Minding his manners

I am in love with my son. Well, obviously, but he is just so darn cute. Today in the car he asked me for some water so I handed him his cup. He drank a bit and then started saying mama, mama, mama--which I'm good at ignoring--and when I finally turned around and said "what?", he said "thank you". Well, it comes out more like "nay nay", but I was proud nonetheless. What a big boy.

He knows he's awesome, and yes, thats a Peep he's so happy about.

...and I'm back.

Hello! Like I said, I'm still here, and now I have some catching up to do. Where did March go? It seems like such a long time since that last snow I wrote about (which wasn't our last snow, but it's much nicer now, so no biggie) and we've been busy!

First off, Mike's been busy growing an icky mustache. Acutally, I didn't hate it--as far as mustaches go he didn't do so bad--but I think he looks much nicer without it. Apparently, it was "mustache march" on base (which i'm hoping is strictly a Hanscom thing...) and people competed to see who could grow the best mustache--somehow they made it into a fundraiser, so that was a plus. Surprisingly, Mike didn't win. I think he should have.

Sweet mustache, eh? I think he was proud. Evan looks doubtful. Hey! What's with the hats on in the house? Come on guys...

Mimi Kate came to visit us early in March, and we all had a fantastic time. We knit (knitted?) a lot. And we might have visited a few yarn stores, but we don't need to talk about that...

Like the giant indian? We're in that picture as well, I swear. I love the name of the store too-- "Big Indian Shop"--how creative! We went out to western Mass to see maple syrup being made, which turned out to be an awesome day.

We went to Davenport Farm, and they taught us all about maple syrup.

Behind those two handsome men is the evaporator, where they boil the sap until it turns into syrup. Yummy.

Also while Mimi Kate was here we went to Boston to explore, and Evan got to see the Make Way for Ducklings statue.

We read the book all the time at home, and I don't think he made the connection--but he loved the ducks anyway. Literally--he had to give them all hugs. Cutie.

Last weekend, we went to the New England Aquarium, which was pretty cool. Evan had a great time, and now he's really into turtles and penguins. Well, he was for a few days--I think he's over it now. Still, he liked seeing all the fish, and running from tank to tank.

I liked Myrtle the Sea Turtle. Those things are huge! Pretty cool.

For an Evan update, his new favorite thing is "tash". Every time he finds some bit of something he deems trash, he needs to throw it away. Which is pretty cute, and also somewhat helpful because so far he's pretty good at discerning what is trash and what is not.
Also, he likes to tell everyone when he toots, and he points to his butt and says "toot". The other day, he burped, looked confused, pointed to his mouth and said "toot". Silly boy. He gets smarter every day!

Again, still here

I apologize. We have been moderately busy, and it's sunny outside and I have been in no way motivated to post to the blog. Really, I've just been doing other stuff...I'll be back, I promise.

In the meantime, here's a picture for you. I love little warning signs like this--we saw a lot at Disneyland/world. This one however, is from a friend's car. Gave me a chuckle.

More snow? Really?

We finally had gotten rid of all the snow in our yard. We have had a yard full of snow since December, and it was a welcome sight to have it all gone...and then it snowed again. Literally, the next day. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, seeing as it's still winter, but with our glimpses of warm weather here and there, I was hopeful for spring. This is what we got:




Ugh. All of this accumulated overnight, so this is what we woke up to yesterday--except yesterday it continued to snow all day. I know it sounds cliche, but I guess March really is in like a lion. Hopefully it will go out like a lamb.

Evan and I went out and played for a bit today, and snow still isn't his favorite thing. I don't blame him, especially because when he falls down it's impossible for him to get back up with all of his snow gear on. Highlight of our trip out in the snow: an ambulance drove by to check on the fire hydrants--for a one-year old, best thing ever.

Really though, not much has been happening around here. I was thinking about sending out some pictures on Snapfish, which I try to do once a month, and realized that I hadn't really taken any in the month of February. Sad. Hopefully March will be more interesting.

I'll leave you with a video of Evan's new favorite activity--he calls Cody "CoGo" and is quite in love with him. He shares his food with him (unfortunately), and when Cody's bowl is empty he brings it to us and says "more?"--needless to say, Cody has gained a few pounds!

minor mommy accomplishments!

It's almost 8 am and Evan's still not awake...silly boy. Actually, I hear him stirring, but he's not quite there yet--apparently he was extra sleepy this morning. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I'm not quite sure what to do with myself, so I'll update you on the vegetable situation in our house. Yesterday....

(dramatic pause...wait for it...)

Evan ate carrot sticks. A lot of them. He loved them! In fact, when they were gone, he asked for more. I couldn't believe it. Carrots are one of those things that I keep giving to him over and over (with no success) with the hopes that one day he'll eat them and it finally paid off. Hopefully since he discovered that he likes one crunchy vegetable, he'll branch out to others too.

He's just getting so big, I can't believe it. He walks everywhere by himself now, which is good because he weighs 30 pounds and I don't really want to carry him around, and he knows he needs to hold my hand. He has his 18 mo checkup today, which I can't believe. I love taking him to his checkups and seeing how much he's grown since the last one...plus our doctor is kind of far away and we get to go to Subway for lunch afterwards. We don't have a lot of Subways around here--sad.

By now, Evan is talking to his stuffed animals, and occasionally saying "uhoh" because he dropped his binky behind his crib. I suppose we should get this morning started. Now I think he's singing. What a cutie!

Minor Miracles

It's no longer sunny. In fact it's snowed the past two days. Cody has been puking a lot, and I don't know why. On a brighter side, Evan ate kale yesterday--it was a minor mommy-miracle! Evan does not eat vegetables, so Mike and I were pretty amazed when he was obsessively eating kale last night. Hopefully he won't realize his mistake and refuse to eat it next time...maybe this is a doorway to a more refined palate? A mama can only hope.

And I made Evan hat (among other things) and I like it. It's a little big, but thats better than a little small. Looking forward to the weekend!

Greetings from sunny Massachusetts!

The most wonderful thing has happened! It's sunny! And warm! I'd say its at least 50 degrees outside. Which to me, feels almost tropical. I can't wait for Evan to wake up from his nap so we can go for a walk. Although right now, I am sitting on the couch in the sunshine with all the windows open and it is quite enjoyable. Aaah.

I didn't realize how little time we've been able to spend outside all winter, and now that it's sunny, I'm aware of how much I missed it. It's just so cold here in the winter--and now I'm really looking forward to spring. It was actually pretty nice this weekend, so we busted out Evan's wagon and went for a walk.

He loved it. He walked for a little bit, and stomped in some puddles, and got quite a kick out of riding in the wagon. The best way to travel, I guess. I'm just happy that it has seat belts in it so he can't bail out mid-ride. Or stand up. Because he would. These Radio Flyer people really know what they're doing! (thanks, Gamma!)

So, that's what we'll be doing again later this afternoon. Tomorrow, we're going to go to the Discovery Museum again--I knew we wouldn't be able to stay away for long!

By the way, we gave Evan a haircut again. He needed it--see?

Too long for this Air Force family! Definitely not within regulations. Now, keep in mind that we're still new to this "using clippers" business and with each haircut, we will get better. I think.

The "buzz" wasn't really the look we were going for, but it was a joint effort. I actually like it--although it makes him look much older and kind of catches me by surprise sometimes. No bald spots though--that's a plus.

Mike says that now Evan looks a lot like he did when he was little, which I totally agree with. Actually, Mike claims that he remembers Matt with hair like this during toddler-hood, so I guess he thinks Evan looks like Matt. Same thing though, right? Whaddya think Smith's--is he a mini Mike-or-Matt? I wish I knew how to use our scanner (I think we have a scanner) so I could add a baby pic of Mike, but you will just have to use your imaginations!

Now my sun has gone behind a few clouds. Bummer. It'll be back. I never thought I would like living in a warm climate (hello, Oregonian here) but now that we have the possibility of moving to somewhere in the upcoming year where it's warm most of the time (California, the Southwest, Florida), and after living in Massachusetts, It's looking more and more appealing. It would be weird not to have snow, but I think constant sunshine would even that out for me. Wherever we go will have pros and cons though, so bring it on!