Happy Easter!

We went to a sunrise service this morning AND regular church. The little dude fell asleep so hard when we got home that Eric said "Christ has risen, but the little dude is dead." Seriously, he was sacked out on the wood floor!

After a nap (he was relocated to the couch), he had enough energy to do an Easter-egg hunt in our backyard. He had a blast! Plus, he had his doting aunt and uncle to help with his search (and to cuddle with the baby).

Here's a bonus photo of me and my handsome husband in our Easter finery.

He Did It!!!

The little dude got to have a REAL HOCKEY STICK today with a REAL PUCK!!! The teacher got some hockey sticks out for the older kids, and the little dude was like a moth to flame. He skated over and, after a brief but serious conversation, got a stick of his own!

He was beaming when he came off the ice.

My Buddy

Remember that commercial from the 80s? I really wanted a My Buddy-- and don't even pretend that the stupid Kid Sister was nearly as cool. I never got either one. Now, though, I have my own little buddy! He hasn't figured out a lot of the boy-girl stuff, so he still does his face with me in the morning. I gave him my old compact which means that he doesn't ruin my good makeup or overload on blush. (He's got a pretty heavy hand.) Anyway, I'm going to miss doing my makeup with him when he outgrows it.

Bedtime

The little guy is sleeping in a twin bed while we house sit, and he's adapted really well. He's only fallen out a couple of times. Anyway, most nights one of us reads him two or three stories and then lays down with him for a little bit. Usually we fall asleep before he does, so whoever does bedtime comes staggering downstairs, bleary-eyed, an hour after the little guy fell asleep. It's so nice to get to snuggle with the little dude, though, see?

The baby took a break from glaring at the world this morning and tried to lick her reflection. Also, this sleeper cracks me up. I love it.

Tonight, though, she went back to angry befuddlement.

Spring is Springing

They had a great time at daycare today. (Yay!)

Changing the subject, the little guy got to dye some Easter eggs this past weekend thanks to an awesome cousin. He loved it!

He also has been making his little sister trains. She loves him-- she just grins and giggles at her brother whenever she sees him. It's kind of heartbreaking.

First Day of School!

The kids started daycare today, so here's a quick snapshot of them in the car before we left! The little dude was SO EXCITED to be there, and baby girl was smiling at her teachers when we said goodbye to her.

Reading!

The little booger has taken to the library like a fish to water. He's even happy to give the books back! (Phew!) Actually, he's doing better than I am! Today I had to return one I hadn't finished yet, so now I have to get back on the wait-list to read the second half. (Grrr) Anyway, we read a ton of books tonight. The baby and Beau were both happy to tag along, too. I was roaring when Eric took this picture, hence the slightly menacing look.

The baby is starting to try to put stuff in her mouth, including the book and her brother's shirt, so I don't know how much longer these group cuddles will last...

Visiting family

Tonight we headed up to Durham to visit the boogers' great-great uncle who lives in a retirement home there. His daughter and her family were in to visit so it was nice getting to spend some time with them. They have a young daughter, maybe 11, and Goose just would not stop talking to her. I mean, he talks a lot as it is, and he gets it honest, but he was really talking this poor girl's ear off tonight. We had dinner with them at Uncle Jack's apartment (sans Uncle Jack) and when the kids were finished they went and sat on the couch and watched some basketball. I don't think the big Booger knows about personal space just yet because he sat as close as possible to his new friend. He just loves older kids.

Uncle Jack has been sick recently so we had to visit him in another part of the facility. It is great getting to see him and he and Goose played a little, which was pretty awesome to see. After a little bit The Boy said he was thirsty and wanted to find a water fountain. We decided it was time to go anyway so we said our goodbyes and headed out. On the way we found the water fountain and after getting a drink my sweet angel marched off in the opposite direction.

"Hey Stinker! Where are you going?"
"We need to go back and see Uncle Jack some more!"

Melt my heart.

No pictures for today so here is one from our fun weekend walk downtown of a pretty lady and a sweet girl.

Rail transportation engineers

The boy and I have been having a great time playing with his trains the last several days. The process seems to go like this: Goose will put together a long string of tracks that will includes splits and such, then he will holler for me to connect his track. Here are a couple of our masterpieces.

When we're not inside designing tracks we are outside. This past weekend the weather was gorgeous. So nice we walked downtown and supported a couple of the local businesses. Most specifically the frozen yogurt shop! That is one huge bowl of yogurt for the little man.

Thank You, and Goodnight

For your viewing pleasure, here is an amateur rendition of the puppet show "Are You My Mother?" that we saw at story time the other day. 

So he could work on giving the puppets some personal space, but we were pretty entertained. (It's good that we thought it was cute because we'll probably get to see encore number 752 tomorrow.)

Priorities

This morning, Eric was reading up on baseball for his fantasy league draft (it's next weekend). The little dude said "Daddy, are you reading about God?" Eric said "No, baseball." Then he muttered "Although it doesn't seem as important now." Ha!

On Thursday, our pediatrician said we can start the baby girl on fruits and veggies whenever we want because the recommendations have changed since the dude was a baby. We let her suck on an apple slice last night, and she seemed to enjoy it. She's growing up so fast!

The Best Policy

The little guy did ok at his skating lesson today. There was a birthday party on the other side of the rink, and he was pretty distracted. When we looked at the pictures of his lesson, he looked at this one and said "I wasn't paying any attention!" At least he's honest.

The little one continues to be ridiculous.

For a nice change of pace, I lucked into some snuggles from the little guy tonight while we were playing trains. Fun!

Smile?

The little girl smiles-- she really does-- just not when taking pictures with me.

When having tummy time with her daddy, though, she's all smiles.

Visiting

My parents were in town for a long weekend, and it was great... hence the lack of posting. This visit, the little guy had his first banana pudding (courtesy of Gramps). He loved it!

We also got to go to the library together (two puppet shows on Saturday before my parents arrived followed by story time on Monday).

Speaking of the library, the little guy loves it like he loves banana pudding. It's been nice letting him pick new books every few days, although we do try to keep him away from the Dora shelf (those books are the worst). It's hard, though, because he has opinions now. (What?) He asked me to read him The Little Engine That Could tonight by asking if I could read him "the best book ever." I mean, it's a cute story, but the best book ever? Really? Thankfully it's due in a few days, so we won't have to read it 500 times a day for much longer...

Happy Weekend!

Mr. HelpfulPants

A couple weeks ago, we splurged and bought a jogging stroller. I hated being gone all day, coming home, and then leaving Eric and the kiddos again to go for a run, so this way I can take the baby with me. When I got back from a run today, the little booger offered to get me some water (so sweet). Unfortunately for me, he was thirsty and drank almost all of it himself. Luckily, we were able to capture this tender moment of sharing:

In other news, the little guy earned a high-five from his skating teacher today!

Same Old, Same Old

The little dude is using my nursing pillow for a head-rest and a throw pillow for a blanket while he watches Sesame Street these days...

Could the fact that his brain is rotting be any more obvious?

... and the little one is clearly a supermodel in training (although she'll most likely be wayyy too short for that to approach a viable career).

Pink AND dinosaurs are big this spring.

Another First!

Today was the baby girl's first injury. I was trying to get her to roll over for the camera, and she did! But, she landed on some stray train track. At least her brother didn't smush her to pieces while he was rolling over for the camera, right?
It'll totally be my fault when she flunks out of kindergarten.

Bridges

The little guy built one of the most rickety bridges ever tonight. He successfully crossed it a few times without needing to go to the ER, so that's good. You can tell I'm not too trusting from the look on my face in this photo...

In other news, our new nephew was born today! (Not only that, but we're waiting for news from some other friends who went to the hospital to have a baby this morning, too.)

Ice, Ice, Baby!

I was giving a lecture during the little guy's last skating lesson (this session), so Eric had both kids by himself. I made it to the rink in time to see the last 10 minutes or so, and when I walked in I saw Eric, the little guy, and no baby. Being a second-time mom, I just walked over and said "Hey honey. Where's the baby?" Eric pointed into the room behind him, where our little girl was sound asleep in the arms of another mom. Hilarious.

Anyway, here's what happened on the ice this time:

The little girl and her daddy are still cool, in case you were wondering. The other mom was psyched to hold a baby again (her words, not mine), so all's well that ends well.

Mixing Business and Pleasure

We headed down to the coast yesterday evening to visit some old friends and to check on our rental property today. It's been several years since we've been down there to visit either so we were excited to go.

It was great to catch up with a few of our friends from my first job. So many things have changed in the 5 years since I worked down there, but with these dear friends it's like we never left. As you know, we have 2 kids and they have a super cute (almost) 2 year old. Stinker Pants and Copper Top played very well together only fighting over lap space once or twice.

After an awesome breakfast and some visiting we headed on over to Beaufort to check on our house. Then, a lunch on the water and a short walk on the boardwalk provided an awesome photo op for our budding young photojournalist.

I think he could work on framing his shot, but maybe that's just me.