Is it Spring yet?

So it's been awhile...again.  We've had some crazy weather lately.  Highs in the low 50s and sunny one day and snow and 20s the next.  I'm beginning to get whiplash.  This has been a totally mild winter and yet I'm still ready for it to be over.  My friend Mary and I took our boys (she has 2 too) to the zoo last week on one of those rare sunny days and it was amazing! I felt like the weak bear emerging from hibernation.  My body hasn't moved enough this winter so it felt nice to push that giant stroller up and down all the hills at the zoo and breathe the fresh air!

(Picture of Connor at the zoo.  We timed it just about perfectly.  We had about 1.5-2 hours of sun and nice weather and then the last 1/2 hour or so the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up, so I bundled up Connor before we headed out.  We felt a few drops of rain just as we were loading the kids into the car.  Lucky!)

Anyway...moving on.  We had a lovely Valentine's Day.  I made dinner and a cheesecake (see cheesecake here)for my 3 handsome valentines.  What a lucky girl I am!  We decorated sugar cookies a couple different days leading up to the V-day and enjoyed receiving some Valentines in the mail from both sets of grandparents, a great-grandma, and several cousins.  We felt very loved!  My awesome husband wrote me a beautiful love letter that I will keep forever and all in all it was a great day.  Contrary to what the retail world would have us believe, you don't have to spend a lot of money (or any) to make a great Valentine's Day. :)

 

Since then I managed to get laryngitis and both the boys got colds AGAIN.  We have been so sick this winter and I think that's probably the main reason I'm ready to say goodbye to the season.  The boys' pediatrician says it's because we're being exposed to new viruses here in Pittsburgh and we're still getting used to them.  Lovely.  Remind me never to move again. (haha)

Oh, and we also had a playdate with some friends the day after Valentine's day.  These little boys are so incredibly adorable.  They were all born within 2 weeks of each other and they are really fun to watch.  Just today at church (during Sunday School - sorry for the distraction!) they were crawling all around together, giving each other head-bonks and smiles, and having a great time.  They're so cute!

(I tried to get a good picture, but it's near impossible with 3 nearly-one-year-olds).  Connor was born first (in the middle obviously), then on the left is Clark, who was born a week later (don't you love his luscious red locks?!?), and then on the right, with the gorgeous brown eyes, is Moses, who was born 6 days after Clark.  Moses' older brother Joey turns 2 in a couple days and he came over too, so Eli had fun with him.  It's so great to have wonderful friends here!


Eli still loves his legos he got for Christmas.  He plays with them several times a day (any chance he can get if Connor's sleeping and not around to eat them).  And Connor is just as cute as ever!

 Showing me his car he built - all by himself!  I guess he's been paying attention when we make him something.  Smarty-pants.

So that's what we've been doing.  Oh, and we went to the temple yesterday!  Hello, forgot that.  It was a ward temple trip, so we were happy to be there with our fellow ward-members.  It's about 3 hours away (Columbus, OH), so it was a full day of driving, attending the temple, and then driving back.  The boys were pretty good - especially on the drive back, and we had a nice time.

We're very excited for next week when we'll be going on our first real family vacation!  Jeremy finishes his 3rd Mini (like a quarter) next Tuesday and then he has 10 days off for Spring Break.  Woohoo!  We'll be driving up to Niagara Falls, only about 4 hours away, staying on the Canadian side and then driving an hour and a half over to Rochester to stay for a couple nights while we visit the church history sites in Palmyra, NY.  We are very excited!  We have some friends meeting us in Palmyra, so we'll be able to exchange babysitting and attend the temple there too.  It should be a great trip.  We've had a lot of fun planning it and Eli keeps talking about going on a trip to see the big water. :)  And Joseph Smith's bed, since we showed him some pictures of the Smith home.  Haha.  I hope the weather is decent.  That will probably have a big effect on what we actually end up doing, but either way I think we'll have a great time!