Welcome Spring!

 Cherry trees are big here. Craig loves it since it was a pretty big deal in Japan also. The blossoms are beautiful but what I think really makes it phenomenal is the grouping of so many! Our Sunday afternoon walk was spent in a magical grove of falling flowers. When we brought the stroller back in we had to knock gobs of flower petals off the wheels.

A visit from Grandpa

We had a visit from Grandpa last weekend and it was a blast! We got to see the beginnings of the cherry blossom festival down town which was beautiful, visit frying pan farm park, fly a kite, enjoy the beautiful spring weather northern Virginia affords this time of year, and take Dad to see our new home (I can call it that right? we are closing in 6 days!) We even got to finish out a great weekend with dinner at Bob Evens!

I can't get over how cute this little guy is!

Elizabeth was perfectly happy to let Grandpa hold her lots!

It was sad to say goodbye but we had a lot of fun and I was so glad to see Ethan get to really meet his Grandpa. The next day he kept saying "Gapa all gone" and he was so sad. It was also neat for Grandpa to meet Elizabeth for the first time. We sure wish they were closer!

An Artistic Beginning

I am sure I am not the first mom to have this idea--but I still felt pretty ingenious when the idea occurred to me. Ethan loves to paint but I hate to clean up messes...pretty much in any form, so he paints with water and all my old art brushes on colored construction paper. It's just like painting to him and when it spills, it's only water! When he tries to paint the table, walls, and himself--it's only water! He says over and over "I painting me Mama" and I say-- "go for it!" it's actually just a bath.

We had been outlining his hand and when I left him alone for a minute he started doing this. He said he was "drawing my head".

This would be the outcome of his simplified silhouette. Is he a genius or what?

He has a display on one wall where he gets to hang up his art. He was very excited to add his paintings to the wall but was sad when he went back an hour later and the paintings had disappeared--so we go to do it all again. This has kept him occupied for days now.

Valentines Sweetheart

 It would just be wrong to not share these. Doesn't she look festive in her heart headband and leg-warmers?

I could eat this girl with a spoon.

Everything about her is a miracle to me.

Blessed with rice

Here is Ethan enjoying one of our pastries

Good stuff!
He was not happy when he realized he had to share.

Tonight we made a special trip to the 'Lotte Mart' --a popular Korean store around here--for some rice and our favorite Asian pastries. With the plan to increase our food storage we opted to buy a forty pound bag of rice. Food storage has been one of my recent topics of study since we will soon have more room. As we made our way through the store with forty pounds of rice hefted on Craig's back, we were stopped and asked to participate in a survey on Korean soup spices. As a girl who worked for several years in high school doing phone surveys I am usually willing to participate--I was thrilled to learn with this survey I would be given a $10 certificate! When Craig realized the survey was five pages it took some convincing, but in the end we both took the survey, tried the soups in question, signed away our lives and came home with a nearly free forty pounds of rice.

We are being blessed already for our food storage efforts! And we will probably forever laugh at the English translation of the survey asking if we thought hot sauce or Korean pepper powder was more 'curious'.

Partners in crime

People don't ask me yet if they are twins or not...but I am sure they will!

Running out of space!

Even if we had a dresser for darling Elizabeth, we wouldn't have anywhere to put it! So these lovely amazon boxes with their artistically fashioned duck tape handles, crammed under her crib, will do for now. Yet another reason I am so looking forward to closing on our house!

Ethan of course noticed me taking a picture of her bed and suddenly needed to get in it! He loves to yell about monkeys jumping on the bed and then of course fall down. Here is a shot of him "falling down".

Potential Homeowners?

It's hard to believe but we have been in Northern Virginia for almost a year now! Which means two things: our lease at this apartment is expiring, and we feel like we have been here long enough to figure out where we want to buy a house! After nearly five years of saving (fortunately Craig even longer) we plan to make that major financial investment and enter the phase of life known as "homeowners"--scary. (I can't believe how complicated all the options and the corresponding math is!! Thank heavens for all of Craig's accounting classes at the Y!) I am also looking forward to living somewhere with the intention of staying longer than a few months finally! We have been married for four years--almost five, and moved six times. I grew up with my family moving fairly often and it never seemed to be that much work:) Guess it's different when you are the one responsible for getting all that junk boxed up!

Anyway, after one failed attempt in a bidding war on a cute little house I was very sad. There are not many homes here we can afford (anyone who has been to this area can vouch for my sticker shock). Luckily another house in the similar area opened up--a house that is actually far better for us. We have put in an offer, had it accepted, inspected, and now we are pretty much just waiting to move in! I know it's never actually for sure until you have the keys in your hand but we are feeling pretty good about it. We will hopefully soon be owners of a nice colonial, two car garage, big fenced back yard home nestled safely into a quiet cul de sac! It's so much more than I even dared hope for! But, like I said....no keys yet:)
 

We are hoping this will be our new personal playground!

I will keep you updated--cross your fingers all goes well!

Sword Fighting House Rules

A house rule we have instituted (which I believe to be quite fair) is:

No sword fighting unless your opponent also has a sword.

Guess I hadn't thought of this option. At least he is trying to follow the rules...

What ya doin' Mama?

We are to that adorably fun yet slightly nervous stage of "what will Ethan say next?" It is wonderful. After months of speech therapy Ethan has really exploded in conversation. He astounded me when he looked at me one day and said "Why dinosours die Mama?"

His favorite thing to say the last few days is "What ya doin' Mama" Yikes!! what am I doing?! I better get busy and do good things because he wants a detailed report! When I ask him what he is doing his favorite response is "I cutting" He loves scissors...I know, I better be careful!

I think another one of my favorite phrases from him is "too big". He insists on Craig snuggling in bed with him each night and when Craig falls asleep with him he usually wakes up to a foot in the face and Ethan mumbling "too big." A man who is 6'1" just doesn't belong in a toddler bed.

He also enjoys singing along with some songs now that he can say the words. His favorite song is "Girlfriend" He heard it on our Just Dance Wii game and boy does he love it. He runs around pointing just like the dancer and yelling "you, you, you, like a gil fend" It cracks me up.