He made me do it...

I'm married to a choco-holic. Luckily it works in my favor too. Too bad it's already almost gone and I haven't even had more than 2 bites.

Nigh-Night

Tocasso's first artwork

I'm not a fan of the under 2's with markers, but alas there are too many things I haven't been able to let the little guy do lately that big brother gets to do (e.g. stand up on chairs to play in the sink, play with bins of beans, stand up on the music table, etc.) that I decided to let loose and give the little man some markers to fool around with. Fool around he did not! The baby is an ar-teest! Voila, the colors came to life on his paper and see what he drew. I swear, I live amongst the renaissance here.

Introducing exhibit A: Baby Tocasso.

Mmmmm...mom, these taste good!

Look mom, a rainbow!

Crumbs in my Bed

They love and request "snap tracks" which are supposed to keep snacks from spilling, but somehow they just don't live up to their reputation with my boys.

Cousinly Love

We spent a morning at the Arboretum last week with Rachel and Isaac. The boys had a thrilling time exploring the woods. There's something about being outside without a 'toy' in site that brings out the best in kids. We also caught this sweet moment between them...

...click to enlarge this photo to see extra sweetness

House update

I think this might be my longest blogging hiatus in the history of this blog. It's a little daunting to just back in once you've let things go on the blog...but I am not going to attempt to catch up. There are some great things brewing in our house that have been taking up a lot of my free time, so not a lot left for the blog.

I did want to update those interested in the remodel. Our bathroom is 90% done! (Breathing a sign of relief). Everything is in working order, we just have a few loose ends to tie up. The rest of our house is 90% done too. We just have some outdoor work to do...shakes, some painting and landscaping (again). Of course, we never thought it would take us this long...but at the same time we did--because it always takes 3x longer than you think.

Okay, without further ado, I present to you our Master bathroom in all its glory (can you tell I love it!!?).

The Boys Inaugural Bath...

...I think it's safe to say they enjoyed it.

i (heart) curls

Tickle Juice

Who needs expensive toys when a kid can be just as happy with tickle juice? It's the little things...

Fun with Photoshop

I love the Pioneer Woman. I seriously think she could be fictitious--she's too good to be true. She did just win three bloggie awards, including best Blog. In any case, I started fiddling with her Photoshop Actions and can see how manipulating photos can become a bit addicting. The possibilities are endless. Here's some of the fun I had on Friday night (while Mark was out at a bachelor party).


Straight out of the camera

Living a Dream

Mark had a business conference over the mountains this week, so we were lucky to all go, and visit with family too. This was our first longer"roadtrip" as a family of four...it went okay. The boys just don't like sleeping the car! I know, I know, everyone elses kids do. Mine don't. Even at nap time. Whoever is the passenger gets to be the "car entertainer": Endlessly passing toys, books and snacks to the back seat in hopes of averting a meltdown. I'd much rather be the driver. Ah well, we got there (and home) and the boys had so much fun, and we were treated so graciously by our hosts (thanks Larry and Janet!).





There were several highlights, but I bet that the backhoe will go down in the "Top 10 of being TWO" for Ashen. Gosh, how lucky are we to have family who own backhoes and tractors!? Ashen did not break a smile for the first several minutes on the backhoe. Not out of fear, but I think out of sheer amazement. The is-this-really-happening type of amazement. Torin didn't get to ride, but walked right up to the giants. He is also a huge backhoe fan...that being one of his first words and all.