Hidden Waterfalls

Did you know there was a waterfall in C-bus? Guess we didn't get the memo until year 5 of living here. It is definitely well hidden and you have to hike down to see it. But it is so close by that I am a little embarrassed that we didn't know about it sooner.

Luke has the best facial expressions...even his preschool teachers mentioned it at our recent parent/teacher conference. I'll have to document some more of his classic expressions for you sometime...

 Luke likes to occasionally exercise his elder brother dominion and boss Cam around a little bit. Here he is shouting out, "STOP CAMMY!" so little bro knows that there is no entry ahead...

But Cams is a smart kid so he figures out another way...

So Luke backs up and starts over again. This could go on for a very long time :)

And just in case you didn't believe me about Cam's obsession with computers...

 What can I say? The kid likes to stay informed of his sports news.

Indecision

Little cutie is displaying a slight obsession with computers lately. I think he might be modeling his parents which is really sad.

He could honestly hang out here all day. And it's not even powered on.

I've never been crazy about silhouettes but Cam's is so darling (i don't normally use that word)...I might change my mind. And the belly with the long john's on....it KILLS me how cute this little guy is!

I don't have a whole lot to write about, but I'm getting tired of seeing the root beer post when I open the internet.

Last week, Andrew and I took went to Burlington Coat Factory to look for coats. I'm VERY serious about getting some good winter gear before moving to Michigan. It's practically all I'm thinking about now that it is "winter sale" season. Because the kids were with us, I narrowed down my options to 2 coats pretty quickly. One was a mid-thigh length, hunter green parka with a hood, the other was a little shorter, no hood but a really nice dark brown color that could go with anything.

This is the point in the story where it becomes painfully apparent how bad I am at making decisions. At first it was no big deal. I just kept trying one on, then the other, switching back and forth over and over again. Totally normal right? I really liked both of them so I was trying to find some problem that I knew would drive me crazy to make the decision easier. I found a few things I didn't like. I wasn't crazy about the green color, but the brown one didn't have a hood. The green one only had a zipper (no snaps) but the brown one was a little shorter and maybe wouldn't be as warm.

I honestly stood there in the store, walking in front of different mirrors, trying on the 2 different jackets for at least 30 minutes. Finally, Andrew (who had already made his selection) said he would take the kids to the car before they had a complete melt-down. I'm sure he thought it would just be a few more minutes and then I would be out to join him. Nope, it was a full 30 minutes after he went out to the car. But before you feel bad for him, let me assure you that he didn't help the situation. When I had decided on the green one, 20 minutes into my ordeal, he said, "really, I thought you would choose the brown one". When I was almost positive about the brown one, he said, "but the green one looks warmer." So no pity in his direction, please.

After Andrew was in the car, it got even more embarrassing (though I doubt anyone was paying any attention to me). I decided on the green one and started walking assuredly from the back of the store to the cash registers. About half-way, my quick pace gradually slowed until I was stopped dead in my tracks. I had made the wrong choice! I couldn't leave the brown one behind! So I hurried back to switch to the brown one. Same thing happened again. About half-way to the registers I began to have regrets. The green one was probably warmer and that's really all that matters right? I turned around again. No joke, I did this 4 times!

It gets worse. Finally, I bought the green one and went outside to find Andrew. When I didn't see the car anywhere, I knew he got tired of waiting and probably took the kids to get something to eat. So I sat on the curb to wait. It was really cold, so I decided to put my new green jacket on. As I stood there I was happy with my choice, but then I noticed that it wasn't as warm as I thought it would be. If it wasn't very warm in Ohio then I had no hope of it being warm in Michigan! Suddenly the green one didn't hold a candle to the brown one. By the time Andrew came in the car, I told him I made the wrong choice and had to go back and exchange it. Which I did. And yes, it was a little embarrassing to explain to customer service that I had bought the first coat about 5 minutes earlier.

The good news is that I LOVE my brown coat. It is really cute. Bad news is that it isn't really warm enough either so I think it will also be returned and I will just put my money towards a more serious brand name like North Face or something. You just can't mess around with Michigan winters.

The amazing thing is that despite this problem I have with decisions, I am actually happily married with 2 children. No returns, no exchanges. Miraculous!

Root Beer Sampler

Last Valentines Day, my friend had the brilliant idea to give our husbands a sampler of different varieties of root beer. Andrew LOVED it. He had a whole rating system to figure out what kind was the best (I believe Vanilla Frostie won in case you're wondering). After a long hard day, we would put the kids to bed and get so excited to pop open a new bottle of root beer to share (and I don't even like root beer that much).

It works best if you do it with some friends so you can can split up the packs of root beer (they usually come in 4 or 6 packs). My friend, Heather, got the idea here (would also work great for Father's Day). See below.

I'm racking my brain to figure out how I'm going to top last year... (clearly we're "thoughtful" instead of "expensive" gift-givers over here)

Brotha's

Today I took the boys on a walk (because it feels like Spring around here lately). Luke insisted on walking next to the stroller which makes me nervous since there aren't a lot of sidewalks in our neighborhood. About half-way through our walk, Cam started reaching out for Luke's hand. Luke (secretly pleased to be summoned) dutifully grabbed onto Cam's little fingers even though it was slightly awkward to try and hold hands while he walked alongside the stroller. If Luke let go to jump over a puddle or something, Cam kept reaching his arm out as far as he could so Luke would grab on again. Eventually, I convinced Luke to just sit in the stroller so they could be closer together. I wished I had my camera! It was one of those warm fuzzy mom moments. There they were: Luke holding Cam's hand (not squeezing it or pulling it in a hundred different directions) and Cam, totally content to be leaning against his older brother. The best part was that I knew, in that moment, Luke was genuinely happy to be an older brother and loves Cam to pieces. When we got home, I grabbed my camera and got a few shots but the moment was pretty much over.

starting to get a little on the rough side...

A little "binky stealing" going on

Cam retaliates with a little eye poke...

While Luke was at preschool, Cam and I had some quality time outside. This little man has pulled a 180 since turning one. He is sweet as pie! His personality has erupted over the past month. I've been shocked to see him cuddle with people he hardly knows! Plus, he is sleeping through the night (is there a faster way to a mother's heart than that?). I've always been in love with this little guy but now I fully expect everyone else to fall in love with him too.

He really wants his binky back in this picture but I'm holding it hostage for a smile.

Then he caved and gave me the smile:

'ok, now give me that binky'

By the way, you could probably tell in the previous post (the pics in this post aren't edited) that I've been having some fun over on Picnik. They have all their premium features for free until April (normally you have to be a member to have access). I'm sad they are closing up shop but I'm having lots of fun in the meantime. Happy Picniking!