Happy 5th Birthday to Renee!!!

"Oh.my.gosh! I got EXACTLY what I wanted!"

Renee blows out her (trick) candles!

The birthday girl and her beautiful cake!  She helped come up with the idea for this amazing creation! Thumbs-up to Daddy for making a homemade chocolate cake, homemade coconut ice cream and homemade chocolate frosting with fresh strawberries on top! SUPER YUM!

This is what a 5 year old CHUN looks like!

Little brother learned the word "cake!" tonight! (And loved every bite!)

It's springtime, and the air is nice!

Now that the snow has all melted and the ground is dry, John's daily walk with Apollo has become a family affair, with Renee pursuing some quest or battling demons, and little John getting some opportunities to practice walking and running on various surfaces.  Every time his little butt hits the ground, he looks to us with a "Did you see how the ground just moved?" look on his face.  Then he gets right back up and starts chasing his sister around.  He's gotten quite maneuverable in just the last week, so much so that he doesn't look very much like "baby" John anymore. 

Renee helping her brother stay on the path

The motorcycle was being used to chase the demons!

Timeless fun with laundry baskets

No matter how many new whatsamagadgets technology provides for our entertainment, the old standby, a laundry basket with a willing pusher/puller, still ranks up there with the all-time greats!

You know, if I think back to when I was a kid, I remember doing exactly the same thing with my sister... but it still makes me smile to see my *own* children pushing each other around in a laundry basket :) 

Big helper!

kitchen helper

So our big boy is learning how to climb- anything he can get to!  Not only is the dishwasher no longer safe, but also the couch, and even the dog food storage container!  Can't you just tell from the expression on his face- that sure is one proud little kid!  

Which reminds me- since we haven't officially made the announcement, baby John is walking!   And in the span of just 3 weeks, he is definitely walking more than he crawls!  It's still the adorable, stiff legged walk of a baby, but so exciting! 

Ok, fine, I know someone is going to point this out- you are right!  He's not a baby anymore... he's 15months old!  Where has the time gone?  

And as long as we're doing updates, let me see if I can remember some of the words he's using right now: momma, daddy, sissy, uh-oh, dog, cracker, cookie, juice, hot, please, more, water, food, bottle, sock, hat, toy, car, potty, paper, leche, pretty, ball, necklace

Some More Catching Up

Still going through media files and cataloging what we've got, and came up with this video on one of our phones.  Love it!

This is usually Apollo's favorite kid activity, but unfortunately for him this was a "dry run" for the little guy!  Maybe next time, doggy :-P