SS Mustache If You Like Green Beans

Of course when SS got big laughs for cleverly making a green bean mustache, BB followed suite.

SS has been making simple jokes since he could talk, and we treasure his goofy, joyful spirit.

BB used his green beans to turn himself into a walrus! 

ISR with SS

Just some quick pics from the end of SS's ISR refresher this summer!

Happy boy in the water with his Mama. 

(All lessons were not this smiley, but he likes when I get in the water with him on Fun Fridays.)

Since then he has been fairly fearful in the water and needs lots of firm encouragement to do his swim-float-swim to practice. Once he starts swimming back and forth from J to me though, he almost always remembers that he likes it and gets smiley. He loves to just play on pool steps and splash.

BB Built a Boat

One of BB's birthday gifts from Nacky and Papa was a toolbox, tools, and some building kits. A few days after his birthday, BB and Daddy spent an afternoon in the garage doing manly things.

This is basically my favorite picture ever. I love the unrestrained glee on his face, and the mad-scientist-with-a-hammer vibe.

The kit

 

SS's First Haircut

I like my little boys' hair long, especially when they're toddlers. My brother had long, blonde curls when he was a toddler, and there is something so baby-sweet about a little boy with long hair to me. I waited until BB was over two to cut his hair for the first time. But SS is nearing THREE and I still hadn't cut his hair. Those long ringlets were so perfect and lovely that I just couldn't bring myself to do it. And c'mon, this kid is cute: 

See, perfect and lovely. And pretty. So pretty, in fact, that people started commenting on our little "girl". Which totally used to happen to my little brother too.

 Which understandably started to drive J crazy (and me too a little, but thanks to my little bro's long blonde locks, I was already a well-seasoned traveler on the correct-the-toddler-gender road.)

And then my sister came to visit and encouraged and guided me on how to cut his hair (using her Devacurl experience), and after a few tears at the realization that SS is no longer a baby and needs a big boy haircut, I finally girded up my loins and decided to go for it.

I had a little hipster haircut pinned on Pinterest, but when it came down to it, J wasn't ready to see all of the curls go yet either, so we settled on a short, curly, clearly-boy style.

Before:

During:

After:

After sitting still for 20 minutes, SS wasn't interested in sitting still for "after" pictures, but you get the idea. His hair is so much easier and quicker to style now, which we ALL appreciate. These pics are of his hair right after I wet it so the curls would re-activate, but one of the unexpected surprises of his haircut is that it's really cute when the curls are more brushed and dry and less ringlet-y - his hair looks very surfer cool, which I love - still need a pic of that look! 

The First Last Day of (Pre)School

Three weeks ago, BB attended his last day of preschool. We had such a great experience at his preschool and I am looking forward to the day when SS attends and we are part of the St. A's family again.

A week before school was out for summer, there was a Family Night. BB performed some songs with his class.

Posing with classroom art posted in the hallway for Family Night

While the focus of preschool is probably for the kids to make friends, I ended up making a dear friend as well. Here we are on the last day of preschool! What, you think I should be taking pics of BB with his friends on the last day of school???

Our boys aren't even in the same class, so it's a little mysterious how exactly we became friends, but one day we started talking and well, we haven't really stopped. We've logged a lot of time chatting in the preschool courtyard while our kiddos played on the grass.

Okay, okay, BB pics:

Leaving his classroom on the last day of preschool

Our kiddos playing in the courtyard

SS and his little friend L - this pic cracks me up!

SS & L again...the hug looks so sweet...

Except next thing you know, it's a full on tackle and she's down. Boys.

No longer a preschooler!

BB's loving and wise teachers

Thank you for an incredible first year of school Mrs. Koenig and Mrs. Champie! I have been spoiled by this wonderful preschool.

Happy Happy Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day with our little family the Saturday before actual Mother's Day. We tried a hip new breakfast place for brunch, and Prep & Pastry lived up to it's delicious reputation. I wanted to order 4 or 5 different things, which doesn't always happen when I open a menu, and everything we actually ordered was amazing. Justin won for best order with Chx & Toast, which was fried chicken with rosemary brioche french toast with a blueberry reduction, a twist on chicken and waffles. Oh man, it was incredible. I had pork belly beni, which was cheddar bisquit, pork belly, and hollandaise - also delish. And they had local artisan coffee, which has become kind of a thing I like these days. It was good coffee. 

Okay, enough about the food.

We waited on this pretty patio with lots of places for the boys to explore.

Can you tell who was in what mood?

Inspirational quote painted on the wall. I'm such a sucker for industrial-hipster decor and this place was chock-full.

Because I went on a leisurely run and workout that morning, we didn't actually make it to brunch until 11, and J had misunderstood my "feed the kids breakfast and they just won't eat at the restaurant" instructions so by the time we were on a way, the kids were a little nutty. But for the most part I was able to just enjoy them and their antics and not stress and then they chowed down on yogurt and granola with fruit and were happy, albeit very silly, campers.

mmmm, granola

I have a new friend, a mom from BB's preschool, who is a photographer, and she has been teaching me more about the basics of photography, which gave me the guts (and more knowledge) to try to use this 50 mm lens again. I LOVE how the pic of SS smiling came out, an instant favorite, and the one of J and BB. So thankful for my new friend and her willingness to teach me!

The rest of our little family Mother's Day was spent at the public pool. We had a great time during our first swim of the season, and BB even finished the day by jumping off the 10 foot diving board and swimming to the edge over and over and over again! He loved it! He wanted to try and we were all a little unsure but I figured, why not let him try? As we walked over to the diving board, BB gave himself a pep talk: "I got this. I know I got this," which was basically the cutest thing ever, and he repeated it when he stood at the top of the diving board. And then he jumped! It was awesome. Thank you ISR for teaching my boys to be safe in the water! Speaking of which, I decided that BB "graduated" from ISR, since he is a strong swimmer and safe in the water, and SS started his 2-week refresher the Monday after this, and has his last ISR lesson today! I love and believe in ISR but it does make our schedule hectic, so I'm looking forward to being done and prepared for the summer! 

We ended our Mother's Day in true busy-mom-with-young-kids fashion - I told J that what I really wanted was for him to help me go through the boys' clothes, removing the ones that don't fit and getting out BB's old clothes for SS. There's just not time for these chores during the day most times! So that's how we wrapped up our Mother's Day, with a chore. But checking that off the to-do list was really the perfect way to end my sweet day!

Easter

Easter fell just after our family had been down and out with sickness for two weeks (Mama ended up falling victim last), so there was virtually no planning to this Easter, which meant I had zero expectations for the day, which made for a very relaxing holiday for me! I think there's a lesson here. 

Potluck breakfast at church, church on the lawn, and lunch at J's parent's house with an egghunt!

But first, the Easter basket, with new legos and a few snacks.

I always love our Easter family photos - they have become a tradition.

Although that one ended up being the second take, after this adorable picture featured what looks like BB coppin' a feel.

Some of my fellow Vineyard Mamas

I love how this family photo came out too!

Backyard egghunt.

We hid the eggs everywhere. Everywhere.

BB finding one of the hidden eggs

 

We like to make them really work for it. (Note: SS had a special Easter egg in his shorts when Auntie Seen lifted him up for this pic!)

Victory!

 

On the move!

Pensive B, growing up

Hunting and gathering. SS wasn't that interested in egg hunting until J opened one up and showed him the jelly beans inside - suddenly, SS was possessed by the spirit of his literal name and pursued eggs with abandon. Or at least, more interest than before.

  

After taking group photos, I constantly forget to change the setting OFF the timer, and I use a timer feature that takes five successive photos. So it's really annoying when I go to take a photo and hear the "Beep, beep, beep" that means the timer is going off. I did that about ten times after our big family photo on Easter. I wanted to get a pic of S and the (heaven-in-your-mouth) trifle dessert she made, and when I clicked we heard the beep beep beep and were at the delirious point so S decided to try to do a different pose for every photo, which was highly entertaining (and somewhat perilous for the trifle! Don't worry, it survived...until we ate it.)