I Love Surprises.

Joel surprised me with a chocolate covered strawberries delivery

I rarely text... but after they arrived, I did send one to Joel.
I wanted him to hear my exact feelings right after they arrived...
This is the text that he received word for word...

Maggie enjoyed them just as much (but for different reasons) as much as I did.

Unwanted Guest.

Hello Fifth Disease...
I had never heard of you, until you broke down my door and settled yourself into my home without an invitation.
Mags and Anderson hardly noticed your visit...
but...
Joel and I both suffered miserably from your bad manners.
So next time your in the neighborhood, knock first, and don't be surprised if nobody's home.

The Buzz...

As I was playing with Ander's little tuft yesterday I cracked a joke about buzzing it...
well...
Joel didn't think it should be left at a joke, he was all about sharing his clippers with his son.
"I don't know J"
"C'mon Reg... like father like son"
I gave in rather easily, definitely too easily.
I even thought it was kind of fun idea until the first tuft of hair fell to the floor and then suddenly I thought I was going to burst into tears...

My baby's baby hair was gone!

I wanted to knock the man that had talked me into it in the noggin...
I've pretty much recovered, but I don't know if I would have done it again so early...
oh well...
at least his daddy is bursting at the seams that they both have buzzed heads.

... not too sure about the new do...

... it started to rub off on him...

the proud big mr. with the stunned little mr.
I think this is the funniest picture, you'd think it was a mirror reflection of the first time Anderson saw his new hair cut.
"what have you done mom and dad?!?"

A Story.

There once was a girl named Regan...
she really disliked kidney stones,
and wasn't a huge fan of tornado warnings...
the end.

I've Always Loved the Number 4

Happy 4th Birthday my darling Mags...
Oh man... I can't even type that without tearing up.

From the tip of my head to the end of my toes I love this sweet girl.
She has changed my life beyond measure.

Today.

Today...
I finally beat the flu...
Joel and Maggie played catch...
and we went for a family walk to get the mail.

We still need some work on the fly ball.

I never thought I'd feel like I lived in windy southern Alberta...
and not actually live in windy southern Alberta...
notice the bruised and beaten trampoline mat in the background.
I told Joel I'm going to sew it back together... now... if I could just learn how to sew.

When we decided to go for a walk and get some fresh air, Ander was laying (lying? Ew. I don't know and I'm annoyed that I even care) on his play mat in a onesie.
I decided to slip him into his snow suit rather than go through the whole circus of rounding up
a shirt, pants, socks, shoes, blankets, etc.
He was snug as a bug.



One day Mags is going to have a good laugh at this current stage of smiling she's in...
I wonder who taught her that it's appropriate to tuck her chin as tightly as possible into her neck when being photographed.
Ahhh! I love it!

update : I just looked up my grammar irritation (which annoys me even more, but I can't help myself) and I was wrong (also annoying)...
he was in fact lying on the play mat...

Milestone Report:

I needed to record some milestones that have been achieved around here...

because I'm kind of a crazy person and for different reasons,
both have been a little hard for me to accept.

The first milestone was achieved by none other than Miss Maguire...
I'm still not even sure how it happened...
I certainly didn't encourage it.
I'm ashamed to admit it, but I even try to discourage her...
...but to no avail.
"sigh"
So the other day Maggie and I had just finished making my bed and naturally I said
"o.k. miss, let's go make your bed".
She turned sharply in my direction, put her hand up (I was quite affronted) and responded
"no... I do it".
What?!?
"C'mon Mags... we'll do it together"
She replied "no!" (more aggressively if I do say so myself) "I do it".
I was at a loss... I like things just so... does she know how to do it just so?
Well...
She did pretty stinkin' good...
don't tell her, but all I had to do to make it just so was adjust a comforter underneath just a teeny tiny bit.
-the picture below was before I made the teeny tiny adjustment.

Now on to mr.'s milestone...
yet another thing that I had nothing to do with encouraging *cough* Joel *cough*.
Anderson is now able to hold his own bottle, which he only practices with his Dad.

I still snuggle him right up to me and hold it for him so that his hands are free to hold my finger or pat my arm...
Which. I. Love.

side note : "someone" (not me) is having a bit of a hissy fit about the pj debate...
so just to set the record straight : Joel Williams is NOT wearing pink pants.
Not that I understand the big deal...
Joel honey... you're man enough to pull off pink if you want... stand proud!

Same Page.

I think Anderson is agreeing with me when I say that we're both upset he's growing up so fast...

I may even venture to say he's taking it even harder than I am.

And to all those naysayers out there (especially someone who's name rhymes with gosselin),
these pictures are proof that he can punch out a little feist when he wants to.

Happy (or not so happy?) 5 Months Mr. Anderson...
we love and adore you, even when you toss out some sauciness every once in awhile.

The Easter Bunny is Coming! And...

remember Jesus!

That's what I heard out of little Maggie's mouth all weekend.

I love love love Easter...
what's not to love?
There's chocolate and Candy...
coloured eggs...
a big cuddly bunny delivers it all...
and everything is in pastels.

But most importantly, it's a time to celebrate and remember what our Savior has done for us.

I am often overwhelmed by my testimony of our Savior and His Atonement.
I can not imagine getting through certain points in my life with out Him.
I am so blessed and so grateful.

He Lives

Now here is a montage of pictures (with a few little tidbits here and there) to show some of what we did over the weekend.
I didn't get any pictures of us cuddling in front of the computer watching Conference,
but nothing could have made Easter better.



I had wanted to get Anderson an Easter basket like Maggie's but with a red or blue liner.
I went to Pottery Barn kids to see if they had what I was looking for,
only to find out that they were all sold out.
The lady that was helping me suggested I buy one of their galvanized buckets...
$30...
Um... No thank-you.
I had one at home sitting in a closet that was free.
Just as we were about to leave she came running up to me and informed me that somebody had just returned a large basket.
I'm sure she wanted to clock me one when I told her that she'd actually given me a great idea
and I was going to just make him a basket from a bucket I already had.




I love this picture...
she looks so goober chic (and yes I meant goober), with her tousled hair and soother crusties all around her lips.
When ever we're driving somewhere and I have my sunglasses on,
she'll say to me... "Mom, it's bwight, I need your gasses."





(I don't know who peed in Haidyn's corn flakes for this picture... but I die laughing every time I look at it)

Sunday afternoon we headed over to Sarah's house for a fancy dinner and a giant egg hunt.
It was such a great weekend...
Again...
I love Easter.