Spring happenings

So it snowed a bit today, but it really has been very spring like around here for the most part. We had a birthday party for Etienne last week, where the hoped for dive into his birthday cake left much to be desired. In fact, he was downright opposed to it at first. He poked and prodded at it a bit, but was unimpressed overall, and only ended up with a tiny chocolate moustache. That is where it comes in handy to have big brother who will gladly eat your cake, and even open all your new presents and play with them for you- all free of charge!
Saturday, my cousins and I went out for tea to celebrate Darcee and Callie's April Birthday's. We had a good time analyzing why Kvale's are the way they are. I was a little bit horrified to see in those photos, how enormously huge I already look this pregnancy. I am not even half way there! Ah well.
The rest of the weekend was spent working on cars and the house and cleaning etc. James tried to help daddy by putting his nose in the exhaust pipe. Not too helpful.
Oh, and we bought tickets to go home for Darcee's wedding today, so I will be spending several weeks in wonderful non-humid Washington this summer. Yeah! My pregnant body will thank me.

Baby Powder anyone?

I suppose it could have been worse; and hey, they smelled great the rest of the day!

Happy 1st, Little Man!

Just a few shots of my big one year old!! I can't believe it etc.... We are having a party later, so I'll try to take some shots there too.


Learning to ride on big brother's tractor.




His first real boo boo after falling down the porch steps. The price of being mobile I guess.


Just cute.


But even cuter with teeth!

fat babies and future fiddlers

So Etienne will kill me for posting these pictures someday- if he ever looks at this blog, but he is so hilariously fat and greedy right now. I think he would eat all day if I let him. I caught him porking out on graham crackers while I was getting his bath ready the other night.

"Mom, leave me alone, I like being fat."

"But look, I can suck it in if I need to, so what's the problem?"

James, on the other hand, is getting longer and skinnier every day. I can't believe he will be three soon. Lately he has been getting into daddy's violin case, which is a big no no, since violins aren't quite as sturdy as, say, the piano that he climbs and bangs on all day. Steve brought home one of his old kid violins from one of his recent trips to France, so he let James have a little try on it last night. He was pretty excited, but the whole under the chin concept only annoyed him....


so they tried it mandolin style which was a lot more fun.


How early is too early too start lessons? I, for one, am not quite ready for a three year old scraping away at a fiddle.

I thought this was cool. I found it on Dolly's blog- I guess we are due pretty near each other, so I don't need Moriah for a partner in gestation this time. Oh, and I guess this is an official blog announcement, although I suppose most people already know we are expecting in September- it is definitely a girl this time- I can feel it.

Etienne moves at last

So Etienne has been very laid back about the whole crawling thing-- well, maybe completely adverse to it would be a better term. After much delay, he finally pulled himself together at eleven months old and came up with this ridiculous shuffling  scoot.  He gets places however, but only if really motivated(ie. a piece of apple on a string). I have tried to tell him that a regular crawling stance would probably be easier on him, but he won't listen. Ah well, it sure makes us laugh.

Getting to know the cousins

One of the most difficult parts about living in Tennessee is of course being away from family. That is why I took the opportunity to go back to Washington for almost a month this Christmas, and that is why I haven't blogged in so very long. It was a different Christmas, and difficult in some ways. Steve's mother passed away December 23rd, which meant an unexpected flight to France on Christmas day for Steve and all the repercussions that a death in the family inevitably cause. While he was gone, the kids and I spent a very quiet time at mom and dad's, watching the rain, visiting with family and just generally relaxing and being cozy. Steve was back by New Years Eve, and we had a great party with many of our good friends and family. The last week that I was there, I spent at my sister Aubree's where we endeavored to live in harmony with seven little children. It worked quite well, for the most part, and it was great to let James get to know his cousins better. He is getting to the age where he remembers them, so that is fun. Leaving was tough, but we are heading back there this summer for Darcee's wedding, so it wasn't such a long parting as it could have been.
So we have been settling back into life here, working on our house, starting up lessons again, and generally waking up from vacation mode. The pictures below are just a few mementos of Christmas.