Easter 2022

We began our Easter visit to Philadelphia with a trip to the Academy of Natural Sciences.

We encountered all sorts of creatures, living and

no longer living,

but the highlights of the museum were the dinosaurs, and

time with Danny.

That evening we were able to be with Aunt Rachael on her birthday.

On Saturday morning we enjoyed an egg hunt at the Colonial Plantation where I used to volunteer:

Sophia was excited to ask me questions about it, and everyone was a fan of the ox.

We participated in a second egg hunt on Saturday afternoon while the littles were sleeping:

And celebrated at church with Nana and Bop-bop on Sunday morning, and Uncle James and Aunt Rachael in the afternoon:

Baby girl J turns 3!

 

Dear J-Joy, 

“I be da parent Dada” will be the phrase that I remember the most from your second year of life. You know what you want, and when you want it. You have vision, we are just trying to figure out how to be part of it somedays. 

You are full of life, often with your favorite soft rainbow blanket in tow as you run around the house in a diaper. 

You delight when Sophia and Jason return from school, running to the door to give them big hugs. You are not a big hugger, so that welcome or a rare snuggle that your mom and I can sneak in mean that much more.

Your desire to be helpful in the kitchen, or do anything yourself that could end in a big mess, is strong for a three year old. You want to climb on anything, grab anything, and unzip everything. You love to walk around the house with a backpack on telling us you are heading to school, which is just a few months away for you.  

You are also full of two year-isms like "Can we go snowing?" When you want to play in the snow or calling bathing suits “bathing soups.” You loudly yell,  "stop the book!" and get up and sprint off to grab something when we are reading to you. You live life at 10, and throw yourself in head first.

My prayer for you this year is that you will continue finding ways to love your brother as you lead the pack, while being more flexible with those around you.

Love,

Dada

Baby boy J turns 3!

Dear Little J-man,

During your second year of life your language has blossomed, and I love when you run into a room to alert me of something that you are able to do. “Dada I am reading!” or “Dada I am running!”

You rarely walk, you are either running or marching. You have surprised me with your love of singing—most often Paw Patrol or Jesus loves me recently. 

You love your sister fiercely, even as you often want to bump into her, take her toy, or wrestle her whenever possible. When she is not around, you ask repeatedly where she is. 

You don’t love nicknames, as you often give me a confused look and correct me by saying, “no dada, I am J_____.” 

You love making a mess outside or on the table, but want to use a napkin to wipe your mouth or hands between bites of food.

You love to grab a book and ask someone to read it with you, especially if it is about trains, dinosaurs, or paw patrol. Or we will often catch you in the living room flipping through a book by yourself.

You love to tell people you love them, and welcome any chance for a hug or to be tickled. You often will come into the kitchen to just check in and say “I love my family.”

We love your many old man sayings that you declare in very deliberate language, like “actually I changed my mind" or “Thank you for saying sorry.” Also how you can be very present in the moment, for example when you asked your mother to get a potted plant down at the grocery store so that you could smell the flowers and then breathed in deeply, two days before a blizzard when everyone else around us was running around.

We also like your funny two year-isms when you combine words like salsa and ketchup and call salsa "salsup" or "Mama, be smiling at me," while you are trying to get out of being disciplined.

My prayer for you this year is you will keep finding new and creative ways to show those around you how much you love them, but figure out ways that don’t result in so many other little people, or yourself, on the ground.

Love,

Dada