Spring 2012

There were lots of other significant things that went on during the last 3 months.  I'm not sure how there wouldn't have been, with three young kids to keep track of.  Enjoy the brief photographic retelling of what we've been doing!

Making Lenten pretzels.  Yummy!

Flying kites on a windy day...

Pictures from Stevie's 1-year sitting.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, and Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Lots of fun at Rosie's 6th birthday party!

In March, we took a quick weekend trip to Pittsburgh to celebrate Joy's baptism.  It was about time that we made it down there seeing as how this was also the first time we had even met her!  The kids did very well in the car and it was very nice having all of the Shibata's together.

Marie has been doing extremely well in school.  She even got to participate in the all school spelling bee!  Each class had a competition where three kids from each class were chose to represent their class for the rest of the school.  She was exited an nervous to be on stage and in front of everyone.  We are so proud!

We celebrated Easter this year in Michigan.  Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart came along with Uncle Matt.  As it becoming an Easter tradition, Grandpa planted asparagus for us.

Other activities included painting Easter eggs, going to an Easter egg hunt, making Resurrection rolls, and just generally enjoying our company!

Marie was off of school for the whole week after Easter.  We took the chance to do some "special" things with the kids.  These included having a family movie night, complete with popcorn, going to the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, having play dates with friends, and going to a park. 

Toward the end of April, we took the kids to Greenfield Village again to see Thomas the Train.  Joey had only been talking about it for a whole year!  The weather had turned cold and there was a chance of rain, but we decided to brave the conditions.  The kids didn't seem to mind too much!  Riding the carousel was definitely a highlight of the day!

Sweet Eloise Ann

It turned out that there was a lot of excitement going on while Jon was working in Germany.  Grandma and Grandpa were still here visiting and on Tuesday of that week, we got a text saying that it looked like Aunt Sarah was going to be having her baby that day!  We were of course super excited and a little anxious, seeing as how the baby was over 3 weeks early at the time.

Dear, sweet Eloise (Ella) Ann was born on February 28, weighing in at 5 lbs 3 oz.  Overall, she and the new parents have been doing great.  She is now almost 3 months old and has grown out of her newborn clothes.  She is growing and putting on weight and is more and more interactive, smiling and cooing at her adoring cousins.  What a blessing she is!

 Marie reading to Ella for the first time.

 I was honored to be asked if I would be Ella's Godmother.  Of course, I accepted!  A couple of weeks after Easter, we had a very special ceremony and wonderful family time as we welcomed Ella into the church.

Ella and her fan club (cousins)!