May was a big month...

The birthday continues....Grant was celebrated by his classmates at preschool and had his brother, Mom and Dad be "helpers" that day!

Each student gets to bring a special book they would like read on their birthday but Grant chose a counting book that he could read to the class instead, what a hoot!

He finished being celebrated with his cousins at Grandpa and Grandma R's house with yet another John Deere birthday, the longest birthday in history!

Cousin Olivia helping him read his cards

Aunt Jeannette having as much fun with his new water gun as he was!

One of many of Great-Grandma Billie's beautiful peonies this Spring

The boys enjoying a little swinging with Great-Grandma

Grant and I had a date, joining a couple of our friends, at the children's theater for their production of Frog and Toad.  We had a grand afternoon together!

MAY

May 1, started with a bang, literally, a rather large bang followed by some screams from our youngest. Parker was running out of the kitchen around the corner, towards the bathroom, tripped and in his own words, "bonked my head on the corner!"  Our first trip to the ER is now in the record books and he was a champ through it all!  We consider ourselves fortunate to have made it just shy of 5 years with our boys and not having had to rush to the ER before this.  We prayed for glue and no stitches en route to the children's hospital and thankfully he was sealed up with a couple of steri-strips and glue.

We celebrated Grant's 5th birthday, a John Deere party was his request!  He invited only a handful of friends + younger siblings, it worked out wonderfully and the weather cooperated, hooray!

He hand addressed each envelope, he is quite patient as he's learning to write, I love it!

Plowing the sandbox looking for treasures/prizes!

Pin the corn head on the combine, per Grant's very specific request!  I was planning on something a little more simple, pin the tire on the tractor but he was adamant!

He asked for months to have a piñata at his party and we found an awesome tractor piñata that fit the bill, what fun! (Frank had to finally break it though, a little too sturdy for these little batters!)

The extent of my creativity, a dirt cake complete with John Deere equipment, farm animals, farmers, etc!

Gator rides were a big hit as well, lots of little drivers!

April

April literally came and went, poof!  A few notables, Grant passed level 1 swimming which we were so proud of him for his persistence and can-do-it attitude all winter long!  We also began navigating the maze of a few house projects, exterior fixtures, windows and front door replacement, painting the exterior the house, etc....nesting has begun?  I must note that as I'm typing this it is nearly July, the baby is due on July 19, and I'm pretty sure all of these house projects will still not be done by the time baby arrives, ugh!

 Frank and I were fortunate enough to spend a night away in Seattle without the munchkins! Frank being a track and field alum we attended the University of Washington's new track dedication, LOVE the purple track...Frank is definitely jealous of this new facility compared to what he had to compete on!

 Here Grant is at preschool, first, show and tell with Mrs. Lonnquist (notice he was attacked by a green marker that day?!) and the other they were able to take apart old keyboards, phones, cb's, you name it, he was in heaven!

Lastly, another reminder as to why I adore my days spent with my boys, a valentine (heart-shaped) rock was given to me while playing outside one afternoon!  I adore them!

more March

Parker started the month of March by getting his second set of tubes put in his little ears, another round of blue bunnies we call them.  He had ear infection after ear infection since December so time for round two.  We are praying these last a full year as his last set only lasted about 6 months and fell out just before cold and flu season started, grrrr!

Grant had a fun filled farm field trip with his preschool class this Spring.  He was insistent he wanted to wear his John Deere hand-me-down gear from his cousin, haha!  It made him easy to spot in the crowd of kiddos!

Here he is with his best bud and neighbor, Jack, climbing around on the hay bales.

And this is about as exciting as it got for Parker!  Poor little Bear was terrified of the enormous cows and clung to me the entire time.  For at least a month after this he told us he did NOT want to go to the farm again!

Grandpa and Grandma O visited for a week in March and a grand time was had by all!

Grant thought Grandma O would like to celebrate her birthday at Chuck E. Cheese and she happily obliged!  What a good sport ;-)

Grant would NEVER have done this at the age of 2, in-fact, he is still barely interested in "puppets" at the age of 5 but Parker went right in for the big hug!

By the end of the month Easter was upon us so we joined in at a neighborhood church for an Easter egg hunt.

This is pretty much how our photo session went with the boys in their Easter outfits...

I decided not to fight this battle and just join in!

This says it all, preparing for the egg hunt at Grandpa and Grandma R's!

MARCH

Welcome to Portland Sarah and Carla!

Love, Grant

It was such a wonderful girls weekend having my besties come to visit!  The boys are still talking about Sarah and Carla and what fun they had with them ;)  Love you girls!

 We had a great hike up Multnomah Falls, always so beautiful!

An impromptu backyard picnic in March with a handful of our friends, they boys love to eat "picnic!"

Grant was so funny at his dentist appointment, his most memorable moment was getting to operate the chair!

Another rainy afternoon....actually, it wasn't raining this particular day, they just wanted to play with their umbrellas outside!

Grant has never painted with such details before and this particular painting he described as he painted, this is a coconut tree and the sunshine with the water and here is the sand with hulas....on and on and on.  He was painting Hawaii for Grandpa and Grandma O to take home with them!

A small water fight on a warmer March afternoon, Parker lost.