HAGS

Happy (official) start of summer!

We are ready to dig in to some delicious summer food, like one of Marshall's favorites: corn on the cob (from my parents' city, which grows AMAZING corn).

Declan and I enjoyed a picnic at the park this week to take advantage before I start work soon!

This kid at the dinner table keeps all of us laughing (his brother did the same at this age).

One of our favorite summer treats: fudge pops on repeat!

Not especially summery, but on Father's Day we took Daddy out for coffee and ordered milk for the boys. They LOVED it!

Summer baking is always fun too! We just have to get the oven turned off early before the heat consumes the whole house.

Speaking of heat, our fridge recently went on the fritz and Terry fixed it by himself like a champ! I was so impressed with this handy dude!

Other summer plans:

Bike riding!

Reading and library trips

Teaching M to use the computer!

Hopefully playing board games--Marshall is occasionally showing some interest

Enjoying Marshall's birthday gifts

Attempting to plant a small garden (the boys helped me choose tomatoes and peppers, so we'll see what happens)

Recently, we went to the doctor for Marshall, and later the same day I put out some paper for Declan to color. He must have made an association with the paper on the table at the doctor's office, because he laid back the way M did for his checkup! It was too cute.

For Father's Day, I always take sports-related photos of the boys for Daddy. This year it was a struggle to get these squirmy, less-than-excited-to-pose boys to smile or look generally decent for three photos! Some outtakes:

And some winners:

We celebrated Father's Day with a run, coffee, tacos, and a brewery. Not a bad day for Daddy!

I can't remember if I shared photos of our new house...ever...but this is where we're living for a while as we settle in up in Silicon Valley.

Kids' play area

One of my favorite walls <3

Recent cleaning of backyard toys for water play

And of course, summer fitness!

Baby and toddler yoga:

Running:

(Terry and I are actually training for a very informal 10K. My mom used to run 6 miles on her birthday every year and I thought it would be a good goal to set for my own upcoming 33rd birthday. So we set up a training schedule and are really enjoying the consistent workouts! We're following Hal Higdon's basic 10K plan, but I doubled it so that it extended to something like 16 weeks. On Wednesdays and Saturdays we do strength training, and we're up to 4.5 miles for our "long" weekend runs so far.)

Biking and walking around the neighborhood!

 Swim lessons :-)

 Prepping for Declan's upcoming start to daycare

 Here's to what will hopefully be our best summer yet. We have a few minor plans, like checking out some local festivals (growing up in the Bay Area I loved Art & Wine Festivals, music in the park, etc., and we're hoping to enjoy some of those with the next generation!), hanging out with friends and family (and hopefully snuggling--er, chasing--my sweet niblings), a wedding later this year (one of my best friends is getting married and I can't WAIT!), and more!

Have a great summer! (HAGS!)

Scenes from May 2018

May 2018 is on the books with far more ups than downs and far more sunny days than rainy. Let's dive in to all the fun memories with some photos (mostly out of order because I have no idea how to convince Blogger to load photos in chronological order). 

One of two water tables Marshall (er, and Declan, as it goes) got for his birthday! The kids love them, and we have one for the front yard and one for the back for the HOT summer days!

I see lots of outdoor dining in our future! My brother keeps making fun of me because I actually schedule in when we're going to eat outside (in the backyard...literally fifteen steps from our normal table), but I stand by it. We're still getting the hang of remembering to grab all the stuff we need (I get most of my steps for the day running back and forth into the house to grab napkins or spoons or milk or ALL THE THINGS because we can't seem to get organized), figuring out the best types of meals to eat outside (stuff with fewer condiments so we don't have more stuff to forget to bring out!), and finding a good routine for how the kids can help. I bought a little caddy for carrying out utensils and napkins and plates so that might help.

I accepted a job offer last month, and I officially start at the beginning of July. I have LOVED this time off with Declan, but I think we are both ready for the next step. He'll start daycare at a local center, and then later he and Marshall will be at the same location for a year (until M starts kindergarten...next year!).

But of course I'm already emotional about the end of this phase, where Declan and I had several hours together every day, just us. It was such a wonderful gift to watch this sweetheart during these months of his young life, and (despite the stress of the move) I am glad it worked out that we got this time.

(He said, "Working!")

I'm cooking a lot lately, probably because we had no oven for a few weeks and I'm thrilled to have it back, but also because I want to make sure we test out some good recipes before I go back to work.

I bought these plates a while back and LOVE them. Safe to microwave, dishwasher safe, and each compartment is deep enough for liquidy foods too, like yogurt or dips and even soup, so no separate bowl is necessary.

 On Mother's Day we celebrated with tea in my great-grandmother's tea set, a gift from my aunt from our wedding. <3

These boys have loved "helping" me cook lately! Marshall is eager to actually cook, and Declan mostly just wants to climb up and down the learning tower while tasting things.

As mentioned above, Marshall celebrated a birthday in May. This guy is FOUR!

This is the look of a little boy eating the exact cupcake he wanted. 

Rocket ship!

Four-year checkup: check!

And some other shenanigans lately:

Soaking up outdoor time whenever it's cool enough to do so

Marshall's preschool just finished a unit on the human body, and Marshall gets pretty enthusiastic telling us all the (mostly) accurate functions of various systems in the body.

I'm pretty sure this day was the only time he ever cuddled a teddy to sleep, but it was adorable.

Declan had a fever one day, and I brought him a cool washcloth but then needed to run to the bathroom or something and asked M to put the washcloth back if it fell. I came back to this sweet sight. Marshall is growing quite a bit lately in his big brother role!

Ice cream outing!

Library time--one of our favorite activities. Free, air conditioned, lots of books to bring home for a few weeks, and some fun interactions with other kids!

Marshall asked for fudge pops for breakfast one day and I said YES! They were so excited!

Mother's Day outing (it all went downhill quickly after this outing because Dec was teething and tired and grumpy and our lunch was a total disaster, but the park part was nice)

S'mores! Fun fact: I put each kid's s'mores ingredients on separate plates, and when we went to roast Dec's marshmallow it was missing. We looked over to see our little thief munching away! Sneaky boy.

So May is a wrap! And we're well into June, my last month off work and Declan's last month before starting daycare. Here's hoping the weather stays reasonably comfortable, the days feel long, and the kids stay healthy to enjoy a fun start to summer!