Easter, Moving & A Whole Lot More

From Josh & Mel on Date Night -

First, we'll explain date night. We've realized that only taking time for us every few months doesn't work, so whether we go out or stay in, date night now comes once a week. This week, we are looking at family pictures and sharing our awesome month with you.

That month has been full of action. We are rapidly approaching our move to "Yuppieville",we have entertained a few out-of-town guests and celebrated Easter with local friends. Here are the highlights:

Dad and Lad came in for a 4-day Halloween convention (yes a Halloween convention) - apparently the largest in the US. They both really spend the whole year waiting for this "holiday" and this convention was equivalent to two kids in a candy store. They were able to get some quality time with the kids however, and they were very sleepy as you can see.







Josh's Mom made a turn-around trip just for fun.



Took the kids to the zoo and they saw the baby elephant with Mamaw Joanie.


Hannah Kate turned 1 - Happy Birthday! We were lucky enough to help a dear friend celebrate her first birthday. The Broges have been our St. Louis family since we moved here and we are so blessed and thankful to have them. Both of our families have done some crazy growing in the past 6 years, but they remain so good to us...check out the play date pictures as well!



Easter-egg hunt with the Broges (It's hard to get a family photo these days!)



Easter lunch & another Easter-egg hunt (who can have too many?) If you thought a family photo was tough, try getting six beautiful active babies in one!!! What a bunch of cuties!



General photos of the boys - Enjoy!



Graham recently got his AFO braces to help him learn to walk and he is using them to really stand a lot more. He and Henri always enjoy looking out the back door to search for our neighbors cats.



Can't get over that babies beautiful eyes....Henri also really enjoys reading to Graham any chance he gets.



That beautiful baby is so candid...he looks more like his Daddy everyday.



It's funny how Graham is starting to get around, and we are finding ourselves taking the same pictures of him as we did with Henri...in cabinets, on the dishwasher..etc.

Good friend becomes family

I could fill this page with a lot of words...kind words, thankful ones, humble ones...but it would take weeks to get them right. Josh and I are blessed with many great friends that help us whenever we need. We are so thankful for each and every one of them (you know who you are).

Having said that...every now and then..a friend crosses the line into the family. Tricia...we love you and are thankful for you every day. My boys love you and will understand someday how lucky they are that you are in their life...God bless your heart and caring spirit with our family.

Is it so?

Wow....

Have we not posted since the beginning of November?.....fail! There is so much to catch up on. Let's see...in November, Graham and I turned another year older and we were able to spend Thanksgiving with our family in Cincinnati! Christmas was ushered in quickly and I suppose that is about the time the blog really got away from us. The boys are keeping us soooo busy. January was very busy with work, therapy sessions for Graham, and playdates for the babies. In February we began the search for a new home and listed ours for the second time in as many years. We really feel like now is the time for us to move. That has been an exhausting job to say the least.....but yesterday we signed papers on what we hope pans out to be our dream home...pictures to come soon. I became a godmother to the beautiful Addison Riese at the beginning of the month and it was one of the greatest days of my life..it was sweet really. I took a trip to Keystone Colorado to present some work that I have been fortunate enough to be a part of, and as always, the kids made it interesting while I was there. I could ramble for hours about all the juicy details from the last four months...but it would bore you, and infinitely worse, waste your time....so I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

p.s. You will notice no pictures from Thanksgiving or Christmas. Thanks to our little guy Graham, our old camera was dunked in a vodka/tonic on Thanksgiving thus ruining the camera and requiring a new purchase.




Baby Addi and Aunt Mel (that's a real smile on my face!) Cutie baby on her baptism day.





That innocent face....one of my favorite shots from the new camera...we were thankful to have some really mild winter days and get in the yard to play!



Graham's smile here caught me off guard, he was chasing Henri under the slide!



It's so fun to see the boys finally begin to play together and entertain one another...even in the tub.



Drumrollllll ladies and gentleman. Graham has been working so hard with his therapist and here are some of the first fruits of his labor. He is really getting good at getting on all fours these days and beginning to crawl a bit. He still prefers to scoot...Henri has began calling him "scooter", but he is doing great. In other news Graham was fitted for his AFO orthotic braces and those should really help with getting him on his feet and a few steps closer to walking!!



I normally never put pictures of just me in the blog...but going to conference is by far one of my biggest professional accomplishments and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity. How about that view?!



Stay tuned...the next blog post promises to be much sooner.