Rocking, flipping, and chalking

Sorry, but while we're away from Brian, I need to post an extraordinarily large amount of pictures of the kids. Especially of Kate. Already, in the two weeks that we've been here, she's learning buckets: how to wave "hi" (which she especially likes to do for her Grandpa Gary), clap her hands, shake her head "no," drink out of a sippy cup by herself, and throw her arms up and down. She's playing more independently and hamming it up more for her adoring audiences. Plus, I was able to leave her at Mothers' Day Out yesterday for three whole hours, my first time leaving her with anyone besides Brian or my parents for that long. She did fine, and I was ecstatic!

She's definitely her daddy's girl: a climber and adventurer. No fear at all. These pictures of her climbing on a rocking toy are eerily similar to one taken of Brian on a rocking horse when he was just a little older. Make sure to take note of the lone leg lifted in each shot; her daddy did that, too:

Now, for more cousin pictures. This tulip pacified Loie long enough for Marisa to get a gorgeous picture of the girls:

All four of 'em!

This toy dog barks and flips. Avi and Jack seemed to think, on this particular afternoon, that it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen:

The boys, showing off their chalky hands (and clothes!) after drawing all over the front sidewalk:

Birthday party

We celebrated birthdays today with my cousin Sooki and her two boys, Kyle and Kobe. Both Kobe and Sooki, as well as my mom, have birthdays coming up. Here's Kate, working on her new scrunched-face, wrinkled-nose smile. She's a charmer, and she knows it!

Grandpa Gary, trying to capture his darlin' grandgirls with his camera:

Sooki and her boys, who actually achieved the perfect picture with the first shot. An absolute miracle, when teenage/tween boys are involved!

Second cousins: Jack, Avi, Kobe, and Kyle.

Hilarious! Jack, right after Kobe showed him how to shove his finger in the frosting:

"Aunt Melanie" helping Kobe light the candles on his cake:

Our international bubble party

How fun! Meeting friends from "across the pond" was the highlight of our weekend. Our friend Mary, who went to high school with my brother, is visiting from London for a couple weeks, and yesterday she and her mom brought her two daughters over for a bubble party! We were also joined by Ryan, Marisa, Avi, and Loie. The abundance of spring flowers in my parents' backyard, along with some scrumptious ice cream treats, made for some adorable pictures. Just look at those smiles!

First visitors

We'd only been in Lewiston for a couple hours when our first visitors stopped by my parents' house: my cousin Joel, his wife Flori, and their 13-month-old daughter Sara. Kate had fun pulling on Sara's pigtails ("what the heck are these things?").

Last day in California

We had my sister Val and her boyfriend RJ here for the past few days. I picked them up in Reno after they had a not-so-ideal series of flights from Dallas. They came for Easter and to see the area we've been living in. I felt bad because we were packing the entire time they were here! But we did get to take them around Mammoth and June. The night after Easter it snowed almost a new foot, so they put on their snow clothes to play in the backyard a little. It hampered our trip to see the south tufa, and we drove up to see as much of Tioga Pass as we could, but it wasn't much! Their last day, they drove back to Reno to explore, and then to Tahoe for the night.

Kate looked adorable for her first Easter. And Jack was able to search for eggs around the house. I made gumbo, too!

And today is my last day living here. I'm taking the kids to Idaho for awhile. We'll stay with my parents while Brian lives in our travel trailer in Lee Vining for the rest of the school year. It's a big change for all of us. It'll be fun to start taking my kids to all the things that we haven't been able to do while living in the mountains. And after Idaho, it's New Mexico, for good.