Berry Picking

This was probably one of the things in Oregon that I loved doing the most.  We went berry picking.  It was just so picturesque.  Nothing like being outside with gorgeous scenery, nice weather, eating blueberries, raspberries and marionberries right off the bush.  It didn't hurt that we finished the day at the farm playground drinking freshly made blueberry and strawberry shakes.

I feel like Ellie is left out of most of our posts.  She's such a sweet baby that she spends most of our outings asleep in her car seat, so I forget to take her picture.  She did wake up for a little bit of berry picking.

Happy Birthday James!!

One of these days James will have a birthday when we aren't in the middle of moving or on an away rotation. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen until his 4th birthday. Luckily, he still seems to have a bunch of fun. Below he is enjoying his birthday meal of mac 'n cheese. I don't think I've ever seen a kid down mac 'n cheese like James - he loves the stuff.

Here are a few pictures of James opening presents. The first thing he opened was a card that sang Old McDonald. He liked it so much that I had to hide the card so he would actually open his presents.

Tori loves being the big sister and helping out during birthdays.

Below is our birthday boy wearing his new train pj's to bed (sleeping in the Donigan's pack 'n play, because the poor boy's crib is already packed on the moving truck - he didn't seem to mind).

Tori's Dance Recital 2011

Another year - another dance recital. :) Tori sure loves everything about dancing - especially getting all dressed up for the recital. Below are pictures of her class in their tap and ballet costumes.

I've included probably more videos than anyone except for Grandma will watch. The first video of them doing their recital dance in the studio I like the best since you can really see Tori and her facial expressions. I was impressed with how she can move her hips - I thought it was very fun to watch. :)

Here is a picture of what Ellie was thankfully doing while I was video taping (James as you can see in the video was not sleeping).

Siri and Tori right after the dress rehearsal. Below James wanted to be in a picture, too.

Jaci, Tori, Claire, & Siri striking a pose right before the dance recital.

Proud, but sleepy family after Tori's recital (it didn't end until after 9pm).

Ellie's Blessing

We blessed Eleanor Marie on May 8th - Mother's Day. What a wonderful Mother's Day present! Ellie was a sweet, wonderful baby for her blessing. She is actually wearing the blessing outfit that I wore when I was blessed. It was really great getting to have both grandmas and grandpa for the blessing.

We tried to get some pictures of everyone holding Ellie on her special day.
Poor sweet Ellie had had enough pictures for one day. :)

Decorating Easter Eggs

Grandma came to visit the day before Easter, just in time for decorating Easter eggs. Of course she had to say hello to Ellie first and I don't think she ever wanted to let her go (who could blame her). :)

Here is what Ellie did while we decorated eggs.

Below are John, Tori and James showing off their impressively decorated eggs. Tori gets such a kick out of doing holiday stuff like this and James could actually participate this year so everyone had a really fun time.

It was a very fun day, but I think the kids are a little tired out.

We were very blessed to have a bunch of help from family and friends after Ellie was born. I don't think we could have done it without them - as sweet as Ellie is, three kids are a lot busier than two. As you can see below, Tori and James are definitely taking advantage of their extra dad-time after Ellie was born.

These are a few pictures my mom took while she was visiting/helping us. She caught Tori doing her favorite things: dance and crafts.

She also caught James doing some of his favorite things sleeping/cuddling with something very soft, playing with phones, trying on big shoes and holding Ellie.

She also caught Ellie doing what she does best - being sweet and cute.