New Bike!

Last summer Calder wasn't interested in a bike, but we decided to give it a shot this summer. I was happy to score this bike at a yard sale after much searching! 

He's still getting used to it, but finds it very exciting! 

I'm sure it won't be long before he's riding circles around the neighborhood!

Calder's Dino Book

Calder is soooo into dinosaurs lately.  He has several dinosaur books and soaks up all of the information like a sponge.  He knows so much more about dinosaurs at age 4 than I ever have!  So one day he sat down and drew out pictures of all of his favorite dinosaurs, and then decided he wanted to make the pictures into a book.  He stapled all of the pages together and asked me to write down the words on each page as he dictated them.  I wrote down everything exactly as he said (he even told me where to put the words on each page).  Of course I am biased, but I think the result is quite impressive! 

*Disclaimer:  Poor spelling is a huge pet peeve of mine.  But when it comes to dinosaur names, I'm way out of my league.  So, please excuse the fact that I have completely botched the spelling of many a dinosaur name!

So, without further ado:  Calder's Dino Book

Did you learn anything new about dinosaurs? :)

Bumbo

Alyse gave the bumbo seat a whirl for the first time a few weeks ago.  I think she's a little too small for it yet..  We'll try it again in a few weeks! 

Someone else decided to give it a try too!

Water Bugs

Calder and Tessa both took swim lessons this spring.  They just finished up their lessons a few weeks ago, and it was a huge success for both of them.  We already knew that Calder LOVES swimming, and we were pretty sure Tessa would too, since she enjoyed the neighborhood swimming pool last year. 

She was a little clingy with Daddy before her first lesson. 

But once she got in the water, she was ALL SMILES!  In fact, she made sure we knew that she was not ready to leave when the lesson was over by throwing her biggest tantrum to date.  It lasted all the way to the locker room, out to the car and the entire way home.  Fortunately, she continued to enjoy her lessons, but there were not repeat performances of that tantrum!  

Can't wait to get started!

More swimming smiles. 

Showing off his skills!  I think he was a little advanced for the class that I enrolled him in, but it was hard to tell which class to choose based on the descriptions.  Oh well, he still had a blast!

Super swimmer!

Mother's Day Love

I definitely felt the love this Mother's Day!! We had a fun-filled weekend of family activities. 

We decided early in the week that we'd do a boat ride on the Occoquan River for Mother's Day.  But with rain in the forecast for Sunday, we decided to take the boat ride on Saturday instead.  However, when we arrived at the boat launch, we discovered the boat rides were not taking place as scheduled.  We were bummed, but decided to make the best of it and took an impromptu family hike through Occoquan Regional Park. It was really pretty and the kids loved throwing rocks into the river and waving at the boats going by.  

After our hike, we headed across the river to grab dinner at one of the riverside restaurants.  It was our first time dining out with all 3 kids...and I won't lie, it was tough.  The restaurant was busy, and I don't think they were used to having such large crowds, so the service was pretty slow.  Fortunately, we had an outside table by the river, so Dave and I took turns walking the dock with Calder and Tessa and letting them burn off some steam! 

And for Mother's Day this year, I scored 2 bouquets!  This one is from my boys. :)  Calder picked out most of the flowers with just a little help from Daddy.  I was quite impressed since these are the same colors as my wedding bouquet!  Dave said the cashier liked the bouquet so much, he took a picture of it so he could buy the same one for his mother. :)

My second beautiful bouquet came from my sweet friend Lindsay.  She never fails to surprise me!

I also scored homemade blueberry pancakes AND the necklace that I wanted: 

On Sunday afternoon, we headed back to Occoquan and caught the boat ride.  It was something fun and different to do, and we all really enjoyed it!

I can't conclude this post without the following picture, since it depicts one of my daily motherly duties so well...keeping Tessa from literally smothering Alyse with love. 

Art Inspiration

I really love cute paper products and cards and things of that nature.  Especially when you can personalize them.  I recently came upon this cool new website www.papercoterie.com and immediately LOVED their products.  In fact, they were offering a $40 credit to all new customers last week...but I couldn't get my act together to personalize something before the promotion ended.  I especially love their personalizable wall posters, and after studying them a bit today, I realized I could probably make something similar using my digital scrapbooking software.  So, I gave it a shot and I am in love with the results!

My plan is to have these printed as 8x10s, hang them on the wall and update them each year.  They will make great keepsakes too, as a quick reminder of what each child was like at every age.

ABCs and 123s

Here's Tessa saying her ABCs (well, whispering them...)


ABCs whispered from courtney on Vimeo.

...and her 123s (and 4) in Spanish!  She can actually go up to 6, but just not on camera. :)


Counting in Spanish from courtney on Vimeo.

Lullabies for baby sister

I took this video on Easter Sunday while we were on our way home from our little excursion.  Alyse had started to cry, so Calder and Tessa took it upon themselves to comfort her.

lullabies for baby sister from courtney on Vimeo.

Tessa's lyrics are pretty clear, but in case you can't understand Calder's, it went something like this:

Don't cry, everyone's here to protect you
I don't think that you are mean,
I love you so much.
You are nice,
Mommy's here, Daddy's here, Calder's here and Tessa
Mommy and Daddy and big sister
Also big brother
Everyone thinks you're special
I love you so much
Everyone loves you.

Quite a lyricist, huh?

Spring!

 A few more favorite spring photos that I never got around to posting...

 

How to Eat an Ice Cream Sandwich in 8 Easy Steps

Step 1:  Test it out with a tiny first bite. 

Step 2. Take a cue from big brother and lick fingers.

Step 3.  Dive in.

Step 4.  Pause to show mom your adorable, ice cream-covered face.

Step 5.  When ice cream starts melting faster than you can eat, shove the rest in your mouth in one big bite.

Step 6.  Leave no chocolate-covered surface unlicked. 

Step 7.  Have Mommy clean you up and give you a fresh outfit. 

Step 8.  Burn off calories by chasing your brother all over the backyard!