pictures of Jesus and Heavenly Father, and told her that they love her. Then we played some games. We played ring around the Rosy... which Amelia was not so sure of at first. When Michael and I fell down, she got concerned, and tried to help us up. We tried to be more excited and happy as we fell the second time around... she thought it was fun, but then thought we should all get back up, the third time Michael helped her fall down... gently... but she didn't like that. Next we played duck duck goose. She thought it was kind of funny, but was not sure about that game either as Michael chased me around the circle. Once she caught on, we let her have a turn, we helped her say Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose ( on Michael's head) Then I took her hand and helped her run around me as Michael chased her. She liked this. So she did it again, but this time she said " Duck" as she touched Michael's head, then she went screaming away from him like he was going to chase her. It was so cute. I know we will have lots of good memories from doing FHE with her. I am grateful for prophets that help us to do things like this that strengthen our family.

Work Dinner

Michael has his work dinner every January. This year we went to Kaspar's in Seattle. It was a really nice place, with fabulous food! We had a lot of fun too. Thanks to John, Melissa and Troy we were able to attend. They stayed at home and watched Amelia for us. They split the time as we were gone almost 4 hours!

Danno

One of Amelia's favorite things to do is to play the piano. She calls it the "Danno." Here is a cute clip. She like the take Michael's finger and poke at the keys with it.



And here are a few cute pics from when I got her up from a nap. :)

Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving was a lot of fun! On Thursday we went to Indian with my Dad, Heather and Jon. It was sooooo good!! I was sooo full, and then we came home and had some pie. We ate at the Clay Pit, I have never been disappointed when we have eaten there.

Then on Friday we went to my Mom and Rich's house and had a dinner there with, Gwen, Bruce, my Grandma, Heather and Jon, and Jon's Mom, Annie, Duncan, Cora and Colin. It was a lot of fun!

Then on Saturday we drove down to Ocean Shores to celebrate Thanksgiving at the Ocean, (Jeanne's favorite place to be! ) The weather was good to us, and the view was wonderful. There was 13 of us there and we all fit into their RV!

One of my favorite part of Thanksgiving is our tradition of sharing what we are thankful for, this year we are thankful that we will have a new addition to the family on July 19th!! It was fun to tell everyone, and now that we have had our ultrasound we are happy to share it with everyone!! :) We are super excited and Amelia has no clue what is coming :) But she will love it too.

Here are some pictures... I wish I took more but it is all I have for now.