It must be April

It must be April, and I'm in love!

I can hardly remember what its like to live away from these cherry blossoms!!

Even in our neighborhood, it is transformed with these practically edible blossoms.

Its just beautiful in the spring.

We ventured to the Cherry Blossom festival (much of which was canceled due to the unseasonable cold) to see the beauty.

Parts of the Potomac are in just a canopy of these blossoms.

Its spectacular, and we hit them right at the peak.

On the way back to the car I insisted we feast our eyes on the creatures from the underworld!

I love seafood, and certainly saw one of everything on this excursion!

Just a day in the life.

What to do when the weather is just not picnic appropriate?

Bring the picnic to you!

Lets go fly a kite.....or maybe not.

We headed off to get our new shark kite on its maiden voyage, but were a bit unsuccessful.

We were not totally discouraged, as there was a playground near by....

Henrys been training for his up coming Iron Man.

Working on his pull ups

Fast forward 12 years.

Lucy, driving a real car.

Charlie, wanting to be taken somewhere, on Lucys "lame" list.

Lucy, rolling her eyes, embarrassed as she comes to a stop light, and sees her BFFS.

Oh Lucy, only time will tell!!

What DO you do all day?

People keep asking me, what do you do all day?

And really, I have no answer. I have no idea what I do all day.

Maybe the pictures can address that question.

We're back to teaching Henry some dance moves.

Luce during quiet time threading some beads.

She's suddenly become quite the crafter, and can now draw people! SO CUTE!

This melted my heart!!!

Since when could she draw a circle, and put 4 appendages out of it, and call it a person?

I LOVE these treasures!!!

Audrey, she said one was you. Apparently she remembers you better then I thought!

I looked out the window and what did I see...

Charlie got really REALLY sick, for about 24hrs.

He woke up at 7am, drank about 1/2 gallon of water, slept till 12:30, drank more water,

went to bed at 1:30pm. and slept till after 4pm.

He then went to bed at 8pm, and that was that.

I was REALLY worried for him, but turns out all for nothing.

This was during one of his naps, I let him nap on my bed.

He was sacked out like this!

Poor little cutie.

Yeah Henry. Like the flour on your face doesn't give your secret away.

This little tricker loves to sneak into the flour and sugar bins, but always gives me fair warning before hand by saying "uh-uh" (how i sound when telling him no)

HA! This makes his huge heed look even bigger.

Oh gosh, we eat him up!!!

We still call him "chi-chi" and on random occasion, luce will say

"Hey mama, we have a little chi- chi in our house!"

My sweet baby boy charlie, just a routine hair cut.

I don't know how you other mothers can stand having someone else cut their hair.

3 reasons why I don't drink coffee-

Everyone fights to open Henrys door in the morning, and now we all fight to get in his bed!

Really, all I do all day, is think "How did I become so blessed !"

Hunker down, its a doosie.

Making chocolate chip cookies for dada.

The first night with rollers. SO cute!

It turned out darling, and most stayed in quite well.

LET'S GO CA-APS!!!!!

Jeff and I ventured to the Verizon Center for a Caps game.

The Capitols are DC's National Hockey team!!

An NHL game? SUPER cool.

Super fans. Super fun. Super company. Super night!

How cute is this?

My hubs is just a doll.

This is where he works.

Concrete warehouse.

Sounds like we'll never be visiting him for a surprise lunch visit, as security is so tight.

In fact, just to park there, I had to go through security, show ID, pass through an

xray machine, was patted down. And this was just to PARK.

Lucy takes dance on Wednesdays.

She loves it, and is so stinkin cute in her costume.

Henry, oh gosh sweet boy.

Happy Birthday.

For your birthday, we had lunch with dada, at the National Art Museum.

We got McDonalds fries for you.

You mostly just wanted to walk around, which kept you quite busy.

The birthday donut.

You sucked off the frosting, and left the dough.

Henry, you've been a joy.

You've for so long been called Happy Hank.

The kids and I fight who gets to open your door after naps,

because you're so happy.

You walk everywhere, and usually refuse a hand for help.

You eat most things, but love mini marshmallows.

You are loved, a lot of times to much, by us all!!

Happy happy birthday sweet sweet boy.

We really didn't celebrate much, as your birthday is so much more then your arrival

onto this earth.

Your birthday marks now a year. A year of your life, but a year of my life, our families life

that we've been in Virginia for a year.

Its been a fast year. A fun year, but certainly a year of missing family.

You've met each of your grandparents, a few times, but know none of your 14 cousins.

Not a single one.

You know none of your 5 great grandparents, and have only met 2 of your uncles, and one aunt.

I feel great guilt for all of this, and know that my love could never make up for all

those who love you, sight un-seen.

This year, such a quick one.

Marking it by your birth makes it go by even quicker.

Time has gone. Am I better? Am I a better mother? Am I a better wife?

I'm not sure.

What am I saying?

I'm not sure!!!!

A year. A year of life.

Henry, we're so happy to have celebrated that year of life with you,

here in beautiful Va.

I just had to get a picture of this.

No matter what I'm doing, in this case flossing my teeth,

my children are never to far.

We joke their umbilical cords have not been cut.

Oh, I should be so lucky!!!!

The vacuum in our house for so long has been the big bad wolf,

but we've reached another chapter.

The vacuum has now become a friend.

Look at this angel.

The Sanders fam hit Fords Theater this weekend.

The kids did so so good, and I think both Jeff and I learned

something we hadn't known before.

Does it always feel like you're on the outside looking in?

Cutest thing ever. Charlie was CHARMING these girls out the window.

He is such a doll baby, and I guess he's figured that out as well.

My Boys

There is nothing better then having a little girl, to dress up, to sing with,

to dance with, to giggle with....

but there is NOTHING better then having boys!

Charlie lately has loved to draw. We have in our den a very large picture window,

with a shelf just big enough to put a piece of paper, and create masterpieces.

Beginning of this week, they got into the halloween costumes,

and Charlie managed to squeeze into Lucys old duck.

Charlie can be as tender as a duck, and as crazy as a monster!

He is by far the most emotional of all our children, with lots of ups and downs,

and I can't picture him any other way!

After breakfast, the kids usually munch on bananas and cereal (then what is breakfast you ask? Its 99% of the time mush, but occasionally pancakes, waffles or french toast)

I had to take the camera out, after realizing Charlie eats his cheerios by sticking them to his fingers.

No wonder he's still there by the time the kitchens cleaned,

laundries begun, and dinners nearly done.

Henry. Oh Henry.

Who would not want to tackle this stinker!

He is a lark when he wakes up from the night and naps!

In fact, I only remember him crying when he's been sick (and that was as of late).

He chirps away for a good 20 min. in the morning.

This is waking from a nap.

Jeff plays tickle monster with the kids, and Henrys contribution is to mimic Jeff as he growls.

This is his face, as he tries to say "OoooHhhhoooo"

I'm trying to teach my kids time management,

so this is Henry making the most of his time waiting.

Making sure every inch of the crib is cleaned.

He's all but perfected "The Running Man" dance.

Just a few more tweaks and he'll have it down.

My baby will soon (Tuesday) be celebrating his 1st birthday!!!

Can't believe its been a year!

More on all that to come!