++Mish Mash++

So behind. So needing to catch up. Where to start? How about a brain dump of life these days.

This is the scene nightly in our house. Sometimes it's oranges, sometimes it's cuties. Wyatt looks forward to this time with his dad. Man can he eat the fruit. Like father, like son. (And, I laugh as I keep finding the need to say that Wyatt usually does wear pants. I promise).
We were super excited about Ruby the robin who made a nest over the light right outside our back door. We saw her sitting on her nest a lot so Mark reached the camera up there and took this shot. We were like proud parents to see the eggs. The next day we stopped seeing her and I saw some bright blue eggshells in the yard. We put the camera up there again and there was nothing in the nest. We mourned a bit for good ol' Ruby.

This is Claire's favorite "strut" these days. If only this shot could also capture the smirk on her face. She is such a goofball.

We are onto our second child who is enamored with the cast-off car. We vowed we will buy her a nicer model. Maybe.

I've often referred to the weird situation of where our house is located. I almost refused to even look at the house because of it. Living in someone's backyard takes a bit of getting used to. We don't have this kind of stuff in Minnesota but I find myself happy every time I see another house like this here. And it is often. See us back there? Just wait until the leaves come in...and you won't!

The nice part is that we live in a quiet cul de sac down a hill. In other words: the ball just rolls right back!

We've been outside a lot. Spring peeks in on us every once in a while and then goes back into hiding. My favorite time outside is when Claire is napping. Wyatt just does his thing and we can get some yard work done. We have lots of yard work to be done. Mowing? not so much.

More soon. I promise.

++It's about time++

I finally got around to doing a one-year photo shoot with the littlest one. I mean, it would be a shame if her first year went by and we didn't have any photos to document it--right? Ha ha. I did my best to get something frame-able. She did her best to stay so busy it was hard to capture anything but her rear end as she was walking away. I laughed when we were done as I told Mark my method is quality through quantity. That means take TONS of shots and hope that a couple work out.
Here is one. Not necessarily my favorite, just the first one I got around to editing. This was the best smile we got out of her all day. What was she smiling at? The stranger who walked up behind me. That is our Claire!
On another note. The sicky bug was passed to Wyatt. He got a doozie of an ear infection and he still isn't better. We're on day 5 of meds. I think this may be his first ear infection. Not fun.

Here's hoping we are healthy and can welcome spring (if it ever gets here) in style.

++Hear that?++

That's right. Either do we. Our house is as quiet as a house with two kids 3 and under can be. Wyatt was so excited to help Don pull up the paper on the floors. I quickly realized why people have wood floors not craft paper floors. It's amazing what a difference just that makes!

So here is the new room. Minus a few cabinet doors and shelves. Oh, and all the stuff that is sure to make this hard-working room less pristine.

Here's the other side. Minus the treadmill that will make this room seem so much smaller.
I doubt anyone would ever design a laundry room with a window this large. It does make for a nice view though!

The hallway view. Funny to imagine that two months ago that was just a railing open to the room below.

The new mudroom. Obviously minus the light. We figured out after everything was installed that the old lights were too close to the cabinets so we moved them at the last minute. We've been using this room already and LOVE it.
The new dining room. The table is on the way. After over two years of living in houses with empty dining rooms we are finally going to fill the space with something other than toys. This is the view from our front door.
Now back to life as usual. We think we know what that means.

++Easter++

Look at those two happy dapper cuties. Jelly beans have that effect on kids, it seems.
For whatever reason, as a child I do not recall ever attending a single "egg hunt" other than the one that took place in my living room on Easter morning. Now I could probably take the kiddos to about ten of them and by the time Easter rolls around they are burnt out. We did three this year.

First was a fun little play date with my MOPS table friends. Claire had much more fun that what this photo shows. She is just not a fan of being told where to stand (or what to do at all, ever.)

Next, we had a fun egg hunt in our neighborhood. We were super excited about this as we're all about neighborly gatherings. That's why we live out in the burbs after all. Claire was so cute, she took off running with the rest of the kids. (oh---did I mention that Seattle was the only city that didn't get the memo about warming up for Easter this year? brrrr...)

Wyatt had the hunt concept down this year. Although he is not the strongest hunter. I have known this all along based on our daily lovey hunts in the house--if he doesn't trip over it, he doesn't see it.

Claire found three eggs. She was thrilled.

And generally just looked cute (have we given Grandma props for the hat yet? If not, thanks Grandma!)

Wyatt and his neighbor buddy Cooper. Can you tell they are the same age? They have the same "model" of Easter basket! (Pottery Barn Kids '07 for those of you wondering)

Claire jumped the gun and found the first Egg before we officially started the hunt Easter morning. In an effort to merge family traditions the kids find their Easter baskets first, and then find the eggs to fill it up. Don't you love the lovely brown paper on the floors?

With some encouragement, Wyatt found his rather quickly.

He was thrilled to see the Imagination Movers CD in the basket. Along with all sorts of other goodies.

Claire sporting some of her loot.

Wyatt tracking down his eggs. Note: he does have pajamas that fit him, these are just his favorites. The control freak in me almost didn't let him wear them knowing that they would show up in the Easter photos. I also think they were in last year's Easter photos. Notice how Claire is appropriately dressed for Easter morning? I can still control her, sort of.

I must say Easter morning was a fun mom moment for me now that I have a little girl. It was pretty fun to get her all dolled up in her dress. She liked it too. She didn't want to cooperate for a picture though, she was looking for more jelly beans.

And my handsome little dude.

Finally, our best attempt at a mom and kids shot. Just to prove to them that I was there.

++Graduation++

So I am officially done with my photography class. I learned a lot. I also learned I have a long way to go. My wish list of new lenses and software is a mile long. I'm also ready to take a breather for a little bit. I think my kids are ready for me to stop shoving a camera in their faces for a while too. It's also a good thing that I went to real college first and then had kids next. Motherhood has turned this goodie-two-shoes A student into quite a slacker. It's a good thing this class wasn't for a grade. It may have hurt my ego.

Our final assignment was about capturing emotion. Here's a little of what I turned in:
And there you have a little snapshot of life these days. Claire is always running away from us and getting into things. She cries a lot more these days too. I think her teeth are hurting her. That, and she doesn't like not getting her way AT ALL. Wyatt is still is busy old self. In the last photo he was hitting the balls his dad pitched to him rather than using the tee. His request. He was making some pretty solid contact, which made for one proud dad.

++I wonder if he signed up for this?++

Our contractor is too kind to the kids. I bet when he signed on for the job he didn't know he'd have two supervisors every step of the way. (I love love love this photo by the way).

One of whom asks lots of questions (but thinks he is the greatest thing in the world).And two kids happy to test out everything you install before you are really done with it (yes that is an old retractable modem phone cord being fed through the open drain hole in the sink--my kids have toys but old junk is far more appealing).

We're in the home stretch. The cabinets are in and being painted. The noisy days are over. How will we pass our days without all these extra people in our house to keep our kids entertained?

note: usually the kids are not that close to the workers while they are working. I'm not that bad of a mother. We just happened to be walking by with the camera out and I let things happen.

++The good, the bad and the ugly++

We had one ugly, goopy cold run through our house last week. Claire ended up with pink eye and an ear infection. Needless to say no one was saying "what a cute baby" to me last week. We're all better now. One of the hazards of having inch-long eyelashes though is that it's just that much harder to get all the junk out.