Mommy's little helpers

With helpers as cute as these, how can I not enjoy doing chores?

That's right, both of my babies love(d) taking rides in the laundry basket.  (Tyler is soon to be retired from these rides since he is getting pretty hefty these days!)  I believe the kiddos are about 11 months old in these photos, or at least close to that.  It's interesting to note their different styles:  Claire is holding on and ready for action, while Tyler is casually picking through the clothes and resting comfortably (He typically leans back in reclined fashion.).  This is a superb reflection of their personalities, I think!

Rocks State Park

Have you ever been hiking before?  It's this thing you do usually in a forest with something called "nature" nearby.  There are often waterfalls (see below), kids looking cute (see below), large rock outcropings with beautiful women on them (see below), and a man who appears to have another man riding on his back while urinating off a cliff (see below).  Hiking is fun.  You should try it if you never have.

A very happy valentine's day

My little valentines were sweet as can be yesterday.  Tyler and I enjoyed a valentine's day story-time session at the library while Claire shared valentines with all of her friends at daycare.  She came home all sugared up but she still had room for a special heart-shaped grilled cheese sandwich!  That's right, we had a fancy grilled-cheese dinner for Valentine's day.  Mommy was feeling lazy!  But not lazy enough to skip making our annual flourless chocolate torte.  : )

Thanks for the gorgeous flowers, Brian!

Claire and her valentine from Great Grandma Phyllis:

Tyler enjoyed his valentine too!

Mmm mmm good.  I make this flourless chocolate torte once a year.  It is extremely rich but so worth it.  Homemade raspberry sauce is the kicker!

Somebody got carried away with dessert.

Tyler was thrilled to get a valentine from his sister.

Here we are after the kids are in bed and we have food comas.

 Happy valentine's day everybody!

Big girl bed

That's right, Claire has ditched her crib and it's a big deal!  The bed itself is BIG.  I had always imagined that a twin-size bed would easily fit in Claire's bedroom, and not be much different from the crib.  It actually feels like it takes up half the room.  Granted, it's a trundle bed so technically it is two beds.  The kiddos are already getting alot of use from the trundle.  It's their spring board.  I wouldn't be surprised if next week they're using it to spring up onto the top mattress!

Amazingly, Claire has adjusted beautifully to sleeping in her new bed.  I suspect that she likes it because Tyler cannot yet climb up there by himself.  She's like a cat enjoying her new private perch.  To her it's probably more of a "pedestal" though, I'm sure.

Smithsonian day trip

At least once a month we spend a weekend afternoon exploring the DC area.  Last weekend we ended up at the natural history museum after driving around for over an hour (apparently the Adams Morgan neighborhood is NOT kid-friendly).  We've never taken the kids to one of the Smithsonian museums in DC before, always assuming that they weren't old enough.  Yes we definitely spent a good chunk of time familiarizing ourselves with the restrooms and cafe, but for the majority of our afternoon we ran from exhibit to exhibit oooing and aahhhing.  I was truly surprised that it went so well!

Claire was deathly afraid of the live butterfly garden.  Of course she gave no hint at this until she walked into the greenhouse with me.  Then it was "Waaaaah Mommy I scared Mommy NO NO NO!" over and over again for 5 minutes.  I walked her through a breathing exercise and she managed to relax enough so she was comfortably clinging to me and burrowing her face in my coat only 80% of the time.  She was even ok when one butterfly landed on my head.  I prayed that none would land on HER and fortunately we escaped without that happening. 

Tyler's favorite part was probably the people-watching at the cafe.  He also enjoyed the sparkly Hope Diamond, but was sadly deprived of a chance to slobber all over it.

You see who he got his dimples from?

I think it's funny there's an elephant's rear in the background, not to mention that Claire's got food in her mouth.

Tyer gets his photo with the better side of the elephant:

Claire took a picture of Daddy:

I should do a whole blog post of Claire's photos.  She LOVES taking pictures and they are so funny to see!  Maybe next time...

A belated walking video

This video was taken when Tyler started taking multiple steps in a row one week ago.  Now he is already walking across rooms, and trying to walk faster too.

Today we caught him climbing up on top of Claire's kiddie table and crouching there to watch her do some arts and crafts.  I don't even want to know what his next trick will be!

Claire turns 3!

Last weekend our baby girl celebrated her 3rd birthday.  (I suppose that means I should drop the "baby" part now?)  We did the usual shindig at our house and Claire partied like a pro.  Unlike her first two parties, this time I channeled  Martha Stewart and made the party decorations and desserts.  It was fun doing this but as Brian will readily testify I was undoubtedly MORE stressed-out about having things be perfect.  Maybe each year it will get easier through practice?  It was my first time making a cupcake tower, afterall.

I got the birthday girl to smile pretty before her guests arrived.  In all there were 11 small children running around our house.  It was...an experience.

3 little pigs, 3 billy goats gruff, and goldilocks and the three bears were all over the house.

Before her guests arrived Claire was marching around the house banging her cymbals.

In case you are wondering, that's a pig mask around her neck.  We had a couple of crafts planned for the kids but apparently new toys and a bounce-house trump crafts any day. 

She does love her chocolate!  Claire requested a chocolate cake for her special day.

Here she is with some of her friends, eating noodles for dinner.  Pasta dinner is a tradition for her birthday parties.

Tyler got a taste of cake too, but he didn't really go crazy for it.  He treated it more like finger paints than food.

Happy birthday to our sweet little girl!