Joy

Henry speaks. All the time. He uses baby-babble so it's not like he's telling me "Look, mommy a 747!" But he does say "AaahhPppptt" and "Jsssss" (juice) and "Ack" (Jack). Speaking of "Ack"- I've had my feelers out for a bicycle because although the tricycle was a great idea he outgrew it in about 30 seconds.

I ran across one when I was at a used toy store. That night when the Husband got home Jack said "Daddy, it's my new bicycle. It's the one I've always wanted." Where does he get this stuff?!

All he wants to do is ride. We rode for a few miles around the park this morning and then we rode from the house to the grocery store and back again this afternoon.

At one point he wanted to ride in the stroller. (During the up hill part of course). So I turned the stroller into a tow truck and Jack sat on the front at Henry's feet. I pushed and pushed and chugged and chugged, much in the spirit of the Little Engine That Could. But when I got to the top of my hill the little usurper got out and coasted down on his own.

I had to giggle.

Walking makes all the difference

Henry first walked on Mother's Day.

Jack suddenly saw him differently. He was an equal, a playmate, a buddy. Before Henry was walking Jack saw him as simply the baby. Now he refers to Henry as "My best friend" or "My brother."

It's amazing to me how one change in Henry can change everything for Jack.


p.s. Happy Birthday to me!

From Friday

with love.

Things happen on a holiday

Well, there's something about a holiday and important things happening. Apparently Henry has been reading the blog and noticed I was making fun of him for not walking. He decided to prove us wrong. After only taking a step here and there today he finally decided he could do more!

My baby is growing up!

Hold the phone!

Henry is excited to report we have our first signs of radishes! It's so much fun to grow things, watching plants evolve from nothing. It's also really exciting to see Jack understand exactly where vegetables come from.

Pick Your Own season is fast approaching, our local farm now has a tentative date set of May 27th and the first day of the season. I already have the pectin ready for strawberry jam.

Cannot. Wait.

This Momentous Occasion

Yesterday Jack and Henry went downstairs by themselves, and played. Alone, together.

I'm kinda beaming with pride- Henry can safely go down the stairs backwards by himself and the boys are playing well together more and more every day! (In case you're wondering, Henry still isn't walking. Troublemaker.)

The rest of our Easter awesome-ness

Instead of having a bunch of posts all week about our Easter Vacation (because we really did so much) I'm going to give you one monster blog with a bunch of pics of everything we did. The egg hunt in historic Berlin, MD is serious business. Just ask Jack.

Henry wanted in on the fun too.

Henry was a snuggle-monster the whole vacation. Stealing a snuggle from anyone or anything who'd stay still long enough.

On Sunday morning we hunted for eggs inside

and out.

Then we wandered down a country lane.

We took a family pic. (We missed you, Daddy!)

We marveled at our Easter egg creations (crayon shavings sprinkled over just hard boiled, and thus hot eggs).

Jack's egg close up. So cool!

Then we went to the beach.

Beach on Easter Sunday? Awesome!

It was warm enough for a sundress!

It's the little things

The hole punchers were quite the source of entertainment for Jack.

The window looking out at the fish pond and the river is a huge hit with Henry.

For the record- I would love to have balanced the colors a little better in these photos but I can't because my husband messed with my computer and now Photoshop is gone :-(. I didn't wait to edit them first because A. I have a strong need to be instantly gratified and B. I feel bad that my aforementioned husband is missing all the fun so I want him to feel included.

Hopefully I'll post again later today... we'll see.

He's got rhythm

Dino-mite!

Henry's First Birthday was a blast!I made a happy birthday banner, which will now be used for years to come, assuming I don't misplace it!The pteranodon's flew in for the event.Henry loved the balloons!Snack table all set up. Apparently my party signs are famous ('famous' might be an exaggeration...). I'm not going to lie- I love coming up with how I'm going to label the food. I usually laugh out loud while I'm making these signs!

I made 2 types of sub sandwiches: chicken and cheese for the Carnivores and hummus with sprouts for the Herbivores. Henry's Cupcake!Om nom nomnom nom nom.We were excited to have a pair of party-crashers Lindsey and Cady made an appearance so we got a pic of the Ladies night crew reunited! Good times.We also had a little Phi Sigma Pi family reunion (my big and my littles) so we took a pic of the 'family' with the next generation! Left to Right: Jack, Henry, Me Josh, Jen, Andrew, Jen, Brody (in front), Bella, Heidi, Tara

Roar!!

Happy Birthday, my sweet little boy!!

Success?

I cannot believe I made a diaper! My littlest guy is going to have the cutest fluffy booty. And I made it!

Today we'll find out if A. it fits and B. if it leaks. Wish me luck!

A year ago tonight I went into labor in my yoga class. And then I gave birth! And then I met my Henry! It was awesome!!

My kids are cuter than your kids

I think we all believe our kids are the cutest. (It's gotta be good for the survival of the species.) But sometimes I look at a picture of my kids and I actually think my kids are the cutest kids ever.

I can't even take it!

Quadruple trouble.

Astronauts.

Moo-cow diapers.

Matching outfits are so fun!

At The Park

My crocus are starting to bloom. The rose bush is coming alive agaon. The cherry tree... well it's showing early signs of spring. This Sunday was a grey and totally overcast day. But it was 60 degrees! So we went to the park to go for a walk around the lake and have some fun on the playground.Jack insisted that he wear his helmet in the car on the way to the park. Henry enjoyed a snuggly and relaxing walk from the comfort of the stroller.

Jack loved the hills. Even the few times he crashed and burned he was laughing the whole way. (Maybe it helped because the one time he fell we were laughing at him so hard, his feet flew right over his head- you'd laugh too!) At the playground Jack enjoyed playing spaceships with Daddy. While Henry and I discussed the finer qualities of mulch.

How Eric Carle and Vincent van Gogh teach recycling

I was going to save this till Monday, but I just couldn't wait!

Friday was a busy day! I'm finally feeling pretty much better from my earlier hernia surgery. So to celebrate in typical Emily fashion I took on entirely too much at once.

I saw a "Make art like Eric Carle" blog somewhere in the vastness of the web, but I don't remember where I saw it so my apologies. But since I don't remember where I found it other than the inspiration to do the project and to use an Exacto to cut the shapes out the ideas are entirely my own so that's something I suppose. (If you've done an Eric Carle project feel free to link it up.) First, I took down the reigning space painting from Jack's room and decided to reuse the canvas. I do this ALL THE TIME. 1. because artists have been reusing canvas for centuries and 2. because a good canvas is not cheap! You should sand down excess paint and rough the surface before 'clearing' the canvas. (Photo credit, Jack)

Second, you recruit some slave labor... I mean... a helper to paint over the original work in Gesso.

Then you celebrate your artistic victory.

Streak some paper (Eric Carle uses high quality tissue paper but you should really see how he does it- trust me, you WANT to click that link!) Construction paper with acrylic paint was what I chose because it's sturdy, easy to cut and easy for my pint-sized assistant to work with.

Then take a breather while you watch 'the boys' work together to saw off the legs of your bar stools. (Because I asked, not because they're trying to destroy my barstools or anything).

Then you watch Jack finish painting his dragon and help him glue the fire in its mouth. This was a great project- but if you don't want to do some of the mache yourself don't try it with a 3 year old! Hah! We had a blast with this one! Jack asked me to make Night Fury from How to Train Your Dragon. He loved this project from start to finish.

After putting the kids to bed I busted out my brand new Exacto and new fangled cutting board thingy and got to work. I free-handed my cuts but what makes this brilliant is you could pretty easily print a coloring book page and cut the shapes and then trace them on your painted paper.

After a great debate on facebook about the color the background should be, a Starry Night inspired background won over the white and black options I had thrown out there. So I got to work with some watered down blues, greys and a black.

I 'glued' the shapes on to the canvas using a matte medium, which is basically paint that is clear so it was the perfect glue and top coat for this project. Then I added some crayon to create atmosphere around the planets. The final photo is the best we could do but really does not do the thing justice at all.

I need a better camera... I think I'm one of the last hold-outs to get a D-SLR. Tell me I'm not alone!!

And If you're thinking to yourself "She never added Henry's 11 month picture, you're right! But it was not for lack of trying. Every. Single. Photo. I took was total crap, bad light, out of focus, so frustrating! (See my earlier comment about a new camera.)