Sanctification comes in many forms...

"What's that smell?" I asked Bray, as I came in our apartment door this evening. I had been rehearsing for a violin recital that I am playing piano for next week, and thus had left Bray with the bedtime routine. He looked up at me with a somewhat cynical expression and said, "Oh, it could be anything, really." This of course sparked my curiosity, and I said, "What do you mean, anything?"
He paused before beginning the saga that is now this story: "Well, there's the sweet, little girl; good, kind Daddy, and then Satan."
"Satan?" I said, thinking that I wasn't sure if I really wanted to know what had happened.
"I was giving the little girl a bath, and Hobbes was playing sweetly with his cars in his room. After a little bit, Hobbes comes into the bathroom, covered in white. With one hand, he was hitting himself on his stomach and legs, creating puffs of white in the air, and in the other hand, he held an upside-down bottle of baby powder."
"See, Daddy? It's funn! See the whipe?" (he can't say white very well)
Bray quickly got Madeline out of the tub, and then followed the trail of white into their bedroom, where the entire rest of the contents of the bottle of powder was strewn about the room, covering it like a blanket of snow.
After dealing with Hobbes in a disciplinary fashion, Bray began vacuuming up the powder. As he vacuumed, the powder conducted a bit of electricity, and Bray would get little shocks from the blue sparks. Madeline thought this was funny for awhile, but then decided to go and see what her brother was up to now.
As Bray turned off the vacuum, he thought he heard some splashing. He thought this was a bit odd, as the tub was empty, and neither child had access to water. Tentatively, he walked out into the kitchen to see what the source of the splashing was.
Madeline was crawling on the kitchen floor, and splashing her hands in a pool of sticky liquid. Next to the sink, Bray found Hobbes, standing on a chair, which he had pulled over from the table, attempting to drink the juice out of the crushed pineapple can that was left out from dinner. The only problem was Hobbes didn't really get any of the juice in his mouth; thus the cause of the sticky pool that the newly-bathed Madeline was splashing in.
After wiping off both kids as best he could, Bray put them promptly to bed, and managed to clean up the kitchen floor before I got home.
The lingering smell of baby powder and pineapple juice hung in the air.
"So that's why it smells funny..." I thought of saying, but thankfully, my better judgment came through, and instead I gave Bray a hug and a kiss, and thanked him for taking 'sanctification' so well.
I love you, Bray!

Crazy Boy!!!

Hobbes was insanely hyper one night, and I caught it on video for Gege and Bop! Love you!

Cupcake makes it into the hair...

Carolyn taught Madeline how to put the cake in her hair....Madeline is still doing that now...hmmmm:)

Partying it up!

Birthday breakfast-chocolate chip waffles! YUM!
Daddy needed to go to Walmart, so Madeline got a pink phone with a feather pink case...

Feeding Daddy her birthday lunch at Winger's...They had TV's-with sports playing, surprise!- at the restaurant, so Hobbes was a little distracted!


Madeline decided french fries were pretty yummy.Hobbes waiting for the food to come, eating the popcorn, and watching baseball. What more could a guy want?


I think Hobbes enjoyed the arcade more than Madeline-he loved driving the cars....Daddy had to help a little!

A pic, at the end of the day, with the beautiful birthday girl!
A good finish to a great day- one of her birthday cupcakes!

She couldn't quite fit the whole thing in her mouth-but she tried! And thought it was pretty funny, too!

Happy 1st Birthday, Darling Girl!

Yesterday was Madeline's 1st birthday- I cannot believe it's been a year! It has gone by insanely fast...and so many changes! We celebrated her birthday, along with my dad's, on Sunday, and it was a lot of fun! (Kathryn is sending me some pics from her nice camera, which I will post)
We had some friends come, including Rachel Ryan (a favorite babysitter), the Churches, Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Jordan. She got a lot of loot, including a near-complete-very chic-summer wardrobe!:) Hobbes gave her her first baby doll, and she proceeded to crawl around with it, and 'kiss' it, which for her, is slobbering, open-mouthed all over her forehead.
Then yesterday, on her actual day, we all went out for lunch, played at the arcade (Madeline helped me do "dance-dance-revolution," walked around outside, and just hung out together. It was a really nice day, and I think both kids enjoyed all the fun!

PS-I think I forgot to mention that Madeline is walking!

The Polka Dot Party!

Here are some of the party pics that Kathryn took-thanks Doots!Hobbes kept 'accidentally' driving his scooter right up to where the cupcakes were...
...and then he'd show us how he could balance standing on his scooter-and also be within grasp of the cupcakes! (he's smarter than you think!)
You could barely see her behind the pile of presents!
The polka dot cupcakes.:)
My dad's birthday dessert-cherry cheesecake- and Madeline's birthday cupcake.
Really, Hobbes blew it out for her-but the image is nice,right?
A very cute pic with Aunt Kathryn!
Escaping with Hobbes' mower...she can really take off with this thing! Her dress was so poofy, it looked really cute when she would walk in it!

Madeline's 1st year...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A quick, yet major update...

I realized, that with all the festivities of Easter, I had not yet posted our news. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that the Seattle Opera Young Artist Director had asked Bray to come and sing for them. We combined this with our Spring Break-Portland trip, and things went very well. We hadn't heard anything, and we didn't really know what to expect. On Good Friday, Bray received a call from the Dean of the SO (Seattle Opera), offering him a position in their program next year. We have accepted, and will thus be heading to Seattle after our summer in Santa Barbara!
This is a huge blessing-we had been talking about auditioning for Seattle after grad school, but to have them seek us out, is extremely good, to put it mildly.
For those of you who do not know what this type of program entails, I will try to briefly explain. Most opera companies have a young artist program attached to them. These programs are the equivalent of a really good internship with a law firm, or residency for medical school,etc.. They are the grooming process, the finishing touches on the singer's overall package. And, most companies won't take you if you haven't done one of these programs.
They will be performing full operas, as well as 1 act operas, taking languages, coachings, networking, auditioning, and working with reknowned professionals. Basically, he will be performing and singing full time-which, for Bray, is like breathing fresh air.
I am thrilled, and somewhat nervous (this means 2 moves this summer! I think we should just live at The Container Store) but very happy and thankful that it is still close to family, there's a good church and school, and of course, good shopping!
Please pray and thank God for this opportunity with us!

I love my husband!

The past few weeks have been more than insane-which is saying a lot for us! They have been a 'good' insane, but I have felt a bit pushed to the limit. Yesterday, in between classes, Bray came home with 2 big bouquets of tulips. If you don't know me very well, I love spring, I love yellow, and more than anything, I adore tulips! It made me so happy, I just had to share how sweet he is. And, to top it all off, it was a gorgeously sunny day yesterday! God gives us just what we need- and more!

Spring IS coming...I think

The snow has finally melted...for the 2nd time this year!!! and so I took advantage of a snowless-almost sunny-yet still cold - day to take the kiddos outside. Hobbes loved having Madeline in a 'big kid' swing- he always makes sure she does what he does. If he has juice, he finds a cup of juice for Madeline. If he's playing in their room with toys, he comes out to get her, and says "Come on, Aline, come play-toys, in the room." Perhaps he thinks that if they're always together, we won't know who's the culprit at the time of discipline.;)My almost 1-year old little girl!

Swinging together.
He's probably telling her to hold on.
Now he's probably telling me to push him high.

FUNNY STORY:
Madeline's hair is getting 'long' in the back. I really dislike it when little girls get what I call a 'mini-mullet.' This is when the top takes forever to grow in, but the back grows long, and is left long. I have been tempted to trim it, but Bray's not quite sure. So the other night, right before her bath, I tried doing mini-pigtails. Although they looked pretty funny, I thought they were cute! And it gave me a glimpse of what she'll look like when I can finally do her hair!

My little crazy girl!
The back view of the pigtails.