Remembering Warmer Days

This is a photo I took this summer with Tristan and my dad fishing at Grandma's lake. Although I couldn't get out to take any scenic photos I did go back and convert this one to black and white. And as I sit in 30 degree weather it is nice to day dream about warmer summer days...

Turkey Masterpiece

Somewhere on the internet I saw the idea for these cute turkey hand prints so on Wednesday I set up Tristan's paints to make a Turkey Masterpiece. Tristan complied very nicely as I bossed him, "open your hand," "let me paint your hand," "don't close your hand," "don't touch anything." After the Turkey Masterpiece was finished he got to make his very own Masterpiece which he decided was for his Nama. How sweet :)

I'm thankful for...

my sweet little Noah, the newest addition to my gang of boys, oh how I love every chubby inch of him!



my ENERGENIC toddler, whom I grow to love more and more everyday.



and for Edgar, the leader of the gang, awesome father and husband.

My Literary Baby

I Heart Faces-paper

The Simple Things-Baby Toes

Its amazing how flexible babies are. Yesterday I went to a Pilate's class and today I am VERY sore, which gives me even more appreciation for how easily Noah can pull his chubby legs legs up and put his toes into his drooling mouth. My little man is so easily entertained:)

Raking Leaves Again

This fall we (um...ok Edgar) had to rake the leaves in our yard several times. And every time Tristan LOVED helping out. Then last weekend the boys and I were hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house and my dad was raking too. Tristan was all about helping Grandpa rake and really got into using his Tristan-sized rake, although I'm not really sure how much help he was.




Hard at work!



Jumping in the pile you've raked, the best part!

The Simple Things

I’m joining Rebecca Cooper, author of the blog, "Simple as That," and totally amazing photographer, in documenting the simple things in my daily life, the little things and the little moments that make me smile. Each week I’ll post a photo of something simple that made me happy the past week.




Its been awhile now that Tristan has been into lining up all his cars, nice and orderly. But his latest thing is lining them up, crashing into them, lining them up again, crashing into them again...

This morning he got out all his cars and started this routine. Then he decided mommy should line up the cars so he asked-errr demanded (yes he's 2), "Mommy put them," and I complied.

Little did I know how gratifying this could be. Simple.

Snapshots of Noah

My little Noah is getting big so fast. He is already 6 months old! He can roll over and sits up for about 20 seconds before he begins to slowly fall over. He grabs at everything and puts everything in his mouth. He babbles, "babababab." He smiles at everyone and absolutely loves his big brother. He watches his every move. He's only been around six short months but it is already hard to remember what our lives were like without him.

First Snow of the Season

This morning when we woke up there was a white layer of snow covering the ground. Not enough to make snow angels or a snowman, but enough to cover the car. It also happens to be Veteran's Day so neither Tristan nor I had school and by 8:00 am Tristan was a little stir crazy. So Edgar took him outside to scrape the snow off the car. He had so much fun that once he got inside he was asking to go out again claiming the car had more snow on it. Instead I took him in the backyard where he cleared snow from his bike, from the table and chairs, and from the grill. After all that hard work he was ready to come in, veg on the couch, and warm up for a bit.


Get that car clean!

Stomp! Stomp! Wipe, wipe.

Cozy up on the couch.

Sharing

I have to admit Tristan is not the greatest sharer. Grandma W has been working a lot with him on it. Whenever they get a snack she works on teaching to take turns eating the snack. So today we were eating fries at dinner and I finished mine first. I asked Tristan for one of his fries (of which he still had many) and he told me-quite forcefully- "no, mine!" Edgar's response to this was to offer me his fries and make a big deal about SHARING with me. After several "subtle" hints from Edgar, Tristan decided he wanted to share with mommy too. He took special care to shift through all of his fries to find the tiniest burnt fry and said, "here mommy," as offered it to me. Well, its a start at least...

Orange

The Simple Things

I’m joining Rebecca Cooper, author of the blog, "Simple as That," and totally amazing photographer, in documenting the simple things in my daily life, the little things and the little moments that make me smile. Each week I’ll post a photo of something simple that made me happy the past week.

"Afternoon Nap" I love spending time with my boys but also enjoy when they take an afternoon nap at the same time. It gives me a little bit of "me" time.

PS Wouldn't it be wonderful to take a two hour nap every afternoon!"

Halloween

D
Halloween this year was so much fun. Tristan dressed up as a Racecar driver. I bought the uniform and then cut up boxes and painted them to make his racecar. He LOVED it-and is still playing with it. Noah was a puppy and looked super cute with his chubby little cheeks sticking out of the puppy face. This year Tristan really understood what trick or treating is all about. We went trick or treating around my Grandma Deutmans's neighborhood so Grandma and Grandpa D and Audrey and Joanna could see the boys dress up. Then we ended up at my mom's house for pizza. Tristan was too shy to actually say, "trick or treat," but he knocked on doors and held up his bag waited for the loot. I already can't wait till next year when both the boys can walk and knock on doors and enjoy the candy!