Spring is here

Hooray, Spring is finally here.  And now we get to look at things like this:

Unfortunately we also get to look at this:

(and if you saw my Facebook status about weeds yesterday, 4/11, this is why)

Isabella is funny

Isabella just says the funniest things sometimes.  This morning we were leaving to go pick Pam up to head over to the mall. (They were giving away free coupon books if you were wearing green and stopped by the information desk, those things are usually $5 and have awesome coupons.)  On the way to pick Pam up, Isabella said to me, I think Pam will be wearing a shirt.  I said, Well I certainly hope so.  A few minutes later, Isabella said I think Pam will be wearing a green shirt and pants.  Well, thanks for clarifying and expanding on Aunt Pam's wardrobe.

She is also getting very picky about clothes.  She got a new dress for Christmas that was pink with a little black shrug.  She loves that dress.  I have to fight with her to get her to wear a different dress to church.  So we told her that we needed to buy her a new dress and it couldn't be pink.  It is close to Easter anyways, so there are lots of pretty spring dresses around.  We looked at Walmart and Target and she didn't see anything that she really liked that was in her size.  So at the mall today, we went in to Burlington to look at their dresses.  I think that store exploded with dresses.  She kept choosing pink dresses and I kept telling her no.  She got stuck on this one because the tag said Cinderella.  I eventually convinced her that we were getting that one.  She finally found a really pretty yellow dress in her size that she liked.  SOLD!  Then I had to find a little shrug to go with it.  Finally found that and a new church outfit for Bryce and we're set for church for the spring.  I wonder if we'll be able to convince her to wear a different dress some Sundays or not.  I'll post pics of their new outfits once they wear them.

Free bread, new beds, tumbling, and a harsh critic

Our church has arranged to pick up the left over bread from Panera a couple of times during the week and allow members of the church to use it to help alleviate their budgets.  I pick it up on Tuesday nights and have it available for people to pick up on Wednesdays.  We've thoroughly enjoyed having the free bread and that we're still able to have some treats despite being on a tight budget.  The kids have especially loved it.  Isabella and Bryce both love the pumpkin muffins and cinnamon rolls.  And heaven forbid if you're eating one or the other and not sharing with them.

 Bryce enjoying his muffin (like the bed head)

Isabella loving her pumpkin muffin

Both of our kids have recently gotten new beds.  Isabella got a new bed because Ken's sister's friend was getting rid of it and asked if we wanted it.  We, of course, said sure.  Its a pretty cool bed.  It was initially intended for Bryce, but its a little big for him.

Well, in our attempt to get Bryce out of our bed, we tried to see if he would sleep in Isabella's old bed.  No dice.  He slept there for a little while, meaning a few minutes.  Then he would get up and be in our room.  So we ended up going ahead and buying a new crib yesterday to replace our old rickety one that we stopped using because it wasn't safe.  We put it together last night with some "help" from the kids.  (Somehow two of the screws got switched and we still need to figure out which ones.)  But he slept in it the entire night!  I'm not holding my breath that he'll do the same tonight, but its a start.

Isabella started a tumbling class last week at our local recreation center.  She's having fun so far.  I don't have any pictures of her in it (where you can see its her), but I'll get some in a few weeks.  But here's Bryce, evidently worn out from tumbling class.  =D

Bryce is Ken's harshest critic.  Ken would start singing to Bryce and Bryce stuck his fingers in his ears.  Ken would stop singing and Bryce would pull his fingers out.  It was pretty funny.  Ken wasn't quite as sure about it being funny.

Valentine's Day

So our Valentine's Day was not all that romantic this year.  Ken ended the day with a case of the stomach flu, which Isabella came down with a couple days later.  Somehow it skipped Bryce and I.  We did, however, make it out on Valentine's Day morning and get some family pictures taken.  We met my sister, Linda, down in Occoquan.  (Linda was visiting for a few weeks from Japan to show off her little girl.)  We stopped a couple places and Linda took the pictures for us.  I worked on editing them to fix a few flaws.  It was rather windy that day, but for February, it was quite nice, about 70 degrees or so.  Anyways, here are a few of our favorites.

Christmas

So Christmas has come and gone and I'm finally getting around to upload some pictures to here.  We ended up with three separate present opening sessions.  But we had a blast and are so grateful for the generous families that we have.

Sometime in December, Isabella and Ken had a "campout" in the living room.  Evidently, Isabella had a great time, Ken ... not so much.  He was a little stiff the next day from sleeping on the floor.

The kids showing off their new Christmas outfits.  They wouldn't cooperate when I was trying to take a picture of them together.  But I did think it was funny that they both had their fingers in their mouth.

Aunt Pam brought over a fun candycane headband, but this picture was funny just because of the look on Isabella's face.

Bryce breaking in his new snake

 Isabella and the tutu that Grandma Dixon and Aunt Pam made for her

Christmas morning opening gifts

I forgot to take the camera with us to Christmas with Ken's family.  I do have a few pictures on my phone.  I just haven't had a chance to upload them yet.

My big present, albeit unwanted present, that I got for Christmas is some rather painful gallstones.  Luckily we figured out what it was quickly and was diagnosed and referred out by my doctor quickly.  We met with the surgeon today and I'm having surgery on Friday.