Just Me!!

Saturday Mark had to work so I took the kids to the Daffodil parade in Puyallup. Two hours and some minutes later we waved to the last of the marching bands. The kids loved getting to sit up front and watch with tons of other people lining the streets. Ethan asked me about each and every crowned "queen" riding past us on the floats. I think the cutest comment that day had to have come from Valerie. She said (when I was getting ready to breastfeed Charlie), "mommm, do you have to do that right here?" I responded quickly and with some amusement, "I feed you when your hungry, right?" Enough said! My sister met up with us, and we spent the whole day together. It was so relaxing. After the parade we went for sandwiches, and then to the park for some down time while the kids played on the toys. Here's Charlie blaming Ryan for Peeing all over everything, during a diaper change in the park.

One of the things our family loved about Arkansas was the Nature Center in Pinebluff . It was packed with things to see, hands on learning, a crop duster to ride in, and two nature trails. Luckily, even though the PNW has outdoor activities all the time, they also have a very nice Nature Center that captured most of what we were missing since we left Arkansas. One of our sunny Spring break days, one that wasn't taken up by the dreaded Spring Clean, we spent at the nature center. The kids had fun and even got a little exercise to boot. Here are some pictures: *Dressing up as a bat, bluebird, skunk, and squirrel was loads of fun *Out by the trail...don't look too closely or you will see the freeway *Yes, Charlie came too! The trails weren't made for our stroller so next time we will backpack her in!

This is our attempt at finding or taking a perfect picture of Charlie for her birth announcements early February. What we came away with, was the realization that our daughter loves to make silly faces. We eventually used the one from the hospital to create her birth announcement. If you haven't received one of our birth announcements from the other two kids, you really missed out. Mark hand crafted them, and wrote them himself. Valerie was announced as if she were a book, and Ethan's a boxer coming into the ring for the first time! Poor Charlie got this stunningly beautiful announcement from tiny*prints online. I love it. I miss Mark's prose and all, but I think the cherry blossom backgrou nd in her announcement made up for it.