March Madness

March has been full of FUN both here in Franklin and abroad!  Charis, Bethany, and Hannah stayed with us for a weekend a couple weeks ago, and the following week, we packed up our kids and headed to Figgy and Pops's house in Harrisonburg.  Pictures of those fun times are below!

Being the former English teacher that I am, I took note of a beautiful milestone last week: Susannah used her first simile.  (If it's been a while, a simile is "a comparison using like or as.")  "Mommy.  I love bananas like candy" were her exact words.  Such a smart girl!  She also has 2 favorite questions these days: "What is that sound?" and "Why?"  Right now, it's hilarious how many times she asks us those questions in a day; after a few weeks, I might change my adjective.  We'll see.

John Boy is 10 months old, and I'm pretty sure he's teething again.  Hopefully they'll come in quick!   He's still sleeping really well (God knows I need that), and he's saying "Mama" and "Dada" intentionally.  "Mama" is all day, but it's very cute.

The cutest thing going on with us lately is the kids' interactions in the car.  They can see each other just over the sides of their carseats, so Susannah will look over and yell curtly (almost sternly), "JOHN!" and we'll see John's head turn to look at her, and they'll both smile real big and giggle.  Then Sus will yell his name again, "JOHN!  JOHNNY!" and John will go, "AGH!  AGHHH!" back at her; and then the giggles erupt again.  It's adorable.

Now for Cousin Camp pics:

Susannah's holding her nose up as high as she can because she's about to drown in all the junk food groceries we bought for our cousins' visit!  It was SO FUN picking out all the guilty pleasure foods!

The girls have arrived, and Suster is in heaven.

Ready for the Easter Egg Hunt (and for the front of a magazine, sheesh...these girls are just glowing with love and happiness!)

Such fun!

The final bounty!

Uncle Petey spent the next almost-2 hours on the trampoline making popcorn out of the girls.

Not any fun at all.  If you listen really closely, you can here cautious Susannah saying, "Be gentle, Daddy, gentle!" 

John was a happy spectator, plotting how he'll get in on all the fun soon enough!

Uncle Petey keeps a scope on/near the dinner table to look at deer in the evenings, and this picture of Hannie attempting to look at them is just priceless!

4 out of 5 are engrossed in Cinderella -- can you tell who's just happy to be alive?  Two of the 4 girls asked to go to bed before the movie was even over, and the other two just about fell asleep on the couch before the final credits.  We were wiped!

Susannah and her BFF Bethany matched for church on Sunday.  Their faces in this picture adequately express their emotions about wearing the same dress --  these two absolutely adore each other.

And our trip to see FiggyPop (as Sus likes to call them):

Pops and Boy Child

Pete's best friend, Matt, and his daughter, Hannah, came over to play while we were there.  Pictured is what I like to call, "Competitive Coloring."  Each girl took turns pushing the other off her page.  But they really did play sweetly together.

We got some snow while we were in Hburg!  Susannah and John got to sled for the first time, and poor John may never do it again after his face-plant...

Now that I know everyone is fine, I wish I had held the camera up for just a second longer to get the full effect of the fall!

Sleepy John hanging out with Aunt Vicky

Sus got to help Aunt Sarah add the candles to Aunt Chipley's birthday cake.

Blowing out some candles with her fav person of the day, Aunt Chip!

Susannah looks slightly troubled here, but trust me; hiding on the floor with Figgy for a special treat was DELIGHTFUL to her!

Pajamas in the snow!

Lastly, Pete finally shaved off his beard yesterday, and after a second of getting used to the new look, John LOVED it: