Snow & Yoga

I used to not be fond much of the snow, but it must be having Crosby now that makes me love it so much! He is truly madly deeply in love with the snow. I have had a riot watching him watch it, and now that he can walk... play a little in it. Every morning he wakes up, we open the blinds together and talk about the weather. This morning we opened them and were practicing saying 'snow.' He kept going, "Ssssssss.... ssssssss... "

Later when we were running around outside, I caught this short snippit of him saying, "sssss" for snow!



Oh, and I am officially embarking on a Bikram Yoga journey tomorrow.

Pray that I don't pass out!

We

were out for a walk later this evening and I'm glad we decided to go because it was perfect timing for the sunset! It was really pretty, with those orange and pink sherbet clouds...

Last Friday Croz was in heaven with the fresh falling snow.



Over the weekend he was testing out his birthday suit... jumpsuit, that is... while munching on an apple. That's the best way to exercise: while you're eating!



Dad and C were rippin' it up in the guitar room until Croz figured out how to adjust the amp.



Crosby LOVES to swing... can't wait for summertime, Junga!



We received an early St. Patrick's Day surprise on our porch; SO nice. Just wish we knew who to thank!



But if the sneak little Leprechaun is out there somewhere reading this... please know how much we enjoyed those gold coins.

The Neverending Doorbell

I am going to journal in bits and pieces about our incredible journey in Bangladesh as my memory will surely fade and someday soon I will forget some of the small things.

Out of the many curious happenings there, the doorbell at the house we stayed in in Dhaka was high on the list... I had to take a video of it.



I wanted to remember the sound of this. The family had this in the bedroom D and I slept in, along with D's mom and aunt. This is at D's cousins' house in Dhaka. It was a little crazy because right when we arrived we had serious jet lag and it took us two full days to recover. The six year old boy kept ringing this doorbell to try and wake us up. Really we were in and out of consciousness for those two days and this chirping sound felt like part of a dream, with the way it starts loud and then decrescendos into a whispering trill. There's a little red light on it that blips to the chirping and I remember seeing it through the mosquito net surrounding our bed over and over again as I faded in and out. Same thing when I was so sick; if I would have had the strength I would have smashed it to pieces. But now as I look back this sound is creating some nostalgia!

Catchup

Lucky for us, we've mostly been having fun lately, birthday mania!

Croz and I were able to make it out to Davis's birthday party... (l-r) Jeremy, Crosby, Davis, Amber



There were tons of kids/people running around at the party. But Crosby's world consisted only of he and this huge blue bow.



Here we are in our Wall-E masks at Davis's party:



Then last week the Harkers came over so just Davis and Crosby could play on their own



There they go, ready to ransack the place! Hopefully they find out soon that garbages are not cool.



The "Beemis & Mansfield" pants from Bangladesh... lookin' good, guys!



Crosby's birthday cake, compliments of Nan



He couldn't believe the big celebration was all in his honor!



One of my favorite pictures ever



Let us out of the color pool!



Crosby's great uncles



The 24th is Hallie's birthday too... Cat & Hals, we love you guys!



Luce and Croz had to have a goodnight kiss... yeah this is a cute picture but it is ten times more darling in person



Last but not least, look how happy Croz is with ALL THREE of his grandparents!



I had to put up pictures of those fun bday and friend memories we had. It is neat for Crosby to have friends! All around his same age. I must say that tonight I am feeling especially thankful for the friends in my life. I had such a great time hanging with Joanna tonight! And a nice long phone convo earlier today with Sarah. And those Skype sessions with Jess all the way from India... THE BEST! It feels so good to stay caught up. And Karin... you have become a dear friend. I will be so sad if you don't keep in touch :( My soul feels energized after our talks. I find over and over how friends are sometimes necessary to get you from one point to the next in life. And quite possibly the same happens for them. To all of my friends and family: thank you, I love you!

Violence in Bangladesh

Jessie made me aware last night during a Skype visit what's going on in Bangladesh... a military group in Dhaka, the BDR (Bangladesh Rifles), have been upset for years that they don't get paid enough and food rations are too meager. On Wednesday they took a large group of their own higher-ranked officers hostage and killed them. 62 people are dead and they so far have found 40 bodies. This is so sad for the country and for the families of the lost. I am VERY grateful we aren't there for this and that D's mom is home safely. Crazy how this happened just over a week after she left. Even more crazy to read about this knowing we were right there in Dhaka where it happened and to see pictures of where we've just been.

Pray for peace.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

What can I say... how can a person be so beautiful in every way? You embody every quality of a mother and woman that I could ever hope to have and I love you so dearly Mom! Blue skies today and can't WAIT for our afternoon together! I love you!

I'm One!

Happy



Birthday



To You...



Our sweet little prince!

Thanks again to Jess for the celebratory outfit (from Thailand, wow!) Once again he was walking around with more bounce in his step because of these swanky duds!

This is what we're noticing and loving about you right now:

*Insatiable curiosity

*Maturity of soul 

*Magnets for eyes!

*Your voice is starting to sound like a little boy

*Brave... no fear toward new things, places, or people

*Mr. Fix-It, like Grandpa.  You are constantly trying to understand how things work

*When you have something you like, i.e. this red Hershey kiss you're holding in the picture, you walk around with it as if it is a prize you have won!  Huge smile on your face, talking happily to yourself... 

*I could make a long long list but we have a birthday party going on today, let's celebrate Croz!

We love you so very much.