Busy Life and Best Birthday

We've been BUSY!!!

 

We got to take a family trip to the zoo...

 The baboons checking each other out

 Looking for the alligator

 Mama and Cora LOVED having Daddy come to the zoo with us

 Jack is swimming with the penguins

Jack's been doing some yard work for Grammy and Papa...

We've been painting...

 We had a family painting party ranging in ages from 9-99!

So much fun

 And the results are in! Each one is so unique. It was fun to see all the different results.

Cora has been put in an at home "tummy time and standing" boot camp.

She's not crawling or scooting, so Mama is making her workout now.

We're starting to see some improvement, but still no movement.

 

THEN, it was my birthday!

All I wanted was to spend the day with my family. 

I got that. 

AND

I got a BEAUTIFUL DAY!

A yummy breakfast.

A stunning family stroll in SE Portland.

The best pictures you can get (when you are just taking them yourself and you have a 3yr old and 9mon old and husband that hates pictures but they are all taking them just because it's your birthday and they know you like them.)

Chinese food, 

and a super duper fancy cake inspired by watching the British Baking Show.

oh 

AND I got super duper cute cafe lights on my patio!

I think Jack enjoys them too ;)

He keeps saying, "Now Santa can come!"

I guess they look like Christmas lights to him? Grammy had to connect the dots on that line of reasoning for me. 

 Here's the Princess Torta Steve made for me this year. It was delish! Homemade marzipan, custard, jam and sponge cake all layered up.

Papa is sneaking Cora some ice cream

Jack is enjoying his cake on this 78 degree day.

The Rhododendron Gardens in SE Portland

 It's so beautiful here!!!!!

 Quacking at the Mama and goslings

Chasing the ducks now.

*sigh* "Jack, leave the animals alone" said 1,000 times over...

"Jack, come take a picture with Mama" 

This is the best we could do :)

But we DID get this one..

...and this one

"Lets take a quick picture"

Results below.

 Cora's turn!

This is the behind the scenes of what is really happening out of frame.

"Mama, what's dis?"

Garbage, Jack.  It's garbage bud.

 I got a passer by to take our photo. 

I said don't worry about what everyone is doing, we'll be here all day.

So, everyone... I present

Our Family Portrait

😂

We snapped a few other photos. None of them stellar, but we wanted to keep some semblance of peace. So I didn't push it and just got what we got!

Thank you family for loving me SO WELL. 

My heart is full.

And now that we've done all we've done and seen all we've seen and been everywhere doing every thing lately, this is pretty much how we all feel.

Give me a nap.

Easter Extravaganza

FIRST, we had Easter over at Grammy and Papa's house

This seems to be the best we can do for a family photo these days. 

Cora looks cute!

 THEN, the Easter bunny came to our house right after nap time.

 Jack thought using his "binoculars" would help him find the remaining eggs...

... and, it looks like it worked!

Cora woke up in time to help count all the eggs Jack collected.

Of course, Mama had to try to turn Easter into a photo session since everyone was dressed so cute. 

 

Here's some other fun stuff that has been happening too!

Cora turned 9 months old on Easter!

This has been THE FASTEST year of my life.

We're trying to get back into hiking again. Jack trekked almost 2 miles and did a GREAT job!

Daddy put his foot on a log to check out a view point...

...so Jack put his foot on the other end of the log...

...and they both took in the view together :)

We tried to get a walk in before the rains came. We didn't make it. We were all SOAKED by the time we got home, but Jack didn't care in the least.

Everybody was stripped of their soaking we clothes in the garage when we got home, and then Jack and Cora had a picnic in the kitchen!

Jack has been asking a lot lately for Cora to come play "up high" with him in the top bunk in his bedroom. They play together up there quite well and Jack unloads ALL the toys up there for Cora. 

It's those sweet moments of brotherly love that hopefully make up for the times he tries to shove her face into the ground while she's getting tummy time in. 

It's a mystery, isn't it, why she still hates tummy time...

Jack has also been yelling at sis when she is babbling "nah nah nah, bah bah bah" etc. 

He says, "I'm not "nah nah nah"  Sis, I'm Jack!"

And I captured this beauty during my photo session. It demands a caption, I just can't come up with the perfect fit. It seems the possibilities are endless with this one. 

It makes me laugh every time.