The Marchants

When Ben got home from work we had a big family birthday party!  We blew up balloons, had party hats, ate cupcakes, and opened presents.  Then we went outside and rode scooters and blew bubbles.  When it was getting dark we came inside and played with the present Alonzo gave Whitney, which was glow-in-the-dark bracelets.  It was really interesting that after we had gotten on PJ’s and we were reading stories in the dark with our glow-sticks, the power went out.  The kids were a little nervous.  The power stayed off for about an hour, long after the kids were in bed.  But we just got out a couple flash-lights and kept reading.  It was a really fun party.

She knew just what to do when we sang to her.  She blew out her candle like a champ at just the right time.

Her and Alonzo loved eating cupcakes at the party.

Daddy and the kiddos.

Alonzo giving Whitney the glow-sticks.  They were a big hit.

Opening up some books.

Outside riding on her brand new pink scooter.  Now Alonzo doesn’t have to share.  I know they will really enjoy those this summer.  The front of our house is the perfect place to ride those around.

“Look, we both have a scooter!!”

Finally, a big smile!!  She loves bubbles.

I love my baby girl.

The glow in the dark sticks saving the night.

Alonzo liked this cool ball daddy made.

My Whitney is 2 years old today!  I can’t believe it went by so fast.  I know everybody says this, but it seems like she has always been a part of our family.  She is the life of every party.  She is very independent and her favorite saying right now is, “by myself.”  And she says it ALL the time, for almost everything.  It can be annoying.  But with a new baby coming, it is good she wants to be independent.  I know she will be a great big sister because she loves babies.  Whenever I am holding a baby, she will come over by me and be so sweet and loving to the baby.  She is very soft and just loves to be around them.  We’ll see if that changes when she is jealous of my time with the new baby. 

Whitney loves to play.  She is very strong.  She loves to hang on the monkey bars and can hold on a very long time.  Climbing is a hobby for her.  It seems like she can climb up just about anything she puts her mind to.  Her favorite color is pink.  That was not forced by me, but I do think she looks very cute in pink.  When we were picking out her paper plates I had picked out ones that said, “Happy Birthday” on them.  She thought they were OK and put them in the cart, until she saw the pink plates.  She absolutely had to have those.  And the pink cups too.  It was very cute!

Whitney and Alonzo play together very well.  Most of the time she steals toys from him, tries to get her way, and pushes him around.  He is very sweet and gives her almost anything she wants.  She is very spoiled.  She runs the house most of the time and can throw some mean tantrums when she doesn’t get her way.  But when she turns it around and gives you a hug, it melts your heart.  She is very cuddly and loves to be held and paid attention to. 

Whitney is great at helping me cook.  She likes to count the eggs and hand them to me.  She can also dump the measuring cup full of ingredients into the mixing bowl.  She is a very good eater and I never worry that she isn’t getting enough to eat.  I wish Alonzo would learn a thing or two from her.  Whitney is a sweetheart and we are so blessed to have her a part of our family. 

We sure love our little fire-ball.

I found this Easter picture on our camera when Ben was getting pictures off for me.  It was Easter Sunday before church.

You can tell who ate all their Easter candy.

We went to Great Falls National Park today with my friend, Jamie.  I thought it was wonderful!  It wasn’t very far away.  We drove just over a half an hour, walked around on some trails, had lunch, and came home.  They have a nice visitor’s center and three different look-outs of the falls.  There are lots of trails around the falls to walk on, but we didn’t have time to explore many of those.  It was a great little day-trip.

I had been told that the falls were not very big, so  I wasn’t expecting much.  But they were really big and a lot bigger than they look in this picture, too.  I thought it was really cool to see.  And in one of the look-outs you are very close to the water, but really safe, too.  Which is really nice with kids.

This is a look down the river.

The kids really enjoyed playing on all the rocks everywhere.  Whitney had a few falls, but nothing serious.  She has to try to keep up with her brother.

We had a great Easter this year.  On Saturday we went to the local rec center for an Easter egg hunt.  It was great.  They split the kids up into different ages.  Whitney was with the little kids.  She just walked across the grass and picked up the eggs.  She wasn’t in any particular hurry, but neither were the other kids. 

Alonzo, on the other hand, had a blast running around like crazy.  He wasn’t concerned with finding the most eggs, he just wanted to find the different places the eggs were hiding.  So he would run to a spot where there might be 3 eggs hiding, grab one, and look for a new hiding place.  He loved it!

We bought Alonzo a new bunk bed.  He was so excited to have one in his room.  The kids love to go up on the top bunk and play together.  I love to see them so happy!

We went fishing at the local swimming pool.  Alonzo had fun for a little while.  After about an hour he was a little bored.  He went for a little walk and then came back.  After that he caught the first fish.  We learned that the fish really like the fish eggs and you have to get them really deep at the bottom.  So we were putting the poles in the water to get as deep as we could.  That was successful.  After that, Ben caught a fish.  When we were leaving to go home a guy asked us if we wanted his fish.  So we took home three fish and Ben cooked them up for dinner on the grill.  He did a good job and I even ate some.

Whitney loved looking in the bucket at the fish.

Alonzo caught the first fish.  He was so proud of himself.