Hug!

I snapped this picture yesterday.
Stephen is such an affectionate little guy - "Hug" has been in his vocabulary for a long time now. Periodically throughout the day, he will run up to one of us with his arms stretched out saying "hug!". He has quite a little ritual going with Kyle when he leaves in the morning. Yesterday he wanted lots of hugs from Alaina, and she sweetly stopped what she was doing to oblige and I managed to grab the camera.

He also started putting two words together yesterday. Today it was "read book", but yesterday I noticed it when I handed him a stuffed puppy and he said "Hug dog". :-) Appropriate!

Four Years!

I grow more thankful as time goes by for the privilege of living each day at the side of this man!

'Twill Do

Yes, yes, the hair situation was getting quite bad. I thought I'd never cut my own baby's hair - too scary on a wiggly little one - but with the assistance of a favorite movie I can actually do it. Well, more or less.

A little short here and there (they will move, no matter what you do) but at least we can see his eyes again! I'm so glad my Mom had me learn, and my brothers let me practice on them!

Trimmed up, and a quite a dashing guy - literally!

Valentines Cupcakes

We had a last minute type of Valentines Day this year - some decorations grabbed from storage, red and pink clothes for the day, and a couple things Kyle picked up the night before. One of the things he got was cupcake papers. ;-)

He and I were right on the same track with that one. Our celebrations always involve food!

We all had fun making and decorating the cupcakes with some sprinkles. It's so much fun to have kid and a husband who enjoy the simple things!

Kyle was determined to get my roses in the picture, even though the picture would not do them justice. I think he knows how I crave some blooms at this time of year!

Eating - always serious business! ;-)

During a Slower Season

Since starting the third trimester, I've been having a lot more difficulty with my varicose veins. Activities that would normally be, well, normal (like a run to the grocery store + about 20 min of standing conversation) are enough to pretty much immobilize me the next day. So I am learning to focus on the most important things and balance my activities for now - do something on my feet, do something with my feet up. It's a little frustrating at times, but I'm plugging away at baby preparations, slowly but surely.


When the kids are napping or in bed, I've been working on making an album with our honeymoon pictures, and having lots of fun (and keeping my feet up)! I can't resist a little more show and tell. These are some of my favorite pictures, and I wanted the two pages to coordinate in color, but still have a decidedly masculine or feminine feel.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out! It's been something fun during this slower season.

Generations Together

My Grandma and Grandpa S. are both turning 90 this year. As Alaina said, "That's close to my age!". ;-) I snapped some pictures at our last visit that were so sweet, I can't resist putting them up.

Surprise Visitor

The kids had a surprise artist show up while they were coloring the other night!

Both of them were utterly convinced of his reality.

Stephen kept trying to feed him crayons! They were both so cute and funny as they talked to him.

Our Daddy is such fun!