Art Hop

2 weeks ago, Jon and I went to the Fresno Art Museum for Fresno's bi-monthly Art Hop. We really like these nights because the art museum is free (along with every art museum in Fresno). We used to take advantage of the Met, but that closed (sniff sniff). We weren't really sure it was open because there were hardly any cars in the parking lot, but since the doors opened, we were sure they were. We had the entire museum to ourselves (well, by the time we left there may have been 2 other people). They have a really neat exhibit of paintings regarding Genesis 1. It was really neat to see it put to abstract art. We also got to see some sculptures made with random junk and a room full of Ansel Adams. Afterwards, Ethan enjoyed a chance to run around. He loved sitting in the sculpture in the front of the museum. We had a lot of fun! Can't wait until next time.

April Showers

Spring had definitely sprung here. But, unlike most springs. . . the rain keeps coming. I'm not complaining. . . it makes our allergies so much better, cleans out the air, and we really need the rain (the farmers aren't the biggest fan. . . because of the crops, but we DO need it!). We are at the end of one system and it's supposed to rain more next week. Ethan may be going stir crazy, but Jon was able to take him out in the back to play tonight while I was at MOPS. I am sure he was overjoyed because he keeps bringing me his shoes and trying to open the sliding door!

I thought I would post some pictures from the storm that hit us early last week. It was AMAZING!!!! We had thunder, lightning, and about 5 minutes of hail (it doesn't happen often, so we get excited!)

This is the aftermath. . . the sun is shining and raining! It was beautiful!!!!

Another aftermath picture. My garden was flooded with hail pieces still lingering behind.

Look at this rain!!!! I love this picture!

It's raining. . . It's pouring. . . oooh, is that hail?

The closest we will get to snow. It was so awesome! Ethan even held some in his hand as we watched it rain. We can't wait until the next storm!

Let the Painting Begin!

We've started. . . it seems to be taking forever. . . someday we will finish. . .

The kitchen is taped. . . the paint is stirred and poured. . . .

just a bit of graffiti? oh and does it look purple to you?

it'll dry grey, right? Uhhh. . . no! We woke up to purple walls on what was supposed to be grey. Needless to say, we repainted this past weekend and it looks great! Just need to get behind the fridge. . . it still is wallpapered!

Springtime fun

We are really enjoying this beautiful weather. Ethan and I joined Steph and Abi at the park for a last minute play date a couple of weeks ago. Ethan was so worn out that he didn't want to wake up when I put him in his high chair to eat lunch. . . he wanted to keep sleeping!

Easter Sunday

Happy Resurrection Day

from the Klassen's

Our Easter started out with a busy morning at church. I was very thankful that I didn't have to teach Sunday School, as they gave the teacher's the morning off (thanks Michele and Debi!). That meant Jon and I were able to worship God together (something that seems so rare in our business lately). The sermon was really good (you can click on the link to watch the sermon from Easter). Then we went to the nursery to hang out with all the little ones. It was so much fun seeing all the little babies in their Easter attire.
Then we headed down to Hanford to spend some time celebrating Christ's Resurrection with Jon's family. We celebrated with pizza and an Easter Hunt and then cake for Jon's Aunt Debbie's birthday. Each of the boys (well, Cooper, Logan and Ethan) received a golf set from Jon's grandparents. They had so much fun hitting balls around the yard! I think at one point, all the guys were out there and it became slightly "full contact," which apparently how Jon and his cousins used to play. It was neat to see the boys all playing together! It started to rain shortly after the Easter egg hunt, which was perfect timing (it was a beautiful rain. . . cold, but beautiful!).

We ended our day with dinner in Lemoore with my family. We took pictures on my mom's camera - but can't find the cord, so maybe someday those will get posted. Ryan (my niece) hid quite a few eggs for Ethan. Unfortunately, he was tired and not really into hunting, so he gave up after about 5 eggs.

We had so much fun celebrating with our families. We feel so blessed to have them both so close! We hope that everyone had an awesome time this Easter season.

Our Little Family Easter

Happy Belated Easter everyone!

The day before Easter, Jon and I took the opportunity to celebrate a nice quiet Easter with Ethan. We made a nice breakfast and let Ethan have his Easter Basket, full of fun surprises. Then, we went and hunted for a ton of Easter eggs, including some of those that we dyed the night before. He caught on incredibly quick and successfully found all 30 eggs! He didn't need a whole lot of help (of course I hid them fairy easy!).

Then we went on a family walk and enjoyed a pizza dinner at Me & Ed's. It ended being such a nice quiet day. . . and we LOVED it! It was great because Easter was going to be very busy. I hope you all had a great day!

Our First Easter Tradition

This year, Ethan was 2 days shy of 19 months when we celebrated Easter. There are a lot more things you can do at this stage than the year before when he was just 6 months old. This year, we started the tradition of Easter egg dying. We did this on Friday night after dinner. Ethan had fun putting the stickers on and Jon had fun going back to his childhood. We love family time!

Klassen Zoo Day

Jon's annual trek to the Chaffee Zoo has been made an annual tradition it seems. As this year, was possibly our the 5th year in a row. This year, was the year Jon has been dreaming of. . . feeding the giraffe with Ethan - which was so neat to see!

This year, we got up and headed to the zoo. We were a bit tired, having gone to San Francisco the day before, but we endured and conquered. The day was perfect - sunny and shorts - my kind of spring! We spent the morning watching Ethan chase around squirrels and look at all the animals with amazed looks (Ethan has been to the zoo a number of times, but each time it is all new to him - which is great!). Jon took Ethan to pet the animals at the Small Wonders petting zoo, and fed the giraffes at the 11am feeding! Ethan did so good. Jon and I were both concerned about the outcome - we both confessed we were expecting a very afraid (and possibly screaming) toddler by the end. He had so much fun. . . he was all smiles (sigh of relief for Jon and I!).

We ended our day around lunchtime and headed home. We were all in need of some grub and a nap!

San Francisco - spring 2010 edition

This year, the thing Jon wanted to do the most was go to the newly redone California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. It has a really neat rain forest inside and an amazing roof with grass and rolling hills on it (very go-green, if you ask me), an aquarium and some penguins. So, VERY early St. Patrick's day morning, we got up and headed into the city, found a great parking spot, and went to stand in line with the hundreds of other people waiting to go in. Now, I don't think EVERY day is like this, in fact, I highly doubt it. You see, once a month, thanks to some incredibly generous benefactors, you can get in for free (a savings of 50 bucks for our little family!). It was a great day to go. We had absolutely beautiful weather and we got in! We stood in line for 15 minutes, but we got in. . . that's the important part. Many, many, many people were turned away from the free day . . . it was that full!

Once we got in, we started exploring. We went downstairs the aquarium and looked at the coral reefs. Ethan enjoyed seeing all the fish swimming around. He especially enjoyed getting up close to them. We saw the penguins being fed, and lots of "stuffed" animals. There were so many people, we didn't want to wait in line to see the rain forest, but we did make it to the roof. It was so amazing. I kind of thought I might see some telletubbies (which really annoy me) jump out from behind the little hills. But, there was a great view from up top and so refreshing to be outside in the fresh air.

After the museum, we went and got our picnic lunch and found a nice quiet spot in the botanical gardens to sit and eat. It was so peaceful! Then, we continued our trek to find a geocache and Pea Pod Fabrics. It was such a nice walk and so beautiful to see all the pretty flowers. The Pea Pod fabrics is this amazingly tiny fabric store just 2 blocks from Golden Gate Park. It was so small, that Jon had to stay outside with the Ethan and the stroller because they wouldn't fit! But, it was the NEATEST fabric store. . . and Jon let me buy some new fabrics! On the way back, we found a park to let Ethan run around for awhile.
These are some flowers that we found as we walked through the Botanical Gardens. The Calla Lilllies were taller that me (which isn't saying much. . . lol). But they were beautiful!