April Shenanigans!

April has flown by and looking back through all these pictures makes me realize why! We had SO much fun! We took a short road trip to Indiana, we had a week or two of gorgeous weather where we were able to do some fun outdoor things, etc. Mostly, I'm just feeling like Milla again after having a baby. Adjusting to two kids (and in the middle of the coldest winter month) was a bit rough, but I think things are getting back to normal around here. All in all, it was a great month!

Here's a quick re-cap through some random photos:

On April 9th, Calum turned 3 months old! He is a happy little chubster! He loves to roll onto his side, make baby sounds and go out on walks. He is starting to sleep 8 or 9 hours through the night on occasion too, which has been wonderful! He also reserves his biggest and cutest smiles for his big brother, Oliver. It is insanely cute how much these two boys adore each other!

He loves the outdoors! He is definitely our kid!

Barely 3 months old!

3 1/2 months old!

In the Fall we are getting a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy and we have been doing a ton of research on different breeders. One Saturday we drove all the way to Indiana (a city just south of Chicago) and met a breeder at a dog show where they were showing a few Ridgebacks. It was great to meet the breeder, learn more about the breed and see their gorgeous dogs in the ring! Seeing how amazing these dogs are in person and how well they did with Oliver definitely reinforced our decision to get one. 

It was a super fun day! And, to top it off, we stopped at a really awesome candy factory on the way home. It had a floor to ceiling chocolate waterfall inside and was wall to wall with every kind of candy you could imagine. It was pretty much worth the entire drive! 

At the end of April, we also went to a second dog show in Birch Run, Michigan to meet a different breeder and on the way home stopped at the home of a third breeder. Whew! We are really doing extensive research! 

On the way to the dog show... we had to leave at 5 am to get there on time. What a happy morning boy!

At the Birch Run dog show

Meeting a breeder and their gorgeous dogs. Oliver and this sweet girl really became pals!

Eating lunch and playing at a random park we found between meeting breeders

The Albanese Candy Factory!

One beautiful Sunday afternoon we went to one of our favorite spots, the Le Furge Nature Reserve. It is a gorgeous nature reserve where you can do a lot of bird watching and it contains miles of trails through fields and woods. It is really a gorgeous place that we discovered by accident the first week we lived here in Michigan.

We hiked around a bit and then built a fire to cook our dinner. We had chorizo tin foil dinners and afterwards roasted marshmallows for some s'mores. Oliver had so much fun building the fire with Austin and cooking the dinner he had prepared at home before coming. It was a ton of fun!

Oliver playing with the frog he caught with Austin. 

Oliver just wants to be as close to Calum as possible... at all times! So cute!

I love my boys!

Eating our tin foil dinners

Oliver and Calum have the most incredible bond. I totally didn't expect them to be so in love with each other quite yet. I thought it would take time or that Calum would need to be older for them to be such pals. But, from the day Oliver and Calum met at the hospital they have been the best of friends! Oliver even said the other day... "Oh, Calum... my best friend!!". It just about melts my heart to hear him say things like that and to see him smothering Calum with affection. I am so incredibly happy to have two such amazing little guys in my life! 

Squishing Calum's face after church

One weekend when Austin was out of town, I took Oliver and Calum to the petting farm. Oliver's best friend, Clara, and her Mom, Annita, came with us too. It was so much fun! There was a free pizza lunch beforehand for families of graduate students. Oliver and Clara had so much fun together and it was the most beautiful day!! We definitely enjoyed the greatly-missed sun and warm weather.

Oliver and Clara eating pizza together

Oliver trying to feed a rock to the alpaca

Oliver loves animals! He wasn't afraid to pet, feed, or hold any of the animals at the farm. He chased after, caught and picked up this little chicken all on his own! 

He chased these geese around while laughing hysterically for a solid 5 minutes. It was hilarious!

Easter and General Conference

This year Easter and General Conference fell on the same weekend. It was nuts to say the least, but so much fun! 

Saturday we kept our donut tradition going and we made homemade donuts as a family. We decided to make old-fashioned sour cream cake donuts this year and boy were they good! It is definitely a new family favorite! Oliver LOVED cutting out the donuts with me and dunking them in the glaze after they were fried. And, of course, his favorite part was eating them! It was really fun!

Then we watched the Saturday morning session together. Between sessions we colored eggs. We also have a family tradition where we boil onion skins to make a natural red dye. Then we used rubber bands, stickers, tape, etc. to make designs on the eggs before dying them in the red dye. This is the traditional way to color eggs (red representing the blood of Christ), before commercialism took over. For dinner we carry on a tradition that my family always had and we ordered pizza. This was such a special treat when I was a kid!

For the Sunday morning session of conference we always have brunch with the Wallins and the McClures. The Wallins make the most incredible belgian waffles and homemade sausage. It is always a really special treat. This was our last conference breakfast together since both the Wallins and McClures will be moving away this summer. :( So sad about that! 

Between sessions we had a small easter egg hunt at our apartment complex across the pond for Oliver and his two best friends, Clara and Maks (who both live here as well). It was really cute to watch them all running around together and sharing candy with each other. We have such great friends here in Ann Arbor!

Oliver looking for Easter eggs

Gee, I love him!

Natalija, Me and Annita

Clara, Oliver and Maks

Oliver and Calum with their Easter baskets

These two are the cutest!

Oliver was pretty excited about the new books!!

Oliver is such a great kid. He took his nap in my lap during general conference at the Wallins. 

Our homemade old fashioned sour cream cake donuts. Recipe on my sugarboles blog! 

Niagara Falls!

After 7 weeks of being trapped indoors with a newborn and a toddler, I was seriously going crazy! Summertime saved me after having Oliver since I was able to go on daily walks and get some fresh air with the babe. But, this time around I've had to get creative for things to do. Last week was Spring Break for the University of Michigan, which means nothing to Austin. He still goes to his lab everyday... no rest for a PHd, I guess. haha!

Well, one night I was having a rough night and was complaining about a hard day to Aust. And, out of the blue, he suggested we take off! He said he didn't care where... let's just go! If you know Austin and I, you probably know that we have lists and lists of places we want to see! So, it wasn't a problem at all to think of a million options. Lots of people had told us that Niagara Falls is incredible in the winter! And, since it is only 4 hours away from us we decided to go! So, the next day we loaded up the boys and a few bags, stopped at the store for some junk food, and took off!

It turned out to be such a great trip!!! We booked 2 nights at a hotel online for $60 a night which ended up being RIGHT next to the falls and since no one was at the hotel they upgraded us to a fancy room on the 10th floor with a view of the falls! It was awesome! We had such a great time hanging out together in the room, ordering pizza, watching tv, reading books and (Oliver's favorite) swimming in the heated indoor pool! It was SO nice to be trapped indoors, NOT in our apartment. haha!

We also went out a bit. :) We spent one morning at the Aquarium of Niagara (we had to cross the bridge from Canada to the NY side to go there). It was such a blast! We loved seeing their fur seals, penguins, sharks and sea lions especially. On the second day we walked all the way down to the falls from our hotel with the boys. Seeing the falls up close like that was truly incredible! The frozen falls and piles of snow and ice on the water below was magical. We got so lucky to have such nice weather too!

All in all, it was a really memorable family trip! Calum did awesome on the drive too. We were happy to see how well he handled it since we will be driving a lot this summer. :)

Our first road trip as a family of 4! Driving through Canada.

We spent a lot of time snuggled up on the huge bed!

We could see the falls from our hotel room!!

Hanging out at the pool. We pretty much had it all to ourselves!

Pretending to be alligators.

My handsome little fellas. 

At the aquarium of Niagara. Oliver is so interested in animals and wildlife. I love it!

Oliver's and my favorite was seeing the Sea Lions.

Sheer joy on this boys face!

We walked from our hotel down to see the falls! It was truly incredible!

Oliver was getting pretty crabby by this point.... haha.

The bridge to the NY side of the Falls.

There was something so breathtaking about seeing the falls frozen like this and we were lucky to catch a rainbow too!

I wish this picture could include sound. You would be amazed!

The passersby were laughing when they saw Oliver biting Austin's strap like this. He knows how to draw a crowd. :)

I love how Austin always teaches Oliver about everything we see and do. Everything is an educational opportunity with these two! He is such a great Dad!