Ready for Summer

Friday night we found ourselves out in the cul-de-sac after dinner enjoying the weather and company of neighbors. We ended up staying out well past the boys bedtime, but it was so fun!! I love being able to call neighbors our friends and I love that Will has so many kids to play with. Alex was longingly watching from the wagon, but this time next year I am sure he will be running around with the rest of them.
I snapped a few pics of our boys with the McClearys' girls. Will and Ava have become big buds and Ally and Alex just smile and giggle at one another. They are only 6 weeks apart so I know they will be best buds before long too!

 Sweet Ally

 We were all talking and turned around to see this...He is scared to death of potties that flush loud but could care less about dropping his shorts and peeing in the grass in front of a cul-de-sac full of neighbors!!

 Ava and Will play so great together!!

 Ally was literally coming across the wagon to love on Alex. Melissa had to keep pulling her back. Finally we gave in and let her attack him...

 Which resulted in this...I guess all those nights of reminding Alex that his mama is the only girl who can hug and kiss on him has paid off :)

Only 26 more days until we can spend a lot more nights in the cul-de-sac past bedtime!! May 26th I am a free woman and can be a full time mom for a while without wearing any other hats :)

First Boo Boo

It was bound to happen sooner or later. We are blessed to have made it almost 11 months without any boo boos. Considering a certain three year old that loves to "pet pet" Alex, it is a miracle! Nothing major....just fell down and hit his eye on our coffee table and it left a little scratch. I am sure this is the first of many. Luckily, Alex is not phased by it!

Meeting Baby Michael

Emma has a new brother! We are super excited to welcome Baby Michael to our extended family and give Will and Alex another BOY cousin!! I could have sat in the hospital and held him all night long. He was so sweet and snuggly--why oh why does the newborn stage pass by so quickly?

We love you to pieces sweet Michael....Will can't wait until you can wrestle :)

The Cutest Detour

Yesterday I was in my parents neighborhood, headed to their house to drop Will off so John and I could go and meet the newest member of the Velotas fam. Earlier that morning on my way to school (after dropping Will off), I saw a group of geese with the cutest, fluffiest little baby geese. I was so sad that Will wasn't with me so he could see. Well right after I picked him up from school I was telling him the plan about playing at Kiki and Pops house for a bit when all of a sudden we spotted the little family of geese. I pulled off the road and grabbed Will to go see them. A sweet little family gave us a few pieces of their bread so Will could feed them. The babies literally ate out of his hand. I was shocked that the mama let him get that close. She hissed a few times but I guess she was appreciative we were feeding them :) Will LOVED them. They were so precious...and there were a lot of them. I am so glad Will was able to see them. I have a feeling we will be making another pit stop to feed them at some point this weekend!

Meeting PW

Now that I have an iPhone, I find myself taking pictures of day to day life and posting to Facebook, but completely forgetting to blog about it. At any rate, my mom and I went to meet the Pioneer Woman a few weeks ago while she was in town at our local Books-A-Million. She was just as precious and personable as she appears in her blog and on her cooking show. The line was long, but it was totally worth it! I haven't tried any recipes out of her new cookbook just yet, but I did cook The Best Lasagna Ever tonight and I can vouch, that it really is the best I've ever had! I absolutely love PW...If only I could win one of her giveaways :)

Easter

We have had a week and a half of fun Easter activities. An egg hunt with church friends, school party and hunt, dying Easter eggs, resurrection buns, church, and yet another egg hunt yesterday afternoon. This Easter we were able to do more with Will to help him with the meaning of Easter. He especially enjoyed the resurrection buns and was amazed when he broke into his biscuit to find the marshmallow was no longer there. This was a very tangible, visual representation of the tomb and he really seemed to "get" it....except for the fact that we made 8 buns so he kept talking about 8 Jesus' and then asked us if the marshmallows were in heaven too :)
School Party


Dying Eggs...saw a tip on Pinterest about using a whisk to dip the eggs. It worked wonderfully!
Alex was content to just watch :)Finished Product!I put Alex on the blanket once we were done and it took him about 2 seconds to reach and pull the green egg dye cup and spill it everywhere!! I thought he might be going to church on Sunday with green toes :) I had to scrub! After a quick outfit change, we were back in business!
Baskets! Can I just say how much I love doing Easter baskets and stockings. I KNOW that baskets and stockings are not what the holiday is about. However, it is so much fun for me! I have so much fun thinking of perfect items that my boys would love. It never fails that literally 1-2 days before, Will will mention something that he really wants or hopes to receive so I am out at the last minute (this year it was the butterfly net...where in the world he saw this and decided he NEEDED one is beyond me, but the boy begged for a net!). I did most of my basket filler shopping online believe it or not. I just can't seem to find the time to run around to a bunch of different stores! My favorite thing in Alex's basket was the Aden and Anais Crib Sheet---they make awesome swaddle blankets and now they come in sheets!! LOVE!! My favorite in Will's was Llama Llama. He has really gotten into these books! I saw the Llama Llama stuffed animal at Barnes and Noble and had to get it. Will could really care less about stuffed animals, but I couldn't resist!!This picture cracks me up...Will finally posing for once and Alex more consumed with his loot...
This picture makes me laugh too....Just Alex in his pool hat with snacks!Can I just say that it broke my heart a little when figuring out what Will would wear for Easter. I ended up going with seersucker pants and a polo shirt. It just didn't look right though. He looked too grown. I missed the precious "outfits." I was banned from one piece outfits and smocked items for Will long ago, but I haven't really missed them until yesterday! I didn't get a picture of the boys after church, so by this time Will had already altered his attire by just putting his bunny shirt on with his pants (and yes, I think you see that same bunny shirt in all pictures except for the egg dying ones....gotta get your money's worth out of seasonal shirts...and it was too cute!
We had to re-think Alex's Easter outfit entirely on SATURDAY. I had planned on him wearing a precious white outfit of Will's....being the genius that I am, I just assumed it would fit and didn't try it on him until Friday. He is such a chunk!! So guess what I was doing Friday afternoon-calling every place around here asking for any boy bubbles in an 18 month that would work for Easter. I ended up going with a white bubble with bunnies and chicks on it. Not my first choice, but he looked precious, and it was 40% off.After pictures, Will had his very own Easter egg hunt...he had no competition and he seemed to like this one the best :) We are spoiled by Kiki and Pops, that is for sure!!

TEN

Alex was 10 months old April 1st. Once again, my post is late and all my pictures are from my phone. Oh well....at least we have pictures of him :)
Alex has 4 teeth....front 2 and bottom 2 and his little toothy grin completely melts my heart.
He is still NOT crawling. I don't know why I think this is such a big deal to me. Probably because I am constantly looking on the blog to see what Will was doing. Cardinal sin for momma's I know....Will was crawling at 9 months, so I guess I just figured Alex would be too. He doesn't even try or act like he wants to. He can usually get to anything he wants by reaching or laying out and rolling. Will brings toys to him, so I guess he has no motivation. He really isn't even pulling up on things either. He will stand up and hold to things if we put him there, but doesn't do it on his own. We think it might be because he is just so chubby. That is a lot of weight to haul around :)We put the floorboard back in Will's Cozy Coupe and Alex loves it. These beautiful afternoons have had us in our cul-de-sac a lot, and it is so much nicer that Alex is in a "toy" than just in my arms or the stroller. He loves to honk the horn and looks like SUCH a big boy!
He is still a great sleeper...goes down at 7, wakes up around 7. He boycotted naps for a while-sometimes it was the morning one, sometimes it was the afternoon one, but we seem to be back on track.He is starting to like table food....a little. He does NOT like stage 3 foods. So I still give him some stage 2 baby food to get the nutrients he needs, but we are experimenting with all kinds of other finger foods, hoping to find something he likes and that is easy for him to eat. I am not too worried about him eating :) His rolls are proof enough that he is just fine! So far he has eaten strawberries, cheese, turkey, cantaloupe, avocado, and probably some other things here and there with my mom.

His favorite person on Earth is Will....at least Will is the one who can get the most smiles and giggles out of him. I wish I had 30 more minutes in the morning. Some mornings Alex wakes up right before I leave at 7:00. He is so smiley, sweet, and snuggly! Will loves to love on him and make him laugh and Alex just cracks up. It is a precious time and I wish I didn't have to rush out the door!! In these pictures, Will is standing on the side of the crib, making funny faces at Alex and he had Alex completely hysterical!