Katie

 I have had some great afternoon time with Katie these past few days.  She is such a joy to play with and it definitely makes me forget everything else that  happened in my day.  She is my little escape.  She smiles and laughs at the cutest things and it is as if she is trying to say some words but so far can only get the first letter out.  She will point to her fan and make an "fa" sound or when she plays with Will's mop she says "ma".  When she wants me to do something again, she said "a".  It's sweet to be at this stage with her.  It is hard to remember that Will didn't talk - seems like we have been conversing with him forever. 

The baby stages all pass so quickly.  I am really enjoying them this time!

rock eater

HPPDS this fall!

Will got into our first choice for schools for the fall - HPPDS!  He will be going M, W, F in the mornings.  The school is right down the street, so I am excited that we will get to walk him to school!  Also, there is a great park across the street, so Loli and Katie can spend the mornings there and then pick Will up around noon.  It really is a great arrangement and we are so happy that we were accepted.

Will is going to wear a uniform which should be super cute.  I think he is going to love school!

Fort Naps

 Will has taken to napping in a "fort."  As pictured here, his fort is a 30+ year old Star Wars action figure case.  Will took his nap with his head in the "fort" - I snuck in to get these pictures.  He continues to keep us laughing!

view from the front

Post nap Cowboy

Haircut Needed

 Chad doesn't often comment about the kids needing anything, but yesteday he mentioned that he thought Katie needed a haircut.  I wasn't sure - she has been wearing bows all the time so while it was long, it seemed fine.  Then I took her to the park and forgot a bow.  Wow, Chad was right.  Check out my shaggy baby girl!  I am going to take her to get her haircut this week!

swinging.  this girl LOVES the park!

hair!

watching the ducks

climbing

passing the bigger kids to get to the slide

on our way home, we saw Maddie.

Maddie wanted to try her hand at photography

Her shots turned out great! 

Maddie's shot proving yet again that Katie needs a haircut!

Maddie came over to play.  She and Will had a blast!

Sunday in the Sandbox

 We spent Sunday morning in the backyard in the sandbox.  Sometimes I get a little too busy taking pictures that I capture moments through my camera that I wish I could have stopped!  Like this one here... Katie putting a shell full of sand in her mouth.  While the picture makes it look like it's a slow moment in time, it happens so quickly that I couldn't stop her!  She's fast and apparently she likes the taste of sand.

Bottom 3 teeth

siblings in the sandbox (this picture is so very Katie)

action shot

80 in February

 Per my car, it was 80 today.  It was just glorious outside - perfect spring weather.  It is a rare day like to today that I actually hoped my kids would take short naps so we could go outside and play. 

Katie got the memo and woke up early.  We had a great time outside together.  She is at a really fun age (don't we say that at every age??) and I love her smiles and giggles.  She loves to play and can keep herself quite busy with a stick or any random "toy".  I went a little crazy taking pictures of her... 

she has so much hair!

playing

future pipe smoker???

Babysitting

 Will's best friend Armando is out of town.  He left Saturday and he comes back on Wednesday.  This is an eternity if you are almost 3.  Will asks about Armando daily, sometimes multiple times a day. 

While he is gone, Will is babysitting Armando's dinosaur.  He is Buddy from Dinosaur Train which is now Will's favorite show.  When looking at this picture, I told Will I thought the dinosaur was thirsty and was trying to drink from the puddles.  Next thing I know, Will has tons of straws in the dinosaur's mouth to rectify the issue.

Will with his "diving tool" (so he can breathe underwater), Bob the Builder hat and dinosaur

Straws - so he can drink his dinner I'm told

Blast Off Man

Will is really into space shuttles.  He likes to watch You Tube videos on space shuttles taking off.  Here he is watching a recording of Columbia taking off - a view from the inside. 

We play "Blast Off Man" where our bed is a space shuttle.  We have to get in, close the doors, and Will pushes some buttons on a pillow that is designated as the controller.  Our travels are about 3 seconds before we land somewhere - like a shoe store where he then proceeds to take all the shoes out of our closet and put them on the bed or a garbage dump where everything around us is garbage and needs to be thrown into the bed as well.

We were driving the other day and Will asked if I wanted to play Blast Off Man.  I said sure, and then as I was driving I told him I was taxiing for take off.  He corrected me and let me know that space shuttles don't do that, they just blast off.  I am amazed when he corrects me...and he is right!  I love this blast off man!

Will's First Trip to the Dentist

At Will's two-year check up, our pediatrician (who we love!) told us that Will should see the dentist.  I didn't think he needed to go right then - he was only 2, didn't have all his teeth and we were brushing daily.  So today, 42 days before his third birthday and 46 days before his 3 year-old check up, I took him to the dentist.  I wanted to make sure I could tell her that I did take him to the dentist.

So we got to Dr Colter's office and had a great time waiting in the bean bag chairs.  I think this might be Will's first exposure to them, and they were a hit.  Every minute or two, he would ask - "have they called my name yet?"  He was pretty ready to see the dentist.

I too went to the dentist when I was 2 years old, however, I left needing a root canal.  True story, and probably one of the contributing reasons as to why I disliked the dentist when I was growing up.  I was so impressed with how well the staff handled Will and how they explained everything to him.  He loved it!

He asked for some gloves to match his hygienist Ashley.  She gave him a pair and they were instant friends.  He did a great job cooperating as she cleaned his teeth and while he got x-rays.  He only had a hard time when I would not sit in a kids chair for him to be the dentist and clean my teeth.  He left with orange gloves, purple gloves, a balloon, a bag of treats, a spider, a snake and a sticker.  It was like a kid jackpot.

In the end, I was wrong.  I should have taken Will to the dentist earlier.  Will has 2 cavities - both on his "fangs" as I call them.  He has a tight upper lip and has a hard time letting us get up to the top of these teeth to brush.  I think if I had gone a year ago, they probably would have warned me about this so we could have focused more on that area.  Lesson learned... we will take Katie earlier.  He also got my crowded mouth.  Poor guy... they can already tell he likely will need braces when he is older.  I have had a tough dental history so I hope he is a bit better off than me. 

picking out his flavor

gloves on and ready!

cleaning

flossing

rinsing

x-rays

Black and White

 I am flying home from a business trip to Baltimore.  I was missing the littles so I started looking through their pictures and decided to try my hand at making them black and white images.

I typically do not love the pictures I take when I convert them to b&w so I usually leave them in color.  I tend to love the color in pictures, but then sometimes I find the b&w's of others simply stunning.

I though these first two would be good candidates for b&w.  The last one was a wildcard - I just love that picture of Will.  It is so very him.

I like the way they look but I do miss the color!