Update and lots of pictures

 In March Taylor went to Portland for March Madness with his stepdad and brothers. They had a blast! And since he was going to be gone, I drove out to Iowa to spend a week with Karen and family!!! That week conveniently turned into 2 1/2 weeks, and I was still sad to leave. We had so much fun! We stayed up way too late talking, we ran, went to the zoo, played at the park, went to the St. Patrick's Day parade and made the most amazing green breakfast. Ever. It was so fun to have our kids play and get to know each other better. I LOVE MY SISTER! Oh yeah, and we completely repainted a room in her house, including doors, baseboards, ceiling...and made a sweet frame for her wall...and it all looks so awesome.

Pepper, Ash, and Tate making soup. And macaroni and cheese.

My girls

On a fun walk at a cool park! 

Karen demonstrating perfect ceiling painting form

 

This doesn't due justice to the awesomeness of this room and frame. 

I also made a frame a few months ago. Found these old window frames with glass still in them on the tree lawn. Fun easy project. And I made the wreath to go on it. Too bad Karen's is way cooler than mine. haha Just kidding. But it really is...it's just not too bad. :)

Story smiling - cuter than the frame I was taking the picture of

Another tree lawn find! (Thank you Jasmine!!) Pepper helped me clean it. For an hour. 

She (and friends) have loved having a sandbox in our backyard.

"Don't get me, Elliot!!!"

Cheeeeeeeeese!

Dr. Daddy teaching Pepper how to hear heart murmurs

All holidays are more fun when your kids are a little older and really enjoy them. Painting easter eggs was so fun with Pepper! And finding the Easter baskets! We went to a dinner and easter egg hunt at our friends Holly and Mark's house and had a blast. Pepper loved finding Easter eggs. We loved having good friends to spend the holiday with.

Story examining the grass while everyone else enjoyed the hunt

Pepper running for an egg!

Our little family

Life has been fun this summer! We spend lots and lots of time outside enjoying the sunshine and the heat! We frequent different parks each week, hit up the swimming pool, and go on lots of walks to any place within walking distance. We also still like story time and playing with friends in the backyard.

Max, Pepper, and Elliot playing in our backyard during our "Story's First Birthday/YAY Exams are Over" Bash! We had all the first years over for a weenie roast on our fire pit and had fun swinging on the tire swing, talking, and eating delicious food! And the world's best s'mores.

After crying hysterically when her fingers were covered with frosting, Story decided she liked her cake after all. 

Pepper liked it too. Obviously.

Thomas, Will, Pepper, Abbie, and Story shwimmin!

"ooh!" A classic Story face. She loves her swimming pool from Grandma.

Pepper loves to push Story on the swing. And Story loves it too! This was when we went to Chagrin Falls - a cute waterfall and little town. It was pretty and the ice cream was yummy.

Pepper driving Story in the tractor. This was at Patterson's Farm. Right after we drove 30 minutes out there to pick strawberries and found out that they were all picked out for the day! We still had fun and ate delicious homemade donuts.

Story in the tractor wheel

Grandma likes to periodically remind the girls of their Canadian heritage. They proudly waved their flags on our walk.

Pepper could swing all day if I'd let her. And I love that she loves wearing her sunglasses.

Pepper at the beach! 

We had a fun day with friends at the beach and I only got a little sunburned. 

Story had fun at the beach too. See?

Story sleeping with Joshua on our walk. Little rascals. Ahh, young love. Jasmine and Joshua hung out with us while our husbands were at a conference in Orlando. It was so fun to have her around and so nice to not be alone! I'm so grateful for good friends. Seriously.

Story is the big ONE!

Happy birthday to our little Story Ann! You know, a few weeks ago. She has grown up so much lately and seems so much more involved in things. She is tipping the scales at a whopping 17.75 lbs, placing her in the 10th percentile! That's big! It's all in her chubby little thighs. Her two words are "wow!" and "uh-oh" She loves to eat all the food we eat and good thing too because I was so done with baby food. I would tell you her favorites, but to this point she pretty much just pounds whatever we set before her. Although, she does have a great love for rocks, wood chips, sticks, pieces of broken asphalt, grass...I'm constantly pulling them out her mouth.

Recent accomplishments: learning to crawl up the stairs, learning to clap (she does it all the time with a huge smile on her face. Love it.), and just today she took her first steps!! She can balance forever while eating or playing with a toy and can stand up easily from a sitting position all by herself. We'll see how long it takes her to really get going, but it was so fun to see her do those first steps! And lucky for you, we  got it on film (if that is the correct term considering it isn't film at all...) so you can enjoy it too!

Other fun tidbits: Currently one of her favorite hobbies is scooting all around the house pushing a little wooden train. Seriously, she did nothing but this for a full 45 minutes the other day. Her hair is strawberry blonde and looks very red in certain lights. I think it might stay red because she seems to have the matching personality! She is full of energy and excitement and opinions. She has become very vocal about voicing those opinions...loudly and with much drama. It's actually pretty funny. She also enjoys wrestling with Pepper. Mostly. I'm always surprised that she is laughing and not crying. She just loves her big sister! Pepper enjoys playing with her more and more and it's really helpful for me. Pepper likes to have Story follow her around or chase her, to crawl with her, give her toys, tell her what to do and what not to do, and tell her interesting things about life. It's fun to watch them interact more.

Apparently I'm a nut job.

On Tuesdays this local gourmet pizza place has all large pizzas on for $6. Recently we (meaning I) decided that this sounded better than making dinner. Taylor was home, so I ran quickly to pick up the pizza. While waiting for our order I began talking with a lady and her mom. The lady said something about me being a cute pregnant girl and congratulations and then she was distracted and her mom started to ask me questions about my pregnancy.
When are you due?
July.
Is this your first?
Nope, our third!
Wow. How old are the others?
Two and One.
You are a nut job!
[unsure how to respond] haha thanks!

Is there a correct way to respond to this?! The funniest part was that we kept talking for another few minutes and she repeated this phrase to me several times and never once qualified it with a congratulations or that's great or good luck. Just, you're a nut job! I'm pretty hard to offend, so it wasn't offensive to me how she responded, but just so funny! Who says that?! She was so nice in all of her conversation I figure she just really thinks I must be crazy! Well, she is probably right on that point. But, crazy or not, we are really excited for baby girl three to join our little family!