My dad and the goats

My dad was here all last week and we had just the best time together!  He had been in Vancouver for a pastor's conference and hopped on a plane and came down for about 5 days.  The boys and I picked him up at the airport and we all headed straight to a goat farm in Sebastopol that was having their spring open house.  Mark's parents met us there because they are about to get a few goats themselves for Arista and wanted to check out everything.  We all had a BALL!  The boys were a little hesitant at first but it maybe lasted 2 minutes.

waiting for papa to get out of the plane- they were so excited!

dad flew right into santa rosa which is so great because you can go right out and watch the planes land behind this fence.

look at that smile on my dad's face!  isn't it just the greatest?!  :)

LOVE this picture!!

nibbling on jake's shirt- probably left over french fry grease :)

this was taken in the, for lack of a better word, "maternity ward"- all the goats in the barn were either pregnant or had just had babies within the past week.  i bet there were about 70 goats here!  dad got to test his mad milking skills.  and i didn't go near it.  i figure that i've "milked" enough over the past 3 years that i didn't need to test my skills :)

What a fun afternoon.  We got home and I thought the boys would crash but they attempted to, and succeeded in bringing out every toy that they have ever had to show their papa!  Jake would say, "cwose you eyes papa.  i have something to show you.  you aren't going to believe your eyes!"  Loved watching the 3 of them interact!  The last time they were together was over Thanksgiving so this was an extra fun trip!

Brotherly Love

The other morning I was sitting at the kitchen table and I heard Jake say, "Piercey, you wanna come sit in my lap?"  I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a couple of pictures.  Of course, about 5 minutes later they were wrestling on the floor...

Sweet little brothers!  Oh how both of them make my heart leap with JOY!

Upstairs home tour

I realized going through my Easter pictures that I never posted on the upstairs of our house.  You may not even care but I thought I'd post them anyways :)  All of our bedrooms are together upstairs-  something at first I was against but with little kids I wouldn't have it any other way.  

Now when they get older...

MASTER BEDROOM and BATH

the curtains will be going as soon as i figure out what i'm going to do.

the master closet is to the right of the vanity- not sure why the picture didn't upload but we are loving a huge walk-in closet :)

JAKE'S ROOM 

(until we put in bunks for the boys this fall- can't wait!)

i'm loving their new kitchen- love that it's wood, love the colors, love the little washing machine, love that they spend a LONG time playing... TOGETHER with it :)

 

BOYS BATH

PIERCE'S ROOM

i changed his nursery a little when i added the rug.  i had to take away all the 'blue' and brighten it up a bit.  i really love it now!

GUEST ROOM that's waiting for YOU... if I know you!  :)

I love the fact that we have a guest room now- no family members or friends sleeping in other places or on palates on the floor (due to Jake's persuasion!)

behind that door is the most interesting room...

currently it is holding all kinds of "stuff" but the possibilities of this finished room are endless... a wine cellar (Mark's wish), a carpeted "play room", a little study, my craft room (ha- just kidding!) but what I would love LOVE to do is put in a bathroom here.  It would take a TON of work with all the plumbing etc but wouldn't that be great?!

So that's it!  That's our home.  Click here to see the downstairs if you missed that post.  I love it and am so thankful to be living here!

Boys in their green

I snapped a couple of pictures of the boys before we left for church on Sunday. 

don't they look THRILLED?!?  :)

I remember like it was yesterday when Jake wore what Pierce had on.

BLOWS my mind seeing Jake this little!  This was in March of 2009- 16 months old!

look at that sweet little face!  AND his teeth!!  oh my word- makes me a little teary remembering him that little.

Easter

Easter buckets this year with a fun antique truck :)

This picture is for my brother-in-law, Luke.  Jake has become quite the photographer as of late :)

and the hunt begins!

this picture makes me laugh :)

on another egg hunt later that afternoon

i put this picture in to show yall the backdrop of the egg hunt- not too bad, right?!

full of eggs and tuckered out!

I forgot to leave some space above the pictures for me to write about our Easter.  We had a great day celebrating the REAL reason we celebrate Easter.  He is Risen!  He is Risen INDEED!  Praising God for his death on the cross for us and for His resurrection and for the promise of a life spent with Him!  Oh come quickly Lord Jesus!

We had a fun morning with our Easter buckets.  I had actually spent all day on Saturday with some stencils painting their names on them (you know, because I'm all crafty now- ha!)  And when I went to pull off the stencils, the paint came right off with them- BUMMER!!!  Oh well!

The truck is my absolute favorite.  It's the boys favorite too... although they aren't allowed to play with it.  Does that make me a bad momma because I really bought it for me?!?  It currently sits on our front porch with some pretty flowers in the bed (see picture below)

We went to church and had a great service with a fun egg hunt afterwards followed by a wonderful potluck lunch.

Mark took Pierce home for a nap while Jake and I headed to another egg hunt.  Jake goes to school with a little boy whose family is also in the wine business and they host a HUGE (500+ real egg) annual hunt for family and friends.  We were excited to be included in that fun party.

Overall, it was a wonderful day spent as a family treasuring every moment together!

isn't that the cutest thing you ever did see?!  

very appropriate for a house with all BOYS but with some pretty flowers for this momma :)

First Bloom

My "perfect moment" finally gave me my first bloom.  Isn't it gorgeous?!