St. Paddy's Day

Steve came home from bringing Ava to dance on Saturday and informed me that Ava was convinced the leprechaun was covering our house in green and causing trouble for St. Patrick's Day. 

"You do have something planned right?" he asked.

Um, no. I did not.

So here is our last minute leprechaun fun for St. Paddy's.

a little box trap, gold coins we had and paint for footprints

Ava's signs to catch the leprechaun

We made a mess with pillows and streamers and the kids loved it. Ava was a little unsure about looking in the trap but was thrilled he left some of his gold behind!

 Of course no holiday is complete in our house without a special breakfast. So we had some yummy green pancakes topped with Lucky Charm marshmallows. Not too bad for some last minute fun.

Happy St. Paddy's!

a smidge of spring

We had a smidge of spring a few weeks ago. It was so nice to get outside & enjoy the fresh air. We are 100% over the winter and are so anxious to get back into being outside all afternoon, walks, bike rides and beach trips. C'mon, spring!

matching bright colors & grey flats

some sweetness

Ava snapped this photo of us---not too bad using my big camera and a semi-tricky lens!

Ava was so excited to watch the news of the new Pope---and especially liked the "T" on his necklace. Oh, man.

happy blowing bubbles until the bubbles spilled...

no worries---big sis will blow some bubbles for him :)

Now that we had a tiny taste of spring we can't wait until it gets here for good!

Cole {big boy room}

I'd say we're about 98% done with Cole's big boy room. I love it so far. We kept the nautical theme but did a slight vintage/Nantucket/Cape/California beachy take on it. We love the laid back life on the Cape combined with the weathered wood and rustic-ness so we tried to incorporate that. We lightened it up with a new color, changed it up with some new furniture and have a new big boy room for a growing boy.

a peek in

We are loving the bed. I definitely recommend it for a small room---it provides so much storage/play space underneath. 

Cole's private play area

 

gallery wall

cozy bed

DIY finials

seersucker & boat shoes out and ready for summer 

Cole loves it {and so does Ava}. We still have a few more things to do but I'd say it's pretty much done---for now any ways!

source list

bed-ikea

bedding-pbk, target

curtains-ikea

rug-ikea

basket-Homegoods

wall art-Etsy, pbk

a few snow day pics

Oh my goodness the snow. I'm so beyond over it and have been house hunting like crazy. Until we move to the beach we've been keeping busy and dreaming of spring & warm temps. 

Some play-doh fun

Cole liked the snow for all 10 minutes this time before waddling inside and just plopping down on the living room rug. We are pretty much all over it & desperately need the beach.

 We finally had some nice weather one weekend. We opened all the windows and got started on this:

Ava's new bed---love how it came out!

 while the kiddos enjoyed the sunshine and sun/snow combo.

snowman

 Of course the nice weather didn't last too long so we were back inside to dream of warmer days.

love peeking in on them while playing together

hello there {updates}

Holy blogging hiatus! We've been so busy & the kiddos have been so sick. We have been healthy since our family sickness at Christmas so obviously it was time. Poor Ava had the stomach bug 2 Saturdays ago. She was so bummed she had to miss dance & her friend's party. It was fast but horrible. The poor thing was so miserable and slept the entire day minus the time she was in the bathroom. Our entire house was bleached/lysoled and under quarantine. Mama does not do vomit but I think I did a semi-good job of comforting her without letting her see me gag. Gross.

Then Cole spiked a nice 102.5 fever with cough two days later. His cough was so bad it was making him vomit. {Ugh again with the vomit.} He was sooo miserable but there was nothing "wrong". I ended up taking him back to the doctor a second time because he wasn't eating or peeing. He had a border line ear infection that the doctor {thankfully} decided to treat and he is doing better.

And then Ava caught the cough/fever.

And then our dishwasher broke.

So it's just been busy taking care of sick kiddos and trying to get stuff done. I finally uploaded pictures from the past monthish & will hopefully get back into blogging/facebook eventually.

Here is one I started a while ago to document the kiddos who are growing and changing so much. I need to do a better job of documenting snapshots of their conversations and their personalities & how fast they are growing up!

• Ava has started taking showers by herself now. I totally remember giving her first bath and now she wants "privacy, please". She still needs help making sure she gets all the conditioner out but she is completely independent otherwise. The best part is she dances in the mirror after her shower belting out Taylor Swift. Steve & I sit outside the bathroom laughing. 

                                  

• Aves has started reading on her own. She just wants to soak up everything and just read her first book to us. I love that she loves reading but this whole growing up thing makes me sad.
• Cole started speech in the public school and is doing well. He is chatting up a storm now and is so funny. His personality is the funniest thing ever. 

• Cole's is talking a lot more at school---except when he sees his teacher with her notepad to catch any anecdotes. He is SO stubborn. The whole nature vs. nurture debate? I'm 100% on the nature side.
• Ava's newest rest time/bedtime stall tactic is coming out to tell us how many syllables every. single. word has and pondering why some short words have more syllables than longer words. This cracked me up but we let her know this wasn't getting her out of going to bed.
• She also makes hypotheses about things {and uses the word hypothesis} and has started asking questions I have no clue about. {like does an octopus have bones?} 

oh ms sassy

• Both kiddos had their dental exams and did great! I didn't think Cole would sit by himself but he did and did so well. No cavities and big thumbs up on the brushing.
• Cole Quotes: These typically come out of the blue which makes these little life quotes so fantastic. I have ton more but, of course, can't think of them now. Here are a few from today:
• "You can drink some water but not the water you paint with."
• "Nakey bum coming through!" while streaking through the house. {this happens often. Three year old boys like showing off apparently}
• "You can't eat boogies" Uh, thanks.
• "I la you, mommy. You my best friend." This melts me. Completely. 
• We went on a Starbucks date today and when we got home Cole told me "I had a wonderful time, mama." My little speech delay guy used the word wonderful today.

And a few instagram pictures:

a little dinner dance party

mmm fondue goodness

Ava was playing House Hunters. The funnies thing ever. They almost found the perfect house but the couple didn't like the pirates invading it.

dishwasher shopping turned kitchen redo

Phew! Hopefully the kiddos get better soon and I get going on those 800 pictures I just uploaded :)