the Tyrants & the Princess

Family: You just gotta love them! Karen, Mindy, and Ayla came up for a visit a couple of weeks ago and it was truly nice to see them. My little boys didn't quite understand that Ayla was a girl. I mean they understood that she was a girl, they just didn't know what that meant. So when little pink clad Ayla crawled around our house only to discover a couple of books, or play quietly by herself they were perplexed. They acknowledged the little lady, but after about 5 minutes they would continue with whatever game they were playing earlier. She just wasn't that exciting to them. Oh well, in the future they will understand a little better and by then "Princess" Ayla should be walking and running along with them.
The picture above contains all of the Smith grandchildren as of April 2008. What a great generation!

Have you seen your family today?

The Progression of Spring

Three short weeks ago when I was looking out of our living room window at the 3 ft of snow still on the ground I could not imagine how it could all disappear in a timely fashion. I had horrible thoughts of a three month mud season because all of this snow that I loved getting was going to melt and drain right into my driveway and walkway. God had other plans, something that I am very thankful for. These past few weeks have been like watching a rapid progression from Winter to Spring. It is amazing to see the snow disappear so fast, and the ground melt so fast that mud season was short and really not all that muddy. I must say that so far this year; Winter has been one of the best Winters we have had in a long time, and the Spring season is following suit.

The snow was still on the majority of our yard and all through the woods when we whipped out the stroller just 10 days ago to go for our first walk. You don't see it in this picture, because this is the one place in our yard where everything melts fast from the most exposure to the sun.

This little lilac bush was saved from my parents' house last year. It may be tiny, but right now it is covered in the greenest little buds. I am looking forward to the day when it is 4 feet high as opposed to 4 inches. This picture was taken the day that the snow finally melted enough to reveal the bush beneath.

Finally, as you can see the snow is mostly gone from the woods and our yard is completely showing, enough so that I have raked the entire lawn these past few days. Now we are ready for green grass, and planting our garden. Hopefully Summer will be as incredible as Winter and Spring have been.

A Milestone Moment for Andrew!

A cookie may just be a cookie, but an oreo is the very best cookie of all*. In fact, one's first oreo is a stepping stone to adulthood, a right of passage, if you will, into the childhood beyond infancy. Alas, after 12 months, 2 weeks, 6 days, and 16 hours Andrew Tyler has come to this monumental time. He has not only eaten, but wore, dipped and smeared his very first oreo cookie. Gone are the days of bottled milk, and wheatless cookies. Here are the days of double stuffed morsels of chocolate dipped in the very rich beverage that God has blessed his people with, that's right, milk: pure and white, from a cow, the very envy of every infant around. I am sure that this will be the first of many more oreos in this household, for the Lord himself knows that not only the children, but the mother also, is addicted to these wonderful creations.

As you can see Josiah has had many oreos before.

Have yourself an Oreo day everyone!

* the term "all" is in reference to "all of the store bought cookies" , and in fact the very best cookie in the world cannot be bought in a store, but rather can be made by my very good friend... Alison Gervais.