Closing out winter

Well, at least we hope winter's on its way out. Here's to hoping!  Here are some more pictures of what we've been up to lately, with a special section especially from Joseph.

We found out Emery's quite the artist and loves to play with this little magna doodle. It's pretty neat.

Here's Emery at Grandma Denney's birthday party. She was enjoying the company of a carrot that evening. At least it matched her dress, right?

Happy Birthday Diane! Julie had tons of fun making her angel food cake for the party. It sure was good!

We had cousin Cadence over for some V-day cookie fun. Unfortunately J's cookies all fell onto the oven door as we were putting them in. ( A little incident involving a nameless baby sister ;) He still got to make some, with other dough, so it all worked out. *click on the collage to see all the pics better*

This is for Grandma Eris. Thanks for the placemats! It's Joseph's job every  Wednesday to set the table. He really enjoys doing it!

The other day for "school" Joseph went on a picture scavenger hunt. We ended up walking around and he searched for 5 things to take a picture of. He ended up taking pictures of over 50 things (including the 5 required.) These are some of Julie's favorites.

His perspective is so different than an adults (mainly because he's shorter), so it's neat to see things through his eyes. A lot of his pictures were really close up,  but it adds a lot of dimension and emphasizes the texture of things. (Julie's recalling her photography class days...) Anyhow, he had a blast, and enjoyed the scavenger hunt.

As for the day to day goings, Aaron is still waiting around for a contract. We are very hopeful, as we know the principal likes him and wants to keep him on board, but until that comes around, we're cautiously hopeful. Julie and the kids are doing great. Emery is officially walking. It's not her only mode of transportation yet, but she practices more every day. Joseph is doing a daily "school" with Julie. They learn songs, scriptures, spanish, do crafts, plan meals, learn to write, and read. It's just a little bit everyday, but it helps to give Joseph some structured time so he's not spinning his wheels all day long. We're enjoying the sunshine, and waiting for the rest of the ice to melt and the mud to dry.

Oh yes, and Julie had her 26th birthday! Can't forget that. It was wonderful. Julie and Aaron enjoyed a nice dinner at Famous Dave's, and some ice cream and cake with family. And don't forget to look at the two new links listed at the top of the blog. They're Julie's projects. One has been going on for a while (and is about to be seriously updated) which is called Made With Love. It's filled with yummy and kid friendly recipes, with pictures for each one, and tested out by your favorite family, ours. The other is called A Real Day Job. It's a little personal project of Julie's all about the real life of parenting, it's joys and griefs, but still loving it all. So check them out!