this ones for nana

my garden!






Spring in our yard!

















Spring is in full bloom here in College Gardens.

if you know what any of the green stuff is- let me know since i planted random things and, other than the hastas and mums- i have no idea what the other stuff is till it flowers!
the azaleas, fuschia and dogwood were already here as well as the (now past its prime) really fragrant snowball bush and the weepy looking bonsai tree. Oh and those purple things are weeds i think but they are so pretty i hate to cut them down!

its monkey time again

Madeline standing atop her toddler tower at the kitchen counter:
"Im a monkey"
Mom sitting at the kitchen table eating cheerios
"Yes you are a monkey"
Jumping around, comes to a hault, looks at me deadpan
"you need to buy me a jungle"
Laughing out loud
"Jungles are not for buying they are part of the environment. They are a habitat"
Staring blankly
"Monkeys always live in a jungle"

how do you argue with that?
"or" i say "at the zoo. We should go to the zoo one day soon"
Satisfied
"Yeah!"

Whew- got out of that one unscathed.
Now to master naptime

early morning video

its a very dark video (as it was like 5am and B and i were having a party while don got ready to go to the airplane this morning)
but if you can see it at all ---maybe turn pup the brightness? you get a few great smiles. this one reminds me a lot of the first video we posted with madeline smiling too.



then we took this one once the sun came up
notice when he cant get my attention he coughs. he has really learned to do this barking/coughing thing deliberately- ah the joys of being the second child. you have to learn quickly what gets mommy's attention!

talking

he has really started making all sorts of sounds and sometimes i think he is trying to imitate us. If we make a high pitched sound with mouth open he does too- little things. its amazing how language aquisition works.
Here he is newborn 'chatting'

and a good excuse to see his wonderfully chubby arms!

xoxo

Earth Day

We did not 'celebrate' per se
but the kids wore their earth day shirts
M's says Organic and B's says 'Respect your Mother' (not in this video bc he changed)
both have pretty trees on them
and i wore mine too
but i have 2 kids now so no picture... ;(
but we do have a clip of the kids hanging out together.



anyway...
We are greening our house this year
from furnace and ac to insulation, the energy efficient windows and house sealing, the light bulbs... the works
and that is our environmental stand for now.

we love our Earth.

camping

we had a few chilly days last week (wow. its likt 85 today--where did spring go? the trees on our block are all in full bloom with pink blossoms so i know its not summer yet) anyway....
madeline enjoyed a few days inside and made good use of her tent from maury!

happy baby

Bennett has such a nice personality. So far he has been very sweet and sleepy and cuddly. He gives us amazing open mouth smiles all the time and when he gets really close to our faces he looks up into our eyes and smiles.
A lot of dozing smiles too- especially after a big meal- he falls asleep grinning and it looks like he is having pleasant dreams.
Its hard to capture though, bc you put a camera in his face and he is transfixed- so there goes that big gummy grin.
But here is one we got where he cracks a little grin.



and a few pics from this week



we had a great video of madeline and b in the tub where she scrubbed his toes and he was just gurgling up at her- captivated
but its lots in cyberworld since the sd card broke.
ill try again at his bathtime this week.

Bunnyland

We went to this adorable farm called Butler's Orchard a few miles from us yesterday with our friends.
They do seasonal activities and it was still Bunnyland for April. Egg hunt, crafts, slides, hayrides... you get it.
Well madeline's highlight was petting the baby bunny and chicks with her friend Eliana and then getting a ladybug facepaint.
Bennett just liked being carried in the sling all day. warm and cozy.

Here are the 2 pics we got before we lost our camera (we went back today and it was in the lost and found YAY!)



oh yeah- and she took her first self portraits today. yikes.

Easter morning

We dyed eggs saturday night and left them for the easter bunny to find. Madeline also hid a few empty plastic eggs. The bunny came and put cranberries inside of them! She was thrilled and then enjoyed the rest of our very secular Easter.
We made a ham and called it easter dinner but, without going to church, something felt missing. we just havent found a service for kids that we like around here so for now it will be pagan holidays for the dc manns.




Anyway, she loved hunting for eggs, rooting through her basket for thhe fruit leather and snacking on a special treat (mmm slice and bake bunny cookies!) no dairy in those folks bc there isnt one real food ingredient on the label! its all polysyllabic words that mean artificial... but they are so good warm...


and then Bennett got his treat- Easter mommy's milk. but there was too much for him, and as is the case every other time as well, he pulls away just as the milk comes and we all get a milk bath. thanks B.

xoxo

tropical vacation

Don and I took the kids on a tropical vacation



to the rain forest exhibit at the aquarium ;)



Bennett slept through the whole thing -and Tina might have too for all we know as she seemed to walk around bleary eyed at the whole thing- but what do you expect? she is a 17 year old girl - hard to impress LOL


xoxo

Bennett week 2

smile- mostly in his sleep but occassionalyy i get a good one too!


wearing big boy clothes... style and size(3mo already!)

egg hunt. week 2

I took the kids (By myself!) to an egg hunt the other day.
Madeline loved running around and hunting but was dissappointed when the eggs were full of candy i wont let her eat... we had to go home and trade it all in for Nori and then she was thrilled. the kid eats enough seaweed to be a mermaid ;)
Anyway, no pics of B bc he was in the sling- its the best way to help the big one run around and get the best eggs people!

uncle zygo

Uncle Zygo came back for the night on the 30th on his way to FL .
M was thrilled and she ran and got her bike helmet on for some reason. Then insisted she wanted to wear it to play in the backyard (a commentary on our t-ball skills perhaps?).
Anyway, uncle z thought 'cant beat em- join em'.
we love you zygo!

oh and an apology to those of you who have been awesome houseguests and have not hounded me that i have not gotten any pics of you and the kids up. It has become very hard keeping on top of who has been here and making sure we get pics of everyone and i know some people are sad when we dont put up their personal pic so this time around im not being too ambitious in getting the posed kid pics up on the blog. happy to share them with you though, if we did take them and you havent seen them here.

i think we have not pictured aunt jill, maury, aunt veronica or aunt margaret, the wongs or any of our neighbors or local friends who have been through to meet bennett. hoping nobody takes it personally!
xoxo

perfect belly button

bennett's umb cord fell off (i think that was day 11 but im not sure).
Here is the little spiral belly button that it left behind.
aw
xoxo

no new posts

Okay so... I have not posted this week , it has been brought to my attention
and No. it has nothing to do with being overwhelmed.
NUMBER 1: computer is broken and sd card went mia.
NUMBER 2:
I just happen to have a two and a half year old that doesnt go to sleep before 10.
And while in the past i could blog after then when she finally went to sleep, i require at least 4 hours at night. which i cant get unless my head hits the pillow by 11.
Wish i could keep you all better up to date but im not so into letting her play alone while i play on the computer.
As i type she is standing next to me asking for 'one more cuddle' and i am trying to avoid saying 'no more tonight kiddo- you have had 10,000 already'.

I hope to get a chance to put some pics up tomorrow while don is home as i have some great ones of us decorating eggs, attending an egg hunt and visiting the aquarium this week! Oh yeah- we have been busy having lots of fun too:)

tummy time