A Very Merry Un-Birthday

This morning, I asked Michael what he wanted to do today. He answered, "birthday party." That made me laugh, so I asked him whose birthday it was. Michael's? "No." Mom's? "No." Sarah's? "No." Toad's? (His stuffed frog.) "No." So, whose birthday is it? The answer was a resounding "Daddy's!"

So, we spent the whole day getting ready for Daddy's (un-)birthday party. We made a birthday card and party hats. We made a paper chain to decorate with. We even picked out birthday presents.



I took Michael to our pantry and asked him what we should give Daddy for a birthday present. He chose a can of olives, a can of black beans, and a tin of sardines (some of Dad's favorite foods), and we wrapped them up. We even made blueberry muffin "cupcakes" for dessert.

Boy, was Dad surprised when he got home!

Welcome, Summer!

Matt finished up his law school finals last week. Hurray! Two years down and one more to go. He was definitely ready for a break. The kids and I met him at school right after his last final and we headed to the beach. Michael, of course, loved it ...



especially feeding the sea gulls ...



but not so much the big waves. (Dad had to wade out and rescue him.)




Sarah tolerated it as long as she stayed out of the water.



We found a dead puffer fish. --Kind of yucky, but I thought it was pretty neat.



And Grandma came up for the weekend! We always love having her.



Fun pics:

For Mother's Day, Matt got me a "flirty apron." Now, I can cook in style!



Michael, King of the Laundry Pile. Laundry days are always fun at our house.



Sarah's first teeth just popped up. Poor girl, she had two teeth coming in at the same time and had a nasty cold to boot. There were a few days when she actually seemed cranky --weird because she is normally the mellowest baby ever! But now that the teeth are through and the cold is over, she's back to her happy self.




Michael sings the alphabet song:

Our Little Angel

Sarah continues to grow and is ever becoming a more active member of our family. As you can see, she now enjoys nibbling on her toes.



She has started scooting a little bit (mostly backwards) and can rotate in a complete circle on her belly to grab toys off to the side. She is very good-natured and easy most of the time, but she definitely lets you know when she feels like she's being ignored. This girl wants to be in the middle of the action!



We took a family temple trip a few weeks ago and took advantage of the beautiful weather to take a family picture.



Our little bunny. (This one's for you, Nana.)



Michael continues to amaze us. He can already point to and name all the letters alphabet; he's just picked it up from books we read together. Now, he's learning the ABC song, again just picking it up from a musical toy.

Had to Brag

In addition to a heavy class load and Law Journal assignments and Peanut Butter Factory duty* and making time for his family, Matt also spent huge amounts of time working on an 80-page paper for the Houston Law Journal last fall. All members of Law Journal had to submit a paper and last week at the annual banquet, we found out that, not only was his selected for publication, but he received an award for the best paper in his field!



I am so proud of him! He puts so much effort into being the very best he can, including the best husband and father. He is amazing to me, and I feel so blessed to have him to walk(/jog/sprint as the case may be) through life with. I love you, Matt!


*Not sure if I've mentioned in this forum yet that Matt has spent every-other weekend the last year and a half working the graveyard shift at our church's peanut butter factory where they make peanut butter for needy families around the world.

Easter Fun

We traveled up to my parent's house for Easter for our annual Easter family reunion. We had a great turn-out this year and it was so nice to see everyone! Of course, for Michael the highlight was the Easter egg hunt.

Even Sarah got into the act.

I stayed with the kids for the week after Easter(Matt had to come home for classes). The first day we were there, Michael saw Popie using a shovel to put leaves into a wheelbarrow. For the rest of our time there, Michael couldn't get enough of this activity! We even bought him his own little shovel so he could work safely.

My great-aunt Vern was there on an extended visit, so we got to spend the whole week visiting with her too. The night before we left, we made a camp fire and roasted hot dogs and smores. Michael loved the taste of the smores, but not so much the googey marshmallow that got all over his face, hands, and clothes.

This past week after we got home, Sarah started rolling over by herself --back to tummy. And she's already half-way to making it the other-way around too.


Sarah is sitting up by herself now pretty well. We still try to keep pillows around her, though, just in case.

Hmmmm. Any resemblance?

She looked so sweet today, I just had to take a picture.

Sarah sits up!

Sarah has just started sitting up on her own! She's still a little wobbly, but she's getting a little better every day.

For Spring Break, Matt took a few days off and we went to San Antonio. Grandma took us and Aunt Sarah to the Texas Transportation Museum. The name might not be too exciting, but it it a 2-year-old paradise!

They have a real, full-size train to ride around the premises; a building full of old cars and carriages, including an old fire-truck you can climb up into; a passenger train set up to walk through; and several big mock-up model train sets. Michael loved it!


My mom and Alison came to visit last week and we took another trip to the zoo to see what we missed last time. I think the coolest thing of all was the komodo dragon. I think Michael probably liked the monkeys the best.

Michael wanted to wear a tie to church yesterday, just like Dad, so we made him one out of a wide piece of ribbon. He was very proud. --And it makes him look so grown-up.

Michael is such a sweet boy! He decided to share all of his frogs with Sarah one day. He piled them up all over her, and she was literally covered with frogs. (This picture was taken after I removed them from covering her face.)

Just a sweet smile.

Birthday Blowout

Not sure why, but I couldn't get this to post to the last update, but here it is.

Michael had been trying to blow out the candle for several minutes before we even began recording . . .