a Discovery

I've been in a major spring purging mode around the house lately. I'm not sure what lit a fire in me, but I'm more than motivated to rid our small space of all unnecessary, outdated goods. So with the trunk of my car loaded down with donations, August and I set out to our closest Goodwill. Since we were swinging though I figured it would be fun to go in and take a look around. Several of the blogs that I read frequently find cool vintage treasures at their local resale shops, so we thought we would peruse the aisles. Well, as much as a two year old will let you browse. We didn't find anything of note until we head down the book aisle. I didn't see a price on any of them so I was hesitant to fill our arms with new reads, but I head up to the counter with 5 new kids books, 4 of my picking, and 1 of Augie's. Much to my surprise all of the books at Goodwill are 99 cents! We scored some fabulous reads that had obviously never been touched by their previous owners. I think we'll definitely be checking their shelves more frequently. 

a Sushi Date

Kevin's office is only ten miles from our house. Yet when you're caught up in the middle of your tasks for the day, it feels as though it may as well be 100 miles away. So basically lunch dates don't happen with us. But for some reason this past week, be it the pretty weather, or knowing Kevin was about to leave on another trip, or just the need to get out of the house, August and I resolved to make a mid-day lunch date with Kevin once and for all. It wasn't anything particularly fancy or exciting, but it ended up being a wonderful highlight to our otherwise monotonous day. And as an added bonus, we picked up the perfect little summer swimsuit for Augie. Win, win all around! 

And yes, we decided this needs to happen much more often.

he contemplated dining alone

but decided to join us for some edamame

and fun with Papa's chopsticks

not.a.fan

more Lilly Love

She puts up with so much, yet is always by his side.

Another Upgrade

After constantly battling August about ascending and descending his high chair, and his persistence to climb all over us when we sit at the table, we decided it was time to move him to the table. We loved the high chair that we had for him, but it took up quite a bit of precious real estate, and wouldn't roll up to our current table the way that we have it situated now. So, on a recent trip to Ikea, I made the impulse decision to upgrade him then and there. We are quite pleased with the new arrangement, though it has taken some adjustment on our behalf to get used to his new found independence. Basically he can push his chair into the kitchen to reach anything off of the counters that peaks his interest. And in case you're wondering, he's only had two falls since we got it...thankfully resulting in only one slightly bruised chin!

custom placemat created here

he seems to like it too

Embrace the Camera

 Mommy's big helper. Always pulling his chair up to get in on the action... and to provide some comic relief.

Need for Speed

Occasionally Kevin will get a silly idea in his head that leads me to believe he still has some remnants of a precocious little boy left inside him. Case in point, the new parking lot thrill ride that he created for August. August has always preferred to ride in his wagon as opposed to push it, so Kevin thought it would be fun to tie a couple of leashes to it so that he could drag it behind him at a decently high rate of speed and eventually send it spinning. Naturally August loved every second of the experience. I of course had to draw the line before it got out of hand when Kevin wanted to attach it to Daphne's collar, or at least insist on getting Augie's helmet...

Tax Time

Hard at work, crunching all of the numbers

Easter Sunday

Well since we all three crashed out in the living room until 8:00 Sunday morning, the Easter bunny had a bit of a delayed start. Though not initially my main objective, once I realized that our little guy was beginning to perk up and we were not going to be spending our day in an emergency room, I realized it was time to get in operation Easter mode. While Kevin and Augie played and entertained eachother, I got to work on our mini-brunch. And I'm happy to report that our mini frittatas and gratin turned out quite edible and delicious!

Thankfully August decided that despite the great night's sleep, he needed a nap as well, so it made the perfect time for the Easter bunny to do it's thing. I figured it was the perfect time to unveil his sweet new shopping cart to fill. I also set out the stuffed basket and homemade argyle bunny that his KayKay brought for him yesterday but he was too sick to enjoy, as well as the adorable vet clinic and animal book that his Great Aunt Laurie gave him. Needless to say it was a lot of fun to watch him discover and enjoy all of his new gifts.

chicken viewfinder!

Finally, it wouldn't be easter without a homemade egg hunt in a cute outfit, or at least photos of one. Since the bunny didn't exactly supply him with any filled eggs to hide, we decided to re-use his eggs from school since he absolutely had no idea that he even had them. While it was just a modified hunt in our back patio, this time around was much more entertaining for everyone involved. Our sweet little guy had a wonderful time searching for his handful of treasures and sampling his finds.

While it wasn't exactly the most ideal holiday weekend, here we are once again so thankful to be able to celebrate such a beautiful, significant day as a happy, healthy family. We are so very blessed.

Pre-Easter

Our Easter celebrations happily began a few days early for us this year. Seeing that Augie is in school now, he was able to partake in his first Easter party/egg hunt on Thursday. I volunteered to hide the eggs out in the playground, and oh so conveniently had my camera with me. A bit to my surprise, August was less than into the occasion. While the munchkins at the front of the line were eager to get in the gate and grab the eggs they had spied, Augie was pulling up the rear in no hurry whatsoever. We were able to coax him under the slide to where he finally picked up one single egg... and quickly discarded his basket and any motivation to find others. Thankfully his teachers divide the loot evenly so that he managed to come home with more than one sad, empty egg.

Augie's basket was still under the slide

Thursday night we figured was the only time that we would have to dye eggs, so we did our best to make it happen. At about 10:00 that night we decided it was now or never, so we set up shop on the kitchen floor. I wouldn't say we were very successful. First of all, most of the eggs cracked in the boiling process. Those that did survive, were quickly crushed under the strength of our aggressive toddler's chubby palms. And I don't know if it was the fact that we used brown eggs, or curious george wouldn't leave them in the dye long enough... but it just wasn't working. As evident in Kevin's annoyed silence :)

Easter weekend however, turned into a bit of a condensed holiday weekend for us. We drove out to Houston on Friday evening, had a wonderfully relaxing dinner and conversation with Kevin's aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandmother...and then things got kind of weird. After spending a fun night of romping around like a wild banshee, August woke up at 4:00 am in a bit of a crisis. I woke up to him sitting up in his bed saying "done, done, done".  Once I picked him up and put him in bed with me I realized that he was shaking uncontrollably, all while burning hot, had a bit of fast paced, labored breathing and could not get comfortable for anything. After over and hour and a half of giving him ibuprofen, trying to console him, convincing him to drink a sippy cup of water, eat some crackers, and watch some soothing baby einstein movies on the ipad, we were finally able to get him to relax enough to go back to sleep for an hour or so.

on the road again...

The next morning he seemed to wake up like nothing had happened at all. So we went on a long walk around the neighborhood to feed the ducks, and look for some turtles before we went on our way to rural west Houston for Kevin's mom's family's annual Easter shindig. Once we got there and woke him from his car seat, we noticed that he was starting to turn south again. Sure enough, after being there for a few hours and taking a short nap, he woke up with a fever of 104, so we decided to load up and high-tail it back home. Thanks to some ibuprofen and some more fluids, he perked up enough in the car for me not be completely obsessing over his every breath. But knowing how his illnesses tend to go, I knew it was only a matter of time after sunset that things would start to get hairy again. It was definitely such a relief to make it home and get settled in for the night though. Soon enough he was back to 104, and in the amount of time it took to medicate him, he was passed out snoring on my chest. We all three proceeded to sleep in the living room, and didn't wake up again until 8:00 on Sunday morning!

While he's still not completely out of the woods, and sounds pretty horrible, hopefully the worst of whatever this is episode was, is behind us. It was all beginning to be way too much deja vu from his January bout for my liking!

lone shot of this year's easter attire