Like Father, Like Son

Micah likes to read. He really likes to read. He especially likes to read "The Big Red Barn". He will sit for 15-20 minutes and look at a book. Did I mention that he's 15 months old? Yeah, it's dreamy. Ah, but lest some of you out there with extremely wiggly 2 year-olds start to feel jealous, just remember, this won't last. Which is why I'm reveling in it now and snapping every picture I can get of this cutie in a stationary position.





























































(this is my favorite.)

Easter Celebration

The weekend after we returned from England was Easter. That Saturday our church had an Easter Eggstravaganza, a huge Easter egg hunt. Basically, you go eat cookies, see the Easter story acted out and then let your kids loose on 6000 candy-filled eggs scattered all over the church inside and out! Our kids think it's the bomb so we brave the crowds every year. I mean, what's better than getting to eat a sugar cookie at 10 in the morning?







































































Bethany headed outside with the big kids to hunt eggs (hence, no pictures of her in action), Joel took Anna and Katherine on their adventure and I got to catch Micah scavenging high, okay, mostly low, to get as many eggs as he could pick up and throw at his bag.




































































































So, then there was the ubiquitous "photo spot" where you could gather with bunny ears and flowers and make a futile attempt to get a shot of all the children smiling. Well, believe it or not, we sort of succeeded.















Until a friend said, "Why don't you two get in there and let me get a shot of the whole family!" Yeah right.



In a few weeks, we have to have a portrait taken for our church's directory (yeah, I guess it would be good for the teaching pastor's family to be included), so wish us luck. I figure it will either be the perfect portrait or stinking hilarious, either of which will be okay with me.

Pigeon-chasing in England

As most of you who read this blog know, Bethany was our first and only child born in England (and in case you are wondering, no, she does not get dual citizenship because we were here on a student visa). So, Joel and I decided that it would be fun to take her back to the Motherland to get a glimpse of her heritage, show her around London, go to Cambridge where we lived, etc. As with most things involving children, the things you think will be fun for them are rather mediocre and they find the utmost delight in other things that would never have occurred to you to be interesting. That's what we get for being adults, I guess. With that said, I present to you a rather unconventional tour of London, through the eyes of a pigeon- chaser.















Chasing the royal pigeons outside Buckingham Palace
















Having a go at the art-loving ones in Trafalgar Square just outside the National Gallery (I think they're a bit crotchety, these pigeons, because people aren't allowed to feed them anymore thanks to the Lord Mayor of London.)
















Here she is in Piccadilly Circus with a whole pigeon-chasing crew consisting of Benjy Mathole and some little boy who was very committed to the sport. (Benjy said, "But the little boy said we HAD to chase the pigeons!")
















The pigeons in Leicester Square, though hipper and better suited to the dizzying nightlife which descends each evening, were no match for our Union Jack-wielding terrifier of pigeons.















The flag really did seem to make her more efficient at her task.















Still at it in Windsor Station, on our way to visit the Queen's "weekend house".















She didn't DARE chase the ravens at the Tower of London but the pigeons were again fair game.















And finally, our last stop, St Paul's Cathedral, wouldn't have been complete without a final dash at the pigeons congregating on the steps of that majestic building.

I hope you've enjoyed our little tour-de-pigeon. I'll try to post more pictures at a later date of our adventures in this lovely country. But with one last nod to true English beauty, I give you:















Little English Girl in the Daffodils

The cousins are coming, the cousins are coming!

Well, today was a super exciting day in two Lawrence households. Preston and Madison were awakened at about 5.30 am (Preston says it was exactly 5.37 am) to the news that they were flying to Minnesota to spend Spring Break with their cousins! And our girls, who were privy to the plan since its inception, have been gearing up for a week for their arrival. (We discovered that for our girls, building up the big day is more fun than being surprised. The last time Preston and Madison came up, I surprised the girls and when we walked in from the airport, they stood there dumbfounded so it was kind of anticlimactic!) And it was a super special day because Madison turned 4 today - YAY, MADISON! So the girls and I had fun decorating - Madison had requested a Hello Kitty theme - and making a special Hello Kitty cake. So, here are a few pictures from our first fun day together. I hope to put up a slideshow soon of the rest of the festivities. (And, yes, little Micah was in the van too; you can just make out his little foot right beside Bethany, poor thing!)

All I want for Easter...

...is my two bottom teeth! Exactly one month ago, Bethany lost her first tooth. Today she lost her second one! Her first one was literally pushed out by another tooth you could clearly see just behind it (they call it a shark tooth, because of the rows of teeth that sharks have). So, you could hardly tell that she even lost a tooth! She was excited to use the dollar the Tooth Fairy brought her to buy a new pair of purple sunglasses at the dollar spot at Target. Almost immediately, the second tooth started to wiggle and today as I watched her pushing it horizontal with her tongue, I said, "Bethany, let's pull your tooth!" She looked at me, started pushing her tooth with her tongue and then reached up and took it out of her mouth! So, here are the pics!

Celebrating Micah

At last I've gotten together a slideshow of our time at the Eagle's Nest celebrating Micah's birthday. The Eagle's Nest is a very cool indoor play place at a local community center. It has a big kid's section and a little kid's section (the Eaglets' Aerie, how cute). We went with Bethany's best friend Claire and her mom, Amy. Bethany had been before with Claire and loved showing Anna and Katherine around. It's a great place with tunnels all over the place, a maze of punching bags, a huge ball pit, a small climbing wall and a big double wavy slide (a smaller version of the kind you see at state fairs). The little kid side has a little ball pit (which, as you can see, Micah loved!) and a few other little bits and bobs to crawl around on. Everyone had a great time and it was a fun way to celebrate the little guy.

Happy First Birthday, Micah!

It is hard to believe that this little guy is already 1! The time has absolutely flown by. We had a simple celebration this morning with blueberry muffins (his first!) and some video-chatting with Nanny and Simbo. Sadly, Joel was unable to attend due to his last day of intensives at school. But we will open some gifts this afternoon and plan an official party (complete with an iced cupcake or something) in a few weeks with our friends Matthew and Sarah Taylor whose daughter Stella is one month younger than Micah. So, here are a few pictures of the festivities!