Aaron's new haircut

Both kids have needed a haircut badly. Charlie is always more obvious...he has thick straight hair with lots of cowlicks...so he always looks like he's in need more so than Aaron who has thinner wavy hair that doesn't look too bad a little long... So I was trying to find a time to get both kids into a place to get their hair done, while they were both healthy, in good moods, etc. I decided to buy my own clipper set and try it at home. The result wasn't half bad. Aaron't was eas for the aforementioned reasons. Charlie required some tapering and fading but turned out great. So for $24, they got home haircuts rather than the salon that would have cost $30...hopefully I'll get better as time goes on too! I'll get pics of Charlie's soon but this is Aaron's first time with spikey hair!

"What did you put in my hair mommy?"

"doesn't taste very good mom, better luck next time!"

The Boys

Fun times at the park

Aaron's party

I'm a bit late posting about this but better late than never! Above is the cake...it matched his invitation...I did it free-hand and was proud of how it came out!

The birthday boy eating a bagel...we had his party at Smith Memorial playground and it was lots of fun! It was a little chilly and windy in the beginning but it warmed up and the kids all had a great time!


My mom had the camera, and she was in charge of my nephew Bode, thus the pics of Bode!

This playground has some really great equipment...the one thing there are no pictures of is the giant wooden slide that four people can go down together...tons of fun!


Zayda and Aaron

About to sing happy birthday to the boy

Aaron really wanted to eat the candle

Charlie and his buddy Alexandra

Alex and his dad (Zayda) and Janice

Mark, Henry, my dad (Gampa) and Bode

Aaron playing with his new choo choo train

It was a great time, thanks to everyone who came out and helped us celebrate...thank you also to everyone who donated to "Infant Angels" in Aaron's honor...it means the world to us!

You can see why I'm so in love with my guys...

The bright blue eyes
The big bruises on foreheads and band-aids on knees
The smiles

They are all boy, and they are my boys and I'm obsessed!

More of Charlie's artwork

So I am seriously obsessed with Charlie's creativity. Here's a couple more examples of his art!

Above is a "hotdog car"...the head on top is of course the person driving the car. It's a hot dog with wheels, just to clarify...that's what makes it the hotdog car!

So this will take a bit of explaining but after the explanation, go back and look at it and you'll see what it all means! So I went running last week and fell and banged my knees. Charlie asked me why I fell and I explained that sometimes tree roots grow up under the sidewalk and make bumps in the sidewalk and I tripped over one such bump and fell. So he drew this picture to illustrate that. There are clouds in the sky...the things that look like lollipops are trees (including the one under the "sidewalk", and the person is me running on the sidewalk. The lines going horizontal through my legs are where my knees are. I love this kid so much and I get so excited to see what he draws! This morning he asked me to draw the numbers 1-5 for him, then he spent several minutes tracing them first with his finger and then with his pen. I came back downstairs and he was drawing some of the numbers, and they all had faces and legs. He said they were talking letters. Crazy kid!

Aaron contemplating the loss of Donovan McNabb as the Eagle's quarterback...
He's sad but certain he'll get over it!

We went for a picnic in Rittenhouse Square this past Saturday. It was so nice out and the park was packed with people who were loving the weather...

Charlie has been asking us to have a picnic for some time now so it was the perfect opportunity. The boys loved it. Aaron tried to eat everything on the ground, and Charlie had a blast playing soccer after we were done eating. He kept exclaiming that he was "so excited". Simple pleasures in life huh! I see many more picnics in our future!

Aaron's 1 year pictures

Not too shabby! Our usual place went bankrupt and very suddenly closed their doors. I was seriously so upset! I feel like they always did such a great job...I was never unhappy with the outcome, so I was left to find another place. This was fine but I had to do alot fo the work myself...how to pose him, etc. It's funny because with his clothes on, he was really not that excited and didn't show much personality. I took his clothes off to get the diaper shots, and Mr. Personality came out in full force!

Easter fun at the Madara's

The Easter BUnny came to Christy and Mike's house and hid eggs so we stopped there before brunch to partake in the merriment. The bunny also left baskets at our house but we didn't get them till after brunch...
Charlie had a great time today, and he especially loved finding eggs filled with treats. When we left brunch he was very sad to learn that we were not going back to Aunt Christy's to find more eggs, play outside all day, and sleep over. They live in Lititz and have lots of outdoor space.

Aaron hung out on Gampa's lap and then peed through his diaper onto Gampa's lap...nice boy!

Charlie was overcome with excitement!

Aaron took a nap before brunch and lost his pants in the process...