Easter and Spring!

First, I just wanted to say, the weather has been lovely lately. We've had some rain, we've had some sun--it got into the 50s three times in the last week! And to celebrate the coming of spring, we all went to Ben and Bill's. Madie ordered her usual: mint chocolate chip.

Classic Madie shot.

Finnegan did not want to be left out. But he was.

Okay, now on to the important day. Easter was great! We went to sacrament meeting then headed north to enjoy Easter dinner with Gram and Seth and his family. 

Finn and I. Aaaaand Gram's new addition! It's a nice little porch, just waiting for the Clan to come fill it up.

We spent plenty of time outside. Mike took Finn on a walk, then Madie and I joined Ashley, Guenie, and Wilder on a stroll around town. Seth's kids were playing lacrosse in the streets between cars. And Madie and Wilder played a few games of chase. It was nice to spend some time with just us and Seth's family. I've never had the chance to really chat with Ashley and Madie and Wilder really got to play around some.

 

As I was uploading pics, I saw Mike had taken another shot of this house. I'm pretty sure we know what his dream house looks like. Maybe next time we'll ask if we can get a tour of the inside.

A pause in "tag" to giggle about something or another. 

Enjoy the beauty of spring and of the knowledge of a risen Savior!

Painting & Hunting Eggs

The Easter Bunny, in cahoots with Peter Cottontail (our backyard habitant), left a slough of colorful Easter eggs around our backyard. It is such a cool yard to have an easter egg hunt. Madie was up for the task. 

Mal even found a golden bunny. 

And Finn found an egg on the lawn!

Although still dead, this was Finns first time sitting on the grass  in the backyard. 

Madie really liked coloring eggs. 

And of course, Finn was happy with his two fingers, blankie, and sitting with Mumma. 

Tracking Peter Cottontail

Since moving to Maine, Madie and I have really enjoyed our backyard (and everyone else's backyard for that matter). Just a whole lot of woods, and not many houses. No Michael, you are not in California anymore...The other day when I was back there, I spotted a wild rabbit zipping away from the yard. Since then, we have named him Peter Cottontail and every backyard playtime turns into a quest to find him. **BREAKING NEWS** Thanks to the recent snowfall, we have photographic evidence that Peter has been snooping around right near our house. We even followed his trail for a while. The one cool thing about snowfall is you can see who or what has been walking nearby. 

Madie loves laying in the snow. See Peter Cottontails prints?

He is actually a decently sized rabbit. 

Growing out

This Finn man is growing so fast. He is scooting around, but not quite crawling. He is starting to pull himself up on things as well. I think we are going to have to watch ourselves in the next few weeks because he's going to be on the move!

Thunder Hole

On Saturday, it warmed up a bit along the Maine coast. We decided to walk along the Ocean Path and check out Thunder Hole, a feature in Acadia. Although the sun was warm, it was breezy and chilly. The breeze created some epic waves in normally calm water. 

Thunder Hole is an underwater cave.

When a good-sized wave rolls in, it compresses air at the back of the cave. When the bubble of air pops it makes a thundering noise.

Are you ready to rumble?

Of course, we watched from a safe distance. Madie was absolutely taken with watching Thunder Hole. We had to pry her little hands from the guard rail to leave. 

And of course, Finn was content with his blankie in his cocoon.  Once it gets warmer, we'll take him out more. 

This was probably the biggest wave that we saw while we were there. It just plastered the viewing deck. 

Prayers

I just had to write this down before I forget. But first, a little background:

Madie has been banned from watching movies (full-length at least) and much television at least until we move into the new house. I used to let her watch about 30 minutes of tv a day while I made dinner and the occasional Disney flick. A little before Christmas though this started being followed with horrendous behavior. Even if what she was watching were harmless, educational PBS shows, she would throw tantrums over anything and it would last the rest of the day. So we said until she was a little more mature and grown up she would not be allowed to watch things, especially long movies. This ban has been in effect since the middle of January and in the past month we've slowly been letting her watch 15 minute shows a couple times a week.

Fastforward 

I've really started praying with Madie before bed each night, clarifying that although we prayed together just a moment ago, we also have the opportunity to say our own private prayers and that if she'd like, I'd help her. The past few nights she's actually been saying her own prayers once I get her started (she used to say prayers by herself all the time but now she never does, so it was like starting over).

Tonight, following a prompting to thank the Lord for her family, she said, "And thank you and bless my family will help me be nice so when I get bigger I can watch movies and not cry." Hahahaha! Oh dear!

Living by the Timer

Like most three year olds, Madie has been working on her listening and obedience skills lately. One things we've been using to assist the effort is a timer. Whether it's getting out of the bathtub, playing a game, or doing a chore, a timer has been our favorite tool. Ironically, she listens to the third party parental tool (timer) more than her actual parents. Since the parents manipulate the third party, we are perfectly fine with this! Whatever it takes, right? After we've asked her to do something, her new reply is "Let's set a timer!" We'll ride this wave as long as we can.