Summer Love

It's been pretty darn rainy in CO & this is the first weekend all year that we've been able to spend in the sun! 

On Saturday we set up in our back yard.  Our friend Ashley came over and we sipped beergaritas while the kids (and dogs) splashed on a splash pad we picked up at Target!

Learning a thing or two from Norman

They pick up all their best tricks from the dogs ;)

On Sunday we met up with friends at the pool.  Beckett could hardly contain his excitement over the flamingo!  (and neither could I)  We blew that thing up months ago and have been dying to use it! 

We finished Sunday with a little trip to the park.  

The kids are at the sweetest ages right now and we're loving that they appreciate being out in the sun as much as we do! We can't wait for more weekends just like this one all Summer long!

Beckett's THREE

Our sweet Beckett Bean is 3 years old! 

zara tee

Since starting preschool in January you've become much more talkative!  Which is a bit of a relief for us.  Honestly, it felt like you would never talk.  You can sound out the whole alphabet and you recognize letters on packaging.  But "A" is always "Apple", for example:  "C" "R" "APPLE" "Y" "O" "L" "APPLE", it's pretty cute! 

You are fricken counting.  You count out our breakfast in the morning, (5 waffles, 3 sausages, 6 berries, etc).  The first time you told me, "Mommy, there's 4! 1 2 3 4!"  My jaw dropped.  Better thank daddy, you certainly don't get your math skills from me ;) 

All of your little phrases are pretty damn cute:

"Love You" is "Ove Jew!"

You always say "YEP!" instead of "Yes" & you just recently started pronouncing "NO" with a "N" instead of a "B".

You call me "Mommy" unless you're feeling insistent, in which case I am, "MoooooooM!"  Daddy is always "Dad" or "Daddy" and you call Ellia, "Ewle", "Ewwie" or "Belle Belle".

As of late, you've picked up on manners.  You always say, "ank jew, mommy" after I give you something & my inner mama is oh so proud!

Whenever you want berries, which is every day, you ask for "jupe jews"... I have no idea where that came from!

You've started calling your grandparents by name and Grandma Jonna is now, "Joosh", Grandma Sally is "GaGa", and Grandpa Scott is "Grappa".

Our dogs are "Lolo" "CharChar" "BellBell" (which is often confused with "Belle Belle" on my end) & Chew.  You call both the cats "Meows" and only sometimes refer to Knox by name.

Every time you gas you stop in your tracks, laugh & say "Beck tooted!"  It's so adorable!

Some other things you love:

You LOVE puzzles and your most recent favorite is constructing things with your magnatiles!  It's amazing to watch your mind expand and see what you construct each time you play with them!

We generally pick a movie to watch each day for quiet time while Ellia naps.  Your favorites are Toy Story, Cars, Scooby Doo, & Planes.  Although you change it up every now and then and choose my fav, Peter Pan ;)

There isn't a word to describe your love for books!  You LOVE to read.  You'd have us read you your entire shelf of books every night if you had the choice!  It's hard for me to pick your favorites, because you really love them all.  But if I had to choose your fav's, They would be Room On The Broom, Little Blue Truck, and you've recently started to love the Ispy collection!  We picked up 'Goodnight Yoga' a few weeks back and it's become apart of our nightly routine.  You ask for "Oga" every night!

Some other sweet moments:

02/15 We came down with a cold this week and it made us all pretty stuffed up.  So whenever Beckett calls for me his congestion turns it to, "BOB!" Mom, Bob, who knows the difference! lol!

02/15 We've now entered the "why?" stage.  

Me: Beckett, get your jammies! 

Beckett: why?

Me: because it's bedtime..

Beckett: why?

Me: because the sun went down.

Beckett: why?

Me: because the earth is rotating.

Beckett: why?

Me: because that's how the solar system works.

Beckett: huh.

He then walks away to get his pajamas, lol

Beckett loves to help me make waffles first thing in the morning.  He asks to make them every. single. day.  Michaels over it, but I love using them as transportation for syrup, so I'm always in.  As B & I make waffles he says "wee!" As he pours each ingredient into the bowl, I can't help but laugh!

You called me "mommy" for the very first time 3/6/15.

When we went to Vail in March I turned the TV on for you while we brought in and started unpacking bags.  The menu screen was different than at home and you ran up to it & tried to use it as a touch screen.  You even had the concierge laughing!

3/25/15 Your favorite word is now cookie.  And I've realized that all I have to do to get you to eat something is to call it a cookie... Last night you ate spaghetti with spinach & kale after I used this tactic... I wonder how long this will last! 

4/16/15

"Beckett did you pee all over the floor?!"

Beckett as proud as can be, " YEP!"

(added note:  you were 100% potty trained before 3.  no more nighttime diapers, no more pull-ups. something I never thought would happen before 4!)

You LOVE to be outside. LOVE. 

"Dono's" have become a weekend tradition.  If there's donuts involved, you're in!

Looking handsome for Valentines day at school

You fight naps like crazy, which often results in you crashing in some odd places!

Sweet Beckett, you continue to amaze us every day!  We are so blessed to be your parents and literally cannot imagine life without you in it!  You are such a generous soul, always sharing your toys, candy, snacks, etc with Ellia, your friends and even new faces.  You show compassion towards animals, friends and even random folks we meet out.  Your curiosity is baffling & you're constantly problem solving and creating new things, whether it be drawing, building, or molding.  (it won't be a surprise if you go into the family business of home building ;)  You are destined to be great, my love!  We love you and cannot wait to see what's in store for year number 3! 

Edible Finger Paint

I've been looking for some fun toddler activities for the kids and edible finger painting was a home run!  It's so simple to make & you probably already have the ingredients you need on hand.

All you need is some yogurt (vanilla since we're adding colors), food coloring (I think the next time we make this we'll pureed fruit for coloring), little bowls for each color you'd like and a whisk to mix the yogurt and coloring.

It literally takes 2 seconds to make which is a plus!

As you may have guessed, things will get a bit messy, so make sure your babe is wearing something you aren't attached to (or if it's warm they could just wear nothing at all).  I like to use our white Carter's onesies for activities like this.  They aren't expensive to replace and you'll likely be able to get any stains out with laundry stain spray.

Before things got too messy ;)

Beckett used his paint to finish decorating some left over cookies from St. Patricks day 

I like to save messy activities like this for bath days.  When we're done I just plop the yogurt covered babes in the tub and call it good!

What are some of your favorite toddler activities? 

Family Pictures

I'm so excited to share our most recent family pictures! Our photographer, Dionna, did such a wonderful job of capturing our family and was a blast to work with!  

Ellia is just a few weeks short of ONE year old and Beckett is nearly two and a half :)

headband//chambray shirt

FP moccs//Space46Boutique tulle skirt//corduroy romper

toddler grey sweater//dark jeans

ON vest sold out (try target or zara)//FP neon moccs//camo moccs//feather headband

jcrew pullover sold out

now you know where our kids got their long lashes ;)

this is possibly my favorite picture of Beckett, ever.  let your dreams fly high, sweet boy.

We're absolutely thrilled about how they came out and cannot thank our wonderful photographer from Ryan + Dionna Photography enough. Our sweet babies are growing faster than we could have ever imagined and I'm so grateful we have these photos to remind us of life at this time :)

Halloween Fun!

Halloween has long been my favorite holiday, not just for the fun that it entails itself, but for the fact the it's the beginning of Fall/Winter festivities :)

Beckett is finally old enough to enjoy all that Halloween has to offer and it's Ellia's very first Halloween, making this year all the more fun!  

Friday we went to a Halloween party where Beckett premiered this years costume, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective!  He hated the tutu... I may have bribed him with a jellybean or two to keep it on for pictures.

The beach shirt and cut off shorts are from baby gap a while ago, we used a plain white tee from H&M and used a homemade tutu.  We used gorilla snot for his hair, it worked like a charm... In fact, 2 washings later & it's still holding its grip lol 

Ellia wore this lion costume that Beckett wore for his first Halloween :)   

RAWR :)

Saturday we ventured to Boo At The Zoo, it was too much fun!

Paper!... Snow!... A GHOST!!

Ellia is wearing a white glitter headband, a Carters onesie and a homemade tutu.  So simple, yet so cute :)

Beckett had a run in with our coffee table right before we left... the welt on his forehead just adds to the costume, right?

Note to self: if you go to the zoo late enough, you get free beer & pretzels. (win!)

We can't wait for pumpkin carving/painting, cookie decorating, hocus pocus watching & of course taking the kids trick or treating!  What are you all doing to celebrate this week?