A free bike every week? They must be crazy busy...

or crazy rich (which means crazy busy making tons of money).

Aren't these fun bikes!

While the cats away, the mice shall play

I think I may be in for some double-duo trouble:

I was in the garden, quickly picking corn (that I grew with my own two hands...and some water, seeds and good soil!). When I came inside (not being gone five minutes), I found Rowan COVERED in Desitin and Niev trying desperately to rub it in. Rowan was just trying to eat it.

Can't help but love sisters!

Speaking of sisters, I got a chance to see my sister this weekend without the kids. My parents were heading to Utah just for the weekend and Ian offered to watch the girls to allow me to go. What a fabulous husband! Melissa has a son that is Niev's age, but it was Father-and-Sons campout, so Melissa was child-free as well. We shopped, went out for dessert and laughed until tears were streaming. I will be forever grateful for an unselfish, self-sacrificing husband. He truly is fantastic. No one has a fighting chance trying to convince me that they have a better husband. No way, no how!

PS--Niev must have really missed me because she got into my make-up, shampoo and the fridge within the span of three hours. I was trying to clean my house. I gave up on that and just played with my Desitin smelling girls!

Ha, ha, I beat you this time!

Kelley, I posted before you did. I really can't believe it! Miracles do happen...I guess I can't take full credit seeing as these are YOUR pictures with YOUR camera that YOU copied and put on a CD for us. (I told you it is all because of the "where do I put the pictures issue" that I am not blogging!)

This last weekend, Ian and I spent in Portland (a very quick and spontaneous trip at the suggestion of Ian--shocking, I know). Because it was for Ian's birthday, I told him that we could spend the entire weekend with his sister, Kelley, (my sister, Julie, also lives in Portland). He was kind enough to allow me to go to breakfast each morning with Julie so that I could spend some good quality time with her. I loved every minute of conversation with Julie that I got. We went to Farmer's Market to grab some goodies and then a great breakfast the next day. With Kelley, Brian and Hudson in tow, we went to the zoo. We road the train in and Niev thought that was pretty special. Her Gramma Buh comes on the train from Portland to visit us and she asked where Gramma Buh was when we got on the train. We love Portland and visiting our sisters and their wonderful families.

Rowan looks so much like a boy here, a very cute boy but still a boy!

Rowan was enraptured by the zoo

Niev's favorite--the penguins. This is the only "decent" picture she would take because she wouldn't let her eyes off the penguins for a second.

Niev kept asking to go back to the tractor-car
Niev really thought this eagle's nest was very cool.
Hudson and Niev getting their pet on at the petting area
Sisters, sisters--there were never such adoring sisters (just for you, Kelley!)


Rowan and Hudson totally loved each other

Hudson and Rowan getting some suck-face time--I told you they adored each other

A Giveaway...again!

Some very cute stylish bags, in case anyone was wondering!

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I was walking Niev and her friend, Olivia, to the park today. Our new dog, Bonzer, was in tow and I was wanting to stop to make sure I had my book in the back of the stroller. I said, "Heel, Bonzer." Olivia then turned in the stroller and said, "My daddy says, 'Heel' to my dog Luna, too". Niev quickly responds, "My daddy says, 'YEE-HAW!'" Laughter ensued.

Thank yous

Niev was saying the prayer as we were having our family nightly prayer. "Thank you for the potty and for pee pee. Thank you for wipes. Thank you for flushing. Thank you for washing hands." Can you tell that we are in the throes of potty training?

PS--I will try to post pictures soon. The girls and I are in Parma enjoying the stress-free life of the farm.

Catching up is hard to do

Sorry that I have totally been MIA in the blogging world. Don't you worry your pretty little head though; I have been keeping up with all of your blogs so I have been enjoying the blogging world, just not actively participating. Two kids is surprisingly busy--more so than I thought it would be.

We had a fabulous Easter. On Saturday, we went with some friends to see the Easter bunny and do the egg hunt thing at a local church here in Kennewick. Niev LOVED it. Unfortunately, the parents don't know quite how to control themselves at these sort of events so Niev went home with a very small amount of eggs, but she was happy. She even saw a boy that was sad because he didn't get any eggs; Ian then encouraged her to share one of her eggs with him. She is becoming a very sensitive, bright girl. (Now if we could only stop the biting and hitting!) She even gave the Easter bunny a hug and waved hi to him. Pretty cute.

We dyed Easter eggs together as a family in an unusual way this year using silk ties. Things got so busy I didn't take an AFTER picture, but here is the before!


Niev woke up to a fun Easter basket left by the Easter bunny on Sunday morning. In it were marshmallow chicks, marshmallow bunnies, bubbles, a book, a big bouncy ball, eggs to hide and some eggs already hidden by the Easter bunny. She loved the candy and was more excited about eating the eggs' treasures than actually finding the eggs. (Can't really blame her!)

One FHE, I gave a lesson on temples and got a great idea from one of the blogs I follow (thanks Katie) to build your own temple using sugar cubes. Ian and I participated in a friendly contest of "best temple" while Niev enjoyed licking the "temple".

I've recently been called as Primary President and am a bit overwhelmed with the calling. We luckily have a small primary and so it is quite manageable. Our first Sunday was Easter Sunday and the bishop hadn't replaced me as chorister so I was over Sharing Time and Singing Time. By the end of church that day, I was exhausted and felt like I had been riding a rollercoaster for two hours. I think once I actually get things under control, I will really enjoy this new calling. I have three fabulous counselors/secretary. Each of them are so enthusiastic, creative and a great support to me.

The girls are so much fun right now. Rowan is laughing and smiling pretty regularly.

She is eating oatmeal/cereal from a spoon and really gobbles it down. She hadn't been sleeping more than a five hour stretch so the doctor told me to put it in her bottle, but it still wasn't enough so she eats meals with us now. Niev thinks Rowan's food is pretty tasty and is always asking Rowan to share her food. At her last appointment she weighed 14 1/2 lbs and seems to have beefed up since then a bit. When we took her to Spokane for her eye appointment, the specialist couldn't see anything! She said her eyes looked perfect. At Rowan's 4 month appointment, our pediatrician (who originally saw it) looked again and couldn't see what he saw before. So who knows what it was, but at least it disappeared on its own. I'm not complaining!

Rowan just stares at her dad. She is so intrigued by him. She will reach up to touch his face (probably because it is rough) and will smile the biggest at him. It really is the sweetest thing!

Rowan is a big fan of Niev's. She thinks Niev is hilarious. Ian and I were worried that she would always live in fear of Niev, but to the contrary. She brightens up as soon as she hears Niev's voice or sees Niev paying attention to her. It really is the cutest thing. I'll try to upload a video of the two of them playing on Niev's bed together. Adorable! stay-tuned...

Niev is potty training and has been for at least a month. She is still taking a duke in her panties at least every other day if not more (anyone have any advice for me! We have tried everything!). She loves Mr. Rogers, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Sesame Street. (We get all the old school stuff from the library and we own some SS.) She loves going to nursery and playing with all her friends, especially Olivia and Emma. She loves having her friends over to play. Normally, this involves her taking her bed apart (two twin mattresses stacked on top of each other) and jumping from one mattress to the other mattress. I'm just waiting for someone to get hurt (does it sound like I'm neglectful???) She is hilarious and loves to be a show-off.

She is very independent and has learned to open the fridge (hence the need for a fridge lock), climb up on the counter (hence us taking all the barstools away from the counter), turn on the DVD player (hence us shutting it off manually), etc. As soon as she sees me start to feed Rowan and begin pumping, she runs out of the room to see just what she can destroy in five minutes. But as soon as she hears me coming, she will say, "I put it back, I put it back." She goes a mile a minute and still is even though she has been sick the past two days.

Notice the remote--now you know who really wears the pants in this family!

She is very picky about her footwear. She doesn't really care what I dress her in, but she MUST wear her "boots with cherries on them" everywhere she goes (including church--yes, we get MANY comments on them, good? bad? who knows.) We are in the process of trying to find replacement shoes for those boots. I love them but not chapel attire!

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