It's snowed several days in April with a few beautiful days scattered in.  Matt's parents were here for a long Easter weekend and we had a nice visit.

There was a little snow on Easter... the girls wore sweaters and tights with their dresses!

Last week, it snowed from Thursday night until Sunday, but because it was so warm a lot of it melted as it hit the ground.  But, the snow was great for snowman-making!

The girls seem to be growing up so fast!  Sunday mornings we have oatmeal, and last week Leah helped Matt fix it.

Rebekah is at a really fun age.  She's picking up a lot of new words and has been copying a lot of daily activities that she sees us do.   

The other day she took her shoes off, put them in Matt's gym bag and then put it over her shoulder.

She also like to help me take clothes out of the dryer.

And the other day, she inverted the stool and added the baby doll carried to make a nice lounge chair.

It is snowing again this morning, but maybe this is the last time for the season...  I love snow, but since it's almost May, I'm ready for spring weather!

March

Ok, here's a recap of our March.  Overall, the weather has been beautiful here this winter and we've spent a lot of time outside.  Leah gave up on asking for snow and has been playing with sidewalk chalk and riding her tricycle.  (However, I think it's snowed 4 times in April already!) 

Look at the picture of our family that Leah drew.  She'd just learned to draw a person, so I was amazed when she showed me this picture of our family with four different sized people!

Here's my new favorite picture of our girls!

Leah spends a lot of time taking care of her "kids" - she has babies and big girls.

Rebekah took her first steps on March 17th!  Leah and I were there, but Matt was at work, and it took a day or two before he got to see her walk.  She's making progress, but it's slow, and walking it not her primary mode of transportation yet. 

I realized that by the time Leah was Rebekah's age, she was already helping me in the kitchen.  So, I started training a new kitchen "helper."  She helped me make pizza the other day and loved chewing on the wooden spoon and banging on it.

We got official word that the Air Force is sending Matt to the school in Indiana, so we went house hunting over spring break.  It was fun to see our new town and a house to live in for the 3 years we'll be there.  It has 3 bedrooms and and office for Matt to study in (with double doors that close!)  It has a little more room than we have now and a nice yard that we're really excited about!  It's also only 8 minutes from the engineering building, which is much quicker than the commute he has now.  Riding his bike will even be an option.  We really feel like God provided just the right house for us for this next adventure, and it will make leaving Colorado a little bit easier.

And one more of our favorite mountain, Pike's Peak.  Over our last year here, I'm taking a picture for each season and am looking forward to putting them up in a frame once we're living in the cornfields instead of the mountains!

Look who's standing up!

Yes, our little Rebekah is standing!  She is just getting over a rough stretch where she got 3 molars in, but now that she's feeling better, she's making some progress with her standing.  As you can see, Leah gets very excited when she stands up.  So do Matt and I

And here she is in her two favorite places: by the fireplace and on the steps.  She loves sitting on the bottom step and hanging her little feet off it!

I tell Matt it feels like I have 3 girls because Pink Bear is Leah's favorite animal and is always with her!  She gave her a bath in the sink a few weeks ago and I couldn't believe how dirty the water got!

I love these two of Matt being a "daddy."  It is obvious both of his girls love him and he loves being a daddy to them.  In the second picture, he is reading his Bible on a Saturday morning and Leah wanted to get her Bible out  and read too.  Usually, Leah is still in bed when Matt and I have our Bible reading and prayer times, but I think it's really important that she gets to see us on the weekends.  It's one thing to tell her about God, but it's even better for her to see us studying to learn more about Him ourselves.

Last Friday night, we had a tea party to celebrate Leah's good eating at meals lately.  She even got to pick the menu: hot chocolate, cheddar bunny crackers, cheerios, mini-marshmallows, crasins and chocolate chips.  You can also see our Valentine's Day flowers on the the table.  I love the flowers that Matt and my Dad got me, but I almost cried when Matt arrived home with two pink roses as well.

And, Wednesday night of this week, we had a summer party in the evening.  Burgers and the traditional sides for dinner and then the pool and ice cream cones for dessert.  Leah had a blast, and Rebekah ended up getting in the pool too!  We were able to get her clothes off first

Here's a picture of Pike's Peak from earlier this week.  As our move this summer draws closer, we're savoring the mountains and gorgeous weather even more.  Today, it was in the 50s and I ran in shorts and a t-shirt!

Bribery

...or the rewards system.  Call it what you like, but the big news around here is that Leah has stopped sucking her thumb because of a doll stroller.  She's been obsessed with strollers ever since she could walk, and for whatever reason, we never got her one.  But, when Matt and I had a date a few weeks ago and actually had time to talk, he had the great idea of a doll stroller reward.  The first night we told her about the stroller and not sucking her thumb, she woke up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night (which she rarely does) and it took her an hour and a half to fall back asleep without her thumb.  She would cry, and say, "I don't want a stroller, I want to suck my thumb."  And then a few minutes later, "But I want a stroller!"  This went on for a while, but it was the only night she had trouble.  After that, she quit cold turkey and got the stroller after 6 days!  She is thrilled, and so are we  

January

Mid-January, we enjoyed a week and a half of warm weather (50s and 60s many days) and we enjoyed spending a lot of time outside  By Monday morning of this week it was 2 and snowy, and we woke up to this beautiful sight Tuesday morning as the snow clouds cleared!

I wanted to document the pjs that Leah picked out to sleep in on Monday night.  When we're at Bible study at the Academy on Monday nights, we have a babysitter at home for the girls.  I used to leave of pjs for Leah Monday nights, but I don't bother any more, because she always picks a different "outfit" from her drawer.  This was definiely her most creative outfit to date, but she did stick with a pink and green color scheme!

I've been wanting to bake our own bread for a while, and took the plunge in 2009!  It's actually gone better than I thought it would.  I've had a few little incindents, but nothing that's ruined the bread yet! It's in an attempt to save money, be healthier and it tastes really good!  Of course, it takes time, but I'm hopeing the process will get quicker as I do it more.  The first bread I made was Matt's Mom's shredded wheat bread and rolls.  Yesterday, I tried a cheesy Italian bread recipe I found on the internet.  A little flat, but good taste overall. 

Since we're moving this summer, we've decided that now is the time to do all the organization projects around the house that we haven't done in a while (like cleaning out the filing cabinet.)  As you can see, we had plenty of "help", and it yielded quite a pile to shred!

Rebekah is getting in 3 molars and has had a runny nose, but it hasn't kept her from continuing to explore.  And we still see that great smile most of the time!