Happy Half-Birthday to Bug!

Bug is now officially 30 months old! To mark the occasion, I cut her hair! No, actually, she needed a trim as her fine hair gets into scraggly knots rather easily, so she's back to a bob. We also measured her today and she's now passed the 3-foot mark. (We measured Mugger, too, and he's just past 43 inches.)

She's quite the independent two-and-a-half year old-- of course. She always wants to do EVERYTHING on her timetable and if you start to count to 3 to hurry her along, she'll scream that she doesn't want you to count! So for now, what seems to work best is me asking her if I have to count. Usually she'll say no and take that bite of dinner or finally put down her toys to get in the van or whatever is requested.

Last night she was prancing around in her brother's superhero cape, her unicorn slippers, and her pop beads proclaiming, "I'm a princess!" Not sure where she got that one, so I told her that she could dress up and still be Bug. I was awfully proud of Mugger for adding, "Yeah, 'cuz God made you special." Of course, he then had to add, "And He loves you very much. Bye-bye!" Can't tell they're Veggie Tales fans, can you?

A First for Mugger and Bug

Yesterday, the kiddos and I went to their first concert. It was only 30 minutes long and they spent most of it playing with Aunt Jen who met us there, but fun was had by all. So yes, it was worth the 3.5 hour total drive time!

So who did they see? Only their favorite "kindie" (kiddie + indie) artist, Justin Roberts. Mugger was a little disappointed that Justin and the band only did one song off of "Meltdown", the only Justin Roberts CD that we have, but it was great to hear some of his new songs off of "Pop Fly" and some others to see what we've been missing.

Aunt Jen, if you need a birthday idea for Mugger, there you go! I'm pretty sure he'll be getting this from us since "Imaginary Rhino" is his favorite song (as witnessed by the fact that he and Bug kept yelling for Justin to play it in between songs. OK, Mama was yelling, too...)

Big News!

In case we haven't told you yet, Mugger and Bug (along with their Papa and Mama) are moving to Corvallis, Oregon! We weren't looking to move at all (being that Nonnie and Gramps are here and not there), but when we visited the church there last weekend, we knew it was God telling us it was time to move. So... sometime this summer, late June perhaps, Mugger and Bug will be residents of the Pacific Northwest.

I don't think Bug has any idea what's going on, but when we told Mugger that we'd be moving, he was quite excited. We had told him that we were visiting Corvallis last weekend in hopes that God would give us the answer as to whether we should move, so when he saw us Monday morning, he asked, "Did you get the answer?" When we told him, he said, "Yes! That's the answer I was praying for!"

Anyway, here's a sample of the record-breaking weather during our visit to Corvallis:
Yes, that's snow and Papa went mountain biking in it immediately after this pic. We could have taken our picture in hail as well since Corvallis was experiencing some very unusual April weather. There was sleet, rain, and sunshine, too, so it was a bit of everything.

Mugger and Bug did not join us for this trip, though hopefully they will for the house-hunting one. They stayed with Nonnie and Gramps and insisted sleeping on the floor together the night we returned-- Bug thought she should get to sleep on the floor, too, if Mugger got a sleeping bag. Such precious kiddos!

And not nearly so earth-shattering, but their Spring Portraits are in the slideshow now! Enjoy!

Mugger's Quote of the Day

"I'm so happy I bet I'm gonna fall on my head!"

said by our Mugger when I told him, yes, he could give Gramps the whole batch of Oatmeal Raisin cookies we made this morning. I guess his reaction was because they're Gramps' favorite...

Or perhaps he was just anticipating his afternoon bike ride-- he and Papa have been pedaling home on their tandem every Tuesday after preschool. If you missed that pic, click here.

Busy Boys *updated*

I wasn't home today to catch it on camera, but Mugger is now a proficient painter as well-- he and Papa decided to tackle the bathroom and should have it finished up tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get pix then and post them here!

Updated 4/23: OK, so I finally got the pic off the camera-- here's our busy painter:

Mugger our Busy Boy

For being sick twice in the past 2 weeks (a strep throat diagnosis on Good Friday and a Fifths disease diagnosis on Sunday), Mugger sure was a busy boy over his Easter break!First on his project list was inventing a game! Here he is playing "Tossbox" with Nonnie and Gramps on Easter. He came up with very elaborate rules, which he had me type up to paste in the lid of the box. Basically you get to toss a bead into the little boxes (the smaller boxes are worth more points), but how many tosses you get is determined by which card you draw-- he even came up with a "lose a toss" card!
Because the kiddos got a bucket of bulbs from Grandma and Grandpa for Easter, we spent Easter Monday weeding and planting most of the bulbs (all we had room for, at least.) Project #2 took the entire morning, but he was quite pleased with the results and is looking forward to seeing the growth that will come.
Project #3 was an alphabet book-- above is the cover shot which we almost used for the "x" page (for Xtra Goofy Kiddos.) My personal favorite was the "p" page for Papa since we got such a good picture of him.
Mugger's final project of Easter Break is an ongoing one. He's become quite the puzzle master! Now that he's almost 5, we've decided that he can have an hour of Quiet Time every afternoon instead of a nap, and the option he almost always picks for that hour is puzzles. Thanks to Nonnie's eBay sleuthing, he now has 2 drawers full of puzzles in his room to choose from. So far he's up to doing 100-piece puzzles by himself.
Such a happy, busy boy our Mugger is!

Easter Monday at the Beach

Resurrection Sunday

Easter Eve had ended with a very sad Bug being sent to bed... she didn't quite understand the Resurrection Cookies and why she had to leave them in the oven overnight. She was quite happy to discover them this morning as we finished our Easter devotion.Both kiddos were happy to open their Easter baskets from Grandma and Grandpa first thing. See how nicely Bug smiled when I told her the picture was for Grandma? (Yeah, none of the rest are worth posting!)Then it was time to get dressed for church. Such cheesy grins to go with their Easter outfits!
Once Papa got home from doing five church services, it was time to head to Nonnie and Gramps for a late Easter lunch. Mugger's favorite part of the meal was helping Aunt Jen make the whipped cream for dessert. Such a pro in the kitchen already!
Besides doing their egg hunt at Nonnie and Gramps' house, the kiddos also got Easter baskets from Nonnie and Gramps. (Can you see why Mama and Papa saved theirs until Monday morning?) Both Mugger and Bug enjoyed Bug's pop beads from Nonnie-- Mugger helped decorate Bug as well as himself!And here's our silly little Bug, in pop beads from head to toe! Happy Easter, everyone!