Hallie got mail!

 

She seems a little indifferent about it don't you think? ;)

Every now and again Hallie's Great Grandma Jerree sends her surprise letters in the mail...and they usually come with $2.00 tucked inside, which has this girl brimming with excitement to go buy a plastic animal at Agway with her dad!  

And because she didn't have quite enough piggy-bank change to go along with those dollars, a certain nanny friend hid some loose change for her to find.

She thought this was great!

She ended up buying a really pretty white horse.

She named it "Whitey." 

Actually, the name Whitey belonged to her previous horse purchase (which happened to be an ashy gray), but because this new one was actually white, she gave the name to it, and named the gray one "Bree."

....I'm glad that got all straightened out!

 The other night we had ice cream cones for dessert.

Chandler was a fan!

 

 He sure does makes that cone look yummy!  Don't you just want to slurp off the frothy top of it? 

  

With all this catching up to my blog I've been doing lately, and sorting through all these picture, there is one common denominator to each of the different events and circumstances that have surrounded our family over the last few months, and that is....

...that these two are Besties: 

I mean, they really truly are...and that makes my heart swell every time I see it.

Which is a LOT.

Still catching up...

Spring Arrived!  

And with it came a bounty of beauty around my house.

This tree is right on the line between us and our neighbor, and I think it's just about the prettiest tree ever!

 

Our tulips amaze me every year when they poke their little greens up through the ground before they open those velvety red petals.


It's just too bad they only last a couple of weeks.

 

These rhododendron bushes are always a visual treat for us...and those who drive by.

 

 And there's nothing quite like Mother's day pansies handed to you at the end of sacrament meeting by your adorable little girl:

 

 And along with the arrival of spring, came the arrival of...

Naomi and Sunshine!...

Like a lot of Americans, Naomi's house was foreclosed on and will be up for auction in a couple of weeks. (She gave me permission to talk about this.)

She's been a close friend for a long time...and neighbor...and member of our church.  When she needed a place to stay for a couple months, we were happy to take her in....and her little dog too. ;)

She loves my kids.

And they love her.  

Hallie calls her "sister."... (which is exactly what she is).

Naomi is a HUGE help to me!

 

She cooks twice a week.

She cleans constantly.

She babysits my kids on a whim. (!)

Did I mention her meals are of a decadent nature?...they are!

There is something to be said for "live-in" nannies.  She calls herself "Nanny Naomi" with a smile on her face.

She also became my "stunt double" when it came to a missionary wanting to take a picture of our family right before he was transferred, and I wasn't there to be in it.  Darn. 

But she told me it was okay...she was my stunt double.  I thought that was hilarious!

She had this floor looking like it did the day her son Peter put it in for us. (We had forgotten it was so light in color!):

  

We went from wondering how we were going to adjust to having a new person living with us to wondering what on earth we are going to do when she leaves.

My kids also love Sunshine.

...with a passion.

   

 

We went outside to play with the dog and to "teeter-totter."

...and it was a bit chilly! 

 

Sometimes I fail to carve out the time to wipe down Chandler's face, and comb his hair.

But I think if anyone could pull off the results of that kind of neglect, it's hand's down this boy right here:

 

Did I mention they love Sunshine?

To be completely honest, that girl on the left dreams about owning a dog every second of every day.  

 

She doesn't understand that a dog may just push her mother over the edge at this particular stage of life.

What with the prospect of more babies and all.

I'm not pregnant.  

But hope to be a couple more times before all is said and done. ;)

 

Finally back in business!

My camera hasn't worked great since the day I bought it, and has only continued to decline over the past five or so years.  In fact with all the dropping and drooling and smashing it's endured from curious toddlers, I'm surprised it'll still snap a picture.

It did however give up the picture-transferring ability. 

But luckily my mom came to my rescue for the umpteenth time when she brought over her media card cord thing-a-majigger, and transferred all of my poor hostage pictures from the last several months onto my computer.  Thanks mom!

I'm going to review in a nutshell the goings on of the last several months....

First of all...Chandler loves his "Bampa."

 

Then one day as Chan and I sat to eat our breakfast I noticed that he was extremely happy.  And then I realized that I accidentally gave him a cup instead of a sippy!...He thought that was the best thing since the "ball." 

I loosely learned the skill of french braiding.

  

Obviously it needs some perfecting but I'm tickled pink that my fingers can produce something that looks somewhat like a french braid....thanks to my sister in law Anne, my mom, JaNeal, Tori, Tara, and anyone else I might have missed who gave me a tutorial.  All of these lovely ladies have a different technique which wreaked havoc on my mind, but there you have it...a "braid" on little Hallie. 

I'm head over heels for this boy!

I love this picture:

...and this one:

We joke that Chandler is going to be a conductor someday because very early on in his young life, he's imitated every conductor he's ever seen.

He leads at church.

He leads with me at Family Home Evening.

At 18 months he went ahead and lead the Mormon Tabernacle Choir:

We've done a lot of baking but Elon and Hallie are the ones who head it up when it comes to the "snickerdoodle."  Elon loved to make these as a kid, and has rubbed that same love right onto his first-born. 

Not sure what that pout-face is all about down there.  It's pictures like this one that remind me I need a new camera...(and a few photography classes.)

Easter came and went.  I won this cute center piece at Women's Conference!

This girl looked super cute all decked out in her new Easter dress.  And because I had to stay home from church with a sick Chandler, I had ample time to do her hair all pretty....too bad there's not a side view here. 

Then....skipping ahead a little bit, my Aunt Julie is up from Utah for a few months and took me to get pedicures and to try sushi! A first on both accounts for me.

That middle group is raw eel and avacado...

yup...my mouth welcomed, chewed up, and swallowed raw eel.

I actually thought it was the tastiest of the three.