Eliot and Easter

This is Eliot's cute friend that was born two days after him. 

 Hopefully these failed attempts of ring gifting to cute girls isn't foreshadowing.

Failed attempts to swap some saliva.  Sorry!  I couldn't resist.  These captions are almost as bad as those horrid posters of toddlers dressed up like adults giving each other red roses and such.  

Working on our garden to be

Ira pausing to play with his shadow

The big news here was that Eliot turned 1!  Time flies when your working as a body guard to protect an infant from a playfully aggressive, older brother. :) 

The tubes and circus tent were his main presents.  He loves the tubes especially.

Neither of the boys wanted to take a nap after playing at the Hand's On Museum, so I didn't have time to decorate as planned.  But here was my makeshift, quick job. 

Eliot's first taste of dessert!  

He nursed this thing for about a minute straight before moving on to the actual chewing.

 

Ira constructing some words....with a little help from mom of course. 

Eliot enjoying conference.  We loved the parts we were able to pay attention to.  We'll have to read up on the parts we missed.

Both boys had their checkups this week and are looking good.  Eliot is finally over a stomach bug he got which is a huge relief.  We really love our pediatrician who was extremely patient with a flailing, screaming, scared Ira.  She kind of laughed at the fact that usually kids Eliot's age begin their stranger anxiety, and by the time they're 3, they're getting over it.  Eliot was as pleasant as can be, despite the fact that he had thrown up that morning, had diarrhea and an ear infection, and got four shots.  It's just another example of how different our two boys are.  

Ira has been walking around the house pointed out how tall he is in different locations.  "Look how tall I am next to the table!  Look how tall I am on the chair!  Look how tall I am on my bed!"  We finally bought him new pants since his were starting to look like capris.  

  Eliot's new favorite game is pat-a-cake.  The "roll it" part is pretty stinkin' cute with such short arms. 

We've been visiting preschools in preparation for the Fall.  I've also just finished a really time consuming, but fun wedding present for a childhood friend, and am moving on to making couch covers and pillow cases.   Pictures pending.  We were also sad to see some of our good friends move across the country.  But since they're not too far from Kristen, we're hoping too see them again soon. 

Anthony is hoping for clear skies so he can start biking to work more often, and is enjoying a little bit of a more normal pace after a surge of business.  

We failed to take any good Easter pictures, but it's really fun exploring possible holiday traditions.  The focus on Christ and the Resurrection was really clear until Ira realized there was candy associated with Easter too!  Oh well.  

We're keeping lots of you in our prayers as many of you have been facing difficult trials.  Love you lots! 

Parties, Plants, and Poetry

Hey Everyone!

We've been busy.  

First of all, St. Patrick's Day was a blast.  We kicked off the weekend with eating green.

Green marshmallow pancakes....they look a little moon cratered.

Gooseberry Jam

Green Apple

Asparagus

Ira pretending his asparagus in a dragon tongue

Green Smoothie

We had a mini St. Patrick's Day Party with our preschool coop friends at our place with a clover hunt and counting activity, a pin punch G for Green, and a Rainbow assembly/letter clue activity.  Oh! And of course Irish dancing!  I've decided that with the origin of the holiday, we'll celebrate St. Patrick's day, not only as Irish pride day, but also as International Missionary Appreciation Day.  So, we had the Elders over for dinner with a recent member friend for Corned Beef, Cabbage, and (none-Key) Lime Pie.  Yum!

We are overly ready for Spring.  It's still pretty cold here, and today we got a little snow and hail.  Pleeeaaaaase Spring! Cooooooome!  

In order to somehow summon the season, we've started growing things inside.

Anthony and Ira planted some flowers and vegetables together. 

 Day 1

Notice the snow on the bushes outside.

Day 3

Beginning to show already! Ira wanted to check on them about 4 times a day.

Oh...these boys make me smile.

Day 7!

I don't know what it is.  I've been wanting to throw a Beatnik Party for months!  It probably has to do with my conformist behavior lately.  You know...I'm pushing 30, have a mini-van and house with vinyl siding.  I was just craving a little dose of counter-culture I guess.  

Here's a copy of the e-vite.  

Hey Cool Cats, 

  If you dig poetry reading and black turtlenecks, you are in luck.  Come hang with us for some pre-hippie counter culture.  Here are some tips to enjoy the evening to the max.

 

1. Bring a poem to read.  Serious or humorous, short or long, self composed or well known.

2. Wear some black, maybe a beret or sunglasses.  Make it comfortable, something you can play "interpretive dance charades" in, and participate in finger painting some abstract expressionism. 

3. Be ready to sit on the floor...not only because it seems beatniky, but also because we still don't really have furniture.

4. Bringing your kids is a-o.k.  We'll put on a movie, or let them run wild, or let them participate reading an excerpt from Dr. Seuss. 

5. We'll sip hot chocolate, and have a couple of finger foods ready.  If you feel like bringing something, go for it. 

Also, does anyone have bongo drums, a string bass, or can play jazzy improv trumpet?  Eh, I know.  I thought I'd ask anyway.   

  O.k.  by now this party is probably either sounding really fun, or extremely weird.  If it's the latter, we won't take it personally if you have to "wash your hair" that night.  We'll think of another excuse to hang out soon.  But otherwise we'll see you soon Dady-O!  

  -sharon

p.s.  I only ended up sending this to one rep of your family. Spouses are obviously invited. :) 

Not surprisingly, not everyone was interested in "Interpretive Dance Charades."  But some people were, and it was a blast! Here are some of the poets.

This is one of my good friends who is hard core.  She had her wisdom teeth taken out two days before this, and still came. 

A reading of Billy Collins, one of my favorite poets.

A self composed piece, and commentary on the irony of the situation.

We also had some Calvin and Hobbes, Dr. Seuss, and "Popcorn Popping" recitations.

A poem by Jack Kerouac...actually I think she's "interpretive dancing" the word "think."

 Anthony reading another Collins piece.

 To eat, we had some modern art inspired desserts. 

Peanut Butter Jackson Pollack Brownies.

Piet Mondrian Pound Cake.

 A few people have asked me about the making of the Mondrian cake, so here's a few more images.

Here's the link I used as a guide, only I made 1 1/2 times a Joy of Cooking pound cake recipe.

http://ronnas.blogspot.com/2012/03/step-by-step-mondrian-cake.html

 In other news we've gotten a few things done on the house including finally replacing our ugly chandelier.

Before

After

Ira is a Dragon.  That's right.  Beyond dragon-like and in the actual realm of dragon.  He prowls, scowls, and growls at good friends and complete strangers alike.  But in more pleasant news, he's started eating vegetables!  Two weeks ago, he wouldn't touch anything in the category, and then over night he was suddenly eating broccoli, asparagus, carrots, tomatoes, sugar peas!

 

You get the idea.  It's very happy. 

He's started to dress himself, and likes to wear his pants like this when he gets the chance.  

Don't ask me why.

Eliot is cute as ever.  He has figured out how to go down stairs, which is good, because he can now make his way up the stairs in no time at all.  He really likes to use his bib to play peak-a-boo, loves to play with Ira, and is almost sleeping through the night.  Hallelujah! 

Anthony is making yogurt again!  This time with whole milk and a yogurt maker, which is about a million times better than our old powdered milk and crock pot method.  The kids will eat it without even adding honey or jam, just plain, delicious creaminess.  Ant's been pretty busy with work, but enjoying it.  

I've finally gotten my vaccines and sent in my visa application for my trip to Africa, and am chipping away at my huge long list of fun house and kid projects.  

Peace out and have a good week everyone!

February

Happy March!

February was a month full of....

 Love.

Valentine's French toast.  Ira has been a huge fan of making valentine's ever since the 14th.  He doesn't seem to care that the holiday is long since gone. 

Here are our little love bugs.  This was after a joyschool lesson I did on lightning bugs.  I love Eliot's face here. 

February began with Anthony gone for a week, and ended with Anthony gone for a week.  I know it could be much worse, but we're still hoping he doesn't have another trip for a while. 

During his first trip, we were lucky to have a visit from cousin James who just moved back to Michigan.  It was nice to have some fresh energy for the boys.  James ran around in circles for at least 20 minutes at a time playing "dinosaur tag" with Ira.  And ever since, Ira will occasional say things like, "Mom, I think you should stop being you and start being James."  

 We've had a healthy amount of snow lately.  Fortunately the electricity only went out for a few seconds at a time. 

And yes, those are Ira's shoes on Eliot. 

Ira helping Mom shovel. 

Ira likes to spray the snow different colors.  This particular day he chose yellow and I was too lazy to explain  to him why this was a disgusting choice.

The major highlight of February was a visit from Anthony's parents and youngest brother Mckay.  

I can't believe how few pictures we took while they were here, especially with the amount of playing we did.  We got a tour of the GM building in Detroit, got the Rouge Ford Factory Tour, went to the Henry Ford Museum, the Children's Hands On Museum, and ate some amazing (not too spicey) Ethiopian food in Ann Arbor.  

They were also able to help us reface our old kitchen cabinets to put in the laundry room.  

Let me rephrase that.  By "help," I mean to say they did all of it.  Mckay and Valine did the refacing, while, Paul, Ant and Mckay hung the cabinets.  I was usually playing with the kids, or taking a nap or something.  

Here are the laundry room results. 

 

Before

During

After

 I'm pretty pumped.  This is the first room in the house that we've "finished," probably because it's tiny and requires no real furniture.  We've prioritized working on the house with the most functional places first (kitchen, laundry room, closets) even if those places aren't really ever seen by anyone but us.  My Mom always says "Beauty follows function."  And bringing order spaces like this feels sooo beautiful to me. 

 Ant was rapidly trying to assemble stuff before he left on his trip to Connecticut.  But while he was gone, I was able to assemble one of these, 

and this, 

and this.  

Yep, I was pretty proud of myself.  It's not easy assembling a bed with a 3 year old "helping" you and a baby crawling all over you trying to eat the screws.  But now Ira finally has a real bed, and Eliot can graduate from the pack-n-play to the crib.  It's kind of a sweet bed.  In a year or so, we can flip it over to make it into a bunk bed for when the boys start sharing a room.

Ira did very well with the transition from 5 adults to 2 kids, to 1 adult to 2 kids last week.  He was pretty demanding and whiny when the Quinns were here...I think still recovering from his cold.  But last week he decided to be a helper and was generally very cooperative.  He even finally took initiative in the potty arena. He's been "potty trained" for a year, but last week he decided he wanted to do it all: light, t.p. flush, pants pulling, hand washing...it's a really involved process when you break it down!  And he's got it all down pretty well. Woohoo!

Eliot is a doll.  He's usually so mellow I'm afraid he gets neglected sometimes.  He's definitely improving with eating solids the past few days which is awesome.  He's also started biting people for fun.  Not so awesome. 

Anthony has mastered Valentine's day.  He surprised me with a baby sitter so we could go out to dinner and had chocolates and flowers ready for me.  :)  We were also able to get some cheep tickets with some friends to go to a Pistons (Detroit's Basketball team) game.  Fun stuff.  

Alright, bedtime.  Peace out all!

The End of the Beginning

(Otherwise known as the second half of January)

Well, after an extremely busy November and December, January ended up being a really nice, relaxing month.  Pacing our work on (and specifically spending on) the house has forced us to take a nice breather and chance to get back into a routine around here.

Eliot:  He's gone through a little progressive growth spurt the past couple of weeks and is suddenly crawling with his stomach off the ground (sometimes), cruising, and climbing the stairs.  The stairs are a little scary since the only way he knows how to go down, is falling.  We'll work on that.  He also has started shaking his head "no" when he wants to be funny.  Super cute.  His upper teeth have grown to rabbit proportions and are also very cute.  He's still not eating many solids, and hasn't been his cheerful self since he came down with a cold Thursday. Ira caught it Saturday, and I caught it today.  Since the boys' noses are like faucets and their coughs hacking, we decided to stay home from church and let Ant represent.

Ira:  Grumpy with his cold.  But besides that he's been really fun.  He's really into pirates and dragons as of late.  We showed him Peter Pan after the pirate infatuation began and now I am constantly finding a hanger in my hand and being called Captain Hook.  Social skills have not exactly come....naturally.  He growls at guests, and when he saw a few other little boys at the Library this week, he decided to play dragons with them.  Of course he didn't explain what he was doing when he started running after them roaring.  He came back to me fairly quickly and said, "He said I was a bad boy."  Hmmm perplexing.   He has however had a really fun time with the little preschool coop we've been participating in.

Anthony:  He had a conference in Toronto for 5 days, keeping him busy.  The rest of us survived without him but were exuberant at his homecoming.  He also had some fun presentations to attend yesterday at U of M.   He feels like my knight in shining armor every night he comes home.  ....does that imply I need to be rescued from my children?  Let's not dwell on it. :)

Sharon:  I got a church calling as "Morning Out Co-coordinator," which means another sister and I organize play dates weekly for sisters with or without kids.  I received the calling two days after getting stir crazy and venturing out in blizzard-like weather to take the kids to the Museum of Natural History.  We couldn't find any parking closer than a half a mile, and as we walked I kept getting "you are a crazy lady" glances from people or comments like, "Wow, you're a brave woman to bring them out in weather like this."  Anyway, I'm really excited about the calling.  It's pretty perfect, since obviously we enjoy getting out no matter how inconvenient, and have lots of ideas of where we'd like to go.
  We've also been busy getting together with fun people.  In the past 7 days, we've had friends over for dinner 3 times.  There are a couple of guys I worked with from BYU in our ward, so we invited them over with their cute families for Indian last Sunday.  Friday we had the Elders over for dinner, and yesterday some good friends from our last ward dropped by while their house for sale was being viewed.

  So, that's pretty much it.  Life is good and busy.  Have a good week everyone!