just playing

i can't get enough of those cheeks - or that smile!




after i snapped a few pics of scarlet, asher asked me to take a picture of him playing with his trains.



and scarlet's new trick: how big is scarlet??? SOOOO big!

pumpkin patch

i didn't get a single photo of the baby girl but we all had fun.

three years old!

my cute little birthday boy and his loot. the train obsession continues. he has worn a hole in the knees of three pairs of pants in the past two weeks from driving trains all over the house. i love this boy.
he is also into dragons and playing games on the computer. the other morning i was in the laundry room and watched him wake up and get out of bed. he pushed a chair over to the window, climbed up on it, opened the blinds, and was standing there looking out when i went in and stood next to him. "what are you doing buddy?"
"looking for dragons."
"oh!"
"mommy, will you tell me if you see any?"
"sure thing buddy."



we were shocked when he requested a train cake.

new york city

i love that will captured the depth of the paint in this picture. when i was in college i went to a van gogh exhibit in L.A with my roommates. i had the luxury of literally standing and staring at each painting and taking it all in. this was will's first time seeing an original and unfortunately he didn't have the same luxury with our two tiny kids in tow. we basically sped through the met and luckily the kids were pretty mellow. you know you are in new york city when people are more fascinated with your baby than the incredible works of art surrounding you.

me and scarlet on top of the rock. thanks for the sling kris: it was a lifesaver


this was one of my favorite things from our trip: seeing the juxtaposition of the city and the park. amazing!



playing in the park:



and no trip to central park is complete without chasing a few pigeons...



we even saw a jumpy squirrel.



my very favorite. the world trade center site was impressive. such a huge void. i was crying and asher asked what was wrong and i told him that there used to be two great big buildings right there and one day some bad guys crashed airplanes into them and the buildings fell down and it made everyone really sad. i told him that those big machines were helping to build the buildings big and tall again. he wanted to go have a closer look but i told him they closed early today because this is the day we usually go "to class" (church). he said, "oh. are those bad guys at their class, mommy?" i told him no, but that they should be.





the statue is so huge up close. loved it.



this picture pretty well captures the whole trip: exhausting! it was fun taking the kids - scarlet was like some kind of celebrity or something, but we are leaving them home next time.

fourth of july

asher has been in love with his baby sister from the very first day. when she wakes up he wants me to go in and "save her!" if he beats me into her room, he likes to climb in her crib and "be two babies"






i'm not really sure how she fell asleep like this:

random cuteness

i HAD to get a picture of scarlet in this ADORABLE dress my friend Sara gave her. the bright dress matches her happy personality!



will snapped this shot one day... our little thumb sucker snuggling her stuffed piggy and falling fast asleep in the swing.


and last, who can resist a super chub in the tub? don't you just want to squeeze those legs?

the grotto

when candace was in town this summer, we went for a "hike" to the nearby grotto. it was so much fun- the kids both LOVED it!

twins

scarlet's cousin livi is six months older and much smaller. here they are wearing the same size matching dress.

memorial day weekend

for the third year in a row, we started out the weekend by running in the live welle 5k. we signed asher up to run in the kids race. we picked up our race packets a few days early and asher kept saying, "this is gonna be my FIRST race mom!" so cute.
it was fun to have a little running buddy with me.


love this face!


with the family at the cemetary

a day out with thomas

my mom told asher back in december that he could go ride thomas "after the snow melts". nice mom. EVERY time the snow melted from february until may, asher would ask if we were going to ride thomas that day. when we told him we were finally going, he was SO excited. when we pulled into the parking lot at the train station and he saw the real thomas sitting on the track, he just giggled for like five minutes straight. he was completely star struck. it was SO cute.

love this picture: he's like, "hurry and take the picture so i can get back to playing!"



he was very excited to be on the train... until it started moving.



once it started moving, he kept saying, "this train is kinda loud."

summer projects

our three major projects for the summer:
1. poured the concrete for the RV pad. "Uncle Bert" was asher's favorite person for several weeks. he was so nice to let him drive the "digger" with him. he would tell me several times a day, "i'm just gonna go out and check on bert."
2. installed cabinets in the mudroom- just in time to stash away all the winter gear. thanks to grandpa mike and his ninja skills for putting them in.
3. a fence! again, just in time for asher to go outside and play in the SNOW. better late than never.

family pictures

i know- this is an absurd number of pictures, but i am in LOVE with them all! thanks again tara. you are amazing.