Dee! Dee! Dee!

"Dee" or dip is one of Trip's new favorite words and he usually says it in threes while he's making a dipping motion with his hand. He loves to dip things when he eats. It all started with waffles. Instead of putting jam or syrup on his waffles, I put some in a bowl and let him dip. Recently, it's been a common request. Fortunately, he's happy with dips like apple or pear butter, freezer jam, or applesauce.


The only problem is that the whole thing tends to end in quite a mess because he decides to start dipping his fingers instead of just the waffle, bread, or cracker.

But really, who could complain about a mess with such a sweet face and such a happy boy?!

Easter

Easter Sunday was of course a busy one at our house. Kirk was in charge of the music for the community sunrise service, so he was up and going by 5 am. We then had breakfast and service at our church.

Once we got home, I got Trip to sleep and then put the turkey in the oven while everyone took a nap. I tried to nap too, but Trip decided I shouldn't. We played and I let him watch his new Sesame Street DVD from Uncle G, Aunt T, and Cooper in hopes of keeping him quiet for a while.

A couple of hours later once the turkey and sides were ready, everyone got up and we ate. Then, Trip got to explore his Easter basket.

He loved the cow that Bapa and Granny sent him.

I didn't hide any eggs since he hadn't been interested in finding them the day before. He was taking them out of the bucket and throwing them on the floor. This one had a car in it, so it popped right open.


He thought that was a cool trick so he tried to do it with another egg. Unfortunately, it held stickers, and didn't pop open.

He had fun looking at his new book from Cooper.

Then it was on to the treats from Bapa and Granny. He loves this squeezable applesauce and wanted to eat both packages. They were very kind to us and sent some healthy snacks like dried fruit and fruit leather. (Thank you!) Trip was thrilled with all of it!

It took him a while to figure out how to push the button on this toy, but now he loves it.

Eating some candy with silly Uncle Erik.

We also got to spend some time on Skype with Bapa, Granny, Cooper, Uncle G, and Aunt T. Cooper and Trip enjoyed seeing each other and showing each other their gifts.

Thanksgiving in April

This has been a day of reflection and thanksgiving for me. It was one year ago today that we took Trip to the ER and found out that he had an intussusception that would require surgery to fix. (You can read about it here and then here.)


That was one of the most difficult things I have ever experienced. Sending him into the unknown of surgery and then so many days of waiting to see how he would recover was incredibly scary. We are so blessed that he made it through the whole ordeal with just a small scar to show for it.

We are also thankful to all of you who prayed for us, encouraged us, came to the hospital, made us meals, allowed me to take time off of work, sent cards and gifts, and so much more. Your love and support got us through those difficult days and weeks. We may never understand why this happened, but it certainly has made us even more thankful for our precious little boy and allows us to truly empathize with other parents who are going similar situations.

We sure have reason for much thanksgiving!

Easter Egg Hunt

Our church hosted an Easter egg hunt at the park today. We had over a hundred people show up, and very few of them were from the church. We were excited to have such a great turnout and to get to do sometime nice for our community. We had purchased just over a thousand plastic eggs and filled them with candy. We also had twelve golden eggs that contained $80 between them. Needless to say, the kids who found those eggs were thrilled!

This section was for the little kids. We had enough eggs that many of the were just scattered on the grass.

Trip had gotten his fill of picking up and opening eggs while we were hiding them, so he didn't care about the actual hunt at all. I put three eggs in his bucket and he just poured them out,

and put the bucket on his head. He's been quite sure that it's a hat for a couple of weeks now.

He just watched the action with his bucket on his head.

Then the bucket was history and it was time to play on the equipment with the other kids.

His favorite is the slide. He climbed up and slid down more times than I can count.

Happy Easter!

Popcorn!

We have been eating popcorn (or "pa-pa" as Trip calls it) just about daily for the last month or so. Ever since we were in Missouri for Thanksgiving and Tammi showed me how easy it is to make popcorn on the stove top, I have hardly made any in the microwave. I just put a little oil and a couple of kernels in a pot, turn up the heat, and once the tester kernels pop, I add more, and turn it down a little while it cooks. Trip loves to listen to the popping. A dusting of garlic salt at the end makes it perfect. As soon as it's ready, he wants a bowl of it (and it has to be a big bowl like the adults get, not one of his little bowls).

By the way, you can now ask Trip to smile, and he will! That's how I got this nice one. It usually comes with lots of squinting too!

And how do little boys eat popcorn? With a spoon, of course! He requests one every time!

Signs of Spring

It seems that slowly but surely, spring is finally arriving here in Lakeview. These beautiful flowers popped up in our backyard a few days ago. Since this is our first spring in our house, it's fun to see what plants are coming up.

Our many trees are staring to bud.

These deer have been visiting us on a regular basis. Trip loves to watch them and the dogs love to bark at them.

Last night, we got a blanket of snow that looked fantastic in the morning sun.

We're hoping for some dry and mild spring weather this weekend since our church is hosting an Easter egg hunt!

Sports Buddies

Trip has been crazy about Uncle Erik ever since he moved in with us last July. Uh-E or E-Uh, as Trip calls him, knows an incredible amount of facts and information about many sports, but especially football, basketball, and baseball. He always tells Trip that Daddy will teach him all about hunting, and he'll teach him all about sports. They practice throwing a ball almost every day. When Erik comes in the house, Trip usually runs to get a ball, hoping that they can play.

Looking at pictures

Deciding whether to watch baseball or hockey

Learning

Chips

First, I have to say, can you believe this face? Trip actually posing for a picture? Wow! He liked the light/flash on Kirk's phone and kept asking for more pictures. Yesterday evening, he decided that he should grab the almost empty bag of tortilla chips from the table. Knowing that there were very few chips left, I let him have it. He marched right into the living room and sat down to eat.

Once he had gotten the couple big chips out, this was next.

Fortunately, once the dogs were done with the floor, there were only a few crumbs left. A little vacuuming was definitely worth the fun that we had!

Silly, Silly, Silly

Trip keeps us laughing on a daily basis with his silliness. Here are a few snapshots from the last couple of weeks.

To Colorado and Back in Three Days

Another title for this post could be "Three Funerals and a Long Drive". The last week has been a full one for us. Kirk officiated two funerals in three days here in town and just before the second one, we got the news that a friend of ours in Grand Junction had passed away. Steve had valiantly battled cancer for five years and is now no longer in pain, which gives us a reason to rejoice. Our housemates were close to him as well, so we all decided to pack up and drive to Colorado on Wednesday night so that we could attend the memorial service on Friday. We drove through the night, which was great for Trip who slept for many of the 13+ hours. Having several drivers helped the adults as well, but we were all tired when we arrived late Thursday morning. It was straight to visiting friends, though because we were determined to make the most of every minute there.

On Thursday afternoon, Trip and I went to the park with our friends Kristen, Elijah, Elisabeth, and Samuel. We enjoyed watching the ducks and Trip kept asking for a bath so that he could swim with them!

The weather was beautiful as were the views. It was nice to see the wonderful views of the Bookcliffs, Grand Mesa, and Colorado National Monument again. I miss them.

It was a little challenging for us moms to chat since we were all chasing our respective sons around, but we got a few moments together.

This is the best picture I got of the three boys together. It was fun to see them interact now that they are all older, walking, and starting to talk.

Trip absolutely LOVED the playground. With the winter weather here, he hasn't had many opportunities to play on a playground since he's been mobile enough to do so. He crawled in and out of the tunnels over and over.

He was also quite fascinated with the wood chips.

Being cute

On Friday morning, Trip and I were able to visit my old school. Everyone was thrilled to see Trip and see how big he's gotten. He was being pretty shy, but warmed up eventually and had fun playing with the other teachers' kids.

It was so wonderful to see everyone, but especially Patricia (left), who was my partner teacher for five years and Andrea (right), who I mentored during her first two years of teaching and who took over for me in second grade when I left. [Sorry for the blurry picture- it was taken by one of the kids. :) ]

On Friday afternoon, we joined hundreds of other people (probably close to a thousand) at Steve's memorial service. It was truly a celebration of a life well-lived and was very moving. He impacted many lives in his years on Earth, and especially in the last five or six years as he became a dedicated follower of Christ and a pastor. We saw many friends there and enjoyed catching up with them.

After dinner with more friends on Friday night, we got a few hours of sleep, and headed home at 4:30 on Saturday morning. Trip did quite well during the long drive. He slept some, played with toys, watched videos on my phone, ate lots of snacks, and only had a few times of unhappiness and frustration.

Most of our drive was in the vast nothingness of Utah and Nevada. There were some great views.

We stopped several times and Trip was of course eager to get out and stretch. He liked this sign at one of the gas stations we visited.

He was very happy, as we all were, when we finally got home and spent the next couple of hours running around the house and playing with his toys.