March 2013

Today Joel asked me what I was going to do when I ran out of months to update from... 

... and I told him there would just be more words and less pics!!!  ;)

 I think Ithan was enjoying this, don't you???  :)

 We babysat Juana (Endi & Alisha's little girl) one night, and I snapped this photo as Marcos was giving them rides... I love the fact that they both have binks in and both look slightly stupefied!

 We had the Wulfs over for dinner one night and Candi was so excited to be able to hold Victoria!

 I'm not that worried about his immune system... ;)

 Ithan turned 1 in March -- holy cow.

I saw these fun treats on a website after Aron suggested we go with a goldfish theme since those were Ithan's favorite snacks!  Joel was amazing and helped me make these the night before Ithan's party.

 Goldfish party snacks!!!

 He was definitely not that excited about his cake... didn't even want to try it!

 We had lots of little kids around and lots of fun!  We are so thankful for the "cloud of witnesses" here at CVE -- such a blessing for our children!

Seth also celebrated his birthday in March and the kids stayed up long enough to wish him a happy birthday before the rest of the guys arrived for snacks and games!

PRE-BABY TRIP TO TUCSON

 Two weeks before Eric was born, Joel and I headed up to Tucson for a pre-baby trip!  We stayed at a B&B (Joel's first time!), ran errands, made the round of the second-hand stores, and went to a performance of "Wicked!"

 Enjoying oranges from the trees outside of Savers!

 A stop by our favorite Chinese restaurant -- The Lotus Garden!  It is seriously amazing... and the service is prompt and super-friendly.  I recommend it to anyone, anytime, any day... just invite us along!  ;)

 At "Wicked"... Joel's first time seeing the performance!  While I was waiting in line for the bathroom at Intermission, I was talking with another pregnant lady about the pea-size of our bladders; her husband was also waiting for her and he looked at Joel and said, "So you got dragged along to this, too, huh?"

Ha!  I think it did get a little long for him at the end... three hours of musical can be a little daunting for anyone!  Unless you are a Bahr sister... ;)

 One afternoon Aron & Diego were "burying" Candi and saying the eulogy over her... this was how they decorated her casket!  I know... slightly morbid... but they were having lots of fun "doctoring" her, then her almost dying, then reviving her, then having her finally die!

 I love it that there are moments like this around our house!!!

(Especially because they make really funny pictures... :)

 Thanks for the outdoor lights, babe!  They look great... worth all the sweaty crawl-space work!  :)

 We are, thankfully, a household of readers!  The kids do 20 minutes of reading time every day (required by the school, which is great) and, of course, Ithan sees that, sees Joel and I reading, sees everyone else on campus reading... and he loves, loves, loves his books!  One of my greatest pleasures is to watch him waddle out in the morning, bink flipped up under his nose, head straight for the bookshelf, come running over with his favorite book of the moment, and frantically sign "please" so that we can read it!  Or to see him plop down in the middle of all his toys with a book and just study it... :)

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of literacy!  Help us to be aware of those who don't have it, and to do our best to open wide their worlds to being able to actually read the words of Jesus... what a blessing this is!