April 30

Tonight I spent time photographing our apple tree, which has finally come into bloom. I love the soft pinks of the apple blossoms. It was nice to spend some time behind my camera and see the world through its lens.

April 29

Tonight Will enjoyed a treat, which is pretty rare in our house. He loved his puddding!

April 28

This morning Will was in a fantastic mood - thank goodness, since he's been a big pill lately. He was so excited to see his kitty cat and thought it was really fun to touch her nose. Chewie was a good sport for letting Will poke, prod and "cuddle" with her. Well, at least for a few minutes!

April 27

I've been wanting to take pictures of my tulips for a few days now and finally got around to it today. I'm amazed that any of my tulips bloomed, as the deer had quite a meal of them a few weeks back. Seeing these tulips in bloom reminds me of taking Will's picture in front of them on his first Easter. My little bunny has definitely grown up since then!

April 26

This morning Becky and I took the kids on an impromptu trip to the Nisqually Refuge. It was quite an adventure with three kids in tow, as evidenced by the fact that our one mile walk took nearly two hours. Not to mention the fact that I had to climb over a railing and get beneath the boardwalk in order to retrieve Will's fallen shoe. Will and Hannah had a fantastic time running in the wild. On this trip, we were fortunate enough to see a turtle, a ton on barn swallows and some newborn goslings.

April 25

Today we went downtown to watch the annual Procession of the Species parade. Will enjoyed looking at the chalk drawings on the street and adding a few of his own chalk strokes to the mix. The parade itself was a bit terrifying for him at times. Anytime a fully costumed figure came within his sight he buried his face into Marc's chest and said, "I wanna go home!" We managed to last the entire parade and Will did enjoy listening to the musicians, watching the people on bikes and skates, and anything he could tell was actually a person.

April 24

Tonight was a great night for Olympia's spring Arts Walk. Will loved watching all of the street musicians and simply people watching. I am sure the highlight of his night was the fact that we let him eat a scrumptious chocolate cupcake.

April 23

This week's sun has finally brought about blooms on our teacup rhodie. I've never seen a rhodie like this one until we moved into our house. This picture doesn't capture the delicate little bell shaped flowers hanging off the tree, but oh well!

April 22

Today Will and I stayed home. Though he was running a fever of 103, Will still managed to contentedly play with his Little People for over an hour by himself. (Thank goodness!) Will has so many people and accessories that we set up our own "Discovery City" in the living room. It's pretty cute to watch him in action!

April 20

It was a gorgeous day today, so we spent time in the backyard. Will enjoyed playing in his new sand/water table that we stumbled upon in someone's free pile a few weeks ago. I love our neighborhood and its free piles!

April 19

A beautiful Sunday and with it, a trip to the landing. Will enjoyed playing on the big toys and throwing shells into the water.

April 18

Today Will started a new gymnastics class and it is heads and tails above the other one. It took him a few minutes to get acclimated. Once he was comfortable, however, Will jumped, crawled, ran and slid all over the place!

April 17

Our weeping cherry is in full bloom and it is surprisingly difficult to photograph. I like how I was able to isolate this branch. There is beauty in its simplicity.

April 16

Will has been in a great mood this week and he had a great time being silly after dinner with Daddy.

April 15

We spent time in the backyard when we got home today. Will seems to enjoy exploring the yard more than throwing the ball or going down his slide. He simply traipses around, examining nooks and crannies here and there. He gets very excited when he sees a bug, saying, "Look at that, Mommy!" I was able to spend some time taking pictures of my magnolia bush that is now in full bloom.

April 14

The amount of time it takes Will and I to go inside on any given evening is directly related to how nice it is outside. Today Will meandered around the front yard stripping the grape hyacinth of their berries. Luckily I've got a ton of them naturalized in the yard, so a few bald ones here and there won't make much of a difference.

April 13

Our wireless router is broken so I bribed the Jones' with a dinner invitation in exchange for Matt to check it out. Will was very excited for Sophie to come and play, but let's just say he had a very difficult time sharing his toys. He's also at the point where he likes to show off for guests, which means he embarrasses his parents by screaming at the top of his lungs during dinner and gets otherwise out of control. There were a few moments of kindness between Will and Sophie, including this one where Will is taking Sophie for a ride on his excavator.

April 12

We enjoyed a nice Easter at home with Grandma and Grandpa Richards. Will was very excited to see that the bunny left his basket filled with treats and scattered eggs around the house. Will loved opening the eggs to find the hidden treasures inside - matchbox cars and sugared cereal (gasp)! Grandma and Grandpa came down for dinner and brought Will more of his favorite Little People. He was most definitely a "Grandpa's boy" today, wanting Grandpa to follow him around and do everything with him. There were many times when Mom, Dad and Grandma were told to leave the room so he could have Grandpa all to himself! Will ended the day by showing us his pitching skills...the Mariner's bullpen had better watch out!

April 11

Will attended his first Easter Egg hunt today and I fear it may be his last. (Well, at least until next Easter rolls around). He is a bit terrified of people in costumes (Red Robin at Red Robin, remember Santa?) and the Easter Bunny was no exception. We arrived at Tumwater HS just before the event started and we were shocked to find nearly 2000 people in attendance. Perhaps if we'd gotten there earlier and let our sensitive little guy acclimate to his surroundings we may have had a different result. Doubtful. At any rate, as the 0-3 year olds got the go ahead to start dashing for eggs, Will spied the Easter Bunny halfway across the football field. He started to scream and cry, so Marc comforted him. (Incidentally, we looked around and didn't find another child acting similarly.) We eventually convinced him to pick up an egg, but he just kept saying, "I wanna go home. Eat candy at home." He did enjoy eating the candy out of the eggs we picked up, but he was not sad to leave. Marc and I keep wondering if we should be worried about his seemingly irrational fears. We know this is normal for a 2 year old, but no one else's kid was doing it! At least we may be able to breathe a bit easier during the teenage years since Will doesn't appear to have any dare-devil gene!

April 10

Today marks the 100th day of Project 365. Some days I find it harder to take pictures than others...its hard to find new inspiration each day. Plus, I don't always have the time or energy to work on setting up a shot and I find it difficult to settle for mediocre pictures. But, I've decided the point of this project is twofold - to both improve my skills as a photographer and to simply have a record of what we've done throughout the year. I feel like my photography has improved since January 1st (how could it not when I've shot over 3000 photos) but I know I still have a great deal to learn.

April 9

I spent today relaxing by myself. It was wonderful! I spent the majority of the day scrapbooking, which is something I haven't done much of lately. I was especially happy to frame these photos that I took yesterday. We've had these frames for the upstairs bathroom for at least a couple of years but they've sat empty all this time, waiting for the right prints.

April 8

I spent today cleaning, sorting, and purging. It feels so good to have a clean house...if it would only last! I rewarded myself by bringing some forsythia indoors.

April 7

Today Will and I spent the day at the zoo with Sarah and Sophie. The kids had a blast running around the tot spot, climbing on ropes, going down slides and feeding the goats. I think Will's favorite part of the day was watching the monkeys swing from rope to rope.

April 6

It was a gorgeous spring day with temperatures in the seventies. (It's about time!) Each day, Will and I pass the fountain on our drive home and I was excited to have him try it out. Unfortunately, my excitement did not rub off on him! We stood far enough from the jets to just get a little bit wet, but that was enough for our brave little man. The minute the water droplets fell on him, Will began to scream in terror. I took this picture as he was recovering from the trauma. I don't think we'll be going back in the fountain any time soon, but Will did enjoy watching everyone else get wet.

April 5

We took advantage of today's sunshine by heading to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. Though the barn loop is extremely short, it takes us forever to complete. Any why wouldn't it when there are sticks, rocks, bugs, leaves, mud and a myriad of other natural wonders to distract us? Will was excited to see a barn, but kept trying to open the doors to see the animals inside.

April 4

Today we met our new niece, Mikaela. I enjoyed watching my little brother be a Dad. At one point, Will came up to me and said, "I wanna hold the baby." Here he is holding is newest cousin.

April 3

The first evening of spring break couldn't have been any better. Will spent time picking all of the dandelions in the yard - maybe if he keeps this up we won't have as many this year! We then headed down to Old School Pizzeria, where we enjoyed a few slices while listening to some tunes.

April 2

As we were walking down the stairs first thing this morning, Will insisted decided he wanted to drink out of the cat's water bowl. Luckily, I convinced him to wait until I got him a bowl of his own. He enjoyed pretending to be the cat and giggled when water got up his nose.

April 1

Tonight Will spotted two little bugs on our windowsill and spent quite some time examining them. Surprisingly, he even got up enough courage to "pet" one of them.