Spelling Bee: L-I-L-A

A little down time...

The girls and I are enjoying a little down time. It's so nice to not be rushing here and rushing there.

Last night we delivered dinner to a neighbor who is fighting breast cancer and Lila asked, "Did Annie's Mama (Krista) have a baby?" It was funny to me that she made the connection of delivering food with families having babies. We had a nice conversation about helping people who are sometimes not feeling well. It's precious the way their brains work to make connections to past experiences.

Today we ventured out to the LaCamas Trail by our house for a walk. It's a beautiful day! We saw geese, ducks and sunshine too. See photos below of the trail.

Lila is looking through the greenery at two geese.

Lila Goes to Work

Today is "Take Your Child to Work" day and so Lila is going to work with Scott. The US Attorney's Office has organized a full morning of events for the kids including a mock trial. I hope they put the cookie monster on trial or something like that!

Scott and Lila all dressed for work.

Beach...Ahhh

We finally made it to the beach for a weekend...just the four of us. It was a wonderful get away. We were able to dig razor clams two days in a row. The little place we rented for the weekend was super cute, clean and perfect for us. In fact, my measure of a good weekend away for our family is in the number of hours of consecutive sleep that we get and this weekend we got 2 EIGHT hour nights. Blissful!

While we were clam digging on Sunday we met this wonderful couple in their 50's who 'helped' Lila get her limit and point out clams to me. It was so helpful and fun to dig with other people.

Lila's clams...

Our little clam diggers...

We spent Saturday afternoon searching for Sand Dollars and found three!

At our beach cabin...

Zoo Trip

We were able to take some time out of last weekend for some fun at the zoo with the Arellano's. Here Scott, Eva, Lila, Allison, Tony and baby Elena (her first trip to the zoo!).

In other news my marathon training is coming along. Over this same weekend I ran 21 miles (whew!). My watch shows that I literally ran for over 3 hours. Isn't that crazy? Yes, I think so too. A little anxious for the upcoming event which is on May 2nd (less than two weeks).

Visit from Nana

Nana came to visit us during her Spring Break! As you can see it was a LOT of fun to have her visit. The girls and I took a day off and we went to Slappy Cakes, got our hanging baskets planted, Nana worked on Eva's baby quilt and she and Lila did the Chicken Dance! Thanks for visiting us!!!

Quoting Lila: Fish

This morning Lila said to Scott regarding his recent fishing expeditions, "Don't worry Dad, Mom will catch a fish at Costco".

She's a crack up.

Egg Toss

One more note about Easter. We had the annual RAW egg toss at the Shrum's which consisted of about 30 participants young and well...older. Lila was the youngest participant at 2 3/4 years old. We had a few incidents this year that have never happened in the 25+ years that we've had the egg toss. Lila's egg accidently hit my parents house and my niece Morgen's egg hit my cousins van. Too funny.

During the egg toss Eva spent some much appreciated snuggle time with GG. They both had a really good time watching the activities from inside the warm house.

Outdoor Easter Egg Hunt

My brother Tony and sister-in-law Katie put together an outdoor Easter egg hunt at my parents' house for all of the kiddos. This is reminiscent of my childhood and the fun outdoor egg hunts my cousins and I had. The weather actually held and it was an amazing time.

First egg hunt!

Lila and Georgia

Eva

Eva getting help from mom, Nana and Aunt Terry

The littlest egg hunter! She totally got it too. Had her basket in her hand and would stop to pick up eggs. Amazing what watching a few older cousins will do. I could hardly keep up with her.

All of the egg hunters...

Visiting with GG, throwing rocks and steamer clams

Lila, Eva, my dad, GG and I explored the outdoors on Easter morning. Lila throwing rocks down at the creek and GG in the background.

Playing in the bird bath.

Getting steamer clams out of Puget Sound. Scott, my dad, Lila and a BUNCH of steamer clams! At Shrum holiday's we always have a huge pot of steamer clams as appetizers. My dad digs them at the beach where he grew up digging clams. They are so yummy!

Easter Morning

We spent Easter morning at my parents house in Shelton. One cute little bunny and one superb egg hunter...

Visiting with Grandma Henri, Uncle Don and Aunt Cathy

We had a great time visiting family in Tacoma and this photo doesn't do it justice at all. Eva however, was SO crabby so it really was her best shot. Thanks Grandma Henri for the yummy lunch!

Dying Easter Eggs

Lila and I dyed Easter Eggs last Friday night. She really got into it and was able to do much of the work herself this year. Although, that resulted in some of our eggs getting broken and therefore we made a few deviled eggs too!

Eva's B-Day

Our little house just isn't big enough to have too many people over so we broke up Eva's birthday celebration. Last Sunday we had our neighbors over for pizza and cake. It was a lot of fun and Eva is really getting good at eating cake! Photos below of our little birthday girl and some of the party goers!

Eva LOVES her new swing!

Our friends Matt and Kim (and Brody) got Eva a new swing for her birthday. My dad hung it from our back patio cover and it's a big hit!

Eva Eating - 12 Months

Eva is the funniest, messiest eater. She has found that if she uses her index finger she can pick up 'wagon wheel' shaped pasta with one finger. On the other hand...she's learning to use her spoon! Enjoy. :)