Easter

We had Easter dinner with all of the Phoenix-area family. The kids (and one brave parent, Robyn) went swimming in the hot tub. Aren't these three boy cousins as cute as can be?

Robyn to John: "want to come in with me?"

"Ok!"

Havilah mostly hung out with her Daddy, whom she is quite fond of.

Hope your Easter was happy!

food for thought

Here's a longish but deeply thoughtful article on praying from a woman who lived with Mother Theresa. I'm not there yet, but it's something to aspire to.

The infamous John Willis

One of John's favorite pastimes is still "doing the dishes"--which usually means I mop the floor next to the sink and he gets a fresh shirt. But, hey, I'm not going to argue with a man who wants to lend a hand in the kitchen.

Yesterday, he jumped down from the sink and brought me a Ziploc full of water and some mysterious dark floating objects. "Da!" (which translates roughly as "look!") he said. "What is that, John?" And then I realized he had put his socks in the baggie of water. Resourceful chap.

Next--and boy, this boy keeps me on my toes all day--he opened the fridge and pulled out a bowl of black beans which he proceeded to eat like they were tiny truffles, sound effects and all.

He is still quite tender with Cutie, and wraps her in his blankets and carries her around in Hava's sling. She and Kevin Austin (who deserves his own post--soon!) get lots of love, snacks, drinks from his sippy cup, and handholding.

Billy and I are often puzzled about how to help a two-and-a-half-year-old cope with life disappointments (like getting water instead of milk at dinner). But we're trying our best. (-:

Oh, and John now says yellow as clear as can be!

so thankful for my boy and girl!

book love

yikes, I haven't posted in two weeks. shame on me. Well, here's what we've been up to. Lots of work (Billy had extra training), enjoying tons of sunshine and play in the backyard (John has discovered the fun of watering the trees, grass, weeds, sister, mom, dad...), and a quick trip to Flagstaff with Jim, Megan, and Shane.

Today we had an outing to downtown Peoria for the Library Book Fest. Oh, it might not sound like much but we had tons of fun. There was a book sale, magician, reptile man, storytime, antique/junk sale, face painting and "tattoos," and Saturday market booths. Here's a little bookshelf I got from the sale:

[a statue from outside the library--this is for my mom (-: ]

We couldn't help but get a dozen or so books at the book sale, such as:

More soon, I promise!

Hava turns 1/2

Here are the six month old stats:

Height: 28 inches
Weight: 18 lbs, 3 oz.
Favorite activity: being held by mom
Sleeping through the night (this is included in honor of the mothers at Tot Town play group who find this to be the most important issue with their babes. Go figure.): not a chance.
Eating: so far, bananas, rice cereal, apples (not so crazy about), peas (hated! Don't worry; I'm not giving up on Hava+vegetables. She is my daughter and so vegetables are a fact of life. Sorry sweetheart!)
Moving: just rolling, rolling, and a dash of scooting so far. No need to rush, baby. You only get to lie around all day once in life! (-: