The artist as a young man

I'm pretty sure that most of the great artists probably started out as small children painting in their underwear... and if not, they should have! Today Alexander made use of a rainy day by breaking out the paints and craft paper and managing to look rather adorable while doing so.

I'd like to thank the academy

Before too much time goes by and I forget to post a house picture, here we all are in front of our new house. Thank you DN, EB, BP, MB, MA, CC, MC, SP, EP, and TP for your various forms of help that got us into this house! We love it here!

Should I keep my day job?

For my birthday I asked for a Wahl clipper set so that I could learn to cut the boys' hair and save some money. I tried it out for the first time this weekend, with Alexander as my first subject. I forgot to take a specific "before" picture, but I'll use one I took just yesterday of him with his bushy hair. He was starting to get a lot of comments like, "Did you just wake up?" and "Wow, that's some crazy hair!" so I suppose it was past time for a cut. It's not perfect, but I didn't end up having to shave him bald or take him somewhere for a rescue cut, so I'll consider it a success!

Especially for Aunt Shannon

But everyone else is free to enjoy as well! :)

What a gorgeous day!

It was truly a lovely day to be outside today. We took advantage of it by meeting some friends at Black Hill Regional Park. What a great time! We stayed for three hours! Alexander really has clicked with two of his new playgroup friends, Alex (in yellow) and Cory (in green). Thanks,Crystal, Becky, Elizabeth, and Margie for meeting us there! He was sufficiently worn out that he is now resting under the covers watching "Schoolhouse Rocks." Perhaps he will actually learn something from it? Jack is also sacked out, giving Mommy a nice moment of peace. Ah, what good the outdoors can do!

Picture placement

Yeah, I seem to be having trouble getting the photos to post where I want them... I'll have to work on that, but for now... at least they're there! ;)

Happy belated Birthday, Kyle!

(You may realize that I've found my camera and am playing a bit of catch up!)

A couple of weeks ago Alexander's good friend Kyle turned three and invited us to his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. Thanks for having us, Kyle, and happy birthday! Alexander had a great time talking on the phone to Chuck and riding the train with Barney!

There's not many things cuter...

than a small child in overalls.

Happy Easter!

On Sunday the Easter Bunny visited our home for the first time! He brought Alexander a tee ball set and, despite my reservations, more candy. Alexander was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the Easter Bunny at the mall the other day, and also received a lollipop from him at the grocery store. Not sure how all this bunny talk affected him, though, as yesterday we had a long chat about a scary dream Alexander had where a "trick or treat bunny" put holes in him. Hmmm....

We also successfully hosted Easter dinner for my dad and Justin's parents. I don't consider myself a good cook, but I may have to start giving myself more credit! That is, unless my guests were lying to me! Even if they were, at least *I* enjoyed the meal! Ha! I made ham, German potato salad, fruit salad, deviled eggs, roasted carrots, sauteed zucchini, and a bunny cake.



Happy Easter to those who celebrate and a Happy Spring to everyone!

A tidbit

Inspired by Liz, who shares fun Jasper quotes from time to time, I thought I'd share a quick, fun Alexander story. On moving day, my Aunt Bernadette was taking a turn amusing Alexander and my cousin's two sons while my cousins helped us move. They played hide and seek, follow the leader, and duck, duck, goose. Alexander had never played duck, duck, goose before, but he seemed to sort of get the idea. When it was his turn, he said, "duck, duck, duck..." for quite some time before finally saying, "chase me!" What happened to "goose?"

Really need to find my camera...

I know how little fun a picture-less post is, so I really need to find my camera!

Today we went to our playgroup's Easter egg hunt. Man, those kids are fast! Alexander got about 10 eggs and has already eaten all the candy! Ack! I'm pretty sure the Easter Bunny will not be bringing any candy this year, as Alexander has already eaten enough in 2008 for the WHOLE of 2008! He seems to enjoy the new playgroup, though, especially the fact that most of the kids are a little bit older than him.

In other news, a new power supply for my computer arrived today, so if all goes well, I'll be back on my OWN machine by later tonight. I don't mind sharing with Justin except that my machine has all my bookmarks, settings, and address book, so I feel a little lost without them. If the new power supply doesn't work, hopefully Justin can retrieve those things from my hard drive.

Off to assemble a crib (that rarely gets used....)

Oh, great

I just updated my E-mail on the Tot Lot and now I'm kicked off until I CHECK my E-mail, which I can't figure out how to do yet. Dumb Dumb dumb dumb dumb!

We are alive!

I don't have time for a big post, but we ARE alive! We successfully moved and settled on our new house! My computer ate itself and our old comcast account was accidentally deleted, so I have neither my same E-mail address nor my address book to send out notification. We shall get things sorted out, though, and at some point I'll give y'all the big updates!

Things are good, though! :)

His true self

Okay, if you know my family at all, you'll know who this mask belongs to. Heh. Alexander came across it the other day and decided to try it on. So he put it on and exclaimed, "I'm a head!" Oh, my son. I just couldn't stop thinking that the monster inside was showing it's true form!

Gymnastics

Today was Alexander's last gymnastics class. He took a 5 week course through the county. I wasn't really concerned with whether he learned anything at all about gymnastics, but I did want him to have the opportunity to experience a taste of a *sort* of classroom life without Mommy, since we're not doing preschool. For the first 4 classes, the parents waited outside, but today, for the final class, we were allowed in to see what the kids had learned. The class started out with about a dozen kids, but for whatever reason, there were only 4 kids in class today, one of whom was Alexander's good friend Woody. The kids were extraordinarily adorable, walking like bears and crabs, spinning like clocks, galloping, somersaulting, and jumping in various ways. My favorite part was when Alexander and Woody held hands while standing like flamingos, and then had to get separated for goofing off (Alexander was falling on purpose and pulling Woody down with him, and both of them were giggling). Perhaps I should have put on my stern face over these shenanigans, but it was just too cute. I was very proud of my little man today!

Here is a video of them playing follow the leader. I'm afraid I have no idea how long it will take to upload. Let me know if it takes eons, and I'll stick to shorter videos in the future.

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Today I took the boys to WV for our friend Alex's birthday party. It was a nice, relaxed event and we had a wonderful time. My Alexander only instigated a *few* squabbles. There were snacks and cake and candy and, of course, presents! Yay for three year olds! Alex got a neat oversized bowling set, a rather annoying laser gun, and a dress-up police officer outfit, among other things. We presented him with, as chosen by Alexander, giraffe boots. :)

Happy Birthday, Alex! Thanks for inviting us to your party!

My healthy boys

Yesterday was a busy day!

In the morning, Alexander went to his first ever dentist appointment. He was perfectly cooperative and I was both amazed and proud. He was awesome! Granted, one would be hard-pressed NOT to cooperate in such a kid-friendly environment. They had video games and climbing stuff in the waiting room, a waterfall wall, and themed exam rooms. We were in the pirate room! Alexander was an incredible patient while they counted and cleaned his teeth. They said his teeth looked good and that we were doing a good job with brushing. Hooray! Thanks, Amanda, for the recommendation. :)

In the afternoon, we took Jack for his six month well visit. He now weighs 18.5 pounds (75th %) and is 28.5 inches long (97th %). Another tall boy! We checked off all the necessary developmental milestones, so he's doing great. He did have to get 5 vaccinations, though. Poor kid.

All in all, though, a good day. I am so proud and blessed to have two healthy little boys! :)

Growing up fast

Jack is six months old today! Hard to believe he is halfway to a year old already. He's a rolling over pro, he can sit up by himself (although not for long), he's started eating rice cereal, and he loves his big brother and sitting in his exersaucer. I'm starting to get nostalgic for the newborn days, but then I wonder... what *exactly* am I nostalgic for? The projectile pooping? The crying? The constant nursing? The lack of sleep? ;)

Anyway, here is what an ADORABLE six month old looks like:

The Zoo

Today we took advantage of some warmer weather and visited The National Zoo with our friends Liz and Jasper and Mara and Yael. Jasper was our guide for the day and showed off his extensive knowledge of zoo life. We were also lucky enough to see an elephant getting a bath! We spent a great deal of time at Alexander's favorite exhibit: the giant pizza. Alexander was, as usual, most interested in what kind of snacks we had brought along, but it was nice to get outside, get some exercise, and relax.
Jack was just happy to be along for the ride.

I promised pictures...

So, for lack of something exciting to post about, I am posting my current favorite picture of Jack. Could you just die for those eyes?

Welcome!

Welcome to our new family blog! We hope you'll check in often to see what we've been up to. You'll be treated to pictures, videos (should I successfully figure out how to upload them from my camera), and tales of our adventures.