Spring Sprung

Well, we got a little taste of summer the last two weeks. For a bit the temps were getting into the 90's with sunny days and beautiful evenings. The days are getting longer, and people are getting out and about more. In the evenings friends and neighbors like to sit out in the courtyard/garden and watch their kids play ball in the back parking lot. On the weekends it's popular to take your little box grill and camp out on the grass by the lake or river for an afternoon or evening. It feels like alot is going on! We've had alot of firsts lately too. I took both kids to the bazaar recently--Matthew did a great job walking all the way. We also walked to a friends house for the first time (1/2 hour each way Matthew speed). I drove the stick in traffic--a whole new adventure in coordination! The kids and I rode a bus for the first timeWe've met several new neighbors for the first time (I suppose the warm weather had something to do with that.) Anna had her first pony tail. And we got lost downtown for the first time.

Linguistically we are all progressing. Anna's words have doubled (the latest, chair, hair, head, hat, car, come) and I think I even caught a two-word phrase the other day. Matthew is stringing together sententences that are making more and more sense. He got ahold of the word "cute" the other day, and was declaring everything he liked to be "ute." He also can say a handful of words in his second language already! Our teacher told me she noticed Mike is speaking more "smoothly" now, to which I responded thats because he is doing so much listening...where Mike goes, the MP3 player goes. And I am finally learning how to use infinitives (I'm planning to go... I asked her to stop, etc). I love learning language, although it makes my brain hurt.

The other day my language tutor took the kids and I for a field trip to have lunch at her home and then walk the "river path" together. Here is Matthew and his "big sister" Turkay, and Anna trying to see if Mommy will let her fall in the water. I'm loading some more shots from the day onto Flickr, check out the slideshow on the left or click on the link.

Two Pics

For Autumn:

For Grammy and Grandmom (and everyone else too):

From my creative bro...