The Messy Butler

I learned at church yesterday that Daniel's nursery leaders call him . . .

. . . "The Butler" because we dress him up so proper. Apparently khaki and corduroy are more popular wardrobe choices among the under-3 set.

Our little butler is showing increased interest in handling his own spoon. There's just one issue: you may note from this picture that he turns it upside down. That works fine with oatmeal, but not so well with applesauce.

Here his big sister demonstrates proper spoon orientation. Please take note, Daniel.

We Heart Heart Day

When I was single, I never happened to be dating anyone when Feb 14 rolled around, so I developed a certain antipathy toward Valentine's Day (or Singles Awareness Day, as I took to calling it). Now that I'm married and have kids, I find Valentine's Day both more meaningful and more fun.

This year Joy and I made valentines, . . .

. . . the kids and I attended a Valentine party (Joy is drawing a picture of Daddy on her valentine for him), . . .

. . . I stuck notes all over the house telling my sweetie things I love about him, . . .

. . . and we had special Valentine's Day cookies from Pink Grandma for our FHE treat. We also ate heart-shaped pancakes for dinner, but we were too hungry to take a photograph before we devoured every single one.

Sports, Art, and Mozart

At the tender ages of four and two, Joy and Daniel seem to be showing inclinations toward the arts and athletics, respectively (though of course, that all could change in a matter of days or hours).

Here Daniel engages in a father-son game of catch . . .

. . . while Joy colors in the coloring book the lab gave her when I went for my pregnancy blood test this week. Our local artist also painted all the knobs in our bathroom this morning, but I made her scrub it all off before I thought to take a picture.

Here is a particularly colorful picture Joy decorated in Primary today. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be the Savior, or Joseph & the Coat of Many Colors.

Daniel usually prefers to propel his trike under his own power, but occasionally he lets his big sister give him a hand.

Last but not least, Curious George (AKA Joy) demonstrates her remarkable ability to hold items with her "bottom hands." In this case, she's holding pictures of Mozart from our homemade matching game. Whenever we turn him over for the first time, Joy exclaims, "Mozart! I love that guy!" Jim Svejda would approve.

Spin City

Daniel turned two this week! Thanks for adding so much fun and good cheer to our family, Little Buddy!

We celebrated the blessed event with a little fro yo . . .

. . . then went home so Daddy could finish assembling Daniel's birthday trike. We decided to take it for spin the next day . . .

. . . but Daniel was craving a different kind of spin . . .

. . . so Joy took it upon herself to test drive the new bike . . .

. . . whereupon Daniel decided to verify that her scooter still works properly.

Our family outings don't always turn out the way we expect them to, but we still manage to have fun (most of the time). :)

Habakkuk or Hephzibah?

We have some exciting news to share:

We're expecting a third munchkin, due to arrive in late August! In the tradition of Henrietta and Hezekiah, we'll probably assign Baby Dear an outlandish, temporary H-name once we learn his or her gender in April. Any suggestions?

Almost Back In The Saddle

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately.

We've all been sick . . .

. . . and tired.

Fortunately, we're all now in various stages of feeling better, so we should have more adventures to share soon. Hooray for antibodies!

In the meantime, we'd better get some more rest.