Best Big Brother Competition

Grant and John have an interesting relationship with Emma.  They are both very worried about her when she cries.  Grant will run to try and entertain her and bring her toys.  John will try to get me to pick her up.  And John always likes to report to me when Emma smiles at him ("Emma Happy!")

John also feels competitive with her sometimes.  He often asks me to hold and snuggle him right after I pick her up to feed her.  So that's a work in progress.  They are a little more than two years apart.

On this day Emma was practicing sitting up with the help of the Boppy pillow.  John wanted to come talk to her.  He did his best to entertain her.

He got her attention but wasn't totally sure how to keep it

 He tried some different things with varying levels of success

 But then Grant showed up and elbowed him, quite literally, out of the way

They spent several minutes vying for her attention

 Grant tried to get John to leave.  Thought he was honing in on his turf.

I got a little smile from Emma while they were fighting

In the end John pulled out the big guns and read them both a story.  This was quite an accomplishment since he can't read.  But he did a good job none the less.  Emma thought it was great.

Good BBQ

My parents recently moved cross country and stopped to visit us in Illinois on their way west.  We went out for some authentic St. Louis BBQ during their short pitstop (Hicks in Belleville).  Here are my Dad and brother Dave and Matthew in the background riding the pig.

 Everyone had to ride the pig

It was a nice day so we ate outside.  The food was great.  I got the ribs and the kids all had pulled pork.  We took up two tables but everyone wanted to sit with Dave and Grandma and Grandpa. 

 Grant enjoying his pulled pork sandwich

Anna.  She might have been showing me a ladybug.  I can't remember now.  Scott was out of town at an interview when we went BBQing so he's not in these pics.   Good food!  We'll have to get our fill before we move.

Last Day

We're gearing up for big some changes here.  Scott's last day on active duty in the Air Force was a few weeks ago and he is now on terminal leave.  He will be starting his new job (in California) in a month or so and the kids and I will head west as soon as school gets out.  He also got a job with the Air Force reserve and will do his reserve time at a base in California near where we will live in the bay area.  It's a big change, but I think it will be good for our family.  A lot less time apart.

Here are a few pictures from his goodbye luncheon during his last week of work.

Everyone at Scott's office was very sad to see him go

Here he is with his big boss

Sorry I have so many blurry pictures

Scott with his immediate supervisor

A program from his party

The kids were very well behaved at the long lunch (and the more formal award ceremony beforehand at which we couldn't take pictures).  Everyone kept commenting about their good behavior.  It was amazing!  

So, we're moving on from the Air Force.  It's a little strange, a little bittersweet, but it's going to be great.  California here we come!!

Birthdays and Holidays

Easter weekend was busy for us this year.  My birthday was the day before Easter this year and Grant's was two days after.  And Scott was leaving town on Grant's birthday for a week.  We had a lot of celebrating to pack into a short time.  Here is a cheesecake Scott made for my birthday.  Perfect and delicious.

 And Easter!  The kids had fun exploring Easter baskets.

We had a little Easter egg hunt indoors since slugs got into our outdoor eggs last year.

 

Emma in her Easter dress

She wore it the week before and after Easter.  Cute!

 And after Easter we had our annual Easter Egg Derby

See how excited we are!

Here are our Easter eggs ready to race.  And our tournament bracket.  The Easter egg derby is when we roll our hard boiled and decorated Easter eggs into each other (two face off at a time) until we have one ultimate winner.  When they collide only one of them will break - or that is the theory.

Some of our eggs were painted this year rather than dyed and  the paint was coming off a little, so we rolled them on a plastic tablecloth this year.

 Everyone had fun rolling their eggs.  And we only had a little sportsmanship trouble.

 One of Scott's eggs (named "Seattle") and Grant's egg (named "Clapper Shooter") were in the championship

 Clapper Shooter was the big winner!

Grant won the chocolate bunny as a prize.

And then it was Grant's birthday!  

He is four years old now and very excited to be bigger!

Here he is with his cake.  He wanted a bug themed birthday this year.

 Grant was excited to get some Legos for his birthday!

Grant is four now!  I like this picture - very Grant.  He's always smiling and leaving a trail of mayhem in his wake.  One of his favorite things to do now is sneak around and steal candy and tiny toys from everyone.  We're working on that.  He's been waking up in the night and finding the ipad and trying to play games on it.  But he is also great with Emma, loves to make her laugh, is excited to learn to read, helps with John, likes to help me cook and is learning to be more responsible.  Life would not be the same without him!

Spring is Here!

 Warm weather has finally come to southern Illinois!  

Here are some pictures from our recent warm days.

Here are our resident Charlie Brown and Lucy playing with Matthew's new football

 This has nothing to do with spring but here's Matthew on crazy hair day for school

 And Anna's crazy hair.  Our crazy hair is other people's normal hair

 Emma resting by me on the couch.

 My big boys at the park while we wait for the bus

  It's so fun to get our and play

 Emma sitting with us at the park

 Another fun park day!

 The boys both wanted to take turns pushing Emma

Then Grant took over the pushing 

I think this was Emma's first time in a swing!  Woohoo!!

It is so nice to get out of the house!  Goodbye winter!!