nature walk...

there was a slight window of time yesterday where the sun decided to make an appearance, so we hijacked the kids and went to the trail to "find pine cones and sticks."  the result...a heapful of good times and plenty of pine cones and sticks of course.  there was also some impromptu puddle jumping (sans boots...sigh) and mud.

awesome.

we happened upon a couple friends training for their first boston marathon.  i snapped a picture of them and luke said, "where are those girls going?" and proceeded to chase them down...well, attempt to anyway.  yes, he is wearing a sweet, sweet gray sweatsuit.  not on purpose.

this girl won't keep a pair of gloves on to save her life, or her hands...so a jacket that is two sizes too big would have to do.  the joys of "compromising" with a toddler.

mombo in all her glory :)

this picture makes me feel like a real photographer for a minute. bless that beautfiul slr

a day in iphone pics...

a friend or neighbor in the blogging world, if you will, does "a week in iphone pics" every (wouldn't you know it) week.  i thought i'd put a little spin on it and document just one day from last week.  in all actuality, it was just a coincidence that these are iphone pics.  it was all i had at the time, and they turned out pretty cute...all the more reason to share them here with you.  it was a brisk, sunny (gasp!) day in portland, or so we decided to pack the kids up in the ride and head south.  andy needed to purchase some new duds and i have been salivating over the fact 1) there is an h and m downtown and 2) there are kids clothes in said h and m...thus, i had to take the opportunity even though there were two less than excited children along for the ride.  the two little ones actually did really good...this is due, in part, to the fact that all they wanted to do was ride the train (the max, portland's version of the light rail).  so we, like any intellectual parent would do, used it as bribery and voila!  well-mannered children :)

here are just a few snapshots of the anticipation and joy that is waiting for and sitting in a "train" for all of one stop.  gotta love kids.

side note-these little dudes really made me stop and appreciate my life.  if there is this much happiness in waiting for a free train, what is there to complain about?  answer: the five pounds i need to lose by next month...doh!

snow and a day at the dentist

not all at once people...that would be far too much excitement for one day.  i really wanted to blog something and i just happened to have some photos on hand so here they are.  i know the dentist ones aren't really the most awe-inspiring...they are mostly for my documenting needs.  luke did such a fabulous job.  he didn't complain or cry.  he just sat there like those amazing four year olds i only read about in books.  then he came home and turned back into luke.  eh, what do you do?  

doing what he likes to call "making roads and footprints."  does it really get any better?

before and after tasting his very first snowflake

you know you wish you could pose like this...and wear gloves that are three sizes too big

it was pirate dress up day at the dentist office.  so i forced...i mean gently prodded my costume-phobic children into bandanas and this was the cute, cute results.  these pictures were taken by each other by the way.  yes, you may comment that my children are photog prodigies...even with a mere iphone.