Tubby Time for Plate

After breakfast this morning Landon walked over to the dishwasher, opened it and situated his plate in there. I am continuously amazed at which behaviors little humans absorb.




Which also makes me question: so if men are born with the capability to load dirty dishes into a dishwasher, when do they lose that ability?

#hubbyshouldtakepointersfromtoddler

Visitors and Tulips

We've been blessed with some visitors over the past month: Grandma for Easter and Uncle Jamesy last week. Also known as "Groma" and "Uncoo Janes," respectively.

I give credit that folks are able to roll with our punches which is life with two kids under the age of 2 1/2. James' visit coincided nicely with our famous tulip festival so we suited up and walked some fields. It was muddy, but boots were worn and wet wipes were as abundant as the flowers themselves.

The Pacific Northwest really is a stunning blend of farms, mountains and islands; I maintain that this is one of the best places a Navy family can be stationed in the States. [Except you, San Diego people - you probably have it pritty pritty good.] It is always awesome to have people come out and see us since we can actually go out and do stuff and enjoy the outdoors. Kingsville, Texas didn't really lend itself to the same excitement.

Walking the Washington Park loop a couple miles from our house.

I took a selfie in front of the tulips. Yep. I did. Mom stays in the picture.

More daffodils and tulips.

Feeding the little animal.

We seem to give all of our visitors a parting gift of Halvorson crud. It usually sets in a day or two before they have to fly back to the East coast so they can feel nice and miserable on a five hour flight. Sorry about that. There's been a lot of Wintertime boogers in this house - unless you live here, your immune system doesn't stand a chance.

Who's going to visit next?!?!

A Monday Morning

"Breakfast was awesome - yesssss!"

My loveable shaggy-haired crumb-faced boy.

Picking a victim toy for the day.

Dinosaurs in their "cave." Thank you, Amazon, for all of your "caves."

Rockin' out on the cymbals.

Standard baby steamroll.

If you don't love that big-toothed smile, I question your taste level.

 

Anders' tree trunks trying to stand up.

"Hi, Mom. Hey, did you ever feel like something bad was about to happen?"

"I knew it. Standard."

Let's try that again. Here, Anders, have this sophisticated toy mom gave us this morning.

"And lunch was awesome, too - yessss!"

Anders 9 Months

Well the nine month photo session slowly morphed into a nine and a half months photo session as I kept saying "I'll take the photos tomorrow" in my head. Well several tomorrows later, here we are. Better late than never, right?

Let's see, let's see... Well this month we've been exposed to "separation anxiety" in which the sounds of an anxious baby echo through the rooms and halls of the house until Mama appears and holds baby in her arms. It. Is. Exhausting. Especially mentally. And I know it's really hard for others, too, to have a baby constantly trying to wretch out of their arms each time I'm in view. I think it's getting a little better each week, though.

Although Anders continues to be adorable, I have to admit this will not go down as our finest month. He is becoming increasingly interested in exploring and is frustrated by his lack of physical abilities such as pulling up, standing, etc. So his frustration is accompanied by this odd, loud, monotone wailing nose which rivals the response to the classic Dumb and Dumber scene in which Lloyd poses the question "Want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?"

The A-man is still commando crawling, but now it's with gusto. His buns lift a little higher in the air each day as he works his way towards a full crawl. He's also learning early lessons in finger jamming in drawers and doors; so heartbreaking as a parent to see but one of those lessons that just needs to be learned. Sorry, buddy. I feel like I'm a professional boo boo kisser these days; Landon has caught on and approaches bumps and bruises with pursed lips, announcing "All better!" after sliming the area with a special salve concocted of runny boogers and milk spit. Only a mother and an unsuspecting baby brother would accept such medical treatment.

Stretching out at nine months.

I really wish this photo turned out!!!

Official nine month portrait. Driving an imaginary car.

eHarmony profile picture? "I like long crawls on the beach and women with large boobs."

Hi.

Ready for kisses and showing some baby cleavage.

Love.

The O's aren't off to a terrible start this season - hooray!

Likes
-Standing up next to tables
-Breaking up brother's jigsaw puzzles and scattering the pieces
-Pulling things out of the bottom of the pantry
-Drawers
-Avocados, peas and pasta

Dislikes
-Jamming fingers in drawers
-Brother bonks

Art Imitating Life

As I looked upon Landon's line up of potato head people today, I realized it perhaps wasn't terribly dissimilar from our family: Mommy rolling her eyes and twisting her lips, Daddy smiling and oblivious, Landon smiling and up to no good (and Anders is off somewhere, stage left, ready to fill in some toes).

Does life imitate art or does art imitate life?

Also accurate: The mom's hat is slightly askew and she doesn't know where her ass is even though its in front of her face.

Easter Fun

We decided to host some friends for a toddler Easter egg hunt this morning and all-in-all tantrums were kept to a minimum, the sun was shining and people hung around for a few hours, taunting naptimes in their face. So! Overall success in my book. 

We pretty much polished off a nine pound ham and the kids were all fueled by goldfish and teddy grahams they found in some of the eggs - lunch of champions. I was so thankful Grandma is in town for the week because she was ridiculously helpful in keeping the kids occupied and that lady knows how to load a dishwasher like no one's business.

Thankful for a sunny day!

Immediately combining the sand and water.

Toddlers didn't fight over the eggs... yay!

Baby chicken perusal.

Baby George getting some Grandma action. Who can resist Georgie in an argyle?!

Gratuitous amount of food: check.

Here, Dad, hold this. For the rest of the morning.

Friends dressed in their Sunday best!

Vivian and her balloon.

Anders gracing us with his presence post-naptime.

 

A yummy bunny cake, hand crafted by Grandma!

New Project: "The Beast"

I picked up this beast from the Kiwanis thrift shop last month to turn it into our dining room buffet/ sewing machine cabinet/ company-is-coming-quick-throw-crap-in-these-drawers/ oh-so-that's-where-that-went catch all kind of piece. Something about pieces from the early 80s are starting to catch my eye more and more. This thing even smells like 1983 and it doesn't really bother me; I kind of caught myself breathing it in when I was working on it a bit this morning.

So where will this go from here? I'm thinking a high gloss gray-ivory with dark bronze hardware but time will tell. The Springtime weather has me eager to get outside and continue with sanding and priming The Beast this weekend. I should put the damn thing on casters since it is ridiculously heavy, hence it's moniker.

I didn't think to take a picture before I started disassembling the doors and some drawer glides.

One huge motha from anotha.

Those shouldn't be annoying to sand or anything.

True

Spring is in the Air

About one day a week, Mother Nature has been sending us a sunny day here in the Northwest. The veil of the concrete coffin is lifted and everyone is outside trying to catch some vitamin D.

Finally succumbing to a "cheeeese!"

Walking off into a field with Vivian.

Remembering Val

Val's close friends have pulled together the following site to help share memories:

http://valdelaneysmemory.wordpress.com/