We're still alive..

Sorry for the lack of posts. The weather has been beautiful and we've been keeping very busy spending lots of time outside. But these two pictures sum it up:



And Doug and I have been doing a lot of this:



Hopefully we'll have our blog caught up soon.

Reese's

I know you may think this post is going to be about that sweet succulent chocolate that I love so much, but it is about something I love even more- the Reese family.

My sister Carly and her family came to visit us from AZ and we had a great time with them. They arrived on my birthday and were able to have a slice of my heavenly Reeses blizzard ice cream cake (I wish I had a picture so you could imagine how good it really was) before heading off to bed. Ladd and Addison had a great time playing, although he was a little too affectionate for Addie at times.



The first day we rode bikes to Lake Camelot and the kiddies played at the park. That night we went to an outdoor concert on Lake Harriet and brought take-out Chinese food. The setting and music were awesome. Ladd and Addie had a blast dancing and it kept the entire audience pretty entertained. (Thanks to Carly we have some pictures)







We spent some time at the community pool on Saturday where Ladd continually dunked himself, floundered, gasped for air, and then dunked himself again.









I can't tell you how fun it was to have the Reese's come and visit us and we're hoping to be able to visit them in AZ when we are aching to leave the Minnesota winters.

Happy Birthday to me!

Ok, I know it might sound lame to post about my own birthday, but it really was a wonderful birthday. The weekend before my birthday, my friend Maile (who's bday was the week before mine) and I treated ourselves to a makeover at Sephora and a makeup shopping spree. Half-way through my makeover Maile commented- "Wow, you look really pretty with makeup. I don't think I've ever seen you with makeup." I'm so pathetic! I'm happy to report I now know what a foundation primer is used for and wear makeup almost everyday. Side note- I'm pretty sure this makeup shopping spree was a result of a postpartum crisis. Doug is just happy I didn't chop my hair off again.

The morning of my birthday Doug made me open a gift that Ladd had helped him wrap the night before. Doug left and I lounged in bed for a couple of minutes waiting for Ladd to wake up. Upon waking up Ladd climbed in bed with me. When Ladd saw the present and he exclaimed "Happy YOU YOU Mommy!!" (translation- Happy Birthday Mommy) and gave me a huge hug. My heart melted. It was only 7 am and I was already having a great birthday. Later that morning my WONDERFUL friend Adrienne watched the boys for me while I spent the morning doing my BIG Target shopping day (About once a month I get 20% off at Target for a day. I usually have to make about 3 different trips to the store because I don't have enough room in my cart or car). There is nothing better than Target shopping without kids. Afterwards, Doug met me for a yummy lunch at Damico & Sons. That night Doug came home with my favorite cake- A chocolate Reeses blizzard ice cream cake from Dairy Queen! I loved every bite of it. I can't wait until next year.

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy!!

Today Ladd turned 2! I can't believe how much his dad and I adore him. He really is one of the sweetest boys I know.



A couple of things you may not know about Ladd are:

-One of his favorite pastimes is cooking - he'll spend hours stirring and mixing in his little pots and pans and loves to help his mom and dad in the kitchen.

-He is very polite - he regularly says "sorry" and "excuse me" to everyone and everything including inanimate objects.

-His first name is actually Weston, but we call him Ladd for short.

-He's very affectionate - he'll give almost anyone a hug and a kiss on command even all his family in Utah through a computer screen.

-He is very animated.

-He's a daredevil - he will try to jump off anything regardless of height and he runs and jumps down slides head first.

-He's tough - some of his falls almost bring me to tears, but he just shakes it off.

-He would eat apples and applesauce all day long if I'd let him - I'm not sure why I even give him sweets - he'd probably rather have an apple.

-He loves his brother and has learned to be exceptionally gentle, regularly stroking him with the back of his hand and saying "baby browder"

-His favorite vehicle is a school bus. He can't stop talking about them when we are driving. "Mommy, a BUTH, a BUTH!!"

-He's brilliant when it comes to getting what he wants. There's no childproof door that can stop him from opening the pantry door, nor shelf too high to reach something.

-He's got some great motor skills. He was running since the moment he took his first step and is really fast. Daily he grabs my hand and says "Run mommy" and we practice running as fast as we can around the island. He learned to jump around 1 1/2 and he hops down each stair (scares me to death). He's really good at catching and throwing a ball. And if you've ever read my blog you already know he's a pro climber.

-Ladd's mommy and daddy are just learning to be parents, but we think our first experiment is turning out pretty great.

We love Ladd more and more each day and thank our Heavenly Father that he was sent to us.



Here are some pictures of the handsome birthday boy.




This is Ladd's second favorite pastime. I don't know what it is about piling his food on his sippy, but he does it during every meal.


Earlier in the day we had two of Ladd's best friends over to play. Ladd and Austin are always very affectionate to each other.



I gave them a special treat, chocolate pudding, and after a couple of minutes the boys looked like this:






And Jocelyn looked like this:


Sign me up for one of these. She didn't even have a speck of food on her bib!!