Here comes Peter Cotton Tail.....

Easter Bunny had fun this year

 Looking for their baskets

 Hunting Eggs

 Love these 2 precious boys of mine!

 Homemade donuts

 Scavenger Hunt at Nana and Papa's House

 Nonni and her boys



Take me out to the ball game

Baseball season is in full force since April. 2 practice and 2 - 4 games a week. 2 boys playing on different teams at different times. My hope is that next year they play different sports. They both seem to love it so who knows? It's been fun though. Jason is coaching Noah's team and while Jason is great at coaching it's frustrating. You forget they are only 6 and listening is not their best skill.

Tips from dad

run Noah run

and he's safe!

 

Decorating Eggs...normal

Getting things back to normal...whatever that means anymore. It's been tough this last month. Carmina had surgery on her back so Aunt Lena came for a 2 week visit to help her out. We decided to decorate eggs...that's normal, right? It was nice! We laughed about Tom and his decorating antics - decorating Easter eggs was one of his favorites. It always had to be a competition and poor thing he never won.

Calling Heaven

We went to Carmina's last night and as we walked in Noah noticed Carmina holding the phone -

Noah: "Nonni who you trying to call? Grampa?"
Max: "No, because he's dead"
Nonni: "Yes, Max he's dead. No, Noah I don't have his phone number"
Noah: "Well maybe you should get it so you can call him in Heaven. Mom, do you know his phone number? "



I think that would be a fantastic idea Noah! Love that little boy of mine, worrying so much about his Nonni. And I love Max's ability to be so matter of fact about it all.

Noahism's on Dying

So Noah has lots to say about Grampa's death. He is a kind little boy who worries about his Nonni -

1. "Nonni you should get remarried so you won't be lonely" - The day after. And Max's response was "You should get a pet"

2. "Here Nonni I made you a grampa so you won't be lonely" - out of any material he can find

3. "When I grow up I'm going to be a scientist and invent a machine that brings people back from Heaven so they won't be dead anymore"

4. "I think when you die you stay the same age forever. So Grampa died old and if I die, say at like 16, then I'd stay 16 forever"

5. "They melted Grampa" - about being cremated

6. "I think Grampa just died cuz he was old"

7. "I'm going to miss Grampa. He taught me lots of things. He taught me about magnetism and gravity"

My sweet, curious little boy. I'm sure there will be many more things to come.

Creativity at its best

Noah is really in to bugs right now and even talks about being an entomologist....his latest creation - Lego Bugs

We love you Grampa

Death sucks! That's my new motto. It doesn't matter how it happens it is hard no matter what. We lost a great man on February 24th, 2012. Grampa loved his boys, his grandchildren, his daughter-n-laws, his friends and most of all his wife. He would give you the world and tell you all about it in the process...whether you wanted to hear it or not. He knew everything and loved talking politics, religion and anything else controversial that would cause an up rise. He loved to tease the kids and it made me so angry but I'm going to miss that the most.

Thomas Alden Phillips died unexpectedly Friday afternoon. We love you Grampa and the boys miss you terribly. Noah's reaction has been good. He's confused and misses you already. Everything out of his mouth right now "I wish Grampa could see this". Max is just glad that you won't be scaring him anymore. He misses you too but just doesn't understand why. I miss you for everything you did that bugged me. I didn't say it enough but I really did love you Tom! and Jason is going to miss his father and teacher. It's been a shock and we will get through this.

A little prayer -

Angel of God,

My guardian dear,

To whom God's love

commits me here,

Ever this day,

be at my side,

To light and guard,

and rule and guide.

Dallas Visit with Seattle Cousins

My brother and his family from Seattle were in Dallas. We decided to take a quick overnight trip to see them. We don't see them often enough and I thought this would be the perfect time for the kids to meet each other. It was a great time!

Max, Noah, Jack, Jasen, Jessica

Snowman

This was Max's snowman costume for Halloween when he was 6 months old. I cut the bottom out and it still fit him....Man he's cute - should have made him wear it again at some point.

We got a dog!!!

Darla Doolittle (6 weeks old)....we got her January 6th. After a long 2 years I finally convinced Jason!

Noahism

Me: Noah who do you play with at school? Noah: Joshua and Lila. Me: is Lila your girlfriend, what about Maria? Noah: No we're not together anymore Me: why? Noah: I don't know something just went wrong. We're not getting married anymore.

I then say to him if other loves in my life hadn't gone wrong I never would have met daddy. Noah proceeds to tell us that daddy and I met at a store and then we had a play date and a sleepover. We laid in bed and built a tent.....to say the least it is very interesting to hear what he can come up with.

Holy lotta leaves

It's Fall and we have a lot of leaves in our backyard. The boys love playing in the leaves

Where's Noah?

Maxi doesn't like to get buried

Jason gave them the blower to play with this year

What are you thankful for?

I am thankful for these little guys!

And the quietness when they play video games

And Aunt Janna

We had Thanksgiving at Nana and Papa's. Great food and a nice time.

Ghost Hunting Again

Jason and I went back to Eureka again for our Anniversary. Lots of fun. This time we actually did the Ghost Tour at the Cresenct Hotel. Would have been better if our guide hadn't started two weeks prior. We kind of got the "jipped" tour. Would love to stay in one of the haunted rooms. Still a nice time and the B&B was just as great as last year.