April Newsletter

Some of this is review for regular blog viewers (if there are any out there), but following is our monthly newsletter.

Here are pictures from April.

Colby is screaming at the top of his lungs upstairs. The good news is that Ashley and Sienna are sleeping right through it. Ashley has just started falling asleep without screaming – the last few nights it seems like Colby is filling in for her.

Ashley smiles occasionally now and is definitely more alert and attentive. Although getting her to sleep has been a struggle, I am grateful that she averages about one poopy diaper per week, and chances are that it occurs while I’m at work so I don’t even have to worry about it. Last week’s poopy diaper came while Kristen and I were on a date. How’s that for good timing?

I think Colby has started the “terrible twos.” When he’s in a good mood, though, he can be great fun – particularly because he’s talking a lot now. We bought him a new “big wheels” type tricycle. He loves his Pooh-car and it’s sad to put it away because he has so much fun with it and has learned to get around so well on it. But it was way too small and he was ruining too many shoes pushing it along. For “Performance” for family home evening tonight, Colby counted to 10 and then sang the ABC song with a little help from Sienna.

Sienna is our angelic daughter. Maybe angelic isn’t the right word – she definitely enjoys pushing Colby’s buttons – but she has been pretty good lately. All I have to do is tell her a Zorro story after she’s in bed, and she stays there and falls asleep almost immediately. She loves being outside. While I was mowing the lawn this evening, she spent over an hour outside riding her tricycle, and playing with the rake. (Colby is scared of the lawn mower, so he stayed inside. Ashley slept – she’s going on 5 hours right now! Hopefully that doesn’t mean we’re in for a long night.) Sienna loves primary and I think it’ll be good for her to start pre-school in the fall, as sometimes I worry that she’s a little bored at home – even though Kristen does a nice job trying to keep her occupied.

Kristen has discovered the world of blogging. You can check out our website at http://bandkshepherd.blogspot.com/. She also cut her hair very short this past week. Two men in the ward commented to me that it looks really nice, and she just got an email from the Bishop saying that she looks like she’s 21. I think I’ll punch the next guy who says she looks great.

I ran the Country Music Half Marathon this past month. It was so much fun – there were 30,000 other runners! Work is fine. The weather is really nice out here now, so I’ve started commuting on my bicycle again.

May should be a good month with trips to Georgia (visiting Craig and Kim) and Orlando (meeting all of Kristen’s family) planned. We may not be visiting Jerusalem, but hey, I’m sure there’s some Jerusalem display at the Epcott Center.

Love,
Bryan, Kristen, Sienna, Colby, and Ashley