Life updates and Easter

Happy Easter!  We had a wonderful weekend with gorgeous weather, so we were able to spend some time outside, work in the yard, have an egg hunt, etc.  Katie (my sister) and her boyfriend Lorenzo were in town last week, and we spent a lot of time sightseeing around the area and even spent a couple days out at the ocean, which both of the kids loved.  

As most of you know, we are making a big life change and moving to Eugene, Oregon.  Mario has started his new job down there (Eugene is 4 hours south of us) and will be going back and forth throughout April and May.  In June, the kids and I will move (along with all of our household goods) down to Eugene and join Mario.  Our plan is to sell our house here in Tacoma and buy a house in Eugene, so we've been busy looking at houses and trying to get a feel for different areas and neighborhoods.  We are very excited about the move, even though we know the next couple months will be very full and busy.

Mathias will be 18 months at the end of this month and he is such a light and joy in our lives.  He's started talking and saying more words, including up, mama, dada, banana ("nana"), and bubbles.  He runs away from us, loves to play chase (if we are chasing him), and is always giving us huge grins and smiles.  He always wants to be involved in whatever is going on, always tries to play with Miriam, and recently has started to really love reading books.  It is the only time he'll stay still and sit quietly, but he'll sit with us for a good bit of time if we are reading to him!  He especially loves baby picture books where he can point to things he knows (mostly cat/dog/banana/etc.).  It is nice to be able to snuggle and enjoy some quiet time with him, and of course we love that he is showing a love of books and reading!

Miriam celebrated her 4th birthday almost a month ago and is also a joy in our lives.  She's going through a bit of an independent phase (she wants to do everything herself!) but luckily, she's pretty capable and independent, so we usually let her get herself ready, get food out of the fridge, etc.  We had her spring conference at preschool a couple weeks ago and her teacher reported that she can already "see the little teacher in Miriam."  Apparently, if two classmates are not taking turns/sharing, Miriam goes up to them and says something like "Ok...first you have a turn and then after, she can have a turn."  I had to laugh, because I'm sure she hears me say things like that to her and Mathias, and then she takes them to school and says them to her friends.  Her teacher also said that she's grown a lot this year with regards to interacting with peers and being social, which we were so happy to hear.  We are proud that she's made so much progress and we hope that will help her with the transition to a new preschool in the fall.

Here are some pictures from Miriam's "friend party" for her birthday, the beach, and Easter.