Northport fun

We spent St. Patrick's Day weekend up in Northport.  We stayed with Florence and Basil.  Nathan was thrilled to be back, and to play with all of his toys that he hasn't seen since Labor Day weekend.  It's definitely a little slice of heaven for our family.  Todd and I were excited to have Natalie up there for her first visit outside of the womb.  It was incredible weather for mid-March, eighty degrees and sunny the whole time! I kept forgetting that it wasn't July.  We had a lovely time catching up with Florence and Basil, eating delicious food and just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Of course Nathan was thrilled at the prospect of "helping" Daddy put the Miata back in the driveway.

We helped with a few projects around the house, one of which was moving in a new table and chair set for Grandma and Grandpa's kitchen.

Nathan had a blast playing on the swingset.  Last year he pretty much ignored it, so it was fun to see him playing.  He struggled a little bit at first with the "rock climbing" wall that led to the top of the slide, but he kept trying and was so proud of himself when he got the the top!

Natalie's New Trick!

 This morning while we were getting ready for the day, Natalie started blowing raspberries.  So cute! :)

Sunny Sunday

Today was absolutely gorgeous--sunny and 65 degrees, which is pretty much perfect at any time of the year, but especially in early March in Michigan.  We took full advantage of it!  The windows in the house were open, and I did my weekend errands with the sunroof open and the windows down.  After the chores were done we just had a blast playing in the sunshine.

First time in the sandbox this year.  Nathan was so excited to be reunited with all of his sand toys!

Before our walk I had to take some photos of Natalie in her snuggly little bear coat.  This is her "fending off the paparazzi" pose.

This is already a classic Natalie expression.  This is her studying something interesting face.  In this instance it was the camera.

The four of us headed out for a walk around the neighborhood before dinner.  This was the first time that Natalie was big enough for us to use the double stroller that Becky and Andy handed down to us.  It's so nice, and Nathan thought it was really cool that there was a seat for both kids.

One edge of our neighborhood borders a farm, so Nathan had to get out into the field to check things out.  He discovered some big chunks of dirt.  What does any three-year-old worth his salt do with a big chunk of dirt?

Why, throw it of course!

Such a cute kid

Such a cute hubby and baby, watching Nathan's antics.

The random household task crossed of my to-do list this weekend was to clean out and reorganize the linen closet in the kids' bathroom.  I hadn't done that in about five years, and it felt so good to sort through all of our old towels and organize our cleaning products.  The closet has a childproof lock on it, which means the cleaning supplies aren't accessible by the little ones.

And, here's the BEST and most exciting news of the weekend:  Nathan is using the potty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   He is so very proud of himself and excited about his new accomplishment, which is even more exciting than how proud we are of him.  He's had a few accidents, but overall he has done really, really well (he even had his first peeing outside experience on our walk today. haha).   Now that he knows that he can do it, he's all about it.  Hooray!  Do you like the super fancy sticker chart and stickers?  I love that Nathan picked out a sparkly yellow "P" sticker and put it over the one that I wrote in.  What a big boy! 

Saturday with Friends

Last weekend was a busy one!  I had to work both Friday and Sunday nights, which always makes the weekend seem very short.  But we certainly packed the non-work time full of fun!  At lunchtime on Saturday, Hillary, Jeff and Graham came over.  This gathering is one that we've been trying to plan for eons; between the four of us grown-ups, one of us always seems to be working on a given weekend.  Well, actually, Hillary was working that day--she was in town giving a presentation to the alumni board, and the timing worked out well enough that her boys came down with her and they spent some time with us.

Graham is at a really fun stage--crawling, getting into everything, playing hide-and-seek, flirting--just generally adorable.  It was really awesome to see Hillary and Jeff with him too.  They are so in love with that kid!!  Graham thought Nathan and his trucks were pretty great, and Natalie had a blast watching the big boys play and wishing she could join in.

Just boys hanging out playing monster trucks.

A smile from my sweet girl.

Giving Mommy a kiss!

Mommy is SO funny! :)

I love his pink cheeks. What a sweetie!

Nathan commandeered Jeff, plopping in his lap and demanding that he read.  Jeff was very sweet to oblige. :)

On Saturday evening we went over to Becky and Andy's house for dinner.  They cooked up some delicious ciopinno, which is a seafood stew famous in San Francisco.  It had cod, mussels, shrimp, tomatoes, and other stuff that I'm forgetting--it was spicy and absolutely delicious!  Nathan, Hannah and Leah spent a ton of time playing downstairs in the playroom, which meant that they had fun and so did the grown-ups.  We were actually able to have uninterrupted conversation!  Hannah was very sweet with Nathan, she played with him the whole night.  Natalie was a peach, as usual, and snuggled with her daddy.

Toddy and his baby girl

Nathan immediately located the one vehicle in the sea of girl toys

The kiddos at dinner

So glamorous!

Sunday with the Appledorns

On Sunday the Appledorns came over for the afternoon.  Have I mentioned that I love them? Because I do. I feel so lucky that they love us too.  It's always relaxing to hang out with them, and they don't seemed fazed at all by the fact that I only ever serve store-bought pizza when they visit.  I hope that my conversation is more interesting than my menu planning/lack of culinary skills! :)  

The boys had a blast, alternating between playing together and playing on their own.  Miles' vocabulary and chattiness is exploding right now; every time we see him there's been a huge jump in his verbal communication--he's got a great sense of humor and is such a funny little guy.  Brynn has lost her newborn look and is a full-fledged infant.  Natalie is jealous that Brynn hasn't lost any of her hair yet! 

Boys, matchbox cars, playdough and tupperware lids = fun

Miles was testing out Nay's art easel

Brynn is impressively able to sleep in the midst of toddler chaos, as long as she has her trusty swing and swaddle blanket.

Nathan was NOT tired.

Two boys working on their own very important projects.

Me with my two favorite little boys--I can't believe how well this self-portrait turned out!

Sleepy and full Brynn and her beautiful mama.

You would laugh to know how many photos had to be taken to get all four of us looking at the camera at the same time!

Looks like we caught them in the midst of scheming some baby mischief. 

I can't believe he used to fit in this carseat!

This is what Miles thought of my idea to take a picture of the boys sitting on the coffee table.

Siblings

My three most favorite people in the world.

I love them.

Cute boys