March Goes Out Like a Baa
March 21st, Ian on the swings in our backyard! See this image larger.
Ian practices his mean face!
Can you believe this little boy is headed for kindergarten? See this image larger.
He’s made some very good friends in the boys next door, and I’m happy about it. Aaron and Clara and their boys Brendan and Jake are good people. See this image larger.
Nina makes a shot, and the hoop sighs in happiness for being used a second time this year.
Nina looking cute in a skirt that reminds me of her ol’ Baskin Robbins style swimsuit! See this image larger.
*Nice to see ya, Daddy, gotta go!*
She’s such a delight at this age. See this image larger.
Must be out of gas!
Can’t believe this weather, wearing short-sleeves and a skirt in March! See this image larger.
March 24th, Ian makes a little gas station out of blocks for his car. Awesome!
March 25th, these kids just keep getting bigger! See this image larger.
And heavier! *Hold ’em up, Mommy, I want that tree in the background!* See this image larger.
Another awesome day with the family! See this image larger.
March 26th, Ian writes Nina’s name given what information he has… “NIANN.” (We told him Nina’s name is made up of the same letters as his, plus an extra N.) I then showed him how to do it right, which is what you see under “NIANN.”
Ian tries on Daddy’s welder goggles! See this image larger.
I like these as an alternate to safety goggles, for things that won’t bust through glass, of course.
I should have taken pics of him without the goggles, he looks really cute in a Steve Jobs’ style black turtleneck and blue jeans! See this image larger.
This is part of my War on Brass. I have no problem with brass in anybody else’s place, but for some reason I don’t like it in mine. Call it a preference. This day was to tackle most of the doorknobs in the house, with Ian as a helper!
Hey, watch where you point that thing! 🙂 See this image larger.
Breakfast drink for Daddy, thank you Nina!
*Ian, there’s a… There’s a… b-b-b-*
Still our cute lil’ boy! 
Nina – *WATCH THOSE HANDS, MISTER.* 
Ian’s class went to Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies, so here we are! 
Almost a great picture… 
Ian’s trying to tickle her and smile at the same time, doesn’t always work. 
This, on the other hand, is probably one of my favorite shots of all time. Look at those faces! Look at the perfectly centered wings and antennae on Nina’s head! Awesome! 
Alternate shot. 
Just a quick shot, looking down at her, she looked so happy.
Waited for her to see herself, and then came the smile! 
A couple atmosphere shots.
Pretty!
Ian asking questions. You can see a couple of Ian’s classmates in the background. 
Ian, Nina and Mommy hanging out near the waterfall. 
Daddy and the distracted kids. 
All four! Thanks photographing stranger! 
Pretty!
Time to head outside! 
Bye butterflies! 
The infamous entrance to the Children’s Garden at Meijer Gardens… 
*But it won’t bite me, right Daddy?* 
Heading across the bridge to the wooden fort… 
Nina managed to get all the way across this hanging/swinging bridge! She did so well!
Time to play in the sand! 
Ian the paleontologist! 
Weee! Thanks Meijer Gardens, we had a blast! 
March 16th, playing outside, without jackets! On March 16th! 
Nina putting stuff together. 
Ian joins in. 
Nina does not approve. 
March 17th, trip to the local park! 
Nina actually seemed to think this was a fun “ride.” You step off the ladder and hang from your arms. 
Nina poins out the colors on the monkey bars. 
Staying hydrated is very important. 
March 18th, at church! What a cute little dress on Nina! 
Up in front of the congregation together during “children’s time!” 
March 13th, And this Micky Mouse imitation was lent a small boost by Ian’s hairline… almost perfect! 
Less effective on Nina. I’m reminded of the Chapman-side tradition of giving bunny ears. 
March 14th, the first ridiculously warm day of the season, and it just kept getting warmer… the minute the kids came home, they sprung out of the car and began drawing on the driveway with chalk. That or Nina’s breaking in her formerly clean diaper. Hard to tell — usually that stare means the digestive world is in motion.
Here Ian springs from Mommy’s car to join in on the drawing!
Have I mentioned Nina’s favorite color on the blog? Purple. 
And that’s good because she wears it well! 
More chalky goodness.
I love Ian’s face in this shot. He’s still extremely sensitive, and can be whiny at times, but he’s grown up a lot lately, and I think some of it shows in these pictures – though I couldn’t explain precisely why. 
So that first warm day, of course it was time for our first wagon ride. And as you can tell the wagon part ends up being more of a liability than a boon. 
Still, plenty of giggles to be had! 
March 15th, surprised by how old she looks here!
Even older without the zooey!
I’m not sure what to say about these other than diapers were involved, but bottoms were not, and it was probably my idea. Sorry kids!
Another set to share with Ian’s prom date. 🙂
March 3rd, and no your eyes are not deceiving you. This isn’t Ian, this is Brandon’s son Max. I was helping them move, we stopped to eat, he got a really big sundae, and, well, it was a cute picture. 
March 5th, Nina smiles a nice one at me. 
I think she started singing here, was she in time out? 
*Hey God, it’s me, Nina!* 
The kids going nuts with markers and whatnot.
March 10th, we went to Ikea and Nina started using an abacus as we shopped. With the speed at which she seems to pick stuff up, I almost wouldn’t be surprised if she figured this thing out.
Nina wandering around Grampa Dave and Gramma Marcia’s – she was pointing out a small crystal bunny in the cabinet. We went there to wish Grampa Dave a happy birthday! (We didn’t have an opportunity to take too many photos… I did get one nice video, though, which I’ll share shortly.)
March 12th, at Gramma Marcia and Grampa Dave’s, the kids got these cool cardboard houses! The best part about them is that they fold away and pretty much disappear. I want to underline that again… these very large toys disappear. That’s awesome, because we’re pretty much getting overrun by toys. Disappear is good.
Also on March 12th, I got out the clippers. Here’s the “before” picture… 
And here’s the “after!”
He was such a trooper. I even nicked his ear and caused it to bleed, and he was sad, and cried, but got over it very quickly. I expected him to then hate his own reflection, because that seems to be the way of things… but he loved it!
See? (He took an impromptu bath… wow cutting off that much hair really generates a lot of hair!!)
This adorable table and chair set was only 20 bucks at Ikea. Since we got it, it has seen daily usage.
Ian said this ball of tape with more tape inside of it looked like when I tried to hide a pea in his bread. (There was a time when we were trying to force Ian to eat some vegetables, but he only had to eat ONE pea, for example. So I helped him by hiding it. Long story. He still doesn’t drink milk at home, and frankly his nit-picky eating is probably the biggest issue we have with the raising of the kids currently.)
Ian made a shadow on the bathroom floor and said it was just like his spaceship toy. (Millennium Falcon.)
