Cookoff, Park and School

A couple weekends ago with attended Jimmy's buddy and work colleague, Jake's, annual chili cookoff and I took second place with my white chicken chili. Woo hoo! The kids had a blast in their awesome backyard and there were cupcakes. It was a win, win!

Get that piñata, Danny!

Frosting face

"Bye, mom, see you later!"

Quick walk in the CB State Park before the Redskins game last Sunday...

And in the latest at school - Crew's classroom is working on listening and sharing and Danny's classroom is all about the alphabet and practicing concepts like first/middle/last and small/medium/large.

Love from Mom and Dad

With so much chaos on a daily basis, Jimmy and I don't always get the sweet quality time with the kids. That's why moments like these are so precious. Notice a pattern here? Yes, I pretty much wear Kingston all the time! How else am I supposed to get anything done?

Working at coffee shop with mama

New game from Grandma

Early morning snuggles

Brothers and Cuteness

Once again, I'm behind on blogging, so here's a photo "dump" of pics of the boys. First up, some brotherly love...

"hey, mom, take a picture of us!"

Matching shirts from Grandma

Taking a walk during the eye of Hurricane Matthew

"hey Kingston, what's up?"

Tummy time

Leaving school, "can we skip our naps. we're not tired!"

And then just Kingston looking cute...

Crew Turns 2!

French toast and mini cupcake for breakfast

Happy, happy 2nd birthday (yesterday) to our crazy Crewberry! You are such an amazing boy and we just couldn't imagine life without you! For the record books, let's talk about you as you turn 2. You're unbelievably strong-willed and have such a personality all your own. All of a sudden you are such a chatty cathy and you say the darndest things. Some of your more common sayings are "put show me", which means put a tv show on for you. You like to tattle and tell me that Danny and poor baby Kingston have "hit me" when they have done nothing of the sort. When Danny is in trouble you're quick to point out that "I good boy" and to get attention you scream, "I goooodddd boooyyy!" You like to dictate whether anyone sings or dances yelling "stop" if you disapprove. Unlike someone who's even stevens, you're all over the place. Extremely happy one minute and then act like the world is coming to an end the next. Always keeping us on our toes! You adore Danny and want to be just like him though you guys couldn't be more different. Talking to your teacher, Mrs. Norris, the other day she pointed out how Danny had to be encouraged to stand up for himself, but you, "you'll take someone out!" While aggressive, you have such a sweet heart and I know you will be such a good big brother to Kingston - you've already shown such an interest in "caring" for him putting your stuffed animals in his bassinet, etc. You call every type of car and most everything "trucks" like the other day at our beach access you called a baby stroller a "baby car seat truck". Let's see, what else. You're a BIG boy, in fact, your teachers thought you were turning 3, not 2 (see Facebook post below). What else can I say about you except that we just love you so! Next up is potty training and transitioning to the bottom bunk in Danny's room. Please send wine!

New bday shoes!

oops - he's only 3!

Looking like such a big boy!

Danny enjoying Crew's new toy

Sweetheart

Pre bday strep throat :(

Poor fella

A couple cute videos. First up is Crew trying on his new shoes and a little dancing and then it's playing with his new Max dog (also pictured above with Danny).

Staying Busy

We are absolutely loving St. James Day School this year! Danny is no longer at all weepy about leaving me and is having so much fun in his 4 year old class. Crew never really did care about drop-off and also seems to be having a lot of fun in his classroom. And I'm super pleased with Crew's vocabulary leap. Comes home singing the songs he learns at school and is saying a lot in full, thought out sentences. Danny and Crew's teachers have Facebook pages for their classrooms so parents can have a view into their days. Danny's is way more active. Don't know how Crew's has any time with all those two-year olds!

Recently, it was our weekend to host Nutmeg, the bear from Danny's classroom.

Dressed for the Redskins game

Safely in Crew's seat on the way to the grocery store

Learning all about the letter "F"...

With his Friends in their bareFeet

On a Farm Field trip

"Milking" a cow during Farm week

 On a recent family Sunday Funday...

Taking in the trashy decor at the Fat Pelican

Appetizer with a view at Hurricane Alley's

Dinner at Hang Ten

Gpa Meets Kingston

Gpa came to visit this past weekend to meet Kingston for the first time. He also got to witness first-hand the madness of our every day life. It's not always pretty or pleasant, but it's our reality and we're so very fortunate. And we had a very fun weekend with good weather and the Hensons in town the same time! Note Crew in all these pics - he's obsessed with Kingston and slightly attention starved.

Deep thoughts

Sporting Gpa's glasses

"We tried to keep them clothed and dry" said the dads

Cut and Color

At Danny's last hair appointment, his stylist asked if she could "spike" his hair into a shark mohawk and he was pretty pleased with the turnout.

Speaking of hair appointments, Kingston is not overly impressed...

As for coloring, it's kind of Danny's forte. He loves coloring countless pictures for Jimmy to take to his office. And I must say, he's pretty good, and fast, at it. Case in point, this picture posted on Danny's classroom Facebook page - his cow is bottom left. Ain't too proud to brag ;)

And because what's a blog post without some pics of our latest addition...

Bath time!

Morning chunkiness

Sleeping burrito 

Bright eyes