Chocolate Brown Eyes...

Muffins, bread, cookies, and cake are all popular items to cook and consume in our household. Once or twice a week Slater and I use Jade's nap as a time to get busy in the kitchen. The camera always seems to come out on the chocolate items, which is probably because it is the only time that Slater becomes more interested in the food than in the Kitchenaid mixer.

Here is the newest version of his "smile".

And here is the younger version of the chocolate brown eyes that I fell in love with almost 16 years ago.

The evening walk

The weather this week has been stupendous for Fairbanks in April. This means most of the day is spent outdoors, on the lawn, at a playground, or taking a hike. Most evenings when Dad gets home it is more of the same and tonight he caught two kids cheesing it up for the camera.

While holding the boy in my lap this evening I remarked that his head smelled like sunshine and dirt, which is just the way things should be.

Chopped Liver and other news

Jade has always gone to bed before Slater and gotten up first, we have loved this since it gives us one-on-one time with each of them every day. But lately Jade and Slater have definitely started to form a sibling bond. Slater asks to hold Jade, wants to give her hugs and even feeds her (chocolate pudding - not really what mom wants her having at eight months). This adoration results in Mom being "chopped liver" in the entertainment department.

Friday morning Jade played happily with me for the first half hour, but the instant she was placed in her buggy she raced for Slater's bedroom door and pounded away until he was awake. Not being a morning person, I thought this would make a bad start to the day but Slater was delighted to see his sister at the door and they started squealing and shouting at one another. Then during nap time Slater kept trying to sneak back to the bedroom, when he finally got by me he stood at her door yelling, "Sistah, Sistah." After that he pointed at the door and smiled, "Baby awake." Yup, not to many people can sleep through that.

There are so many little moments that make up their day, I am glad to have the chance to watch them all.

First Library Card

Slater loves to read books, well when we can get him to sit still he loves them. Trips to the library have also been popular since the first one when he was 10 days old. So yesterday he was pulling all of his dad's big airplane books off the shelf and flipping through them, so I asked him if he wanted to go to the library and get more airplane books. His eyes sparkled and he jumped up. On the way we talked about the library and getting his own card, I am pretty sure that all he heard was books, library, airplanes, blah, blah, blah.



So here he is with his library card, the airplane book he picked out and his sticker that says - "I got my library card today" - I am so proud.



And here he is throwing his library card on the floor, right before he dashed off to play with the stuffed toys.



He never let go of the airplane book. He stopped amidst all his dashing on several occasions to hop up on a couch or sit in a chair and read to himself. I love this little guy for all his energy. There are times when I wish he would sit quietly and rare occasions when he does, but I know that his boundless energy is a gift and it comes with so much enthusiasm and love ... I hope that he always has it.

Easter in Cantwell

Had a great Easter in Cantwell, the weather was great, had the kids outside as much as possible. We colored eggs with Amelia and Reid, then Slater got to hunt for eggs at Grandma's and then again at the Koppenberg's (they had hid 18 dozen eggs) there were kids everywhere.

Terrible Blogger

Have not done much blogging this month, due to being busy and having fun with the kiddos. Slater has also developed a love of our camera and likes to turn it on and take lots of pictures so the battery is often dead when WE want to take pictures. This weekend Wade and Slater attended dinner club and made some scrumptious Mexican food. Slater had a fantastic time hanging with the other kids, checking out the new baby chickens and eating loads of cucumber (yeah for veggies).

We also made a trip to the Hot Springs. Another big hit! Slater was Mr. Social Butterfly and went from tub to pool greeting everyone and chatting them up. They had a great baby float there and Jade kicked herself around the pool for almost two hours.

Didn't get any pictures of these events so I am posting a great one of my favorite blue-eyed babe!

Cloning ... it is possible