Happiness is.....

One of Jeffery's favorite songs is Pharrell Williams's "Happy".  It is quite infectious and we hear it now every where we go and on every thing we watch.  Click on THIS to take you to a former post of mine concerning this song.  

Anyway....after I uploaded a batch of photos from our camera, I realized that we have had much to be "Happy" about recently.  

So, happiness (in the month of April) was/is......

The ability to play outside in beautiful weather.  After a rather miserable winter (for Virginia, that is), we have reveled in the chance to warm our bones and catch some much needed Vitamin D by being outside every chance we get.  Well....that was before the oaks leafed out, sending a blanket of yellow pollen to cover everything (including our lungs) and felling us with awful allergies.  YUCK.  And that was before the invasion of the inchworms.  It seems you can't even walk outside for 2 minutes without coming back in with at least one hitchhiker on you.  But besides those two large annoyances...this is truly a wonderful time of year to enjoy being outside.

Brothers playing "together"

Playing in the sandbox is serious business.....

As is playing in your baby office.

New Hammocks. Dave had an old boy scout/camping hammock that was decades old and had seen much better days....and was a pain to get in and out of.  I have been requesting a new hammock since we moved to our new house....and he FINALLY relented.  So happiness is also new hammocks where you can swing away the cares of the world.  :)

Hammocks are beautiful things

Laughter every day.  This house is full of laughter, all day long, every day.  It helps to have a 2.5 year old who is a natural comedian and is such a good big brother.....and a daddy who is full of mirth and mischief.  Even Jakob, who by nature is already much more somber and reserved than his older brother, can break out into infectious peals of laughter.  There is nothing quite so beautiful to the ear as hearing your children laugh from pure joy and glee.

Fun times with daddy

"Goofy" Jeffery eating his PB&J sandwich

The smile just kills me!!!  SO CUTE!

Brotherly Love.  Already, these two are best buds.  Jeffery adores tickling his little brother and trying to make him laugh.  He is right next to me as I feed Jakob in the highchair and cheers when Jakob eats all of his apples or carrots.  And Jakob....if you're holding Jakob, he will practically fall out of your arms in an attempt to watch Jeffery at whatever he is doing.  Jakob's eyes are always locked on to Jeffery, watching his every move.  We would have loved to have a little girl but I'm so glad Jakob came to tussle and be a bear cub with his older brother.

Just chillin together

I see my mom's side of the family in Jakob

Baseball Season.  We are HUGE baseball fans in this house.  Well, that and soccer and cycling and NASCAR, etc.  But baseball is such a relaxing thing to watch on TV and let me tell you, last summer when I was 8 months pregnant, all I wanted to do was lay on my couch and watch baseball.  So, we are happy that it is once again baseball season.  Jeffery has been learning how to swing the bat and throw the ball....sort of.  His baseball resembles more "golf" right now but we're working on that.  :)  He says that he plays for the "Cubs" so we're doing something right when it comes to allegiances.  :)

Batter up

Swing, batter

Easter.  We had a wonderful, albeit exhausting, Easter weekend.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we were very fortunate to celebrate the day with some wonderful friends from church and one of our priests.  We had them all over for dinner and margaritas and had a wonderful time!

The Pedersen boys in their Easter finery.

Such the dapper southern Gentleman.  :)

Spring is blooming

Silly times with mommy

A variation on his Easter outfit.  All seersucker.  All he needs is a mint julep in his hand.

Visits from Oma and Papa.  My parents came this past weekend and stayed for a week with us.  They came to attend our James River Singers's concert and see the boys....and see us too.  :)  The week flew by way too fast and even today, two days after they left, Jeffery woke up asking for Oma and Papa.  :(  Because concert weekends are very busy, we didn't do much but stick around home.  Fortunately, my parents completely understand what concert weekends are like and knew what to expect.  They attended one concert, babysat the boys during the concert the following day, and even set up for the after party that we hosted at our house, and then laughed and chatted it up with the singers/our friends at the party.  

During their visit, we had beautiful weather in the beginning and then three days of almost non-stop rain.  At one point, on the day my dad arrived, we had to wake the boys up early from their naps and clear out the hall closet beneath the stairs in preparation for a possible tornado -- there were reports of rotating clouds not more than a mile away from us.  Dave was down in the Tidewater area at a festival so I was soooo thankful to have my parents there....they, who grew up in Iowa and know about tornadoes.  Nothing came of the rotating clouds but we were all set to hunker in the closet.

And they just adored any moment spent with the boys.  From coloring, to hooking up trailers to ATV's, to playing baseball, to watching "Cars" for the first time, to making chocolate chip cookies, to putting them down to bed or getting them up in the morning....we were so blessed to have them here.

Coloring with Oma

Being a big boy and sitting with Oma

Anything good up there?!

Papa hooked up a "trailer" using some twine to Jeffery's ATV.  Jeffery proceeded to haul Rocky the dog every where.

Papa and the boys watching "Cars" for the first time.  They were all enthralled.

Old MacDonald with Oma

Jakob riding the ATV back and forth between daddy and Papa - I couldn't watch

Sticker time with Oma

Making Great Grandma Mary's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Oma

Beer.  Hear me out.  Our former neighbor/one of our best friends recently opened up a brewery with two of his friends.  He has been home brewing his own beer for years.  In fact, he brewed a special Dunkel specifically for Jeffery's 1 year birthday that was Legendary!  His talent is incredible and after some key VA laws changed, he and his two friends decided to combine their resources and open Triple Crossing Brewery.  They had their grand opening in April, which we and hundreds of others, attended and it was a smashing success!  I could not have been more proud.

Anyway, while my parents were here, we took them to the brewery.  They know Adam and Kate (our former neighbors) and my dad has tried Adam's beer in the past.  We said goodbye to the babysitter and headed downtown where we had a wonderful time, tasted a flight of some awesome beers, enjoyed a couple glasses of some amazing beer, and chatted with Adam who was working that night.  It was a great way to end their trip.

Prost!

A game of Golf, some pretzels, and a Falcon Smash IPA in hand.....serious business!

Dave, Adam, and my dad = Three of my favorite guys!

Happiness is.........being happy with the small things in life.  Something I have learned in my life is that the things we think are small.....are the things that turn out to be big.  The time we spend with our family and friends, the moments we take out of our busy days to laugh or make a child giggle with innocent glee, the times we step out of our houses and feel the warmth of the sun on our faces or open our windows to hear peals of thunder and raindrops hitting the leaves of trees and bushes, the glasses we raise with our loved ones.....  It is easy to go on big vacations and travel to familiar or unknown places and say that this is happiness.  It is easy to take big celebrations and/or momentous occasions and point to those as "happy times".  But it is much more difficult to look at the small moments in our every day life and say that that is what "happiness is...".  But those small moments are the ones that we carry with us for a lifetime.  It is those small moments that are some of my most treasured and cherished memories and I hope that can pass that on to my children: to be happy with the big moments, to be happy with the small moments.....to be happy.