Someone has discovered her pigtails...

And LOVES looking at them in the mirror app on the iPhone.

"Who is that beautiful girl?" she seems to ask as she poses.

Salon Pro

Not her first pedi, but our first one together.

What a great Friday night and Saturday with our bestest niece and nephew!!

Happy Birthday!

Wow...two years old...it's literally flying by, right?!?

So, many milestones have been reached now that we've passed to two-year mark:
- pigtails for more than 5 minutes (see photographic evidence of cuteness below)
- every time a camera comes out, M stops what she's doing, throws her arms out and yells, "Cheese!" (she's such a natural, no?)
- ABCs are now sung on a daily basis and Miss M knows all the letters by sight and many by phonetic sound
- many more conversations are being had in our house about snacks, Trevor and Tuscany, pool time, tubbie and which books to read before bed
- M has become a hide-and-seek champion
- there are daily dance fests
- jumping off of things and on to people is like an Olympic sport

There are many more things that seem to be making each day more wondrous and adorable than the last...too many to mention here...so, take a look for yourself:


Saying "Cheese" and welcoming Elmo to her birthday party


Digging in to the Sarcone's bread before her guests arrive


That's not quite a happy face, but she did love the cake and blew on the candles - success!

Ice Cream Crafty

Used the cup as an accessory to get even that last drop...

Excellent Form

First successful use of the cone

Bredenbeck's in Chestnut Hill after the playground.

Loved it. So much so, that she kept trying to turn it over and eat the cone first. Two additional overdoses of cuteness - I mean photos - coming soon.

More Firsts

First official ponytail this morning. Stayed in for about 3 minutes.

Also, first bee stings on Thursday (2 on her arm). She's such a trooper (and not allergic!).

Whew. Here's to a laid back Saturday...no more firsts needed. :-)

M's first "sleepover"

She wanted to sleep with Grover and Big Bird. We were sure they would end up across the room...

Just checked on her...Apparently not.

Someone loves cuddling!

Double Boo Boos

Someone likes running on the patio and it didn't quite work out for her today.

I almost cried when I saw the bloody scrapes. M barely shed a tear. What a bruiser!

M's First Popsicle

Loving it...Daddy's homemade orange pop. (Made sure to try it out in the pool for easy clean up!).

Stay cool, everyone. :-)

Marshmallows in Vermont

Loved the campfire. Loved the marshmallows. (Preferred them non-roasted over the fire...what?!?)

Shoving off from shore...

...VT is one of the best places to kayak. She can't wait to get in the water.

Someone loves the see-saw...

...and has very long legs for a 23-month old!

Enjoying VT...

Pigtail milestone

Shhhh...don't tell her that it's been in her hair for 2+ minutes!! (Nice how it draws attention away from the mosquito bite on her forehead, too.)

Chocolate...

First real chocolate tasting for M (banana chocolate chip bread). Looks to be a winner!

22 Months

SO big...and yet, still too small for Mommy's jean jacket (which she really wants to wear!!)

The Little Girl and the Sea

So, M had her next (second?) encounter with the (very cold) ocean yesterday.

As opposed to last summer, this time she LOVED the waves. So much so that she ran right in, clothes and all.

We may have a beach girl on our hands!

Thanks to MomMom for a fun day in Cape May. :-)

Tutu cute...

...matches her froggie ballerina!

Learning to share with her siblings

They are furry, her brother and sister, but they LOVE her!

Easter Hop-piness!

Hop...hop...hop.

Easter sure was tons of fun and some bunny LOVES eggs. First, M got to dye her very first batch of Easter eggs with Grammy. Great times (and green/blue hands!) were had by all:

Then, once Easter arrived, M was a bit under the weather early in the day, but was a trooper. She wore her very fancy (for her) Easter dress, but would not allow for pigtails. (They stayed in for about 3.3 seconds) She had a great time with PopPop and C and found all 18 hard-boiled eggs we had hidden around the house for her:

One of her Easter "finds" were these oh-so-cool butterfly glasses. Who's rocking the look better? (I know, I know...it's M!)

After a healthy nap, someone was feeling a bit better, got into dress #2 and did Easter Egg Hunt #2 at Mom-Mom's house.

Then, it was off to PopPop and J's to visit with Grandmom, Uncle S and the cousins! While there weren't any eggs, there were...bubbles!

M liked to have Daddy, J and Grandmom do most of the work and was mesmerized when PopPop showed her how to "blow" bubbles by waving the wand...magic!

All this bubble fun was, unfortunately, followed by M's cold getting the best of her and we were on the receiving end of an Easter meltdown. So, the fun came to an end.

Luckily for K&J, the "under the weather" grumpiness broke the following day and M's been her normal, sunny self every since. Hallelujah!

Hoppy Spring,
K, J, M, T & T

Someone took her own 21 month photo

It's official - she's growing up too fast. Took her own picture with K's iPhone!

Also, counted to 16 today (11 is her current favorite number).

Fun times,
K, J, M, T & T

Corn on the Cob season is here...

...someone is VERY excited!

One hint who that might be:

Just hanging out in my Easter tutu...

Of course, we try to balance out the princess vibe by pairing it with her NPR t-shirt.

Hop Hop Hop

The middle six are M's first Easter egg masterpieces. The two outside rows are K&J's oh-so-crazy Saturday evening.

Saturday Morning

The Three Musketeers hanging out.

Ahhh....Vermont

The gorgeous weather continues - even in Vermont. We took full advantage of the spring temperatures and enjoyed a day at the farm with Auntie J, Uncle M, M and G.

M loved the maple syrup and especially the cows. She also loved playing with M & G.

The lake is fully thawed and a light emerald green color - apparently a by-product of all the silt that flowed down with the meltwater after Hurricane Irene. The locals are in good spirits and all the skiers are gone. Another season done.

Home tomorrow...

With love,
K, J & M

20 Months...And Counting!

So many firsts, so little time...

We hit the big 2-0 today and had a lot of fun doing it. M is growing by leaps and bounds - 34" tall (95th percentile) and 26 pounds (55th percentile) at her doctor's appt. earlier this week. So, wait...she's tall and thin...whose daughter is this?!?

Anyway, J is away visiting Uncle R and Aunt A in San Francisco (hi, cutie!) and we miss him lots. Apparently, M REALLY misses him because today she busted out some of her first sentences. The first being "I don't want apple!" (emphasis was hers...I'm sure you are not surprised.) Her second was "I want my Dada." Someone knows how to pull on the heartstrings, even from 3,000 miles away.

There's been much more counting - one-to-five is almost old hat now. She answered me with "12" today when I said "11" (while going up the steps) and asked innocently "what comes next?"

And eating is a favorite past time. When asked by our doctor if M is getting "one, good square meal a day" earlier this week, we tried not to laugh out loud. More like (at least) three with two to three snacks to fill in the gaps.

It's a joyous adventure...here's to an infinite number of first moments, laughs and memories moving forward...

XXO,
K, J, M, T & T

Project #3,582,977 Begins...

Latest work on the Money Pit commenced this morning and our front porch is literally being held up by jacks - nice. (Did we mention how much our neighbors LOVE us?)

Now, this is a cosmetic improvement, of course...but, our "columns" (air quotes used liberally here) were not really that supportive and had definitely seen better days:

As is also evidenced by their spongey substance - this one almost disintegrated before our eyes:

So, today means yet MORE piles of rubble and debris on our front lawn:

Like they say in The Money Pit - "Yes, we ARE testing missiles here."

AFTER pics to come soon.

Column-ly,
K, J, M, T & T

And then there was light...

...and clean windows!

Of course, now we have to paint 26 windows worth of trim. Ahhhh, the Money Pit.

The artist at work...

Two Days, 26 Windows

Here is a "Before" (that was actually already an "After") for our latest oh-so-fun project - replacing almost all the old, original windows.

Should be nice to be able to open our windows and have them actually block some of the outside chill in the winter!

More "After" pics this weekend...

We Now Return to our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

So, we blinked and two months went by. Don't you hate (or love) when that happens?

They were a very busy and joyful two months, of course, filled with merriment (Santa), festivities (New Year's) and adventures (always).

There is much singing and dancing, talking, running, hiding and seeking and, yes, COUNTING going on over here (counted to five for the first time this morning!) and we are loving every minute of it.

Photo evidence of all aforementioned brilliance coming soon...

Love,
K, J, M, T & T