"Daddy home now!"

"Know what, Mommy, know what? Daddy home now!" 

It's hard to fully express in words how overjoyed Timo was to have Daddy back (2 big overseas trips in 6 weeks was a lot to manage). There was A LOT of snuggling and wrestling and ball-playing that happened in those first couple of days. Timo got to stay up past his normal bedtime and come with me to pick up Daddy at the airport. When we got in the car, Timo started talking away to Daddy about his new soccer net and his Frisbee, and how the two of them could now go play in the backyard together.

oh, look, a family photo! Thanks, Mom!

 
It got a little crazy around our house for a couple of days once Jim returned - the next day Uncle Bill and Aunt Jayne stopped by (for a 2 nights, 1 day visit). They had been doing a long road trip around the western United States and were heading back up north to get back across the Canadian border, and then head directly west home to Vancouver Island. It had been way too many years since we had seen them, so it was wonderful to have some time together in our home. Also, Mom/Jaja was still with us for part of that time so she got to see her brother and sister in-law too. Timo immediately took to Uncle Bill and Aunt Jayne; "Uncle Bill, where are you?" he would call. And every day for a week after their visit, Timo asked, "Uncle Bill Aunt Jayne come back 'nother visit now?"
 

Timo had a great time exploring their pick-up camper.

Uncle Bill & Aunt Jayne's itinerary got thrown for a loop when they arrived in Colorado to SNOW!! We had been having lovely weather in the 60s/70s the whole time Mom was here, but suddenly one night the temps dropped and we got snow. The mountain passes received over a foot of snow and many of the roads were closed, so they had to re-think their travel plans and spend extra time watching the weather channel and studying the maps. Phew. I guess that's how it goes in Colorado in April; you never know what might happen.

a little snowman that Aunt Jayne helped Timo to build

Thank you for coming!!

As we waved good-bye and their truck turned the corner out of our neighborhood, Timo turned to me and said, "Timo love go Canada now." Yes, my boy, me too! Part of my heart will always live there, and maybe yours too once you get there!

Another week with Jaja

Week two with Jaja was wonderful! 

One afternoon we walked to/from Colorado College campus, about a mile each way through our neighborhood. Timo LOVES the "bell chapel" and wanted to show it to Jaja. For supper we tried out a new Hawaiian taco shop - what a treat! It shares space with one of the campus buildings so it was easy to include it on our walk.

Jaja is saying, "Shhh..." as they entered

On Saturday (last week) we went to our first yard sale of the season, and scored the summer's BEST purchase: two small soccer nets!!! Both Timo and I were ecstatic (and I could hardly believe that we were able to find such nice goals, just the right size for Timo, on our very first yard sale outing) and set it up in the backyard right away.

We had lovely spring weather while Mom was here and our tree out front - a Japanese cherry, we think - blossomed with beautiful, fragrant blooms.

One morning we took a picnic lunch to Memorial Park. It's always nice to look out over the small lake there and up to Pike's Peak in the distance. It was very windy but still fun (especially since there was a dump truck and a skid steer loader in the parking lot). I think this will be one of our favored parks for the upcoming summer.

Drool-meister. And the giraffe hat barely fits anymore!

Timo experimenting with a sand funnel

Jim got home late Wednesday night, and Mom left on Friday afternoon (but we forgot to take anymore photos in the intervening time!) and it was nice to have that brief overlap. Jaja, thank you for coming! We are looking forward to our Hawkins family reunion this July!

Jaja is here!

"Know what, Mommy? Daddy 'nother big trip. Jaja here visit. Jaja, Mommy, Timo, baby 'tee-tas."

This has been a common refrain (is that redundant?) from Timo over the last week. It's never easy to say good-bye to Daddy and send him off to faraway lands (this time for 2 weeks to Tanzania, Ethiopia and Germany) - even though we DO love to daily study the big map book and look where Daddy is - but happily on this trip we are able to have Jaja with us!! 

Easter Sunday was warm, sunny and windy. In the afternoon we went to a nearby neighborhood park. Welcome to Colorado, Jaja, and don't forget your sunglasses! In fact this is Mom's fifth visit (including when she accompanied us on the road trip when we first moved here), so she knows what to expect now. On the other days of her visit so far we have been pretty low-key so far, playing in the backyard, taking walks in the neighborhood, cooking up a variety of dishes, and me being able to run errands during naptime. Wow, that's a treat.

Jaja seems to be quite impressed with her hunky, active, smiley grandson. This evening she was helping him sit and play with a ball, and suddenly he was sitting on his own for a few seconds at a time! And drooling all down his chest! And then swinging woa lurching whoops backwards, and being caught in Jaja's arms.

A quiet moment with Jaja, looking at photos of cousins.

We still have another whole week together - hurrah! Still need to make a trip to the Dutch Bakery... and the Pioneers museum... and Garden of the Gods.

When did this happen?

5 months old for Mattias!

He LOVES to watch his brother. Often Mattias stares at Timo (reading or playing with his cars) and will just grin and grin at him. If I'm holding Mattias and he hears Timo talking and coming into the room, he will crane his head around to find where Timo is so he can watch him.

Here are the boys on a Saturday afternoon walk down to the park. Is it just me or doesn't Mattias look so tall?! He is! Mostly he now wears 9 month size clothes and I keep finding that a lot of pants or pant-legs are too short on him. Meanwhile recently Timo has been carrying Papa Bear (or "Bo", as he pronounces 'bear') everywhere.

Sunday

A few pics from a couple of Sundays ago - we were just about to head out to a good-bye party for some folks from church. Westside Church is the place we have been attending since we moved to Yampa St last summer - and this couple (Pete & Caitlin and their 4 kids) were some of the first people we met. On that day, we were leaving church and getting in the car when Pete yelled across the parking lot, "Hey, do you want to go out for lunch?" And we spontaneously (gasp!) said yes and bundled off to Panera. "We never do this, either," he later admitted as we were trying to corrale our kids to a table at the restaurant. Their kindness to us really helped us to feel like we could get up the energy to go to church again the next week; and on several occasions I met up with Caitlin and the kids for a play date. More to say about Westside Church in another post.

(Of course we didn't have the camera and forgot to take a photo WITH them at the party!!!! Argh!!)

Mr Chunk promptly outgrew these overalls after wearing them ONE time.

the "Jesus book"