May Is Beautiful

Happy belated Mother's Day to all of the special women in our life. I had a wonderful Mother's Day last weekend with my two precious children. We had a busy day with lots of family and good food.



After living in Spokane for 30 years and Matt for 16, we decided it was time to take a ride on the Gondola. The Spokane River is really flowing right now and it's a spectacular sight. We spent Friday evening downtown, walking across the bridges, riding the Gondola and having a nice family night out. Andrew was so excited and Abigail thought the Gondola ride was pretty fun too!

The warm weather has been wonderful and we've been spending lots of time outside. You can see one of Andrew's favorite activities...playing with the hose and making mud puddles in his dirt pit. Abigail will now play in the grass without tears from the pokies on her hands!

It's Springtime

The weather is finally starting to improve and we are so happy! Abigail's hat is just too cute - thanks cousin LeAnna for sharing!

The past few weeks have been very fun with Abigail's new interest in pulling herself up on everything. She gets pretty excited and can reach all of her toys by herself now. We've also been to the doctor a lot with Miss Abigail, with the latest diagnosis of strep. We could use prayers for getting and staying healthy! (She is 19 lbs. 11 oz.)

Andrew's preschool class took a field trip to Mobius - a children's museum downtown. He had fun playing and exploring! He also had his 4-year check up at the doctor. He wasn't too excited when he learned of the 4 shots he had to get, but was very proud that he could do the eye chart, get measured and pee in a cup. He's 41 pounds and 43 1/2 inches tall. What happened to my little boy?

Over Spring Break, we took a little family vacation to the Portland/Vancouver area. Our first stop was Multnomah Falls, one of my most favorite places. We hiked around for close to 2 hours and Andrew had a blast. He kept telling us thank you for letting him hike and for looking at the beautiful waterfall. His hiking stick came in handy and we had to stop at every interesting tree, branch or rock that we saw. Abigail was happy to be in the front pack and squealed whenever she got excited.

Happy birthday Andrew! On April 3rd Andrew turned 4 years old and we celebrated with a trip to the Portland Zoo. We had quite the group with the Dukes family, Olivia and the kids, Uncle Nick and Aunt Claire. One of Andrew's favorite things was feeding the larakeet birds. We also loved the African section with the elephants, zebras, giraffe and hippos. For all of the April birthdays, we had cupcakes at lunch and Andrew got to spend his special zoo money from Chad, Suzie, Jacob and Nick at the Zoo store.

After our trip to the zoo, we went back to the Dukes' house and had more birthday treats. It's hard to believe our little boy is 4 years old!

Before heading back to Spokane, we made one last stop in Gresham for another birthday celebration. Andrew and Joey received new superhero capes from grandma Joy. They were a hit!

It's Spring time...but still snowing

Abigail is almost 7 months old and Andrew is anxiously awaiting his 4th birthday and things around our house are very busy!

Andrew has realized that Abigail can play now... in fact, he thinks it's fun to walk with her, play under his blanket and move her around. Of course, all of this happens with adult supervision!

Abigail is crawling and into everything. She thinks it's fun to explore! Andrew doesn't think it's very fun that she can grab his toys.

She loves to help at eating time...

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Andrew participated in the neighborhood egg hunt. He moved up an age bracket and was a little overwhelmed, only grabbing 3 eggs. Good thing his friend Anna was willing to share a couple of her eggs. Then at church on Sunday, he made up for it by getting 48 eggs. We had yummy meals and lots of fun with both the Heimbigner and Liezen families and all of the cousins!

St. Patrick's Day was fun too...

Another photo shoot with Abigail - this one didn't last long however.

Bathtime is quite eventful now with both kids in the tub. Abigail thinks her brother is quite entertaining!

Sending you our love.

- Matt, JoEne, Andrew and Abigail

Where did the month of February go?

February was a month of many firsts...

Yummy food - cereal, fruits and veggies
Sitting up and playing like a big girl
First time getting blood taken (see the bruises on the arms)
First bonk on the face (see another bruise on the face)
First tooth (lots of drool) and another one on the way

Andrew and Matt used the telescope to check out the lunar eclipse. Andrew had just watched a show with a red moon and was sure the moon was a "googleberry moon."

We made a day trip to tri-cities to watch basketball and visited some neighbors from years ago. Gene and Clara were very special people when I was growing up! It was neat having the kids meet them. The warm tri-cities weather was nice too.

The snow is finally melting in Spokane and we're looking forward to spring. Happy March everyone!