My brother is my favorite running buddy. Last week we went running with Emily and she got out of the stroller towards the end and wanted to run with us. Very cute. This week we took Mark with us while my mom watched Em. Will pushed the stroller the whole time. I forgot how much easier it is to keep our running pace when I'm not pushing the stroller. What a nice uncle?! We took Mark to the park afterwards. Here are some pics.

I finally organized some pictures from the birthday party. I wish there were some more of Ben but of course he was the one taking the pictures. A lot of these pictures are from my dad, so thank you Grandy for taking lots of pictures for us too. There are also some pictures of Ben bringing out Emily's bike after the party as well as pictures of our first trip to the track with the bike. Ben's grandparents, Great Grandma and Grandpa Karcher were in town and came by the morning after to see the kids before they headed back to Austin. I've included some pictures from our get together then as well. It was a great party and weekend. Emily is very blessed with lots of loving friends and family. Here are the pictures.

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Here are some pictures from Emily's birthday weekend. The weather could not have been nicer. Party pictures to come soon. Happy Birthday, Emily. We love you!

Hopscotch at the park...

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Ok, so I know I've been blogging too much lately, but I really like these pictures and will cool it for a while after this... Emily wanted to go to the zoo today and packed a bag full of supplies before breakfast was even over. We are members so I decided to pack some lunches and load up the kids - might as well go. Mark is old enough now to really enjoy the zoo. He is very interested in the animals and likes to take it all in and run around with Emily. Here are some pics.

And of course, a little dance show...

We had our house sprayed for pest control yesterday. All the munchkins were very interested in the man in the backyard and very concerned about all the toys that were removed for the spray.

I took them on a walk to get them away from the window - tutu and all. On the walk Emily said, "Mom, you need to figure out how I can Ballet!". I said I would look into it and Emily said, "yeah, you need to figure it out".

We went to the 7 am service and then spent the day playing in the gorgeous weather. Grandma and Papa came by in the afternoon on their way in town to see the kids and deliver the third round of Easter goodies. Here are some pictures. The kids also got some Easter cards from Great Grandma and Grandpa Karcher with one dollar bills inside. I took the kids to the dollar store and Emily picked out a bag of balloons (which I blow up, Emily throws around and Mark pops..and then over and over again) and Mark got a plastic bat and ball that he is actually pretty good at using. It was a fun weekend!

The iPhone app that I have allows me to write posts and add pictures very quickly, but the kids still have to get creative with the time while I blog with the iPhone held high over my head. In the time it took me to write the above post Emily created this sofa slide and taught Mark how to use it. Here is mark on the slide.

My mom just gave me the dress that I wore for my third birthday party for Emily to try. My mom actually did the stitching and detailing on this dress. Wish I could do the same! Emily is 2 weeks shy of her third birthday. Here we are in the dress. This makes me want to hold on to a few of Emily's sweet dresses...

Emily had an Easter party at school today. It was a lot of fun to watch her interact with her classmates and she was so excited to see me and share her party with me when I showed up. It was so sweet. Mark will go to school with Emily in the fall, and although I cherish our time together at home, I look forward to seeing him interact and play at preschool as well. Here are some pictures from our day. Let the sugar high begin...

I just introduced Emily to Nutella. Mark went down for a nap before Emily had her lunch so I figured it was the perfect time for a treat for us girls. I gave her some on a graham cracker. She looked at it and said, "how did you do that?" I told her it was a special chocolate that you can spread. She took a taste and said, "it's magic!!"