A Sweet Spring Night

Just a few pictures from a fabulous family evening, enjoying warm sunshine, a quaint picnic dinner, exciting adventures at the park and sweet treats to top off the night.

Phone photo dump (april-ish)

A random assortment of random pictures from my phone...  

so many sweet moments to capture!

Whenever they get this close for more than 5 seconds without needing assistance, I run for my phone or camera.

He is just really, really sweet.  All.  Of.  The. Time.

Dressing a boy is REALLY fun.  Looking spiffy in his church clothes.

Playing with toys is really hard.  Such concentration!

She's become a big fan of drinking her cereal milk after she's done with her Cheerios.  It's hilarious and usually ends up a mess but we don't cry over spilled milk around here!

Smiley Wy!  We are loving watching his personality emerge.  He is SO happy, SO easy going and SO sweet.

We enjoyed a way too quick weekend with my parents this past weekend.  Lainey took her Papa on a walk up and down the street.  Too cute.

Checking out her library loot from last week the very minute we got home.

I love him.

This is Lainey's current favorite puzzle.  She calls it her "AB's" ... She can probably recognize and say 10-15 letters depending on the day, thanks to this puzzle, some ABC cards and a few apps we have in the iPad.  If you ask her to sing her ABC's she'll sing, "A...B...C..." and that's it.  It's pretty funny.  Today she did recite, "A, B, C, D, E, G" in order, but she left out the F.  I know I was a teacher for 4 years, but teaching her things like this is way different compared to long division and reading comprehension strategies.  It's so funny to try and teach someone something that is so second nature to us, like the alphabet.  It's really fun to watch her learn and remember things.

Sometimes, I've got to pull out my big guns and that means suckers.  You gotta do, what you gotta do sometimes.

Weekend Recap

There was nothing particularly exceptional about this weekend, it was pretty normal, but we had a great weekend as a family.  Busyness so often gets in the way of taking time to enjoy family moments. 

Every once in awhile I start thinking about how quickly time is passing and how fast kids grow up.  It's one of those cliche's everyone says but you don't really understand until you're experiencing it for yourself.  I think with the nice weather we're FINALLY getting, we're finally getting outside more, and it made me think about the last time we had nice weather and played outside, which was before Wyatt was born.  Lainey was just slowly and carefully toddling around the yard last fall with me waddling after her :)  Now, she's talking like crazy, running, pointing out a million things and exploring every inch of the yard and sidewalk.  And Wyatt... he was just hanging out in my belly, kicking my insides like crazy.  Now, he's smiling, babbling, grabbing his toes, giggling and growing like a weed!

We started out the weekend with a quick visit to Jed's work to say hello and bring some treats.

Like she owns the place...

Enjoying some snacks on the porch Saturday morning.

Such a fun and silly girl!  Mom's new shoes are Lainey approved!

Lainey has to check on "her" flowers at least once per day!

My little stud.  He was a rock star with some nap (re)training this weekend.  With being sick last month and then having a slight fever and general sadness with teething (I think) last week, we had some regression in his sleeping but we are back on track.  He even out-napped his big sis today.

We did a bunch of cleaning and rearranging on Saturday so now Lainey's little table is in the kitchen.  I had to document her bedhead Sunday morning.  It was particularly amazing.

I love capturing these sweet moments with these two!

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson stopped for a quick visit and spent Sunday afternoon and evening with us.  They always have fun surprises in tow and this visit was no exception.

Dad's old Lincoln Logs.  I'm pretty sure Jed was more excited about it than Lainey was.  He built a giant tower and of course, Lainey got to knock it down.

First time playing in the sandbox!  We were given this turtle sandbox by our neighbors who moved last summer.  Lainey was still in the "put everything in my mouth" stage last fall so we hadn't tried it yet.  She had a blast and was totally filthy.  I have a feeling we'll be needing more frequent baths during the summer... :)

My wild haired girl.  She loves peeking in and out of the windows and doors of the play house.

Children are such a blessing!  Family is such a blessing!

wyatt [5 months]

Our sweet little guy is 5 months old today!

He is the easiest child to take pictures of.  I'm sure that will change once he's mobile, but he was just the smiliest, happiest dude!

Wyatt's current likes are:

hanging out in his bouncy seat in the kitchen while Mom cooks

watching Lainey's every move

giggling and squealing when talked to

playing in the exersaucer and turning himself around and around

death gripping anything he can get his hands on, especially Momma's hair

naps in the car seat

being held to stand up

I can hardly believe he's already 5 months old!  We love our mister Wy guy!

Happy Friday!!

Stay/cation

Last week we were blessed enough to spend 3 ENTIRE extra days with our favorite guy.  It was such a treat.  Jed had some carry-over PTO from last year that needed to be used by April 1 so we got to enjoy a 5 day weekend as a family.  We kept him super busy doing lots of fun things...

A trip to the Science Center!

[Lainey obviously had the TIME of her LIFE!]

 Lainey basically made Jed eat almost every meal with her at her little table.  It was actually really adorable to see a 6'2'' man sitting at a toddler table. 

We enjoyed some time in the yard!

Jed and Lainey went on several store trips together and always returned with things that weren't necessarily on the list... :)

Basically, he had a little shadow the entire time he was home.  I never have doubted Lainey's love for her Dad, but I can say that her affections definitely grew this past weekend.  She was never very far from him, helped him make coffee each morning, asked for him every time she woke up and didn't let him out of her sight.  

Although I don't have a picture to prove it, I will also say that while Wyatt seems to prefer his Momma most of the time, Jed can make him giggle like crazy making trumpet sounds and singing to him.  So sweet.

Two peas in a pod, these two.

This is what greeted Jed when he came home from work today.  

I think we all agree that we wouldn't mind 5 day weekends more often!