Karate Tournament

Today was Elliott's first karate tournament. He competed in the beginner forms and self-defense divisions. After 2 tie-breaker rounds, Elliott came away with a 3rd place win in forms. He placed 4th in self-defense. He did awesome! We are so proud of his accomplishments. He loves karate.

This past Thursday, Elliott received his 4th stripe on his yellow belt. Next up, green belt. He's on his way. Way to go!

Derek is 3!

My little munchkin is 3! They all grow up too fast. It's been a busy 3 years.

Derek went from this (1 day old) -

to this (3 yrs) -

We had fun celebrating Derek's birthday over 3 days (seems to be pretty typical to see how long we can stretch out holidays). On Friday, Derek's playgroup friends from church came over for a "party." Derek was talking about his birthday for months beforehand. He would say he was having friends for his birthday. So, easy enough - have the kids come over and just play. We had pretzels, apples, and cupcakes. It was the perfect little party. The kids all had a great time.

On Saturday, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's - where else? That seems to be the thing to do for the boys' birthdays. After playing games, we went to McDonald's to eat and play.

On Sunday (his birthday), Derek got to open presents and eat more cupcakes. Derek was pretty excited about the fire station and truck. We saw it at Toys R Us months ago and he was sad when he didn't get it then. I told him maybe he'd get it for his birthday, so since then he would talk about how he was getting a firetruck for his birthday.

I just love this kid. He is so much fun. He is generally an angel when he plays at other people's houses. He can hold his own against Elliott. He is very opinionated and often disagreeable, but he's adorable. Derek loves to read, loves having "lessons" (when I get around to it), loves Mickey Mouse, Dora, Diego, and Little Einsteins. He is a smart kid. He knows his ABC's by sight, along with their sounds and words that start with each letter. He can count to 30 and recognize numbers to 20. He loves to "read" his fairy tales book. It is so cute to hear him tell the story as he turns the pages. He loves to play games. His favorite games right now are Sorry and Monopoly Junior. He can't wait to play all the games that Elliott can play. He is also great at puzzles. Derek is a super sweet boy with lots of energy. He doesn't like to sit still (mainly at the table). He gives the best hugs. I love my little sweetheart. Happy Birthday, Derek!

Washington DC Temple

We finally made it to the Washington DC Temple. It was the week before Stake Conference, so we had a stake meeting on the 7th floor. It's a beautiful room. It was wonderful to be in the temple again. The DC Temple is amazing. The size of it is incredible. It makes you dizzy looking up at it. I'm glad we were able to make the trip (about 3 hours each way).

Spring!

Spring has sprung!

Our front yardMore baseball - he's a natural!

Frogs at the Wildlands Conservancy pond

Happy Easter!

Our friends, the Blommels, invited us over for an Easter egg hunt the week before Easter. There were a bunch of kids and a ton of eggs! The boys had fun finding eggs outside in the cold, the adults had fun visiting inside where it was warm. :) On Easter we were invited to Oesterle's house for dinner and another egg hunt. Another fun event. And another rainy one too, but at least it was a warm rain. We got to sit outside on the covered porch enjoying the beautiful storm. April was just rainy. It rained more than half the month. That's definitely not something we're used to. We had a great Easter with lots of good friends.

The Big Apple

Brent and I were able to go to New York City to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We didn't get to go until April because I had gallbladder surgery the day before our anniversary. I know, good planning. It's just what worked out. A friend (with 6 kids!) offered to watch the boys so we could go somewhere overnight. Thank you, Allison! It was so nice to get away. The boys had a great time too.

We drove into NYC on Friday afternoon. Brent gave me the privilege of driving in Manhattan. We stayed in a boutique hotel in the Upper West Side. The room was decent enough, but I don't think I slept at all. There was some kind of chain or something banging against the outside wall all night. That was pretty lame. I didn't realize at the time that where we stayed was right in the same area that You've Got Mail takes place. We walked by all the restaurants and stores shown in the movie. Friday afternoon we walked into Central Park and saw Belvedere Castle. I didn't know about the castle until I was reading a Magic Tree House book with Elliott a few months ago. It was fun to see. After checking into our hotel we ate an early dinner at Patsy's Pizza. It wasn't as good as we heard it was. That was disappointing. We attempted to get tickets to Wicked through the lottery but didn't win. We walked down to Times Square and almost walked right past the temple. We were right in front of it when I noticed the church logo and realized where we were. It's pretty amazing to see the temple right there in the middle of it all. We spent some time walking through Macy's. The size of that place is incredible! Brent didn't believe that it was the largest department store in the world, until he stepped inside. It really is huge! We went to the Empire State Building that night. It was fun to be up there at night, but it was FREEZING and windy! The views are amazing. I have to admit, since I don't know my NYC landmarks very well, I was pretty confused as to which side of the building we were on at any given time. The Forever 21 billboard picture might seem random, but if you look closely you'll see us. Pretty cool. On our way back to the hotel, we walked up 5th Avenue. All the shops were closed, but we did see the Rockefeller ice skating rink. I couldn't believe how far we walked that day. We were both so sore and tired by the time we finally got back to our hotel, probably around 11. It was cold and wet for the first couple hours (it snowed the night before), but fortunately the rain basically stopped by the time we were done with dinner. Saturday was a little warmer and dry.

Day 2

On Saturday, we slept in and went to brunch at Sarabeth's, the most delicious brunch ever! I had the "Crisp Potato Waffle with Chicken Apple Breakfast Sausage, Chunky Apple Sauce and Sour Cream" which might sound a little bizarre, but it was SOOOO good! I'm craving it as I'm writing this. Since we did so much walking on Friday, we figured we'd take the subway on Saturday. We went down to Ground Zero, Battery Park, and Wall Street. We were planning on walking across the Brooklyn Bridge but nixed that idea because we could hardly walk. We took the subway to Grand Central Station, ate some cheesecake and a cupcake and then headed back to our car. We had a great time exploring the city. Brent is glad to have most of the major sites out of the way, so when we go back we don't have to traipse all over Manhattan, we can just focus on one of two things. It was fun but utterly exhausting.

Bluebells

Derek and I were able to go see the famed bluebells at Lockridge Park. The park is at the site of an old furnace - a really big iron furnace. It's even on the National Register of Historic Places. You can see the building in the background where Derek is sitting on the wall. The field was just full of bluebells. It was a great place for a picnic and a beautiful picture spot.