Helping mommy

Zach and Isabella both like to help mommy. The other day I was sweeping up the floor and he wanted to run the dustbuster to get the dirt up. He did that and then decided that he could keep going and sweep up the table too.

Big Shoes

Zach decided it would be fun to put my shoes on. He often tries that, but this time he put them on over his shoes and they stayed on. It was pretty funny.

Visiting 'Heritage Homestead'

Last Thursday we drove up just north of Waco to meet some of Liza's friends from her college days at Northwestern. Paul and Judy were vacationing with their daughters in Texas, so we drove up with the kids to meet them. We went to the Heritage Homestead. It was very pretty and the kids had a great time seeing the animals, the working mill, the black smith and watching a woman make a clay pot on a wheel. We had a nice visit and had a very good meal.

Liza and Judy in front of the resturant.
Zach looks at the baby chicks.
Isabella and the girls look at the baby goats.

Zach looking at the animals.

Easter

We flew back home on Easter from Kansas. We had to leave Rolla at 5am to make sure we would be on time for our flight. We timed it just right. I'll tell you, taking 2 kids and all their stuff through security alone was something I'd prefer not to do again for a long time. :-)

We got home around 2:30 and then Liza and the kids went to an Easter potluck. I stayed home because I was totally wiped out from the trip. I did have time to hide eggs and get things ready for when they came home. They had so much fun looking all over for eggs and then eating way too many jelly beans.

Here are some pictures from their hunt.

Visiting Grandma Dye

On the Friday before Easter, Zach, Isabella and I flew up to Amarillo then drove 3 hours north to Kansas to visit my grandmother who is in the hospital and not doing very well. She is 91 and can't get out of bed by herself any longer. A few days before we went to visit, she fell out of bed and fractured her pelvis, so she was really in bad shape when we got there. But even though her body is not cooperating with her very well, her mind is all there. She really enjoyed seeing the kids. I can't believe how well they did playing together in such a small space for over 8 hours in two days. They were running around, playing, coloring, wrestling, and generally making a lot of noise. They liked to talk to Grandma too and show her things. She was smiling most of the time and laughed too. It was good to see. She hasn't had a lot to smile about lately, so I'm so glad we could encourage her.

Here she is in bed with the kids next to her.

When we weren't in Elkhart at the hospital, we were back in Rolla (17 miles) at her house. The kids had a lot of fun there too, playing with the same toys I used to play with when I was their age.


On the second day we were there, we got shakes before going back to the hospital after naps. They both enjoyed them and gave grandma some good laughs trying to suck the thick shakes up the straw.
Isabella was really happy with hers...

Grandma is still in the hospital. We are praying that she will get well enough to go back to the care center across the street soon. We sure do love her and wish we could have stayed longer.

Coloring eggs

The Thursday before Easter, we colored Easter eggs. Zach's idea of putting an egg in the dye was more of a slam dunk. It's a good think Liza put down newspapers, because Zach's spot was soaked through...
Isabella really had a great time doing the eggs. She liked picking the colors and she also worked on coloring with crayon on the eggs to make designs.

I had fun with them too.
We made two special eggs for each of the kids. They both managed to find their own eggs on Easter.

Birthday Party

Isabella went to her first real birthday party. Elisabeth is a friend from church who had a great party with horse and pony rides. She really had a great time. She was very excited about the hat and the bandanna that she got to keep when she came home

Here she is riding the horse.
And then again riding the pony. Liza walked around with her once, then Isabella informed her that she was not needed. She could do it herself...

Here is Isabella with Elisabeth at the party.
I'm thinking since we'll be in Thailand for Isabella's 4th birthday, perhaps she can do an elephant ride.... :-)

Egg Hunt

When we got back to Austin, Liza and the kids went to an Easter egg hunt that was done with our new parents class at church. They had lots of fun looking for eggs.



Zach didn't really get what he was supposed to do with them. He'd just open them up, eat the candy, and throw them on the ground to go look for some more.



Isabella caught on to that method as well. She was also sporting her high fashion look of easter dress with green frog galoshes.

Visiting Nana & Papa

Near the start of March, we went to Houston for a few days to see family and raise some new monthly support. We had a great time staying with my sister, Kelli, and seeing all the family. We went over to my grandparents' house one afternoon and the kids had fun playing in the back yard and seeing their great-grandparents.

Here they are sitting in the rocking chair on the back porch.
Here Zach is sitting on Papa's lap with Belle looking on. They had a great time.

Finally back to the blog

March was a crazy month, and I just didn't have time to get stuff on the blog. We are shooting 2 films back to back from April 11th to 15th and that has been taking a lot of time to get things ready.

In March we did a lot of stuff and got some great pictures, so I'll be posting stuff from the last month. I hope you enjoy it.

Many people have asked about Hoosier, our dog, so see if he returned home. Sadly, he has not. He's still out there somewhere either living with a new family (and he is so sweet I'm sure anyone would want to keep him) or he's chasing squirrels in doggie heaven. Isabella goes back and forth what she thinks happened to him.

We will get another dog sometime in the future, but not until we are done with our summer travels to be sure.... Thanks for your notes and prayers for our fuzzy friend.