Day 725 | Big News

It's official! Plans are being made for a move back to the Midwest for our little family and we couldn't be happier. It's not going to be easy leaving behind our [amazing] friends and this [fantastic] city but we're confident this is the right decision for us. Yippee!!

Day 724 | Whatever It Takes

We had an impromptu play date with some good friends tonight and the kids played contentedly together for much longer than we would have ever expected. How did this miracle happen, you might ask? They spent a good chunk of time "mailing" all these books under Robbe's bedroom door. It was glorious. 

Day 723 | A New Helmet

We finally purchased a much-delayed birthday present for Robbe today: a new helmet.

He picked out a fun blue animal pattern and wore it for most of the afternoon. Thanks, Aunt Erica and Uncle Jason for the money for the helmet. Sorry it took so long to pick it out and get you a photo!

Day 722 | Wednesday Dinners

For the past couple of months we've been rotating houses for Wednesday dinners with a friend down the street. Do you know how amazing it is to not have to cook + clean once every two weeks? It's glorious.

This sweet photo is of Robbe with our friends' little one, WD, watching out the window for any daddy sightings. So sweet.

Day 721 | Mr. Independent

I was running around the house cleaning like a crazy person today and stumbled upon our little two year old with a pretty impressive train set up, which he did with absolutely no help (and, just to be clear, Chase wasn't even home at the time of construction, he just showed up later to play). 

This scenario depicts Robbe perfectly. He's such an independent little sprout who enjoys playing solo even more than with his parents. Crazy, right? It's pretty amazing. 

Day 720 | Undies Update

Remember this post? After a short break from his fascination with undies, Robbe is going full-force again. He loves his truck undies so much he insists on wearing them over his diaper (he's really not quite ready for full-fledged potty training...and neither am I) and over his pajamas as you can see in the photo above.

Yes, just to confirm what you're seeing, Robbe (at exactly 2 years, 2 months) wearing truck undies over truck pajamas. This guy takes his interests seriously. I respect him for that.

Day 719 | Two Years

A rainy trip to the National Archives allowed us a break from lots of home projects this weekend.

Yep. It's been two full years of blogging [nearly] every day. That's no joke.

Here's the list of my favorite posts from the past year. If you have any favorites you think I should add, I'm interested.

First Day of PreK 3
Moms
Baby Gordon
Panic Attack
Girl Talk
On Missing My Life:
      Part 1
      and
      Part 2
Rocket Craft
The Great Blizzard of 2016
The Year of More
Sticker Addict
Advice for Soon-to-be Moms
Undies
So Long, Farewell
And He Turns Two
And He Turns Four

Day 718 | Decluttering

Chris and I are taking full advantage of having two extra adults around this weekend and, man, were we productive today. My mom and dad helped us clean up the yard (a big, huge job). We also decluttered three of our bookshelves, and continued giving away some of the random things we have outgrown. We'll call it a little spring cleaning.

Yeah, it feels so good.

Day 717 | Our Friend Thomas

Our second annual trip to hang out with our friend, Thomas, was a huge success! The best part of the Day Out With Thomas? Robbe and Grandma Mary got to come along this year (last year Robbe was just a *bit* too little to participate).

The weather could have been warmer (what happened to Spring?!?), but the festivities were a hit once again. New additions this year were our kiddos' favorite parts: a bouncy castle for Robbe and a magic show for Chase.

Thank you, Thomas. We'll take a day out with you any time.

Day 716 | Strawberry Aliens

I lied.

There was one more birthday celebration for our sweet four year old today: his school celebration.

Thanks to my mom's help, we made these adorable strawberry aliens as the birthday treat. You know it's a good fruit treat if only one four year old asks why there isn't cake. I'll take it.

Here's the "recipe" if you're interested in creating your own friendly strawberry aliens.

Day 715 | Porch Revamp

Somehow a little elbow grease + a paint job can make all my dreams come true. Our front porch has never looked better. And it makes me so happy.

Day 714 | Meet Petey, The Chrysalis

Can you believe we discovered a caterpillar on Sunday and already have a cocoon? No one else can either. If you look at this photo, the cocoon is the little white speck on the bottom of the cage. We brought Petey in for Chase's class to keep an eye on during this transition.

Robbe wasn't thrilled that his new buddy doesn't live with us anymore. At least we'll still be able to visit (twice a day). And Chase's little classmates were over the moon to see a caterpillar yesterday and a cocoon today. Let's hope they'll get to see a moth in about two weeks or so.

Day 713 | Meet Petey

We have a new [temporary] pet! I'd like to introduce you to Petey, our friendly tent caterpillar. He was named because it's a word Robbe can say, in case you're wondering.

The good/bad news? Our time with Petey, as we know him anyway, has already come to an end. He started cocooning tonight. Exciting times around here. 

Thanks to Uncle Matt for our new insect hotel that prompted this education in life cycles. 

Day 712 | Simple Sunday

It was a good day. A good, lazy Sunday with a few bursts of productivity to balance everything out. Included in that productivity was finishing our front porch revamp. New paint job: done! I'll post photos of that when the paint is dry enough.

Day 711 | Busy Busy

We've had a very productive day so far. I dropped a load of too-small baby clothes off at a friends (along with some toys), I unloaded two garbage bags full of clothes at a donation site, I ran an errand in the pouring rain with both boys (not as easy as you might guess), and I cleaned our bathroom. Plus, we even had time for some quality puddle jumping (see above). Then the sun came out just in time for me finish cleaning off the porch (scrubbed the siding clean and brushed, sprayed, and washed the floor in hopes we can paint it tomorrow).

And, our big plans for the night?!? A hot date night (at Chris's boss's house). An all around pretty fantastic day. You've got to love when productivity and fun come together.

Day 710 | Morning with Ray

We had the pleasure of hanging out with sweet Ray all morning. She and Robbe have become quite the duo lately and this morning was very eventful.

We saw this squirrel eating a granola bar. No joke. We went to two parks. We sang at their tot music class. We played a little t-ball. We even managed to cross a couple of errands off my list. See? I told you it was eventful. Both babies took a good nap this afternoon. Success!

Day 709 | A Happy Outing

I wouldn't have guessed that an unexpected trip to the Honda dealership could provide so much happiness and excitement for this little guy today.

We went to have a punctured tire patched and walked away with a Frozen sticker book, a new balloon, and watched this construction vehicle do it's job for several minutes. Seriously, there couldn't have been a better outing for Robbe. It's nice when things work out.

Day 708 | Little Brothers

This morning was rough for sweet, sensitive Chase. Both of his teachers were gone today. Two substitutes. In the world of a new four year old, that's about as bad as it gets (at least our new four year old).

After an extra 20 minutes in the classroom, Robbe and I did manage to exit without tears. It took just about every tool in my mom arsenal to get to that point. Robbe immediately walked out of the classroom door and decided he needed to wedge himself in this empty milkcrate sitting in the hall. 

It's funny how the little brother can just fly above it all. Thank goodness. 

Day 707 | Moon Rocks

After a failed attempt at moon sand a couple of weeks ago (remember this?), I shifted course and opted to make playdough "moon rocks" for the birthday party instead.

It worked out perfectly. I made three batches of this recipe and just added blue food coloring and some glitter stars for dramatic effect. Then I put out little containers for the kiddos to fill with moon rocks and take home as part of their goodie bag.

Try making your own playdough. I promise it's super easy and you probably have all the ingredients in your cupboard right now.

Day 706 | Skipping Spring

It seems as though DC has decided to skip spring altogether.  No joke, it was 85+ degrees today. And it's supposed to be a similarly warm day tomorrow.

Although I was pretty bummed out about the heat (I love spring!), we made the most of it and had our first dinner on our deck. Aside from Chase being a little concerned about all the bugs, it was a big success.