Two

My "little" boy is TWO years old! It is hard to believe all the joy he has brought into our lives in just two years. He is growing by leaps and bounds each and every day, it is incredible to watch. In the past month he has turned into a talking machine, trying to copy every word and saying 3 words together. The voice that comes out of him is the sweetest, especially when he tells me I am cute or calls me a princess and even more so when I had the flu and he would pat me and say "poouur momma." We had a birthday party on his special day, filled with good friends. I wasn't up for making food, but I did make some tasty cupcakes. Red velvet with a butter cream frosting were made into baseballs, and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting were decorated as basketballs. I didn't take many pictures, but here is a quick look at the day!
I had to light the candle a few times, we couldn't get thru the Happy Birthday song before he blew it out!
We got E a bubble lawn mower, he loves it. He may stand at the door "mow, mow!"
The BIG blue balloon, it is HUGE. Literally it is like 3 feet wide. We were worried it would carry the kids off!
Sporting his new Mariners jersey, we now have two shirts in rotation! Ball shirt and ball shorts are all the 2 year old boy wants to wear!

Out of order, but a few days before his birthday he had a fall while climbing the ladder at the park. A mouth full of blood, but by the time we rushed the half a block home he seemed fine- I was a wreck! It was hard to tell where he bumped at first, teeth, tongue, lip- it was the lip and a scratch on the top gums. The lip got pretty puffy and bled a few more times during the day. I called the Dr and the dentist, but all was fine after a few popsicles!
Our nest had babies! I stalked the window to get this shot. Sadly we haven't seen them in almost a week. Since the day after a BIG thunder and rain storm the nest has been quiet, sad.

Happy Easter

What a wonderful and Blessed Easter! We woke up early, Gabby got us up just after 6:15am so excited. The Easter Bunny hid baskets in the house, which were quickly found and nibbled on. Outside there were eggs hidden. After breakfast it was time to get moving, we were out the door and headed to the beach. No cute jammies, just the clothes they had worn to dye eggs in last night after a busy hot day at a friend's birthday party- complete with a jumpy house.
How cute are these beach bunnies? Today was amazing, 87* and couldn't have been more beautiful!
So what if it is April, this girl loved the being in the water- it was a tiny bit chilly but felt good with the hot sun.
Our friends Gina and Seth joined us, and the kids played so well. I got to chat with Gina, and Clay fished.

I love this picture, the reflections are so great! E is really into being naked, took his shorts off to pee and wouldn't put them back on! I can't resist cute baby buns anyway!

Big Boy

It was time. E's hair was getting SO long, and a little wild- well more than a little. This was a month ago, it seems like it has grown even more since then.We took G to her cooking class, he fell asleep just as we got there but as soon as I got him out of the car to bring her in for class he woke up. We didn't have big plans since we were busy all morning and had just gotten a ton of groceries. Next to "cooking school" is a kids hair salon (where we went once before). E sat pretty well, wanted out of his yellow taxi a few times but mostly because he was tired. She took off a lot of hair, and all of a sudden my little boy is looking even more like the big 2 year old he is going to be!
The scowl has been seen more lately, along with the start of tantrums! No nap today made for a very early bed time, but a big tired fit was the prelude to sleep! Summer will be perfect for potty training, he already showed us he is a true boy, peeing outside!

Love this sweet boy, who still has a few curls left!

local

I signed up for a new food delivery service. It is different than last year's CSA, this is a "local" company (they are based in North VA a few hours away) that delivers to our area on Sundays. I submit my order, which has a million possibilities from produce, dairy, breads, meat, seafood, dips, baked goods, grains/flours, etc. It could end up being very expensive! We opened the door early Sunday morning to find our first order waiting for us. We got the Organic produce bin which included: broccoli, lettuce, chives, lemons, grapefruit, zucchini, celery, carrots, and a green pepper. In addition to that I ordered local, hormone free bacon and milk, local raw honey, and some amazing dates (which Elliot and I are quickly eating).
This is the nest we discovered on Friday after I hacked down a branch that was trying to sprout out of the base of the tree in the front yard. The branch hid the nest pretty well so I didn't know it was there, and then was worried if it would be okay with the branch gone. Saturday night we had tornado warnings and part of the state got hit pretty badly. There was only one egg on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and when we checked early this morning there were 3, now this evening we are up to 4.
Sunday morning was a finish up yard work kind of day, the kids got themselves ready. Elliot wore neither of these pajama pieces to bed the night before- but picked them out and put them on for working, complete with boots on the wrong feet!
How this little curb provided so much entertainment? it's the simple things. Gabby is wearing size 2t cutoffs (the button kept popping open) a white tank and pink Seattle Mariner's hoodie.

The perfect little nest!

This is the first nest we found, and have been keeping an eye on. It lives right outside the window of the computer room- on our utility box. Elliot loves to open the blinds and "scare away!" Plus at least once a day we have to scare her away from outside to check and see if there are still 4 eggs!

firsts

today was a day of firsts.

* first sighting of spring ducklings, on a little walk after the park.

* first time I have turned the A/C on this season. Last night I was tempted, it was 78 in the house but I got out and turned on the fans. today it was 85 out and I needed it cooler in the house.

*first time I have called poison control (1 800 222 1222). I was making lunch (peanut noodle salad, on whole wheat pasta with lots of shredded carrots and cilantro) and when I grabbed the ginger out of the freezer (so easy to use that way) a little spiderman ice pack fell out and Elliot instantly picked it up and started biting it- POP in his mouth! Red goo/gel in his mouth. I wiped it out and he got less than a teaspoon but I called to check. No problems, he is fine!!!!

*first time Elliot has gone to bed before 7pm in too long! No nap today due to Gabby's cooking class, he usually falls asleep in the car ride home. I got home from a 2.5 mile run at 6:40pm and he was asleep!

*first time in a long time something has broken that made me upset. Elliot pushed my big red platter/bowl that matches our dishes and we got for our wedding (it holds the fruit), off the counter- shattered into many pieces.

*first time I have had pink flamingos in my yard! I bought 2 and they are pretty darn adorable in the garden!

*first time Elliot has said grace at dinner. it went like this "grace, grace, grace, aldkajnfpaos idufasdlnfsdl;kjsdofiudsojlksajkl;dfs. amen" then he wanted to do it again during the middle of the meal.

sunkissed

Today was good. I made Clayton get up with the kids so I could sleep in (only fair, he got to sleep in yesterday and had a nap) till a wonderful 8:30am. It was pretty interrupted because my sweet children insist on coming in every few seconds to try to get me up, or want ME to do something that their dad is perfectly capable of doing. None the less, it was a wonderful time. After breakfast and a quick decision to hurry out the door we headed out for the day. I had the idea of taking the kids to the zoo this past week, but when we got there and saw the school buses, a full parking lot and a woman directing traffic I drove in and right back out of the parking lot to the park near by. The new Tiger exhibit opened last week, but I didn't think a weekday at opening would be busy. The sun was shining and we had plans to be in Norfolk for the afternoon so we headed there early and did the zoo. Great new exhibit, and we got out of there just as the crowds were pouring in. Clay's friday night co-ed softball team had set up a scrimmage game against a co-workers co-ed team. I was in charge of watching a coworkers sweet 7 month old daughter. Besides the sun being out, there was dirt to play in and a baby to hold so we had fun. The kids used their sand toys in the baseball dirt- and got more than covered from head to toe. The wind was deceptive, it made you not realize how warm the sun was. I am out of practice and didn't have us slathered in sunscreen. After we got home I realized how much we needed it- Elliot and I are a bit burned, Gabby and Clayton seemed to escape it some how. I ran to the store to pick up the new essentials: 50+ baby sunscreen and ice cream (buy one get one free, mint chocolate chip and a new favorite red velvet cake) while Clay washed the dirt off the kids. SUNday, we love you!

Princess of Purple, with her magical rose (it glows, from Beauty and the Beast)

Sunkissed cheeks and feather soft eye lashes on my sleeping boy- who will be 2 in less than 3 weeks!

Sakura

Just a quick photo update, since Elliot is waking up from a nap as I type this. These two are morning rockstars! First day of Spring we got new sunglasses, and they are an everyday all day accessory.
One evening we went to the beach, it was a bit chilly once we got there but these two didn't want to leave, literally we had to carry E off the beach crying!
Cherry blossom festival was on Saturday, not anything too exciting except for pretty sakura.

see the blue sky, well there was a storm warning so the festival shut down an hour early (we were already in the car trying to leave) and two hours later after we got home (yes we moved 4 car lengths in an hour, and NO, it isn't a big festival!) the clouds were black and opened- for 5 minutes.

Off to enjoy the sunshine, and run the whines out of these cranky kids!