Marble Run

We love this toy!!I had no idea there were so many variations of this toy! This one looks fabulous, but it has a little bit of a pricey price tag.

3 Years Old!

Malachi is 3 years old today! We are so blessed to have him as our son. Here are a few photos from today and yesterday.

Malachi chose oatmeal and strawberries for his birthday breakfast...

He enjoyed a left over cupcake (actually left over from Zoe's birthday party, they were in the freezer)...
Malachi and Kurtis worked on his new train set this morning and while they did that Zoe picked up this piece...put it in her mouth...tripped...
...and did this to her mouth. It bled quite a bit but we think she is fine and will keep her two front teeth. Hopefully we won't have anymore accidents any time soon, otherwise social services will come after us.

We 'celebrated' Malachi's birthday by working on our garden. We switched out our winter vegetable garden and planted our spring/summer vegetables. Here Malachi is inspecting the two puny carrots we grew. He was not impressed and wouldn't even taste them. I ate them, they were good.This is Malachi opening up the gift Gramma and Grampa (from Texas) sent him, a CD of stories read by Jim Weiss. We started listening to it already, thank you!!!
On Friday, we celebrated Malachi's birthday with some of his friends. Here they are holding up some books we found at the One Dollar Bookstore to give as favors, they are some of Malachi's favorite stories.
We did a "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" theme which is another of Malachi's favorite books.
The kids made coconut trees out of their food. I found the idea here. I used PB&J sandwich slices instead of the chocolate wafer cookie.

We also tried coconut bowling but the kids weren't too into that. It was a fun time, quite crazy having that many kids in our tiny little place, but fun!

Thank you to everyone for coming and for the fabulous gifts! He can't get enough of the Ikea rocker (thanks Allens); he will wear his outfit from the Igos for Easter tomorrow, thanks Igos; he can barely wait to do the sand art (thanks Smiths); Copelands, he loves the balls (so does Zoe) he even took one to bed with him tonight, thank you!; Thank you Verwys' for the memory game, I hope to play that enough to sharpen my mind :); and Nespers, he has helped me clean once already with his cleaning set, thank you!

What a Day!!

First off, I have to say that I am very glad to be home with both of my children and very thankful that Malachi, in particular, is okay.

I had a slightly rough morning. Let's see, bullet points...

*Loaded the kids up in the car to go for a bike ride at the park then do a bunch of errands.

*Went to Dollar Tree to return some stuff, well exchange stuff I guess since they do not do returns. :(

*Went next door to Fresh & Easy to get a few groceries.

*Regretfully, I made the decision to allow Malachi to sit in the cart as opposed to the seat. Though, I told him a few times to remain on his bottom...you guessed it, he stood up and...fell out. Bonking his head on the ever so soft concrete floor! Not sure if you've been to F&E but they have carts that are very shallow thus very easy to topple out of. Hind sight is fabulous, I have kicked myself a bizillion times!

*The staff at F&E were VERY helpful! I had Zoe with me, on my back in the becco, and there I was sitting in the middle of the aisle trying to stay calm for Malachi, my mind racing about what to do. The manager called for the ambulance (while I was still unsure of what to do).

*Paramedics checked him out and then recommended he go to the hospital...so he got his first(hopefully not of many) ambulance ride.

*Then 3 HOURS in ER (they took us to my not so favorite Kaiser!!!) The doctor looked at him for all of 30 seconds, said he was fine and that was that! I was frustrated to say the least about that and could go on and on but I won't.

I am so grateful Malachi is acting normal. We pray and trust God that he will be fine.

I tried to get a picture of the large goose egg on the back of his head. Can't really tell in the photo. Poor thing can't really lay on it, I'm pretty sure it'll be sore for a bit.This was him when he was told he got to ride in the ambulance with the firefighters.

1 Year Old Birthday Party

On Saturday we had some family and friends over to celebrate Zoe's First Birthday. Here are a few photos.

Enjoying time on Pop's lap before the party began.
The Birthday Girl in her sun dress from the Andrews. Brian, Aim, Hayley, Isaiah, Josiah and Aaron thank you for the cute dress!(Thank you Gwen for watching Zoe while I prepped the food)

The adults relaxing after pasta and meatballs...
Some of the kids enjoying the sandbox...
Cousin Noah enjoying the chalk...:)
Big brother was quite willing to help with the birthday candle and cupcake...
The kids enjoyed frosting and decorating their own cupcakes...
Zoe (in a different outfit only because it got a little chilly) enjoyed playing in the dirt, of which there was a lot since we just rebuilt our fence...
Opening presents. Thank you Smiths for the sun hat!Since the party Zoe and Malachi have been having fun playing with the birthday gifts.

Thank you Williams, we love the puzzle. Larry and Conny, thank you for the cow which is especially fun with the balloon from the Fieldhouses :) tied to it...
The stroller is Great! (Thanks Nespers) Thank you Grammy and Pop for the bunnies that make music!
Fieldhouses, thank you for the adorable Hoody Towel!!
We've already used the caterpillar sprinkler, thank you Copelands!
Pruetts, the dresses are adorable, thank you! Here she is in the brown one last Sunday...

We are so grateful to God for our beautiful Zoe Girl and for the family and friends that are a part of her life. Thank you all for the love you give her and us!

My (almost) 3 year old

This video shows the different aspects of Malachi...his humor :) (whether he realizes it or not), verbal ability AND his ability to push the limits. I guess it also shows some of me too...can you depict my slight frustration with him when he doesn't close the door immediately and then when he doesn't come when I tell him too? I realize that I kind of have a "I say jump, you say how high" mentality when it comes to my kids or at least Malachi, Zoe is still small enough I am able to be patient. I am trying to work on this aspect of my soul.

Happy 1st Birthday Zoe!

Zoe...Zo, Zoe Girl, Zo-ster, Zo-ster with the Most-er, ZoPo...these are all the names Zoe has accumulated in her first year of life. No matter what we affectionately call her, she is loved by all of us!She entered the world exactly one year ago, March 31 at 9:28 pm after only 4 hours of labor. It is incredible to look back at pictures and see how she has grown. We are amazed at her abundant joy and fun-loving personality. Already we see her showing signs of taking after her mom in being passionate about expressing her feelings. Since she has learned only a few words so far (mama, papa, bah-bah for bye bye) screaming is her most often used technique to get her point across, and being that she is so happy this is often done with a little smirk. :)

Here are a few pictures from her day today.

Bright and early our birthday girl enjoyed breakfast (oatmeal and yogurt) and was eager to show me her cute scrunched up nose grin when she saw the camera...
Outside, enjoying the afternoon sun before naptime...
Satisfied after enjoying her first cupcake after her birthday dinner of Peanut Satay with Veggies and Tofu over Rice. Yes I know they say not to do the peanuts until 3 years old or something but she IS the second born, they get all the neglect :) I'd say she enjoyed the cupcake a lot more than the satay and tofu even though it was tasty...
Opening her present from Malachi that he wrapped by himself (mostly)...
Figuring out her new toy that Malachi picked out for her probably because he has a friend with this toy and wanted it for his own playing enjoyment :)...
Happy Birthday Precious Girl! We love you!!

Air Force One

We went and watched it land at our local airport yesterday...along with a bizillion other people. :) I don't think Zoe was all that impressed...