Reasons to Celebrate

We have so many reasons to celebrate life this week! The first being it is officially spring here, or at least it was until this morning when we woke up to rain. But Saturday and yesterday we woke up to the promise of 70 or 80 degree weather. And wow was it beautiful and even in Southern California, the boost in heat can really lift my spirits and get me excited for summer. It was so warm and spring like that we took our lunch out on the lawn yesterday after church and enjoyed a little picnic with the company of a little ladybug. Here are a bunch of pictures of that. Carter kept on getting in the way of the light, so some are a bit shadowy. I guess you can play "Where on Anderson is the ladybug" while you look at them! (Hint, in his hair, between his eyes, & on his arm.) The pictures of Carter are funny too, since he decided, much to the embarrassment of his dad, that he is in fact like his mom and afraid of bugs, even ladybugs. (But I'm not afraid of ladybugs!)

Another reason to celebrate--Anderson turned 5 months on Valentine's Day. This month was one of many developments and many more to come, I'm sure! He began eating rice cereal and is now eating two meals of it a day. He certainly loves to chow which is no secret considering his size! And he looks so small in the high chair! He has rolled over by himself twice now and he sits up pretty good by himself. His biggest and most shocking development is his teething--last week was miserable for us. I thought he was probably teething, but I've never been good at telling, but on Friday we could see two little white specs underneath his gums and yesterday morning we could feel them. Give them a week and they'll be two nice pearly whites jutting out.

We enjoy Carter's antics daily. Here are two of his funny moments from last week captured. I walked in the living room one day last week to find Carter sharing his water with Anderson. And one night, after Carter was in bed, I was cleaning up and walked past Carter's room to find his little fingers poking out from under the door. Scared me to death, but it was so funny I had to sneak a picture! Something of Carter's we do not enjoy are his sassy moments which are happening more often now.

Perhaps the most exciting reasons to celebrate in recent days are Marc's accomplishments. We finally have our immediate future plans nailed down which is comforting after months of limbo. Many of you know we planned to open a clinic in Utah immediately after graduation. Well, one major bump in the road prevented us from moving forward with that and so he accepted a job that will take us to Colorado Springs. Though it was incredibly disappointing to let go of our Utah plans, we are very excited to be embarking on the waters of having a real job and no longer being students. Yea! Colorado has a lot to offer us so come May we will be moving forward with life. Marc also earned his Certified Strength and Condistioning Specialist credential after taking a very expensive and difficult test. As I understand it, this will allow him to develop exercise programs for high school (or other) athletic organizations, among other things.

One last thing to celebrate--my dad qualified for the Boston Marathon on Saturday, a goal he's been working towards for a few years now. Congrats, Dad. We're proud of you.