Just some cute pics...

Isn't my husband HOT?!

Ashlyn and Kaitlyn

Laughing so hard at Mommy and Uncle Nate

Fresh out of the bath

Maguire's latest obsession is guitars. Papa's "guitar room" is a great temptation for him!

Kaitlyn & Ashlyn watering Wendy's (from Bob the Builder) flowers at the Children's Museum

My kids are a bit silly--I found them playing in this empty tub, "sharing" Maguire's binky!

Easter-Bunny-Candy-Rabbit

I don't exactly remember the origin of "Easter-Bunny-Candy-Rabbit", but that's what we've always called the hunt :) The kids had two hunts this year--one at Grandma and Grandpa Warmington's on Saturday and then one at Papa and Mimia's (Spoelman) on Sunday. Who knew Maguire would catch on so well?! He loved to see how many eggs he could hold at one time and then, when he couldn't hold anymore, he'd dump them into his basket. Our mistake was showing him that there was a treat inside the eggs. After that he wanted to open each egg as he found it so he could shove whatever was inside into his mouth!

Ashlyn just LOVES spending time with Papa!

Mackey J and Uncle Nate

My parents stuff the kids' eggs with peanut butter pretzel sandwiches. Mac couldn't get enough of them!

Nate and Britt didn't want anyone to go without bunny ears ;)

Ash loves "tootsie 'olls"...and putting money in the Tootsie Roll bank!

Exciting Changes!

At the end of April Kyle will be starting a new job -- we're very excited about it!  It will be sad to leave Keystone after almost 6 years (our entire married life) of employment there, but God has provided a wonderful opportunity for us at CURE International.  Kyle will be a Regional Director of Development in west Michigan so we don't have to move (yay!).  He'll basically be maintaining donor relationships and if he happens upon a few new donors, then all the better ;)  CURE has hospitals in about 14 developing countries (Kenya, Ethiopia, Dominican Republic, Bethlehem, Haiti, Honduras, Afghanistan to name a few).  These hospitals provide FREE surgeries/surgery consults to children who have deformities such as cleft palate, clubfoot, spina bifida, hydrocephalus and other orthopedic deformities that could ordinarily be CUREd if the child was living in America.  At the time of the surgery the child and a parent stay at the hospital and, while there, the gospel is shared with them.  What better way to open the door than by meeting one of their most pressing needs?!  With my background in working with children with special needs, this is something that I'm quite passionate about too.  Kyle will have to do a bit of traveling, but not much.  I'm anxious to be able to visit one of the hospitals!  Again, we're super excited about this change in our lives and can't wait to see how God will work through it!

Coloring Easter Eggs!

After church today--and after putting Maguire down for his nap--Kyle and Ashlyn colored Easter eggs. With all the intricate kits available for decorating eggs, we chose the most 2-year-old-friendly one that had just dye and those little cardboard holders. Ashlyn LOVED dropping the eggs into the dye--she dropped some a bit too hard--oops! After all the eggs had been dyed and we started to clean up, she decided that she hadn't had enough and put all the eggs BACK into the dye! So much for the great colors we had going ;)

The one "special" thing about this kit was that it came with pop rocks. Oddly enough we were supposed to put the pop rocks into the dye to add sound to the experience. We skipped that idea and just ate them!

Instead of risking the dyes staining our white porcelain sink, Kyle and Ashlyn dumped the dyes out into the snow--Ash thought that was pretty cool :)

Cookie attempt #2

After coloring eggs, Maguire was still sleeping so we decided to attempt more cookies. Ashlyn helped me measure ingredients for the dough, she helped Kyle with the cookie cutters and then I got a little bit control-freak and didn't let her help me with frosting them. Bad mom! After they were done, though, Kyle, Ashlyn and Maguire helped eat the cookies :)
When comparing the two sets of cookies, looks like made-from-scratch just turns out better!

Easter Cookies

In an attempt to keep Ashlyn occupied the other day, we decided to make Easter cookies. I made sure they were appropriate for an almost-3-year-old, so we used the sheets that are pre-cut, you just "punch" the shapes out. Ash really enjoyed helping me put the bunnies on the cookie sheets and telling me which ones were sister bunnies, brother bunnies, mommy bunnies and daddy bunnies. She also enjoyed sneaking some of the "parts" that were left over ;) It was fun to see her get the whole process. Now...the decorating? Yeah... I realize that these are probably the most homely-looking easter cookies you've ever seen, but trying to decorate cookies with a toddler is NOT easy! She really liked making the round ones - rolling them in the "spankles". Guess we should've stuck with the round ones!The funny thing is, the cookies actually look BETTER in the picture than they did in person!

Yes, that IS Ashlyn's hand trying to sneak a cookie while I'm taking the picture!

Tomorrow we'll be attempting to color Easter eggs! Daddy gets to help with that one ;)

The Zoo...in March...in Michigan?!

2 weeks ago we decided to go to the John Ball Zoo with our good friends Kaitlyn (daughter and one of Ashlyn's best buddies) and John (Kaitlyn's dad). We had originally planned on going to the Children's Museum, but forgot that it was closed on Mondays...so we weren't entirely prepared to be outside in March in Michigan. Fortunately there were some indoor exhibits. ALSO fortunately, the kids were running around crazy, so they stayed warm that way :) We had never taken the kids to the zoo before, but they loved what little we saw. I can't wait to take them back in the spring/summer!

These steps kept the kids occupied for quite some time!

Sledding with Papa and Mimia

I forgot to post these pics back in February, but I just love them! Ashlyn was staying at my parents' house for a few days and they took her sledding.

Throwing snow at Papa--in his face!

I love this picture of my mom and Ashlyn--it looks like it should be in an ad or a catalog or something!

A signing exhibitionist?

No picture with this blog, just a quick update on Maguire. Today he did two notable things:
1) He signed "more" for the first time! I've been trying and trying to teach him a few signs with no luck. Ashlyn has even tried to help as well. Mac just looks at us, shakes his head like we're crazy and giggles. Today he got it :) I know, I know...he should be SAYING words now rather than signing, but he's not doing a whole lot of that yet. Eventually... :)
2) While I was in the kitchen doing dishes (our dishwasher broke, so I've been doing dished by hand for a few weeks. We're in no hurry to get a new one...yet. Washing the dishes by hand is actually a nice "break" sometimes!), Maguire and Ashlyn were in the living room playing. I wasn't paying too much attention to them because I was in my own steamy little world. One of the things I love about doing dishes is the HOT water (I wear gloves) and the warm vent on the floor. In the winter it's quite nice :) Anyway, I had earlier changed Mac's diaper and was too lazy (or he was too WIGGLY!!) to put his pants back on, so I just left him in his shirt and diaper. He came walking into the kitchen and lifted up his shirt to reveal he'd taken off his diaper! I should've known better...he's done this before, only in his crib. Guess the days of "just a diaper" are over. Or is he trying to show up his sister by potty training before her? ;)

BuffMothers at the Arnold Classic

BuffMothers at the Arnold Sports Classic in Columbus, OH

Jammie, Linda, Kermane, Tonya, me, Erinn, Tia, Patti

Linda, me, Erinn, Tonya at Starbucks after dinner Saturday night

Tonya and me...just hanging out

Tia and me when we finally got to the hotel

Patti, Jammie, me, Tracy, Tia, Linda, Tonya at the Expo--Tracy is an EAS (supplements/protein products company) girl, so she was working there at the EAS booth

This past weekend I went to Columbus to meet up with some of the BuffMothers at the Arnold Classic. I have to admit that I was a little nervous to be traveling such a distance to meet up with a bunch of people I only knew from the internet. Especially since I'd be sharing a hotel room with 3 of them! First I drove to the Detroit area and met up with Tia. She and I had talked on the phone some and a lot on instant messenger. We hit it off INSTANTLY! We didn't stop talking the entire rest of the 3.5 hours to Columbus. Once there we met up with Kermane, Linda, Jammie, Patti (and her husband, Glen), Tonya (and her husband Brad), Erinn and Tracy. Nine BuffMothers coming together from 6 different states (Michigan, Ohio, Idaho, North Carolina, Missouri, Connecticut). I kept thinking how WEIRD it was that it was so NOT WEIRD! Except for brief lulls in conversation here and there, we all got along famously and there was just no awkwardness! I wish we could've spent more time together, but there's always next year :) All of us are at different points in our "buff journey", but we motivate, encourage and support each other. I love these women and count it a privilege to consider them friends!