a jar of crackers

We had a picnic.  It was nice.  Full of bike riding (yes, I see the line. sigh.) and mountain climbing and swing spinning.  Then the sky turned grey and the wind turned chilly.  And it sprinkled a teensy bit.  Noah was not impressed.  We walked back home and he had a bath.  And then I took his picture.  Because Warm Noah = Happy Noah.

oatmeal love

Is there anything more funny than watching an adult feed a baby?  I think not.  We're skipping rice cereal entirely this time, like I did with Adam.  Noah's down with it!  He's a bit unsure on the butternut squash, and super unsure about the pumpkin.  But when we trade it out for the oatmeal, he gobbles it down.  He's also totally down with Naked Time.

We've been playing lots of dominos lately - Paige talks a lot of trash for a 4 year old girl, and Seth likes to say to me, "Ohhh, I'm gonna make you mad!" before he plays.  This is kinda strange since I've not gotten angry playing dominos, but he's out to get me so much that it's funny.  What's the deal?!  They're feisty.  It does bring to mind particularly vicious games of Sorry! played with my brother & sister when we were kids.  Maybe that's where we learned sarcasm, 'cause we were never really sorry.

Paige did Seth's portrait for him earlier this week.  Look at those beautiful blue eyes.  Can't wait for her to do mine!!

waiting for breakfast

Adam is reading his most favorite book to Noah while the oatmeal cools off.  Noah is pushing up and back, up and back.  Crawling in March?  I imagine yes.

birthday bug

Our Adam turned 2 this weekend!  He is beautiful, adventurous, opinionated, silly, and countless other things.  His tickle giggles make everyone giggle!  He is one of my favorite little boys.  We had donuts and gifts and cake and hit up a park after dinner, staying until bedtimes.  It was a day full of celebrating.

While I was frosting cupcakes I got to thinking about how parenthood is many things: the marathon & the  sprint, the learning & the relearning, the late night comfort & the early morning snuggles, the praise & the admonishment, the hugs hello & the kisses goodbye, the sweet & the bitter, and always the growing, growing, growing.  Seasons pass so swiftly around here that it can be hard to take it all in until after the fact.   I can only try to be present.  Few things can compare with truly knowing your own children.

Happy Birthday, son of mine.

snowflakes falling

We got a bunch of snow last weekend.  Sunday, I think?  Noah has been sick (getting better), so we left him & Dustin asleep inside that morning while I tackled ours & the neighbor's sidewalk and the peeps scampered about out front.  Adam rode on my back and oh, he would giggle when I bent over.  It was sweet.  He also shrieked in delight when the plows went by and started saying "Brrrrr" every minute or so towards the end.

After that Seth was totally uninterested (he has since gone out a few times), even though we ended up with 8".  The little middles, however, were really to roll.  I took Adam out for a bit - snow angels - and by the time we came back, Paige was getting suited up.  She and I walked over to the park - I wanted to show her the big field and how deep and quiet it was.  After standing in wonder for approximately 23 seconds, she was ready to trek it to the playground.  She flew out of that tunnel slide.  Crazy fast.