A new haircut!

Greetings!  Wow!  The weekend flies by!  Happy Mother's Day!  We had a blast spending times with our moms this past weekend.  It was great to play and have fun together. 

The weather is current mid to high 80's.  Amazing!  We ran through the sprinkler yesterday because Jonas and Elsa remembered to say "we can use the sprinkler it is a hot day!".  Great times.

Jonas had been protesting a haircut for a while and finally relented tonight.  Check out the picture for his new hairdo.  Very stylish.

God Bless,
Mari & Elsa & Jonas & Dan

Here comes the sun

Greetings!
We couldn't quite believe it but the sun returned to the great Northwest.  This gave us a chance to spruce up the "fort" in the front yard that Jonas and Elsa like to sit in.  It is a big Rhododendron that has a rock in front of it.  Jonas was a little upset with some pruning and kept asking what happened to the window!

We got a couple glimpses at our family photos from last weekend!  Check them out!

Jonas and Elsa received some sweet musical instruments from Grandpa Harold....Jonas now has a red play guitar so he can play guitar just like daddy!  Elsa has been practicing her piano on her Dora keyboard.  We have got the band together several times and are sounding great!  No videos yet...but give us time...the tour is still a little ways off.

The walk for babies is next weekend and we are going to try our best to be there to support research for premature babies.  It is a special walk with lots of medical professionals and families. 

God Bless,
Dan & Mari &Elsa & Jonas 

Picture Day

Greetings!
Wow, we can't believe it is Tuesday already!  This is a really late blog. 

This weekend we had the absolute pleasure of having our family pictures taken by Sarah Fuccillo.  It was so much fun having our photos taken near a farm while we tried unsuccessfully to keep Jonas and Elsa from diving into mud puddles and rolling in dirt.  We saw a couple of the photos on her camera and they were so great looking!  Sarah's son Justus was in the NICU around the same time as Jonas and Elsa.  It was great to share a moment with someone who has had a similar experience.  (Her family is having a fundraiser auction this month for her son to get a service dog...check out http://www.pawsforjustus.com/Paws_for_Justus/index.html for her story and more information)

Speaking of auctions...our school's annual auction was this weekend too!  It was a great time to see lots of community folks who haven't had a chance to meet Jonas and Elsa in person.  This is not to say that the two sat still to meet anyone at the auction.  They had a great time running around the school, up and down stairs, up and down stairs, on to chairs, across stages...they had a blast and slept hard as a result.  Dan's item for auction--his one man band singing children's songs for a kid's party was well received and the winners (the Hurleys) were very excited!

We are all keeping Cousin Super Kaelen and Aunt Jane and Uncle Ralph in our prayers.

God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Watermelon

Greetings! 
The summer arrived early!  It was in the mid to high seventies the past three days!  Elsa and Jonas loved being outside running and playing and working! We stopped by the store and picked up a "personal sized watermelon" to celebrate.  When asked who was going to eat all that watermelon, Jonas replied, "Elsa and Jonas will eat it all up."  They have kept pretty true to their word!

That is all for a quick update!
God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

I want to help

Greetings!
Spring break! What a wonderful week of play and rest!  Jonas and Elsa had a great week.  It was kind of a surprise but we had sunny weather most of the days and that meant that both Jonas and Elsa wanted to go outside at 6am regardless of any other activity. 

We spent a lot of time working on the yard this week and it is really neat to see and hear Jonas and Elsa helping with work.  They both desperately want to do important work and if they can use a shovel or pick up some dirt to help out they are on it!  It makes working in the yard that much more fun knowing that Jonas and Elsa will give you a wave every time you come around a corner to bring another plant or some more dirt for them to work with!

We also sang a lot this week!  It is so much fun to see Elsa and Jonas both love music!  Jonas routinely says that he wants to play guitar like Dan and Elsa loves to play the pretend piano while we are singing. 

The week ended with a birthday celebration for Jonas and Elsa's good friend Nathan! It was a blast to play with lots of kids and watch trains go by at a park in Tacoma.  What a wonderful day and a great time with friends.

Both kids had doctor check-ups and both were given A+ recoveries.  Elsa told her doctor that she wanted to marry him at the costco marriage shop.  He laughed:).

We went to the zoo this week!  Mr. Walrus sends his regards!
God Bless,

Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Hoppy Easter!

Greetings!  We are feeling a little bit better!  This past week has been filled with more laughs and play than the past couple of weeks.  Jonas and Elsa are healing up and are so excited for Easter!  They practiced their Easter Egg hunting skills the past couple of weeks and the focus and attention to detail paid off in the culminating big Easter Egg Hunt in Yelm.  They were in the 3-5 year age bracket and were against some stiff competition.  However, their training did not fail them, and they both were able to get several eggs before the search was over!  They also saw a real fire truck and played lots of games (two of the pictures show the eat a doughnut off of a string game:)

Elsa has always had a keen ear for music and in the past couple of weeks she has really taken to singing the exact words of many many many different songs.  She will just belt it out while the song is playing and if she doesn't really know the words she just makes them up (This is a Dan genetic gift).  When she is falling asleep she will start stringing songs together and sing herself to sleep. 

Jonas is really interested in words and letters.  He likes to call out letters that are on items (like trucks or logos, or signs).  It is really neat to see him having more and more awareness of letters and sounds!

Easter is here!  Celebrate!  Rejoice!

God Bless!

Dan & Mari & Elsa & Jonas

A spoonful of sugar...

Greetings!  This has been a long week of recovery!  All continues to go well for Jonas and Elsa but we have all been just a little tired of getting better.  Jonas has had a hard time coming back from his surgery but he is getting better each day.  Elsa is wearing a patch to help her healing process for the next couple of weeks and loves the zebra and flower patches!  We are slowly returning to our routine. 

Jonas has discovered that he does not like medicine.  He is firm in his vocal and physical resistance to taking any sort of medicine.  We feel a little guilty but we have taken to half truths and misleading to get him to take his medicine to help offset the pain from his surgery.  He is a fighter! 

God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas