My four favorite boys!

They are all so handsome!!

Happy Birthday to Owen and Josh!

Wow. This birthday is somewhat of a milestone for our family. This is the first time that we have a two year old and I am NOT already expecting or have already had another baby!

Owen totally knows that it is his birthday today. If you ask him how old he is he will say "Two!" and try to hold up two fingers, although he hasn't quite mastered that part yet. He leaves out the "birthday" part and just says "Happy To You"..it's cute!

I was thinking this morning that it will be really cool when he is old enough to really understand that he and Josh have the same birthday. I was thinking that maybe by the time he turns three he might 'get' it, but if not, definitely by his fourth birthday I think he will really understand. Josh was in the shower this morning and I was talking to Owen about his birthday and told him about how today is daddy's birthday too. When Josh got out of the shower, Josh came and told Owen happy birthday and Owen pointed to him and said "Daddy too!" with this cute emphasized little voice. It was sweet:)

So today, we celebrate birthday's with One Voice as they perform the last of the Easter performances. Last night's opener went really really well. Jessalyn did great and the boys were super cute as they ran on stage in their little Biblical outfits. Owen stole the show in the second that he was out there. He totally seems to understand his job and does exactly what he is supposed to do. We'll see how today goes though..because the show is at the exact same time that he is usually napping. We'll see. I'm trying not to stress about it...just go with the flow and see how it all comes about!

Tomorrow will be a fun day with Easter and actually celebrating the birthday's. We will get up for the Sunrise Service (6am), then go to a big Church breakfast, then have two services right in a row and then head to Granny and Papa's for a nice afternoon of relaxing and eating!

I will try to get some good 'two year' portraits of Owen..I figured I would wait until I put him in his Easter outfit (that I haven't actually gotten yet!).

I will leave you with some pics from yesterday...Owen's last day of being one!

Back to the "old Jessalyn"!

Back in December I posted a picture of "the new Jessalyn"...her, with her new glasses. She has been good with her glasses. She wore them all the time and really felt she needed them to see properly. She didn't mind them..in fact, she really liked them. She liked how she looked in glasses and as far as her self esteem goes....well, we just don't have to worry about that with her! (haha)

One thing that really bugged her was having to protect them all the time. During basketball season she tried to play without them on..but felt like she couldn't see enough. After deciding to wear them during basketball she got smashed in the face with a basketball...something that hurts without glasses but WITH glasses REALLY hurst. Not only did it hurt..but Josh had to bend her glasses back into shape after. We have had many similar examples of this...between her regular activities and wrestling with her brothers we have just had plenty of issues.

She also was really bothered by the fact that she couldn't wear sunglasses (now that the sun is finally shining!), and that when it rained she would get drops on her glasses that turn to smudges. So after lots of adjusting, cleaning and bending back into shape...in addition to some research on contacts for kids we decided to just do it.

Josh and I are happy to save her from the phase of "rec specs" (something he lived through) and white athletic tape holding glasses together (something I had the luxury of living through). With contacts she should be able to skip right passed these unfortunate stages of life!

So far so good. She was able to take them out and put them in multiple times in the office and seems quite comfortable with them.

As for me...I am happy to be able to see straight to her eyes again!!!

The moon!

Owen has finally noticed the moon. I'm sure that all kids are fascinated by it..but I just love how much my kids love it. My aunt Susie (who passed away just over a year ago) LOVED the moon. I remember being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night in my jammas and brought outside in the cold so that I could see the moon if it looked beautiful that night. If I wasn't at Susie's house...she would call me and make sure that I went outside to look at it. I always notice the moon when it is big and bright and full...and it will ALWAYS make me think of Susie. Owen was home with Melissa while the rest of us were at the Passover Seder at Church and when I came home he came out on the porch to tell me ALL about the moon! He was very excited. I went inside and grabbed the camera..not sure what type of photo I could get, but I was determined to try! The moon wasn't particulary big or full this night..but Owen noticed it anyway. I can't wait unil the summer when it gets huge and full and red...and is right above the lake!

Signs of life.

My plant has sprouted a pretty little flower! Its yet another sign of life that comes along with spring. I was delighted to find this little flower on the inside while we watch the rain wash away the snow on the outside.

Jessalyn the "photographyer"

Yesterday morning I finally let Jessalyn have a turn with my camera. We had it set on an an auto mode with auto focus..but she didn't like that. She wanted more. I figured we would just jump right into it and go straight to manual:) I tried to get her to put the camera on autofocus so that she could just concentrate on exposure...but she didn't like that either. While I was getting the boys dressed this morning I let her go outside and snap some pictures. After taking the pics off the camera I found myself impressed with her perspective and even composition...and figured I would share a few of her pictures here. I'm sure she'll do this on her own blog as well:)

I think she will enjoy it more when there is actually something more than dead leaves and dirty snow to take pictures of!

These are a few of my favorites






She said "mom, I think I want to be a photography..er".

Just a test

Just wondering if these pictures show up any bigger than usual. I'm trying to figure out how to do it because I know its possible!