the almost 2nd grader

Here's my big boy being eaten by an Osprey, at a recent college baseball game! :)

All about Bryce. . .

favorite foods: pizza, peanut butter and jelly, mac n cheese, olives, almost any kind of baked goodies!
favorite toys, games, activities: Legos, Pokemon cards, football, (anything that involves tackling, fighting, rolling around on the ground, and wrestling) bike riding, playing outside, playing on the iPod, iPad, computer, or phone. ("Can I have a technological device?" he likes to ask)
interested in: dinosaurs, space, science, reading,
major dislikes: mint, mint toothpaste, mint chocolate, mint candy, anything bubblegum flavored (because he says it tastes like mint)
great accomplishments of the year: learning to ride his bike, and getting much more brave in the water!
sleep: unlike his brother, Bryce is a great sleeper. . . but he's often caught staying up WAY past bedtime to read. his nightlight is a strand of colored Christmas lights wrapped around the bunk bed.  :)  I'm sure the neighbors find it amusing, when his shades are opened.
favorite movie: The Muppets
favorite book series: Magic Treehouse, The Boxcar Children, Animal Ark,
Bryce and Tanner: they have a very love/hate relationship right now.  one minute B wants T in his room, and then the next minute he's screaming at him to get OUT.  they can be super sweet and hugging each other one second, and then the hug turns into a wrestling move, where someone inevitably ends up crying or hurt.  they provoke each other, and stalk each other, and mess with each other NON STOP.  (why didn't someone warn me!?)
school: Bryce did AWESOME work at school this year. he did some great writing, and he enjoyed math.  his handwriting has gotten a lot better this year (when he takes the time, anyway!)  he loved doing a research report on bats.  his class was BIG this year, (36 kids) with two teachers.  although it was a less-than-ideal situation, he really hung in there like a champ, and we are looking forward to a SMALLER class with ONE teacher next year.
summer: Bryce is looking forward to lots of time in the water, at the pool and the beach.  we have annual passes for the Museum of Science and History, as well as the zoo.  he had an awesome time at the Florida Aquarium last week (the giant Moray eel was his favorite thing!)

we're back from a week out of town, and I'll work this week to get photos uploaded to share with you!!!! xoxo

Tanner at almost 3

favorite foods: Rice Krispies, brocoli, yogurt with sprinkles, "Mickey Bars" (did we take him to Disney too much this year?)
favorite thing to say that he shouldn't: "dumb baby" (compliments of Bryce)
LOVES: the garbage truck, the garbage can, the garbage, dump trucks, construction vehicles trains, motorcycles ("man-go!") playing in the water, doing whatever Bryce is doing, books (especially about garbage trucks!)
sleep: sleeping through the night about 75 percent of the time, usually up between 5:30-6:30. pitches a royal FIT when it's Daddy's turn to do bedtime. "Nooo, Mommy's turn tonightttttt!" is what he screams as I leave. (Torture.)  You'd think I was leaving him with a total stranger. (Daddy is strange, YES, but stranger? no.)
because he's so big: he's starting to like picking out his own clothes, getting his own water from the dispenser on the fridge, likes to help empty the dishwasher
Tanner language: motorcycle-"man-go", "Scoop-dump-truck"- excavator of any kind
dislikes: haircuts (although he didn't cry this last time. but he made his protest KNOWN.)  being closed out of Bryce's room

a typical day in the neighborhood

This past Sunday afternoon was pretty much like most afternoons for the past few months.  We go outside just about every day.  We play and hang out with our neighbors, and their trio of little girls (Reisa is 2, and the twins are 8 months.)  Every so often we have to break out the water toys, and make a big splashy (and eventually muddy) mess but on this particular day we started out with some bike and scooter racing:

this picture of reisa and tanner cracks me up! they have the funniest faces! they adore each other so much, but they have a very two-year-old relationship of playing nicely together one second, and hollering and beating on each other the next minute! Reisa will probably be moving soon, so we are enjoying EVERY second we can with our sweet pals, two-doors-down.

And we're happy to say that three of our four broccoli plants have big broccoli florets growing on them, and we have been excited to watch them get "big and strong" according to Tanner.  The plants droop a little every afternoon, which is why the leaves look a little wilty in this picture, but they perk right back up by evening.  I think it will just be a few more weeks, and then we can eat the first of it!

Happy day-after-Mother's Day!

Just a few quick pictures that the boys and I took before we left for church on Sunday morning! We spent a lovely Mother's Day with Eric's family, out at the beach condo (minus the beach, because the weather was sort of questionable!)  I got some BEAUTIFUL plants and flowers, plus my FAVORITE lemon soap from Eric's mom! (And perhaps the best part? Leftovers from dinner. . . I'm pretty sure I won't have to cook or shop for a week, after all the food that came home with us!)

Last week, although it wasn't intended as a Mother's Day present, I used some long held gift card $, and got a pedicure with a friend, and then had a massage. . . .and I dubbed that part of my Mother's Day celebration too.  It was DIVINE!!!! 

And. . . because I simply can't let any of you be without the AMAZING cookies that the boys and I baked, I must share this recipe.  Eric says I have to start making them every day.  They are seriously THAT good. . . .and amazingly enough, they have NO flour, and NO butter. . .and they are EASY! 

So if you need a peanut butter and chocolate fix, try these out! 

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 

(PS. . .be sure to keep scrolling down. in order to make me feel less guilty, I've pre-dated some posts, so i could put pictures in chronological order. i'll be adding a few more from my birthday, and the end of april over the next day or so!)

God made the dirt. . .

so the dirt won't hurt. . .right? It was not easy to get out of Bryce's white shirt, but miraculously it survived.  I can NOT keep the boys out of the garden lately. . .it's frustrating, and disastrous, but then again BOYS WILL BE BOYS, so I will take a deep breath, and wipe them off AGAIN.  On this particular day, I think we started out playing with water. . .and THEN the dirt, so it was especially bad. And Tanner had a runny nose. (Also not helpful.)  And I've found that dirt REALLY sticks to sunscreen.

EWWWWWWWW!  :)

To the zoo we go!

We took our dear friends Paul and Sara, and their little cutie pie Hannah, for Hannah's FIRST TRIP to the zoo on Saturday! It was so fun to see her excited about the animals!!! She and Tanner are totally best buds, and he really loves to call her "Baby Hannah" (even though she's becoming not such a baby anymore!)

Laura's Birthday!

 The night before my birthday, Eric made a delish dinner (steak on the grill, and Publix cake for dessert!)

And in honor (well, sort of, not so much) of my birthday and anniversary there was a parade out at the beach for the Opening of the Beaches.  We went out to the condo and watched the parade from our own personal viewing area on the porch!

Bryce found a fabulous shell out on the beach!

The parade had ALL of Tanner's favorite things. . .fire trucks, motorcycles, and trucks.  All we were missing was a garbage truck, and it would have been perfection!

a few more disney pictures

apparently I hardly took ANY pictures at Hollywood Studios, but here are a few from Animal Kingdom!

Bryce's favorite moments at Animal Kingdom: his first trip on the Kali River Rapids (he LOVED it, and got soaked!) Lunch at our favorite booth, at Restaurant-a-saurus. Tanner's favorite part : the dinosaur ride with Daddy, and Mickey Bars.  (He's pretty much obsessed with Mickey ice cream bars! He says he's a "Mickey Bar Man".)

 Playing in the dinosaur boneyard is always a favorite afternoon activity.  Digging with the buckets that their lunches came in is a bonus!

 while bryce was on the river rapids, tanner had his own wet fun in a fountain. both boys had clothes-changes after that! :)

after animal kingdom, we had dinner at Giordano's and introduced my parents to REAL CHICAGO PIZZA. (yum!!!!)

at the hotel!

Our hotel was FABULOUS! and the pool was ah-MAZE-ing!!!!!  it had a giant pirate ship in the middle of it, with a water slide coming out,  and lots of fun water features to splash in! the boys had a GREAT time playing, and Bryce practiced a lot of swimming!

they also LOVED the gigantic jacuzzi tub in our suite! 

 and we loved the view from our 15th floor balcony! we could see the Disney fireworks every night, plus hot air balloons taking off every morning. the sunsets were lovely, and of course. . .the best part of all for Tanner. . . .he could watch for the garbage truck.  :)

the boys went on lots of rides this week, but the last ride was on the luggage rack going out to the car! :)
(look at tanner's face in this picture! hilarious!)

Magic Kingdom pictures

The Disney pictures are coming NOT in order. . .but here are some pictures from Magic Kingdom!  The rest are on the other camera, which I haven't gotten pics off of yet.  But we're home, and we had a super time!!!! I was NOT very good at taking pictures this trip. . . but this will getcha started! :)

xoxo

Some of our favorite things at Magic Kingdom: 

driving race cars, finding the smushed penny machines to add to Bryce's collection, brunch with Winnie the Pooh and his friends, and riding It's a Small World, 

we are OUTTA HERE.

Most of you know we've all been SICK around here.
SICK.
SICK.
SICK.
It was pretty ugly around here for a while.  There was much dirty laundry being washed, and many crackers eaten.
We all had it.
And most of us at the same time.
We watched children's television shows on Sprout for LITERALLY 8-10 hours a day.
Because it was the most we could muster up.
Ugly.
Very bad.
We pretty much completely missed Easter. The bunny came at bedtime on Easter, when Bryce was well enough to sit up. We had a make-up Easter egg hunt a few days later. It was definitely memorable.
But the good news is, that we are ALL BETTER in time for Disney World!!!!! And that is where we are heading today.  Never to think about the past two weeks ago. (Because it was BAD. Did I mention that?)
But I'll be back soon! Maybe I'll even attempt to update from our trip. (Maybe! Depending on the internet connection!)
xoxo

EPCOT day with Lizzie!

We spent Thursday of Bryce's Spring Break at Epcot, with Lizzie! (It was her Spring Break too!)

We went to The Coral Reef restaurant, which the boys LOVED.  Bryce had only been there as a baby, and Tanner hadn't ever been there.  They LOVED watching the fish and sharks in the giant tank, and we had a great table up close!

In Norway, we bought the boys Viking helmets.  We played with them the last time we were there, and it just HAD to be done!!!! They are so cute and funny!

 As part of the Flower and Garden Festival, the park always has some great extra playground areas set up.  (I wish they'd leave them up all year!!!!!)

 And of course NO day at Disney would be complete without a Mickey bar.  I think they have at least three trip's worth of Mickey Bar stains on their Disney shirts!!! ;)

 For dinner, we left Epcot and stopped at Downtown Disney, to eat at T-Rex.  Tanner had a love-hate relationship with the "meteor showers" that happen every 15 minutes, but we all had a fun time!!!! (And then a LONG drive home!!!)