Jessica's in town from Cali

Jessica and her childhood friend and now 'boyfriend' Bryce are home for Easter. It was nice they brought some sunny California weather with them. It was picture time and everyone quickly grabbed their cameras. It has been two years since Jessica has been home so we are all pretty happy to have the time together.

It was fun to have all the siblings together again after so long.

Fancy Nancy

We went to the craft night and Fancy Nancy book reading at Gere library. The library has had them in the past with different themes. This one was especially crowded. Evie loved the fruit loops...

Ethan almost looks evil with those scissors...for sure mischievous...

He just spotted Evie's fruit loops...

There was quite the turnout for the book reading

Miss Sue is reading Fancy Nancy to the class. Evie is listening intently and has been dressing up like Fancy Nancy ever since the class. Ethan is busy trying to reach the bowl of fruit loops some kid left behind.

As we were loading the kids up in the car the sunset poked through the trees perfectly. What a treat Nebraska sunsets are.

Evie's new big girl bed

So, Evie got a new big girl bed this weekend. She outgrew her toddler bed that we got when Ethan was born. I remember when she gave up her crib to Ethan and was so excited about her toddler bed. She seemed so small at the time and now I can't believe she has outgrown it.

Ethan was a big help putting Evie's bed together...mostly misplacing screws and tools. His look of surprise is "what, why don't you want me banging on the bed with this wrench, I'm only trying to help"

Seriously, you don't want me to bang with the mallet either...

Joel just got back from a bike ride when he decided to dig into putting Evie's bed together. We call it 'unnecessary chamois time" which is spending way too much time in cycling shorts

Yes, Evie was one happy Chickie about her new bed

Her bed comes with a little desk on one side and shelves on the other. She is pretty excited about the little hide out under her bed too.

I was a little nervous about Evie being able to go up and down the ladder at night but she has managed perfectly.

Oh Boy...

Well, to make a long story short...we noticed a humming noise in the house and Joel narrowed it down to our water pipes. We had the water company come take a look and they told us that we have a leak in our pipe by the street and that we would need to fix it asap. I say we meaning we would have to pay the bill...ouch. Anyway, a few more water company guys and city guys came by to double and triple check before they dug a huge whole in the ground in front of our house. Today is the day they started digging. The kids loved watching the huge digger.

This is the first whole they dug before they realized it wasn't the pipe in front of our house...it was the neighbors across the street....

This is the second whole they dug and eventually got the the leak stopped. You'll have to check out the video at the end of this post. Joel is waving to the kids who are still standing by the door checking out the action.

Miss Hollywood. We ran some errands while Ethan took his nap.

Quitting time...Evie and I returned home to see that that guys will be back tomorrow. I guess they are going to dig up our neighbor's yard next...

VIDEO: That's more than a leak...

VIDEO: It's not too cold out today if you're prepared for it but this guy spent hours in freezing water trying to find the leaking pipe.

Nebraska State Capitol at sunset

Joel were on our way downtown to attend a friends birthday party and the sun was setting perfectly on the capitol building. Pictures never quite do justice but the sunset was quite nice.

Snow and S.T.A.G.E Play

Well, we didn't exactly escape winter entirely. Luckily the snow melted off pretty quickly.

Joel braved the cold temps and icy roads on his ride. We were just backing out of the driveway when I saw my frozen hubby riding up to the house. He is training for a few events in Europe in a few weeks so rain or shine...or should I say snow or ice, he's trying to spend time on his bike.

In the afternoon we had the treat of watching a little play that Clare and Gabriel were in. It was really cute and both of them nailed their performance, of course.

Gabriel the pirate. Somehow he just happened to look my direction when I took the picture. He didn't know where we were sitting so it was just chance....

Evie giving her cousin Clare a big congratulatory hug for being the best 'shrimp' ever.

A beautiful day to be outside

Our little princess is happy to high-five our neighbor Tom who is congratulating her on some fantastic chalk artwork.

This is one of Evie's many drawings of Rapunzel. This one the prince is climbing up her hair...

Ethan, getting work done

VIDEO: Ethan and Evie love to use the fax machine as a telephone. Ethan was busy chatting while I was on the computer.

Happy first birthday Louis

On Sunday we went to my folk's house for the usual Sunday family gathering. Evie and Ethan had a great time playing with their cousins. We also got to meet the newest member of the Potter family; baby Maria. It was fun to hold such a tiny baby.

I laugh at the difference of what it must have been like at grandma and grandpa's house when Gabriel was the first and only grandchild to Maria who is sound asleep with kids loud and busy all around her.

Morgan (giving her little sister a kiss) is a good and protective big sister.

Louis turned one last week and grandma and grandpa made cupcakes to celebrate his birthday. That was a fast year!

Evie and Ethan with their cousin Maddie. Ethan didn't want to take a break from his cupcake to look at the camera.

Cute little Louis. He has always been a happy baby full of smiles

On our way back to Lincoln

We started our journey back to Lincoln on Saturday. The kids traveled so well and the flight seemed short compared to flying from Taiwan.

Evie had fun decorating her barf bag...

The view from the window was fantastic the whole way to Lincoln. We were above clouds at least half the time.

Evie asked "are we flying over Africa right now"

We got a break in the clouds about half way to Lincoln and it was cool to see such a distinct line of division between the clouds and the ground.

We got to see the sunset as we were landing in Lincoln.

Yippee, we're on the ground safely

We knew my folks were going to pick us up but Evie got a big surprise when she saw her cousin Delphina. She ran up to her and jumped into her arms.

Of course she was happy to see grandma and grandpa too.

Our many overweight bags are quite the back breaker. Thanks for picking us up and all your help mom and dad. It's good to be home.

Another fun day in sunny California

The kids had fun with grandma Joyce walking around their amazing yard. Grandma Joyce showed the kids what Ashley calls 'dancing diamonds'. The morning dew collects on the leaves and when the kids touched the leaves it really did look like dancing diamonds.

The fruit trees around the yard are just bursting with fruit. Besides picking flowers picking fruit is the kids favorite thing to do. This is a Kumquat tree

Ethan is putting his back into picking this orange. We ate pounds of oranges. I went to the grocery store last night and couldn't believe oranges were almost 50 cents a piece. We try not to take that for granted when we are orange after orange day after day.

Joyce is so cool about Evie picking her flowers. Every time I looked at Evie she had a new bouquet.

We went to Grandma Ruthe's in the afternoon. She is so cool. Here she is helping Evie up on the roof of her garage. Evie saw the ladder and asked if she could climb it.

Joel and Evie on the garage roof.

There are a bunch of cut down trees and stumps near the house. The kids love playing on them and jumping from stump to stump. It was a fantastic day to be outside. The weather was perfect. Ruthe's house is on a fun piece of land with lots of hiking and exploring to do.

We had a visitor while we had lunch. She was brave and stayed surprisingly close to the house. Evie got excited watching her hunt and dig for a gopher.

Wow, we are lucky. All the grandmas are fantastic cooks. When we pulled up Evie ran inside and asked if she could have a cookie. She remembered from three months ago that Ruthe made cookies for her. Sure enough there were cookies just waiting for after lunch.

And daddy took advantage of Ethan needing a nap and tried to sleep off his food coma.

Ruthe has this wind-up flashlight. Ethan got such a kick out of watching grandma wind it up really fast and then shine the light on him

Evie had fun putting together her new Easter cottage

Joel and Ruthe

Ethan going for a ride. He is so heavy now it's quite the workout.

Some pictures just make me want to squeeze him...

And trying to take a picture with two squirmy kids...

With all the rain California has had recently the hills were so green. Usually they are brown (and on fire)