121:366 - Lots o' Letters

Beckett is learning his name and his letters and is fascinated with writing them over and over. Bs, Ps and Ts are currently his favorites.  Given the opportunity to paint a picture tonight, he chose letters - lots and lots of letters!

120:366 - I Dream of....Hot Coffee

One of the things I look forward to on the weekend is a latte made by Rodger.  When it's piping hot, the steam rises from the top of the mug like I Dream of Jeannie, emerging from her bottle.

119:366 - Supermodel!

On our last family trip to Target, we stocked up on Band-aids.  For everyone.  Aparently Cynthia Rowley has her own Band-aids these days.  I thought the designs looked pretty cool. And then I took a closer look.  My boo-boo was sporting teeny, tiny super models! Work it, girl!

118:366 - I See You!

Ever since we introduced Beckett to binoculars in Florida, he has been fascinated.  He watches the squirrels, the birds, and even me!

117:366 - Tag, You're It.

Beckett has recently discovered Zoe's old Tag reader...and the Scooby Doo book.  The fact that he can "read" it to himself gives him a real sense of independence.

116:366 - One Hundred Thousand Miles

My Volvo, passed down from mother to daughter, has been an awesome car for us.  The pop up booster seats, the tons of cargo room that has held strollers, camping equipment and bags of mulch, and so, for a station wagon, it ain't so bad! Today the "surf wagon"/ "grocery getter" hit a major milestone: one hundred thousand miles.  I dare say, this thing might run for another 100,000!

115:366 - Spring Soccer

Ah, spring soccer.  The early evening games, the sun in your face, the pollen in your eyes.... Zoe was in rare form tonight and her determination showed on her face!

114:366 - Big Brown Eyes

We pulled out the butterfly habitat to prepare for the caterpillars we'll be "growing" on the kitchen counter.  Beckett has been catching butterflies in the back yard and holding them captive in the meantime. He is fascinated with the butterflies and I am completely enamoured with him... 

113:366 - The Power of a Single Letter

Drove my brother to the hospital this AM for a few tests.  While I was waiting, I couldn't help but notice this sign.  Hmmmm, the hospital has gotten a lot more liberal than I remember!

112:366 - Smoochy Face

Home for a quick weekend to help out and captured a silly moment: my mom went in for a bite of the chocolate and my dad went in for a bite of my mom...they are so cute!

111:366 - Rainy Day

A rainy Friday + a beautiful smelling white lilac in bloom = bliss.

110:366 - Fifteen

It is truly wonderful to know, that after fifteen years of marriage, Rodger can still surprise me.  

109:366 - Counter Top, Part II

Another object, another shadow.  A pretty little vase filled with some "flowers" Beckett brought to me.  Two dandelions have never looked so good!

108:366 - Egg

I love our remodeled kitchen as much now as I did when we first completed it.  But, never did I imagine that I would have as much fun as I do playing with the reflections and shadows on the counter tops! Tonight's image: the last of the Easter eggs.

107:366 - Little Kickers

The dude started Little Kickers soccer tonight and now plays "just like his sister".  All those itty bitty little kids lined up, sitting on their balls, listening to their coaches was so cute. Beckett loved the drills but had even more fun when his team got to play a game against another group of Little Kickers.  

106:366 - Chief Wanting Wind

When Rodger and I first started dating, we took a big camping trip to Kentucky.  On our hike, we gave ourselves Indian names: mine was Washing Sandals (since every time we had a cross a stream, we had to take off our boots, put on our Tevas and then wash the sandals off on the other side), his was Wanting Wind (as every chance he got he wanted to be windsurfing or sailing). Today Wanting Wind got his first big wind fix of the season on Lake Mac while the kids played along the shore.

105:366 - Fly Like an Eagle

Soccer is definitely Zoe's "thing" - she loves it and looks forward to each season.  Her current move lately seems to big a big kick to send the ball back upfield should it get to close to her team's goal.  And today big kicks paid off as her team won their game. Go Revolution!

104:366 - Celebration of Learning

Because we were in Florida the week before Spring Break, Zoe missed the opportunity to be part of this year's Celebration of Learning.  This is an event where all the Montessori kids get to share a project that they have been researching with their classmates, the other Montessori kids and all the parents.  Zoe's class chose Michigan-related topics to research.  Each child is responsible for learning and practicing presentation skills as well as how to answer questions.  Zoe's topic was Sleeping Bear Dunes.  So today, in front of her entire class (and her mom) Zoe proudly presented her research.

103:366 - A fish tale

Ever since our trip to Gramma Jeannie's in Florida, Beckett has been asking to go fishing.  So, a quick trip down to Kollen Park with his dad and a pole was in order.  It didnt matter that it was too cold for anyrthing to really nibble on the line, he was happy just hanging out.

102:366 - Part Deux

Lacking inpiration (again), it means that today's shot is of what's for dinner: Spicy Chicken Fideo Soup.

101:366 - Uninspired

Sometimes I love cooking, other times dinner is chore. Tonight was more chore.  The stuffed red peppers tasted ok, and the photo it made was about as equally uninspired.

100:366 - Shattered

100 days of posting so far this year! And to mark this occasion, I will be buying myself a new replacement back for my iPhone. Judging by the number of broken glasses in my cupboard, I should know that glass and I don't mix well! Next purchase: an iPhone case.

99:366 - Ears first

The kids woke up this morning to treats left by the Easter bunny and jelly beans hidden throughout the house.  I know we'll be finding beans well into summer but the squeal of "I found one!" will never ever get old. After settling down to investigate basket contents, the kids both dove into the bunnies ear-first. What??






Today was truly a beautiful Spring day. The grass is starting the turn green, the trees are budding and our dogwood is in glorious bloom.

98:366 - Dye job

Realizing that Easter is only a day away, the kids quickly got on it and turned a batch of ordinary plain white eggs (an anomaly in our house as we typically have brown eggs) into something a bit more colorful. We ran out of eggs before they ran out of ideas. Am thinking that next year we'll need to double our batch and plan on loads of egg salad in the week following!

97:366 - Family tree

I cant even begin to count how many times over the years we have hiked through this park and taken a photo on this downed tree.  There is a beautiful bend in the river here, the grass is thick and cushy and the limbs have been worn smooth by countless others climbing through the branches.  Hence, we have dubbed it the "family tree".

96:366 - me and my little dude

Let me start by saying that I do not like photos of me. At all. In fact, I am much more comfortable behind the scenes than in front of them.  However, after reading a number of posts on the Clickinmoms site, I realized that, one day, my kids are going to want photos of us together. All of us.  Including me. 

95:366 - Holy easter treats, batman!

The return to reality from a great vacation is never easy - it's probably just as hard for the parents as it is for the kids.  However, a GIANT box of Easter treats arriving from my mom made the return a bit more sweet.  Thank you mom!!

94:366 - The journey home

And, sadly, like all good things, our vacation had to come to an end.  The kids were actually amazing to travel with this time. Beckett entertained himself by staring out the plane window with binoculars and Zoe was plugged into movies on the iTouch.  In fact, it almost makes me want to start planning our next journey.  Almost.

93:366 - Wild animals - mine and theirs

So, how cool is this? We woke this AM to giraffes outside our window.  After a quick shower and breakfast, we loaded the kids up and headed to Animal Kingdom - a bit like a zoo on steroids. Plus rides. Plus a safari. Plus this enormous Tree of Life with animals carved all over the trunk. Plus a 3D show that scared the daylights out of Beckett when he thought the bugs from It's a Bug's Life were really going to get him.  All in all, the laughter outweighed the rest and the elusive beast called "the family photo" was finally captured.  

92:366 - "Mommy, Daddy, LOOK!"

Let me start this post by saying that Animal Kingdom Lodge is truly amazing.  You can have a hotel room overlooking a pool anywhere but where else could you overlook a savanna full of wild animals??  Zebra, wildebeast, ostrich, okapi, giraffes...on and on.  It was (almost) hard to tear the kids away from the balcony to head to Epcot for the day.  Almost.  

Epcot was probably cooler for the adults than the kids, with one exception.  At Magic Kingdom we saw a ton of characters and very long lines to greet them.  The kids (and parents) didn't have the patience for that.  Epcot was a godsend.  The kids kept shouting, "Mom, look!  There's Buzz!", "Daddy, look! There's Daisy!" But when Beckett rounded a corner and spotted Stitch all alone, it was pure Disney magic at its best.