Black and White Wednesday..Laughter :D

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. ~e.e. cummings"

Oh how I love these faces!!!!!!

I adore this picture! (Even the slobber all over Faith's chin from laughing so hard) It was taken 2 1/2 years ago when trying to get a Christmas photo of the kids. You know the one....the one you try desperately to capture with no luck at all. I remember trying so hard to get these 3 to cooperate and begging them to just pleeeease hold still. They laughed at me hysterically and got such a kick out of me desperately trying to get their picture. At the time I had given up on getting that perfect photo and disappointingly decided on one of the many I had taken that day.

Years later it is this photo that I cherish the most from that day. The one where they laughed hysterically at me as I scolded them for not being still and letting me get one decent photo. This is the photo that I had to frame and hang on my wall because it always makes me smile.

I look at this photo now and cannot get over how much they have changed in just these past 2 1/2 years........
Reed with his little boyish grin was only 10....now at 12 his teeth have braces to help with the over bite smile he had in this photo. I can already see his teeth shifting and I miss that little overbite boyish grin.
Faith was only 4 and not even in school yet. I remember the time this photo was taken we were considering holding her back a year from Kindergarten the following year. Now she is almost 7, in 1st grade, and recently received an academic achievement award.
Dean was 12 and now at 14 is taller than me and no longer has his full face he has in this photo. He has thinned out, his voice is changing, and he will soon finish his first year of High School.
One thing hasn't changed though.......they still laugh at their silly Mom!

View from my kitchen window......

"Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in the winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green and blossom, but we hope, we know it."`Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The apple tree right outside my kitchen window is just starting to blossom and I just love looking out at it......
I have a bird feeder right near it and I love to watch the birds in the tree. I keep trying to catch a picture of them, but they fly off. I'll keep trying....

I love when the trees are just beginning to blossom.......

I've taken a break the past few weeks of getting the house organized. The kids have been off on Spring break. They were off on different weeks so I never had a chance to just sleep in and take a break from playing chauffeur...uuugh! Looking forward to summer break!
Reed goes back to school on Monday so I will start tackling the house again and getting the rest of it in place. We have not even touched the guest/office room yet. It is filled with boxes and anything else we were not sure where to put. Our garage is also a mess and needs to get organized, but that is all Dale's territory. lol With the extra space of having a 3 car garage Dale wants to set up a work area for himself so he can start working on stain glass again. The last lamp he made was about 7 years ago so he is anxious to get back into it.

I found Faith a little tikes classic climbing castle at a garage sale for $50. They are originally around $400 and something I would never just go out and buy. I wasn't sure if she would like it or not but I have been wanting to get her something for the backyard. With having the swimming pool we do not have the space for the playfort/swingset we always had I felt like she needed something to do back there. Well she loves the castle and has been playing in it every chance she gets. I love watching her play in it through the window when she doesn't know I am watching. She still has so much imagination in her which I just love!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week-end!!!

Our simple Easter.......

(Faith's Easter craft she picked out to make from Micheal's. We spent her Spring Break making lots of crafts as it was raining for a good part of it)

We had a nice simple and quiet Easter this year. Most of the week, including Easter Day was cold and raining. I had visions of spending our first Easter in our new home eating picnic style in our backyard by the pool with an egg hunt outside, but...maybe next year! One thing I have learned with living in Northern Ca. is in the Spring you never know what the weather will be like. (And of course today is beautiful and sunny out!)

The kids enjoyed our tradition of coloring eggs even though the boys got bored after doing a couple. lol I boiled 4 dozen this year so Faith and I had plenty to color! I have a feeling by next year Faith and I will be on our own with the egg coloring. ;)

We did get a little break in the weather on Saturday long enough for Faith to enjoy the annual egg hunt we go to each year. We also had our traditional Easter morning egg hunt when the kids woke up and I was happy the boys still wanted to join in. I love watching them run through the house finding them all and how in a matter of seconds all those eggs that took hours to fill and hide just disappear!