memory dump . january recap

here it is. january 31st. 

who would have thought january would have been a busy month?! but that, it has been.

1. the weather. it's been awesome. i say hey, if it's not going to snow then bring on spring! that being said, we have spent lots of time outdoors. grey and tuck have been doing everything from riding bikes, playing in the sandbox, riding the wagon down the hill.

2. speaking of riding bikes, on warm sunny days after lunch we take a stroll down the road to the cul de  sac to ride around a bit. today grey decided to pack an orange for the trip. he had the whole thing planned out. he put it in a brown paper bag and pulled the stroller around front to put will in and show me he had us all packed up. we all shared it down at the end of the road. that boy. he is too cute.

{some day all too soon little man...you'll be right out there with them.}

3. the will man is getting all kinds of teeth. not sure if that's why he had a fever today or not but he was one sad puppy. a day of plans always ceases when there's a sick baby. there was plenty of time to snuggle up together.  apparently he felt well enough to eat spaghetti.

4. tulips. in the winter. matthew brought me some tulips a few weeks ago and i wanted to cry when the blooms started to fall off. that blessed spritz of color was much needed!

5. for quite some time i have been wanting to bake our own bread from scratch. oh my word it is so worth it. the boys could eat almost an entire loaf right when it comes out of the oven. it's a tad bit of a process but i get two loaves out of a batch. i made this recipe and it got raving reviews from all members of the family. two thumbs up.

6. we had a mega rainy weekend a few weeks ago. it was fairly warm out so grey and tuck got to venture out to explore in the rain. we left the screen door open and just listened to them and smiled to ourselves. they had so much fun. their world looks a little different all wet and muddy. and they enjoyed it.

7. will has a new resident yogurt feeder. grey bear. there's always a tad more mess but really, what's a little more mess around here?! will loves it, grey loves it, i love it. jackpot.

  

8. this boy loves his daddy. and daddy loves this boy. 

9. will spent one evening playing with onions. and i took a picture of it.

10. these guys have been all about crafts lately. our windows are adorned {i mean we can't even see out of some of them} with snowflakes, pictures of whatever comes out of their little minds on paper, tape, and hand prints. one day i'll have windows i can see out of but i won't have these moments.

11. grey has gotten a hold of the camera again. 

12. and tomorrow is february 1st which means these babies will be full of sweet surprises each morning. along with something we love about each little man. 

here's to january!

the wonderful adventures of will

the will man found the stairs last week.

bummer.

it's all he wants to do! climb, climb, climb. if he's not climbing the stairs, he's climbing in toy boxes or on top of anything he can get his chunky little legs on. what a cutie.

he also is growing some mad hair in the back. and sometimes it gets just a little flip and resembles the slightest of a curl. and i get excited and take a really bad picture of it.

he has followed in tucker's footsteps in a couple of ways. one being that he hums while he eats and the other being that he loves to play in the dirt. i know he's just exploring but it's eerily similar to tuck's love for dirt at a young age. he played in a flowerless flowerpot yesterday for about 20 minutes. dirt was everywhere and he was happy.

in his new adventures of climbing and the springlike weather we've been having, he tried out the little slide yesterday. and just as expected, only wanted to climb up the slide. 

mmm mmm i love those little legs!

he just keeps growing, growing, growing!

i'm a sucker

for a little boy in plaid.

for a friday train ride.

for cheeseburgers and frozen yogurt for lunch.

for  the very loud proclamation, "i tooted!" in public.

for that tush and those boots.

for boys who like to explore.

for time out of our ordinary friday.

for these guys.

for the love.

for the joy.

for nights that grey and tuck crawl into one bed and stay up with their flashlights giggling until they fall asleep.

for those kind of days.

picture-ographer

grey bear and i get to share some time once a week while his brothers nap. yesterday was our day. 

he wanted to take a few pictures with my camera so i took advantage and gave him a little lesson. we've done this before.

he told me right from the start that he wanted to be a picture-ographer one day so he needed his practice. 

i set him up with the 35 mm 1.8/f  lens, put that puppy on the aperture setting, and let him start testing it out. 

at first he was dead set on just taking a bunch of pictures of me. i quickly convinced him that will was probably a much better subject.

{i mean really, who wouldn't want thousands of pictures like this?}

see. much, much better!

i first let him choose where to stand, gave him little direction on focusing, and let him shoot from any angle. i asked what he thought of his pictures and he noticed he didn't have enough of our faces in the picture. good observation.

so i filled him in on getting a good angle. sometimes you've got to even lay on your belly for a good shot!

then i gave him the tip to stand between me and will and the window. he said "oohhh! so you have light on your face?!" seriously grey? you are too smart.

and then, all on his own, he decided he wanted the "square" to focus on our eyes. i think he's a natural.

i just love what he wanted to capture.

maybe he'll be a famous picture-ographer one day :)