The Kiddos

The kiddos after church last Sunday. It was a gorgeous 80 degrees (finally!) and they wanted a picture.

Just the boys

Just the girls.

Thomas

Thomas and I have been enjoying some close times together lately. When I was pregnant I got tired of him always wanting to sit in my lap or cuddle with me all the time. Now I feel so blessed that he's so affectionate because I can't get enough of his hugs. They bring me such comfort. I've also enjoyed going for walks with him in the stroller and having plenty of quiet time to think. It's been very relaxing.

Thomas is at a really fun age (18 mos.) where he's learning new words everyday and is getting quite the personality. As I said above, he's quite affectionate, but he's also silly too. The kids laugh when he burps, so then he burps multiple times on purpose to get them roaring. He loves to make them laugh or be the center of attention, although he's quite shy at church. I love how well he's talking and soaking in new information. It's so fun teaching him and watching him learn new things.

Planting our Peach Tree

My parents got us this peach tree when Julianne died and we're finally planting it now that it's warmed up. Nathan had last Friday off so we took a family trip to Lowes to get some good tree soil and then spent the balmy morning digging a huge hole and making sure the soil was just right. (Nathan did a lot of research and has become a perfectionist tree planter.:))


While we were finishing the planting Madalyn and Kylie donned aprons and took our lunch orders. Then they went in the house and fixed everyone's lunch, putting it on napkins with our names on them. They had a lot of fun and we enjoyed coming in the house to lunch waiting on the table. (The bonnet thing on her head is actually a swimsuit wrap:))

So Much Love

We were surprised when the Winterville Flower lady brought us this beautiful bouquet of flowers sent to us by our med student friends from our Irving Ward. I was so touched when I read the tag. The kids were cute trying to figure out how the flowers got here all the way from Texas. :) Also they were wondering how we were going to get the vase back to them and were so excited when I told them we could keep it. All of the lilies opened up and we still have a cup of daisies and carnations that are still blooming strong 3 weeks later. Thank you so much all you sweet girls! Your thoughtfulness means a lot to me.























One Tuesday night our doorbell rang and we were left with a bucket of brownies and oreos on our porch. Then I looked up and saw that we had been "heart-attacked" with many hearts that had cute, sweet notes on them. Our guess is that it was the young women. :)
We have been door-ditched a few other times since Julianne died, once with a giant heart shaped rice krispy treat and once with a basket of food. Counting the Christmas we got the 12 days of Christmas done to us, I think we may be the most door-ditched family. :) The children love it of course, and talk about how they can't believe people are doing such nice things for us. Now that they have been on the receiving end of so much kindness they are wanting to go out and serve others.






















We were also surprised when this delicious fruit arrangement was delivered to our door one afternoon, given to us by one of Nathan's brothers and his family. We have been so touched by the way everyone has reached out to us and shown their love for us. It has been a very difficult time for me, a lot harder than I thought, but I feel the Savior's love for me through the kind deeds of family and friends, which brings me a lot of comfort. Thank you so much!!