Playing Catch Up ... again

We have been so happy about the sun that's been peeking out lately! Yay for sunshine and a place for the kiddos to let off their energy. Jamisen loves his green tractor and drives it everywhere!

Jamisen's drawing and color skills are improving daily. It is impressive to see him try to color in the lines ... though, the example above is not one of his best examples. He also has this interesting nose picking habit (exhibited above). It's weird ... he loves to pick his nose. I'm hoping he grows out of it.

Jamisen loves eggs, loves cupcakes and loves cheese so I made him egg cupcakes with a ton of very finely chopped and steamed veggies. He loved them - as did his adorable and perfect sister.

 

Lily remains happy, crawling,  scooting and eating solids. She is still our early riser, getting up at 5ish every day, but she is so good natured that it's hard to be upset about seeing her for extra hours in the day.

As you can see, potty training is going well. Jamisen now just wanders off on his own to use the toilet and even wipes himself down ... which has led to a diaper rash on him so we need to work on that a bit.

Little bums are the cutest, aren't they!?

 

With the improving weather comes more opportunities to hike, play outdoors and get more friend time in. I went to my friend Jody's for a hike, only to find that an entire truck of hay had shown up and we had to unload bales of hay instead of hiking. It was a great opportunity to get some bicep work in!

My Mastermind Women's Business group is going strong and is on its 7th year together now. We just finished the book "The Desire Map" (all about figuring out your core desires and working towards how you want to feel in a day, rather than just straight goals) and "Jab Jab Jab Right Hook" about how to best capitalize on business social media. I treasure the group (there's 7 of us - we're not all pictured above) and feel thankful to have such a support group in my life. =)

Happy Easter

"Life is more fun if you play games.” ― Roald Dahl

Happy Easter Weekend =) We did an Easter Egg hunt with Jamisen. He was beyond euphoric about the whole concept of sugar. Trying to explain to him why Easter happens was a little tricky. The internet was no help either. I stumbled over an explanation to him but had vastly underestimated the need for an actual explanation. Jamisen didn't ask one single question about why he was made to get dressed up, carry a pink basket and go find plastic eggs filled with candy. Ah, so sweet: childhood innocence.

Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Faiola for sending amazing GIANT Easter Eggs filled with goodies. Jamisen loved the card, the book + all the fun bunny rabbits. I would like to say that all the adorable bunnies made it out of the day alive but that would be a lie. One of them met its untimely end, shattering on the floor but on the way down, I swear we heard the bunny peeping "Ah, it's so beautiful! So beautiful." So we feel certain that no bunnies were all that harmed during the process of the clumsy-toddler day.

The whole "candy candy candy" thing worked so well that we told Jamisen that the Easter Bunny had left some more eggs out along the road. This convinced him to go on a very long family walk. It worked like a charm.

I think that the Easter Bunny might be leaving little happy sugar eggs along the road for many more months. I am not above light bribery to get more fun family outdoor activities happening.

Lily gamely played along with her rabbit outfit though did not get any candy because I failed to get any candy for "only has 2 teensy teeth" babies. I will make it up to her by mainlining sugar into her morning meal. (Joke. That's a joke. Just in case anyone thinks I feed her anything besides delicious green smoothies in the morning). Lily also has been getting over a sinus infection that was bad enough that we did antibiotics (against my strong desire not to) so sugar wouldn't be great for her anyways. She also has been told by her Doctor to stay away from other kids until after her full vaccines are done. We have a measles outbreak right now in Bellingham and her last vaccine for that isn't for another month so when Jamisen goes to the Perch 'n' Play (indoor, germ-filled playground), Lily needs to stay home. And if there are any coughing or snotty kids that want to do play dates with Jamisen, we say "No," just to be on the safe side.

I managed to get some of our garden planted today while Chris was out running 10 miles, training for a marathon. Jamisen did NOT make it easy. He didn't want to stay in the backyard - wanted to go to the front yard, inside, anywhere EXCEPT where I could keep an eye on him. I planted kale, chard, spinach, and broccoli separated by rows of marigolds for their anti-slug properties. I'm hoping to plant blueberries, potatoes, corn, cucumbers, zucchini, garlic, tomatoes and peppers later in the season. Overall, a very successful weekend - workouts, planting the garden, and a visit from the Easter Bunny. Win, win, win.

Gender Reveal Party

This time, it was Erik and Cherris's big day. We were honored to host their special event. There was a food spread fit for a king ... or queen (!) with three kinds of quiches, phyllo wrapped cheese puffs, strawberry rhubarb phyllo tarts, orange muffins and crazy asparagus cheddar wraps. Basically, it was carb-tastic!

The overwhelming vote was for GIRL! I think Erik was the only one voting that he thought Cheriss was carrying a Baby Boy Faiola. The cutting of the cake seemed to take sooooo long. We had Grandpa Bosseant on the phone, anxiously awaiting the news with us. Thank you FaceTime!

Annnnnd, it's a girl!!!! Looks like everyone is pretty happy about that fact. We can wait to meet Baby Girl Faiola in August.

Brother Justin came up for the party and Jamisen loved to spend time with him too.

Baby Lily wore a dress for the occasion. Thank you Grandma Kelly for buying the dress over 4 years ago when I was newly pregnant with Jamisen, thinking I was having a girl. She saw me admiring the dress, snuck back to the store and purchased it ... only to have to hold on to it for almost several years until we really did have that girl.

With the whole family up, there were lots of walks in the neighborhood - including in Jamisen's rad car stroller. Jamisen and Uncle Erik are developing such a sweet relationship based on fun and physical activity. It's a ridiculously sappy joy to behold.

Lily is starting to hold her own with Jamisen. She has gotten quite good at dodging his playful pokes and crawls away quickly if he gets too rough. She also isn't shy about squealing loudly to let anyone above 4 feet tall in the vicinity know that she is under attack. Jamisen isn't quite potty trained but we're getting there. We are trying a lot of bribing and cajoling but so far, it hasn't worked. We have told him that once he turns 3, they don't make diapers for 3 year olds. Score one for lying ...