Mini-adventure at the Creek

Virginia is beautiful! We took a walk into the woods behind my brother's house to let the kids explore a little and play in the creek.





There were several spots where fallen trees made natural bridges from one embankment to the other:










Here's Natalie holding one of the little "boats" the kids placed in the current and then ran alongside to see whose boat made it the farthest fastest.



Parker simply couldn't stop smiling... it made me think that I probably need to find a way to have more "adventure" in our family (not just when we're with cousins!).






Thanks, Ben, for making sure my kids had such a great time during our visit. I love you!

Happy times with cousins

My kids LOVE spending time with my brother's kids when we go to visit them in Virginia. Of course, on this trip they also got to meet their new cousin, Addie (my sister's first baby)... but for some reason I didn't really take any pictures of them together - probably because we were just too busy adoring her! **Sorry, Erika**

Lincoln with the girls:




Ben introduced Parker to one of life's little joys - getting to have a campfire without having to go camping!



Mmmmm - I had almost forgotten how delicious a fire-toasted marshmallow could be.




Anndra even enjoyed some cousin bonding time.



After trying to feed her a bottle, Bethany leaned in to give Anndra a little forehead-to-forehead 'kiss' - very sweet.




But overall, the best cousin gathering spot was the trampoline. I still can't believe they managed to have so much fun, with so many different-age kids... without squabbles, and without anyone getting hurt. 6 kids (ages 1-9) jumping together almost everyday for 2 weeks - I kept waiting for someone to come back into the house in tears, but it never happened. Amazing!

I guess it was taking me a little too long to get Anndra's breakfast ready.

You know your baby is teething when...



she'd rather chew on the table...



than eat her food.



"What's that, Mommy? You want me to lift up my head so you can spoon cereal into my mouth? No way - this wood is much better!"

Easter Egg Hunt 2010

Lincoln and Parker each had a friend over for hunting Easter eggs this year and all 4 kids really enjoyed it. I was impressed with what good sports they all were - no fighting over eggs, no tears, just lots of fun and cooperation and sharing candy. It truly couldn't have gone better.

The hunters:



The older boys mostly wanted to run as fast as possible from one side of the yard to the other - back and forth - "Oh, there's an egg WAY over there - let's GET it!" Which is why most of their pictures look like this:







But they did slow down long enough for us to take this one:



Parker just looked over the draft for this post and asked me to include the fact that he and his friend worked together "as a TEAM."

The younger two went about it all more slowly. However, I think they got just as many eggs (if not more) than the big kids... which reminds me of that story about the tortoise and the hare. :)





Don't these happy smiles make you think that they know who the real "winners" of the hunt were?



Todd hid one Golden Egg up on the roof - and since both big boys spotted it at the same moment, he lifted them both up to grab it.



The other 3 spectators: