yay for not reverting back to a newborn sleeping pattern!

nothin says *celebrate* like an oreo milkshake from the silver diner!

she was an amazing sleeper for the longest time but recently decided not to be...

~break out the incentive chart~

...and after three straight nights of not screaming at the top of her lungs for a tissue, water, milk, the resituating of her blanket etc., and/or sneaking into our bedroom at 1 a.m., 3 a.m. or 5 a.m., we decided to go out for a big, fat milkshake!

after 4 weeks of using the incentive chart, we've succesfully returned to our normal sleep patterns!

(yay, for diminishing racoon eyes! thanks for your time, dior skinflash color corrector and booster. until we meet again.)

the "big movies"

elisabeth's bff

elisabeth sat like this for the first ten minutes of the puppet show...
she adores her best buddy :)

happy birthday, sweet lulu!

we love "la-loo"

Happy Birthday, Lo!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

18

18 mo check-up

for those of you interested in stats, "Lenny," (as he calls himself) clocked in at:

25 lbs; 33 in tall, and the cranium?

we've dropped from the whopping 90th percentile down to the 70th.

no custom made football helmet for this pee-wee!

along with his growing vocabulary,

he decided to show off for dr. kelly by telling her two of his favorite phrases:

* hi, daddy       * hot coffee

rock on, buddy...

(his other two phrases? "bye, -name- " and "big truck")

winery...juicery

we took a little afternoon trip to a local winery...with the kids

i was a bit skeptical, at first, about taking the kids to a winery, but this one claimed to be "kid (and dog) friendly" and turns out, we weren't the only parents who felt the need to drag their kids out in the middle of the afternoon for a sparkling glass of bubbly, or a robust, opulent, fresh, expressive, complex, blowzy, herbaceous, firm, flat, leggy glass of wine.

the owner greeted elisabeth and landon with a small tray of juices and we parked ourselves in a cozy nook with two huge leather couches, some rocking chairs and a huge, stone fireplace.

the kids were so great~ they were perfectly content just hanging out by the fire, snacking on the meat and cheese tray and worked on polishing off the hummus and pita chips...of course they couldn't resist the giant window that overlooked I-66.  who wouldn't enjoy a glass of wine (juice box) while watching flatbeds?

we were there for about 3 hours and it took us that long to finish our respective glasses of wine and do a small sampling (don't worry, dad, we didn't drink and drive)

ended up being one of the best afternoons we've had in a long time...fab place :)

t.o.

guess which one's in time out?

still can't figure out if the boy is slightly taunting or supporting...



either way, he loves her uggs.



just cruisin' around

portraits

the teacher in me is beaming!

oh, how i miss self portrait week in school...for so many reasons.

my first graders always had noteworthy self portraits but i'm so proud of elisabeth's!

she loves to draw

 (unfortunately, it's taken a back seat, since she decided to tag our entire first floor with the midnight blue pastel crayon)

here is her very first, unsolicited family portrait.

so glad she included her brother...and our towering hair.

this picture is of me. 

i've got hair, eyes, sunglasses, a nose, mouth,

ears (which look like cheeks,) makeup and legs!

who needs arms when you've got makeup?

i think that's pretty darn good for a 3 year old!

don't worry about it.

who cares if i was on my way downstairs to work out...while eating a brownie.

end blog post.

yum.

hit and run

this is how i found a few of their toys @ the end of the day...

poor gal. 

she should have never crossed the street in those boots.  they're way too big for her.

the "buzz" word

i wish these two pictures were in a flip-book.

his expression changed as quickly as it appears

i will give you a $ if you can guess what he is saying. 

(this is the easiest free money you'll ever receive, if you know landon at all)