Ride Along

Evan found his "big red fire truck" this morning tucked away and decided to bring it out.  (It'd been in hiding so he wouldn't accidentally run over his newborn brother while dashing off to some emergency.)  Drew thought it was the coolest thing, and asked for a ride.  He's also been eyeing it up in a way that tells us he's thinking it'd be the perfect learn-to-walk toy... it won't be long!

Lookin' Out My Front Door

Today was gorgeous Saturday morning, and we opened the front door after breakfast to let Ernie watch the world go by (or at least look at the birds and hopefully not have a cat or squirrel stroll by... the door wouldn't stand a chance).  Drew decided to get right up there with him, and of course there was no way Evan was going to be left out.  To Mike's eternal embarrassment, I grabbed my camera and ran out the side door in my slippers... after all, if they were this cute from the inside, how great would the look from the outside??  Well, Evan followed me and no amount of bribery was going to get him back inside, but Drew and Ernie were perfect subjects for the photo.   I hope someday they'll look back at this photo of the front door and remember how much fun we've had in this house!

 

Brothers in Matching Jackets!

How cute are these two on their way to school? 

Softball Season

Mike is playing on a softball team with some friends from work, so we went to watch their first game tonight.  We packed up a picnic dinner (hotdogs, pasta salad, apples, and pretzels) and hung out at the fields for a while.  Their team is sponsored by Which Which sandwich shop, but Evan likes to call them Ghost Which.  The game went very quickly, which was good for the boys' attention spans, but sadly the team lost.  Before the next teams took the field, Evan convinced Mike to toss him a couple pitches on the "big kids' field" and they ran the bases.  Both boys were sure happy and tired on the way home!

Drew's Got Teeth

He's been a gummy little baby for so long, it's almost hard to see him with real teeth coming through, but Drew does indeed have his two bottom teeth.  The left came in a couple days before the right, but they're both fully emerged.  We've felt them for about a little while now, but he's been holding his tongue over them so even though he smiles and laughs more than any other baby I've ever seen, it's been terribly difficult for a photo of his pearly whites.  But today - we got it!  It's time to add more new foods to the menu...

Movie Date

Evan and I had a movie date today.  It was the perfect cold, wet, rainy day.  The VA Festival of the Book was hosting a kids event that included a movie, so off we went.  We made it to the theatre just in time to see the "real" Curious George (though we didn't get too close!), get our free book and some popcorn, and settle in to watch Curious George 2.  Of course, knowing what the movie was, we brought along our very own Curious George, and all three of us sat happily through the movie.  Afterwards, the rain had let up so we strolled the downtown mall and Evan got to pick where we had lunch (McDonalds).  My date was a perfect gentleman the whole time, and we had a fantastic date!  .

Drew can eat!

Even though he really doesn't have much in the way of teeth, Drew's starting to get the hang of eating real foods.  He had a graham cracker today, and loved it!  I think he really loved the control of being able to feed himself at his own pace.  It's time to go over the school menu and see what else he can have...  The little boy is indeed growing up! 

Little (Red and Blue) Men

Evan got a set of Rescue Heroes for Christmas from Grandma Kay, and decided tonight after dinner that we should play with them.  He's been interested in them before this, but not in a real role play kind of way, so I happily obliged, sending Drew and Mike to go vacuum and fill the cars with gas so we'd have the whole floor to ourselves without worry of Drew eating a Hero. 

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  We hope you have some luck of the Irish in you today.

We decided to do an early painting project to celebrate the holiday.  Both boys sure made it one to remember.  We decided to have Evan paint rainbows and Drew make clovers to attach to the rainbows.

Drew went first, using cupcake liner dividers (the white paper things between the foil liners that don't work for muffins or cupcakes) and green paint.  I'm going to be finding green paint under his nails, in his ears, and splattered all around the kitchen for weeks, I fear.  But he sure had a good time!  (We went straight to an early bath after this adventure.)

Evan was a little more restrained... at first.  He experimented with crayons, markers, finger paints, and watercolors.  I drew the lines for the first rainbow and I was thoroughly impressed with his ability to stay in the lines and do the colors in the right order.  The next one he drew his own lines, and the rainbow took on more of a circle shape.  They continued to get more abstract from there.  But he concentrated hard on each one, did a great job, and was very proud of each.

iPad

They say kids catch on to technology fast... much faster than adults.  It's true.  Evan is a whiz at using my iPad and Mike's iPhone, and knows the secrets to all the games.  This weekend Chuck and Mary were in town, and when Evan asked Mary to play games on her iPad, he informed her that we have to get games on her iPad... then got right down to business and showed her how to use mine.  It was so cute listening to him tell her what each game does and how to use it! 

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

The boys gave me a great birthday today.  It started with Evan and Mike getting up early and making blueberry muffins for breakfast.  (Evan ate most of them, but the little I had were quite good.)  At school, Evan announced to his teacher that it was my birthday, so 8 little voices sang to me.  Adorable!  Evan made a card at school for me, and we went out for dinner after school and work.  Evan and Drew were well behaved, and we had a lovely time.  At home, we had cake for dessert and they all sang again.  Even Drew tried to sing along.  Thanks for making my birthday so special, boys, and for making me feel like the luckiest mommy in the world all year long.  Here's hoping for a year as wonderful as the last. 

Bedtime

Bedtime is pretty hassle-free around here.  Sure, we have our tussles and procrastinations and protests, but thank our lucky stars both boys enjoy going to bed and sleep through the night.  We definitely have a routine, which I'm sure helps.  Here are some snippets of a typical evening.

Sometimes we fall asleep on the couch and are carried up the stairs still sleeping. 

Other days we bound up the stairs ready for a bath.  (Evan's growing a beard and shaving in these last two.)

 

Time to brush those teeth!

Then, story time.  Evan likes to read the book to us first, then we "talk it" to him.   Obviously we've read Otto many, many times, since Evan can't truly read quite yet.

Time for kisses...

 
Turn on the music and it's sleepy time.