Derek & Heather's Combo Parties - March 22

Hayward Lake trail walk

the kids play on the heap of gravel

the whole group

toddlers exploring the creeks

ezekiel standing up tall

jumping to daddy

david and miles play on the bendy tree

diedre hangs from the tree

zeke brushes himself off

Family Birthday Dinner at Gagne Grandparents

uncle derek getting wrestled

cake with lights

the birthday man and lady getting ready to eat the cake mom & i made (its a derek favorite: angel food cake, with a moat cut out, filled with pudding, then the top put back on and the whole thing gets covered in coolwhip).

fun firsts

diedre and i (b/c i happened to be the sunday school teacher that month) are singing song for the church, we're the two at the far right.

castle fun park

diedre got to ride some amusement rides

ezekiel in a fancy car

diedre riding a donkey

kids play elmo's keyboard computer game

did they ever love it!

Derek's 32nd Birthday - March 13

receiving some shirts that diedre picked out

reading my card

Off to Diedre's final swim lesson:

going to the wall

"motorboat, motorboat" game

assisted backfloat

i think these backfloat pictures are funny because she looks more like she's doing synchronized swimming. she was so shy of this teacher it took her 3 out of 8 lessons to get comfortable enough to partake in the class. she just doesnt trust enough to rest on his shoulder for the backfloat.

kids are randomly playing, teacher looks a little upset...

getting ready for a boat ride

enjoying the boat ride very much

cute expression on her little face

daddy and ezekiel on the slide

Birthday Dinner at Pizza Hut a Derek tradition

poor zeke didnt last during the car ride to the restaurant

daddy and his princess

very fancy birthday cake (mccain deep n' delicious). i was planning to make a proper cake for our family party a few days later.

very silly child...

very happy, he has a trick to share...

he can suck on his own toe

a trip to our favorite park march 8

ezekiel picked up a kid's helmet and started wearing it around. he loves hats and helmets too i guess.

action shot: a nice girl shared her ball with the kids

ezekiel excited to run

diedre going for the ball again

getting ready for a big kick

sushi with kids march 8

ezekiel figured out his own way to use a chopstick for sushi

he LOVED the california roll. i think he ate/mangled three of them.
there were some young adults eating sushi nearby and i overheard one of them saying "i wish my mom had brought me for sushi when i was a kid." ha!

the following is a gallery of my sparkling princess, doing her thing:

David's party at Captain Kid's on March 8

well, no actual pics of the birthday boy, but we celebrated together with friends, the fourth birthday of diedre's good friend david.

diedre hung around the top of the slide ALOT but would not go down until an adult went and got her to go.

much happier at the kiddie slide.

Poppy's First Birthday: March 1st!

ezekiel and grandma gagne

poppy and diedre. poppy was even feeding her baby.

diedre playing in poppy's cool bubble seat thingy. it was a big hit. you can sit in it and spin around, or just lounge, or put it upside down like a turtle shell and step on it. very versatile.

ezekiel and poppy. they are 3 months apart, but were supposed to be 5 (she was a preemie, but she's doing great now!)

super cute bunny cake

diedre hamming it up

derek in tickle form

diedre and miles letting the sugar sink in.

diedre's getting bigger

since diedre turned three, we are often talking about how big she is now. she is also quite fascinated with marriage and so we've said, when you get really big, hopefully you will find a nice man to marry and you will live in your own house.

diedre went on and on today to tell derek how one day she will be too big to live here.

she said she would be too big to fit in her room.

derek said, "well you will probably be as big as mommy."

she said "no, i'm going to be really big. i'll have my own house that i can fit in."

derek said, "you'll be big. maybe you'll be as big as me."

she said "i'm going to be really big. you can come get me in the morning."

like Clifford, the big red dog. ha ha ha

12 weeks pregnant

here is the belly. it looks pretty high since my pants are so low riding, but i guess the part that sticks out isnt actually the baby anyway! ha ha

the baby is about the size of a lime, just over 2 inches.

i'm still getting sick almost every day, as a result of not eating at the right time. my energy level seemed to be going up but then i realized i can only handle about 3 hours of activity before i crash. and if my nap gets interrupted (yes, i've been very blessed with diedre being fairly cooperative with quiet time while ezekiel and i nap for an hour and a half) or i cant fall asleep fast enough to get a decent amount of rest, the afternoon is very difficult.

diedre talks about "new baby" everyday and ezekiel is still my baby...as in nursing too frequently for my liking. i try to give him a cup of milk as much as i can, but sometimes he will NOT take it and wants to nurse, so i do. i dont want my last weeks of nursing to be annoying, but i find he is so unwilling to wean that i am not enjoying the early (sometimes very early) morning feeds, although the daytime feeds are okay.