Ellen Crane

Laurel (my sis-in-law) and friend Shirley recently threw a shower for our friend Jenna and her beautiful new daughter, Ellen Elizabeth. It was great to spoil Jenna, pass around the little princess and hear Jenna tell her and Matt's story of the journey they've been on to finally be holding their daughter. We are so happy that God has entrusted Ellen to the Crane family. Here are some pictures that Laurel took at the shower:

Test

Sometime back, in my deep depths of cyber space knowledge (yeah, right), I managed to accidentally link our blog and my facebook together so that every time I post something on here it shows up on facebook. This is annoying to me and likely others who don't necessarily want to be bombarded with pictures of my children on a weekly basis. I mean, that's what this blog is for. After tooling around unsuccessfully many times I was getting annoyed. Well, today I had the bright idea of googling "unlinking blogger and facebook" and stumbled upon a solution. Thank you, google. Here's a test blog to see if this works.

And while I'm here, have a belly shot. Below is me at 18 weeks pregnant. I will be shocked if I'm not carrying a boy (which means we'll probably be having a girl). This pregnancy has been so similar to my pregnancy with Will, even more amplified. The nausea is worse, the moodiness is worse (thank you John for your continued patience and reassurance as well as for the bouquets and the trips to local establishments to get me soft serve ice cream cones and Greek lemon soup).

Pictures galore from the past week or so

Grandma Dorothy up for a visit from San Jose


The kids and some of their cousins having fun

Easter 2010

In the hustle and bustle to get out the door on Easter morning I forgot my camera, but here are a few pics that Dirk and Nedra kindly passed on to me:

Childhood Friends

Toy Story I and II are both beloved family films in our household. We are looking forward to bringing Will and (maybe) Jane to see the third installment as their first movie theatre experience this summer.
This past weekend, we watched Toy Story II together and Will especially enjoyed it. In the movie, Jesse, the cowgirl, recalls how she was once loved by her owner who was a young girl named Emily. As Emily grows up, she slowly loses interest in Jesse, who is abandoned under her bed for years and ultimately donated to Goodwill (see video/song below sung by Sarah McLachlan).



Will, as most of you know, is best friends with his giant-sized stuffed Pooh Bear. He and Pooh have been inseparable since my mom got him for Will about two years ago at (ironically) the Goodwill.
I'm guessing that the above scene from the movie effected him more than I thought because yesterday, he was playing with Pooh and looked up at me suddenly with tears in his eyes and said,
"Mommy, someday I'm going to think that Pooh is boring."

"Don't worry," I said. "You have lots of time to love Pooh."

"But Mommy," Will sobbed (now fully in tears). "I will think he's boring and I don't want to ever stop loving Pooh, I want to love him forever, even when I'm a big boy."
So precious. Even tough guys cry sometimes.

Surprise Sunshine

We had an unexpected sunny day in Seattle, so the kids and I made a trip out to Greenlake to walk, play and eat with Gretchen and her friends.
We almost didn't make it, as my baby girl's stomach decided to rebel and lose it's breakfast in the car on the way there. However, seeing as this is a normal occurence for my car sick-prone girl (Will responded with "Uh-oh, Sissy, your tummy always does that"), we cleaned up, rallied, made it to Peets Coffee for a muffin and continued on with our day, a little stinkier, but happy. I seriously need to locate some baby dramamine because this is getting ridiculous.

Walking around Greenlake with busy toddlers is easily a two hour ordeal. Think they'd sit still in the stroller the whole time? Think again. We had to stop to watch the turtles, throw rocks into the lake, look at dogs, get snacks, give rides on our shoulders, etc. I loved having all the time in the world to enjoy the scenery and company. Will loved having the attention of four ladies and was chatting and making up songs the whole way. Jane is my independent girl, and besides copying what brother did, she loved running off to explore things on her own.
Both kids are currently zonked out and normally I'd be napping away with them, but I think my first trimester fatigue is finally starting to subside so here I am uploading some pictures.
Now that the nausea/fatigue stage is slowly starting to improve, I'm loving being pregnant. At 16 weeks, my belly is starting to pop out (love it!) and I know that I'll start feeling baby move any day.

March Madness in Vegas

Friends, sun, pool and Dawgs going to the Sweet 16. Great weekend!