Photo Shoot

Sometimes I don't know why I put myself through the torture of taking the kids to get professional pictures taken. It was stressful when I had just one child and now that stress is doubled. Plus I of course like to get pictures of them together which is a feat in and of itself. But since we were in Japan when Claire turned one I took the girls today to get Claire's one year pictures and a few of them together. They turned out alright, but I didn't get any of Claire's big smile so I was a little disappointed. It is always hard to get a good picture of both of them together as well. So here is a little sampling of the pictures we got.

The best one of them together.

Claire looking cute, Olivia with a forced smile.

Huh?

I think this is my favorite one of Claire.

Olivia did great and is so fun now since she will pose and smile nice for the pictures. She is past the running away, screeching (that is what Claire did pretty much the entire time), and scrunchy face fake forced smiles that they go through when they are 2.

So cute!

I do like this one, although she missed the picture right before this she had a really cute big smile and here she is in mid screech again.

Trying to climb.

I had to put this one in so you could see how a lot of them turned out. Full scream.

Home Sweet Home!

Well we have been home a week now and I must say it is nice to be home. Throughout this last week there has been numerous times when Olivia out of the blue will turn to me and say, "Hey mom, it sure is nice to be home." So cute to hear coming from a 3 year old. She has already been around the world and knows what it is like to be home. She was so excited to get home to her toys and friends. We have gotten to see some of her friends and today she was able to go back to pre-school. She loved it and was remembering before we went all the fun things she gets to do there. Of course the novelty of being back to all her toys has already worn off. We can really get by with a lot less toys than we have. I really think I need to box some up and then rotate them around every few months so they seem new again and get played with more than they do.

Since we have been home we have gotten into a nice routine with naps and bed time which is nice for me. Claire is down to one long nap in the middle of the day which is great for my schedule. And both girls are going to bed around 8 giving me a little time to myself. Claire has loved being home. She loves the little kitchen and even likes to ride Olivia's 4-wheeler (I am sure we will be getting her one of her own next) even though she can't steer it. I thought I was going to have to baby proof more when I got home but thankfully Claire hasn't been getting into too much yet she still likes all her toys. The worst is the garbage can which she likes to put things into so as long as I see her put it in, then I can get it back out as it is usually toys or shoes or something we actually need.

On Wednesday morning Hans will be home I just found out this evening and our family will be back to 4. We have been missing Hans a lot lately and are looking forward to him being back with us (plus I have a big honey do list that we need to get working on). Since we have been home though it is very cute at night when we are getting ready to go to sleep we tell everyone we love them and goodnight and then give kisses. So Olivia gives me and Claire kisses and tells us she loves us and then she looks up at the sky and says, "Goodnight daddy, I love you!" and blows a kiss. So cute she is often thinking of him and is very excited for him to get home as I am sure he is even more excited to be home from Japan and back to his girls.

Inspirational Reads

I have been following and reading different blogs and recently I came across a link on a friend's blog to some very inspiring blogs. These women are amazing Christian women that have been through a lot of loss. So if you get a little time to read and want to be inspired by real moms that are out there take some time to read these blogs.

Dancing Barefoot

My Charming Kids

The Beauty of Sufficient Grace

I hope you enjoy their stories. I sure did. They are great writers and you may find that you are more blessed than we sometimes remember. I found myself thanking the Lord that I have not had to suffer with a loss like these women have. What a hard thing to go through yet they found His grace and peace to get them through. Truely inspirational. You will also find links for their blogs on my sidebar.

Playing in Whitehall

After spending two weeks in Kalispell we headed down to Whitehall for a few days to hang out with Hans' parents. We had a fun and relaxing time while we were there. We had Easter and birthday celebrations, played, planted trees, Olivia gathered eggs, rode a horse, and we managed to fit in a few times in the hot tub. Olivia did a lot of reading her favorite pass time, which I love. Here are some pics from our fun time in Whitehall.

Easter presents. Birthday presents.

Always reading.

Grandpa's new hat.

Self picture.

Off to plant trees.

My little farm girl. She is getting to be such a big helper.

Pushing in the dirt.

Beautiful new tree.

I found a branch!

Riding Missy.

Playing in the Bozeman airport before we left.

A cute smile. She will do it when she wants to.

Claire didn't really want in on the photo shoot.

My sweet girl.

Our trip back was uneventful, but long. Well not long compared to flying to Japan, but still a long process with all the waiting and driving. It was so nice to be gone, but so very nice to get home. It will take a bit to get back in the swing of things and unfortunately I am back to my project list that is a mile long. Hopefully we can fit in some fun amongst all the work we need to get done this summer. We will keep you updated on our landscaping and home projects as well.

Gotta love that Smile!

Olivia practicing her new hop scotch game.

Claire is really liking to ride things already.

Everytime I would turn around and look at Claire in her car seat she would give me this adorable smile. So I had to snap a few pictures. Don't worry I wasn't driving.

Easter in Montana

Since we moved to Washington 5 years ago I have not been home for Easter. So this year even though we had to be away from Hans it was nice to be home for Easter. Our Easter festivities started on Saturday when we decided to go to an Easter egg hunt at the fairgrounds. We got there plenty early and did lots of waiting for it start. They had a pretty big area with eggs for the 0 to 4 catagory, but there were so many kids that the hunt was over in less than 5 minutes. I felt really bad since Olivia only got 3 eggs and she thought she wasn't very good at it and that the other kids didn't know the rules because they didn't share. I just told her she did great at it there were just too many kids for how many eggs there were. So our long wait for 5 minutes of hunting was kind of a let down, but we still had fun being outside. I got a few good pictures as well.



Olivia waiting with Papa Bruce.

Claire took an egg from the edge before it started but I wasn't going to rip away a very tired little girls egg.

After the hunt with the cute painting.

Mmmm...I found the candy.

Candy, yes!

After the hunt we went to get some burgers and picnic and play at the park. It was fun and really warm and nice out.

Claire is not too happy about sister pushing her.

Then we headed back to the house to dye Easter eggs while Claire took a nap. Olivia did a great job and was really careful and very patient waiting for the eggs to get a nice deep color. She even had fun with mixing the colors at the end to see what color they would turn when dipped in a second color.

She liked the pink the best.

Olivia and all her eggs.

So pretty!

Putting on princess stickers.

Look at the grin. Makes me laugh and smile.

On Saturday night Olivia was so excited to go to bed because she wanted the Easter bunny to come. She told me he had lots of kids to see and he didn't have a car so he had to hop to all the houses. So cute. So sure enough they had some fun baskets waiting for them in the morning and had fun eating candy for breakfast and playing with the new toys.

Another picture mom!


After breakfast we headed off to church. Easter is one of my favorite holidays and I was glad that both girls were good for the service. Olivia went to children's church where she learned about Jesus dying and rising again for us and Claire even went to the nursery so that I could listen to the sermon. It was so refreshing to be in church worshipping and learning about the sacrifice our Lord made for us. He is Risen! I am so thankful that I serve a risen Saviour.

Here is a picture of the girls before we left for church.

I love having girls! So cute!

Having fun in the aisle.

Olivia's favorite part of her outfit was her hat.

After church we went down to the farm where my Aunt Patty and Uncle Ken live. It was so nice to be with the extended family. I had fun visiting with my cousins and there spouses. Cousin Michael was there too so that was fun for Olivia. We managed to get a few pics of them all together in their Sunday best before changing and lunch and then an Easter egg hunt and playing. The dinner was awesome and we had a really great day.

Michael, Olivia and Claire

Me and my girls.

Claire hunting for Easter eggs...she would find one and be happy just playing with that one. You can see Carrie in the background with her twin baby belly (only 9 weeks till her due date).

Olivia was the oldest so she was really into gathering all the eggs. Michael and Claire had to be helped along as they lost interest quickly. At least this time she was able to fill her basket.

Claire and Michael finding eggs.

After the hunting was over Papa Bruce played a lot with Michael and Olivia. They had a great time riding the four wheeler.

This baby calf was born Easter morning. He was so cute and the kids loved going to see him over and over and over again. What a great Easter surprise.