Lunar Eclipse April 14th - 15th

A view of the moon from the Hamilton residence (11:45 - 12:00). I peeled myself from slumber and took some photos (unfortunately without tripod). I just kept thinking about that warm spot I left in my bed as I sat there on my porch in the cold.

Blood Moon:

 Pretty neat!
Then I ran to bed....... Haha

5 Months

Willow is getting big! Five months old today! She resembles the michelin tire mascot, with her layers of rolls; even on her knees! I love that baby fat and chubby jowl. Ha!
Her personality is developing. Her eyes are always watching; curious and fascinated by the world around her. Of course, anything she gets her hands on she has to taste :)
I love the sound of her sweet voice, especially when she laughs out loud!
When I say, "Gimme Kisses!" she will grab my face and plant an open-mouth slobbery kiss my cheek.
I love that she thinks I'm the funniest person in the world; or maybe the funniest looking ;)
Ha!

She appreciates those pacifiers and is really good at guiding them in her mouth. She especially loves the ones with the little animals so she can play with them.

She's learning how to eat starter food. She's growing fast so she's hungry more often. Pretty soon we'll be whipping up some homemade tasty treats.
Baby steps :)

There are days where she is not happy; as with all babies (and humans in general), like her "poop" days. Or days where her sleep gets interrupted, and she fights sleep after that. Those are challenging moments and I start humming in my head the Bob Marley song, "Don't worry, everything's going to be alright". 

Willow has helped me with my weight loss program~ not only from nursing ~ but getting gassy and fussy over certain foods. For example, I refrain from eating chocolate and too many sweets in general or we will hear about it later! I mean an uncomfortable, lasting lecture. I understand that those cookies are not worth it. 

If she's fed, changed, and comfortable ~ she's a hoot :)

Sometimes it's hard to get her to go to sleep (except at night) because this would require closing her eyes and missing a moment.  I reassure her, "It's OK to go to sleep, I'll let you all about it when you wake up." She takes naps better if I'm in her sight; usually laying next to her. I enjoy that cuddle time anyway. She giggles and plays with my face. She loves butterfly kisses. It's sweet.

Did I mention she doesn't want to miss a thing? What a fun age this is :)

Isaac and Ava adore her and try to make her laugh regularly. Isaac squeezes her so much we have to watch him and remind him she's still little. They both get really excited to see her if they haven't been around her for hours. Willow gets her showers of kisses everyday. Ava and Isaac are both great, hands-on, helpful siblings much of the time.

Our terrific trio:

We try to be mindful about treating everyone like a star around here. Sometimes we need a reminder as our hectic days go by. Having three kids is a whole other ball game, or universe. There is no moment in the day that someone doesn't need something. We are slowly transitioning and adapting to being outnumbered. There is never a dull moment in this house. Generally we are exhausted by the end of the day. Truthfully, we could be exhausted anytime of day..... haha
But, as challenging as it can be ~ I look into those saucer-sized eyes staring back at me and I'm reminded of the important things.

Six years have passed fast. Four years felt like a season. 5 months is a blur.
It doesn't get any slower.

It's Spring!

It's feeling and looking like Spring! There are colors poppin' around our house. It's a lovely, welcoming sight. It's also a reminder to get the garden prepped. That is what I'm going to work on this weekend. There's much to do!

Here is a picture of Willow that demonstrates our excitement for this season.
Maybe she's equally happy because warmer weather means less clothes.... Ha!

The flowers aren't the only colorful, pretty things around the house......

Sometimes Ava and Isaac dress up like they want it to be October again :)

Silly kids! 

 Back to garden talk, I've already planted some things. Most of what needs planting I'm not jumping the gun on; after all this is Spring in the Great Basin!

We are looking forward to tasting the rainbow! 

I'm not talking about skittles! 

;) 

Trio

Look at this first picture below. This was Ava at 5 months.

Now, here is Willow (at almost 5 months):

Willow is like Ava's twin sister born six years later...... haha 

Here are all my bright-eyed, chubby-cheeked babies close to the same age. This makes me smile when I look at this picture :) 

Awwwwwwwww

Where's Waldo?

............. in Baker, Nevada! 

Wow, this may be the final sighting to put this little town on the map!
Haha
:D

Spring Break!

Spring Break came to a close. We spent the whole time up in the Provo, Utah area having some fun. Bryan has been able to run lab samples and go to a few seminars at the the University. We joined him one of the talks Thursday evening. The kids fell asleep during it because swimming at the motel wore them out. Here are some photos I got of Harry Greene (Author/Herpetologist and professor at Cornell University). It was really interesting.

Jack Sites, professor and curator of herpetology of the BYU museum, opened up for the guest speaker......

Harry Greene:

...his most recent publications:

We got a quick group photo. We had just woken the kids, so they look thrilled. Haha

What a neat opportunity......

We have been able to clock in many hours swimming......

During this spring break, Ava officially learned how to swim! We pretty much swam every morning and evening so they got some practice in.
We did some shopping, eating out with friends, bowled, and even went to a huge Pow Wow Native American event at BYU.  I wish I had taken my camera, there were some awesome costumes, dancing, and music from tribes all over the country.

We had no problem at the end of the day relaxing and "charging our batteries" ;)

Hope you all had a spring in your step for spring break!