Moments one by one...: A farewell to August...

Hello, hello.

We are here.

Carrying on and getting used to our new routine...which now includes tracking a single lime green t-shirt through the laundry for soccer and packing lunches for preschool.

Lots of pictures, few words.

Here we go...

Meet Eli

I took Eli to story time.

Just Eli.

I am loving these little pockets of time chiseled out each week for just the two of us, as much as we miss Max when he is away at preschool/other activities.

I am getting to know a new side of our littlest boy.

It probably sounds strange to say that I am getting to know my own child, one who I spend every day with...but Eli sans Max is a different child, I am realizing how much we needed more consistent one-on-one time.

Meet Max

Hello TEENAGER!

He's only spent a few days at preschool, yet he looks years older to me. He just does not look right sleeping in his crib turned toddler bed anymore.

It's probably time to move him to a bigger one?

Uncle Tejay

"Uncle" Tejay won the USA Pro Cycling Challenge!! Did you hear?

We were hoping to make it up to the mountains to watch the time trial, but didn't make it.

We did watch on our computer though and Max continuously said "Go Tejay" for the entire 25 minutes.

I like to think that might have helped him a tiny bit.

Tejay signed a jersey for Max and passed it along to my Mom who passed it to us.

Max does not want to take it off.

Ever.

The boys had fun sporting their signed jerseys from the last two tours.

If you ask Max how you know which cyclist is Tejay, he says, " He is the one wearing yellow!"

Too funny.

Princess Party

It isn't very often that the boys get invited to a girls birthday party.

I'm starting to think there is something in the water around here with all of the boys in our friend group (kidding, mostly).

A couple of weeks ago we went to our first princess party!

They absolutely loved it.

Max's favorite color is pink, he thought the party was "so pretty".

I saw both boys doing pretend hair/make-up, pushing babies in strollers, and even wearing high heels around.

It's always fun to celebrate these special days with friends, and I loved the opportunity to shop for a present in the girl section!

Pampered Chef Party

That very same day I also went to my first Pampered Chef party.

We received some of their nifty products for our wedding, but little did I know, we NEED more.

That is a very dangerous catalog to peruse, especially considering I have found myself in the kitchen a lot lately trying out all sorts of recipes from my cooking idol, The Pioneer Woman.

I liked how we got to see a bunch of products in action as we all prepared a meal together.

Did you know you can roast a chicken in the 30 minutes in the microwave?

According to the Pampered Chef, you can!

easy jobs only for me!

this girl went to culinary school!

It's always nice to sneak out of the house for some girl time, and I even came back with a new recipe.

Our household is now obsessed with peanut butter fluff.

Obsessed.

My order already arrived and I have put everything to good use.

I still have a long way to go...I'm no Pioneer Woman yet...but I am the proud owner of a "peanut butter measurer" (not at all the real name).

Baby steps.

Julian went out of town

Julian went on a business trip for three days last week.

I took only two pictures while he was gone.

We could call this one "soccer picture day fiasco".

"Dear Daddy, we are wearing mismatched pajamas, destroying the house at a rate much faster than Mommy can keep up with, and will continue our sleep strike until you return.

Love, M +E"

So grateful to have him home again.

Wildlife Experience

When I was pregnant, we lived very close to a place called The Wildlife Experience. I've seen their commercials and ads over the years, and somewhere along the way I got it into my head that this was NOT a very fun place. I was thinking it was probably a boring place.

Why?

I'm not sure.

How we ended up there is sort of a long complex story...basically a friend of mine saw a sign promoting early Pumpkin Spice Lattes at a Starbucks...so we decided we needed to have Pumpkin Spice Lattes the next day, obviously.

Well, the Starbucks in our town didn't have PSL yet, the only one that did happened to be right next to...you guessed it...The Wildlife Experience.

So we figured we might as well go in and check it out.

Much to my surprise, it was awesome!

I think I was nervous about experiencing wildlife...because I am not the biggest fan of wildlife...but there were no real animals, phew.

There were many interactive areas for the kids to play and explore though, the boys loved it.

Max loved this bee costume. I told him if he was a real bee, he would pollinate the flowers that were painted on the wall. What does this kid do? Ran straight into the wall at full speed. Fell over. And buzzed back to me.
That's my son for you.