Thirty

In addition to celebrating Easter, we had more to celebrate - Jake's birthday! The big 3-0. I was strictly ordered not to even consider throwing a surprise party. Instead, we spent the whole weekend celebrating.

First, we joined the Schulz's for dinner out on Friday.

Dax's first time ordering his own meal off the children's menu

Then, the Pyle family had an Easter/birthday gathering Saturday night.

It's a sure sign you're old, when the cake is that bright!

And, finally, we celebrated with our little family and the Olson's today. Since his birthday fell right on Easter this year, I decided to plan a birthday egg hunt. Jake had 30 eggs in all, which he found throughout the day. It was lots of fun and definitely a little silly. Not nearly enough to express the amazingness that God brought into my life the day I met Jake, but hopefully sufficient in reminding him that he is both old and incredibly loved.

A special start to the special day

30 eggs for my favorite 30 year old!

Happy Easter!

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Easter is always such a joy-filled day. The excitement of the Easter Bunny, the extra family time, and of course, the knowledge that Jesus not only died for our sins, but also rose again so that we can one day join Him in heaven. Could anything be better?!

Last year I remember feeling overwhelmed by God's sacrifice. As a new mom, it was impossible to imagine how much God must love us to send his son to die for our sins. I am still so amazingly grateful, but this year it was easier to focus on the joy rather than the sacrifice. While I cannot fathom it, Jesus loves Dax even more than I do. That means that my little boy will always have someone by his side through everything in his life and, eventually, we will get to spend eternity together. "Happy Easter" doesn't seem to fully express the pure joy that brings.

In the meantime, we will also do what we can to bring him joy in his daily happenings, and even more so on special days. Take a peek at Dax's second Easter.

Dax's first Easter basket: a book, bubbles, Twins hat, baseball, doll, and elephant watering can.

Loving his new "baby"

It's so fun to hunt for and open eggs - even when they're filled with magnetic letters that were already on the fridge! ;)

Reading one of his new Easter books

Plus, two videos. The first one is kind of long, but shows how excited he was to hunt for eggs and then he found his basket. The second one is short and so sweet (if you can get over the bad camera work - it's sideways! Oops!)

 

We were also celebrating Grandpa Phil's birthday. Dax decided to help clean up by putting everything in Grandpa's gift bag. Silly boy!

Spring Break

As I sit here lamenting the fact that it is already Friday and my final day of this glorious week off with my little love bug, Jonathan Keyes is running through my head; "Sometimes I wish spring break was 52 weeks a year..." Does anybody know any tricks for slowing down time so I can have just a little bit more?

Though the week is coming to a close, I can't complain because Dax and I really enjoyed the time together. We shopped for Daddy's 30th birthday (more on that soon!), had several playdates, and giggled a lot as we read stories, played with toys, built with blocks, and snuggled at home.

I don't have photos from our playdates with the Westwood Mommas because we were having too much fun to stop and snap pictures, but here is a look at some of our other fun...

We went to the zoo with some of Dax's first friends from our Mom and Baby class:

Checking out some monkeys with Isaac

Me & Dax, Sarah & Isaac, Rosalie & Anora, and Krista & Alex

Loving the fishies

And a little snapshot of our time at home.

We may have a future performer on our hands (singer? pianist? dancer?). Or maybe he will follow in Uncle Sam's footsteps and become an engineer after seeing his persistence in figuring out how to get the microphone back into it's spot!

Bowling

Last weekend Sam and Anna were both home for spring break so we went bowling to celebrate the whole family being in one city. It was Dax's first time at the lanes and he loved it - watching the bowlers, trying it himself, and just playing with everyone between turns. It was so fun!

Grandma Mary, Auntie Anna, Uncle Sam, Daddy, and Dax

He was in heaven with all of the balls! Luckily he couldn't actually pick them up or we would have had a lot to put away before we left :)

Cheering with Grandma Mary

Playing peek-a-boo with Auntie Anna...

... and with Grandma Mary

Hanging with Grandpa Mick

Bowling with Mommy

And trying it on his own (he got one pin!)

Chatterbox

Our little boy is getting more and more expressive all the time. It is awesome to see his receptive language growing - we can tell him to do something and he will! Well, when he wants to - he is also asserting his new-found independence.

Conversely, he amazes us every day with new words. I started a list of the things he says consistently and it is over 40 words, plus 12 animal sounds. Woah! When he isn't saying things that we understand, he babbles, imitates us, talks to his toys, and sings almost constantly. It is so fun to communicate verbally with our sweet Dax and he seems so proud of himself every time we understand what he says.

Maybe his extensive vocabulary is due to all of his reading...

Searching for the right magazine to read while Mommy washes her hands

He chose a copy of Smithsonian from Great-Grandpa Olson :)

Bliss

A snow day and a long weekend in the same week?! The extra work of conferences is rewarded with two days off for comp time. Bear with me in this post because we really enjoyed oursleves, which gives me a lot to share...

The weekend started off with a bang when I checked the mail and found a beautiful little package including a flash drive with the rest of the photos from our session a few weeks ago! Thank you, Julie, and Simply Bliss Photography (also the inspiration for this post's name!) for providing such a fun time taking family photos and just as much joy looking at them! Here is a sample:

On Thursday, Dax and I enjoyed a relaxing morning followed by lunch with Daddy and a play date with some friends. We met at Edinborough park and got lucky that it was not very busy. Averi, David, and Dax enjoyed climbing, exploring, and playing, while Keri, Sara, and I chatted and chased them around. It was a great time!

Our best attempt at a group shot

All the action wore him out!

Friday was another eventful day. We took Dax's first trip to the Minnesota zoo! My mom came with us and it was so fun. Dax was pretty serious the whole time, but it was easy to see that he enjoyed checking out the animals. We are excited to go back to see even more!

Then, the church we have been attending had a preschool dance party. Dax LOVES to dance so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to meet some other people. Dax spent less time dancing and more time running around playing with the parachute and balls. Such a boy! Either way, it was a lot of fun.

On Saturday we enjoyed some family time. We visited the Malt Shop for lunch. It is one of our favorite restaurants, but it was Dax's first time there and he was very enthusiastic...

Lucky boy got to try Mommy's banana malt

Finally, we decided to visit the library and get Dax a library card. He has always enjoyed books, but recently started initiating reading on his own. It completely melts our hearts when he goes to his bookshelf, chooses a book, and carries it over to us to read to him. It just seemed natural, then, to introduce him to the library and an endless supply of books!

Checking out his books!

Whew! After all that excitement, we are looking forward to a low-key Sunday.