"'but somewhere in my youth or childhood, i must have done something good"

we've had a really fun spring. nothing overly remarkable but having the weather be so lovely for so long has been just amazing. we are making some fun plans for the summer. we want to put a deck on the house and get a swingset. so lots of fun things to look forward to.

the most amazing things have been the kids naturally. max is signing so much now. tonite he sat down on my lap and signed "color-what?" (voice off) and pointed to a bunch of different things in the room. he really loves using ASL when he knows what to say. he enjoys it so much. he's getting closer to reading everyday. he totally gets phonics and knows it well but english is such a tricky language...he gets a bit frustrated. he loves star wars and tom and jerry. he plays with his ds as much as he can but would drop all of those things to play outside with his beloved nina. he is developing more and more friendships that he talks about often. he is becoming so dynamic and interesting. he loves to chat and i love listening to him. at times, it's really overwhelming and tough to follow but he's delightful.

little miss T. our joy. our smiley little princess. she cries a lot easier than max ever did but somehow it's working out ok. she's so adventurous. she climbs on everything. she LOVES playing outside. she wakes up and walks straight to the door. she is signing too. she signs "more", "milk", "want", "sleep", and she says "yesh"--(yes). she hugs her babies so hard and then throws them down. she loves cooking and pouring tea. max has shown her to pour hot tea on people to get a reaction. it's funny. she laughs from her gut all the time. she loves reading...FINALLY. she has never seen baby shows. she disregards TV. she rips books like she's paid to do it. she LOVES me! i love how snugly she is. she puts her head on my shoulder as soon as i pick her up. she buries her head in my neck and just lays there. every morning we lay in bed together and chat.

~and of course our honorary kid nina....she has been with us since the beginning so she often feels like ours. she is such a girl...she loves everything pink and frilly. she loves shoes and she is very matter-of-fact--"jessa, that's not the way i always do it!" she likes to wear her hair in a messy bun/ponytail like me--who'd thought someone would WANT that?? it's my fallback. :) she loves people a lot. she treats talia like a little queen. she is bright and sharp and is max's best friend. ~

not excluding sasha...she's a babe too...she wasn't in the picture though...

i was singing my title tonite to T as i was putting her down...from "the sound of music" --and of course, started crying, i love this little family i have so much more than i can explain on a silly blog. but i'm so grateful that they're mine.