HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Three of the very best.

To my #1 hero and the first man who stole my heart, I say thank you. Thank you for always believing in me; for offering sage advice and countless words of wisdom - and for loving me even when I ignored your advice; for showing me the magic in both books and movies; for instilling in me a love of history and the desire to always learn more; for teaching me to dance, to drive a car and a boat, to fish, to ride a bike, to cook scrambled eggs, and to negotiate; for supporting me in every stage of life and through every crazy endeavor; for every morning you woke up early to drive me to school; for every soccer game and horse show and ballet recital that you made sure not to miss; for all the silly costumes you wore with us over the years; for being "Cool Windshield Wiper Dude"; for being an amazing grandfather to my girls; and most of all, for loving me the way every little girl wants to be loved by their daddy.  I love you so much and wish I could be with you this Father's Day to celebrate.

 

 

Teaching us to ski

I love you

To the second man who stole my heart, you have become the most amazing father. Our girls are so lucky to have you. When they grow up, they will look back on their childhood with the love and happiness that I do with my own dad, and there is no greater gift I could ask for. They may even write a blog post about you!  Thank you for all you do, the big things and the little things - especially the little things. The way our girls light up with glee when you walk into the room fills me with such happiness. I couldn't imagine going through this journey called Parenthood with anyone else by my side - you are truly Super Dad, and we all love you so much. Happy Father's Day!

Baby EJ

Baby Nora

To my newest "dad" - thank you for raising such a wonderful son. Thank you for showing me such love and acceptance from the start. Thank you for being a wonderful Papa to our girls, they are so lucky to have you! Happy Father's day!

Major Milestones!

Pay attention, this one is important.

I always tell Everett to "sign" her artwork so people know who did it. This is really just a way for me to get her to practice her writing skills. Which up until this point consisted of the letters E and J since I thought her full name was a bit overwhelming for a 4 year old. 

Silly me.

The other day I told her to "sign" her card and she disappeared into the sunroom for quite a while and then proudly presented me with THIS.

I have no idea where she learned to write her actual name. School, I suppose. I had no idea she knew it had more than 2 letters. I was beyond thrilled and so proud when she showed me this. No, it isn't perfect and it seems to be missing a letter or two, but man was I proud. And her teachers deserve a big high-five!

This is the artwork that she was signing  :)

Spring and the world's cutest toddler

After a cold winter with not-so-great weather, we were happy to see some lovely weather to welcome in the beginning of Spring. And that means lots of outdoor time and opportunities to get some good photos of Nora. She has really developed a distinct personality and is constantly making us laugh. Plus she is just about the cutest thing on the entire planet. 

This is pretty indicative of the kind of
winter we had.

So we were all excited when it got warm
enough to do THIS!

 This kid is just overflowing with personality.

And she LOVES to climb, jump, run, and slide. 

 Unfortunately she has been a bit of a bad influence on her friends (already)

She looks all innocent here.

But really she is teaching Baby Andrew the ins-and-outs
of the climbing wall

Uh-oh....BUSTED!

Sorry, Amy....

Between the mini-heart attacks she gives us and her neverending demands for more and more food (WHERE does she put it all?) she is an absolute joy and I just cannot get enough of her.  

Still rockin' those amazing baby blues!

Play peekaboo with Daddy

Such a charmer

Fun with Aunt Merrill

Such a happy girl!

Adore this kid. Every day is a new adventure, a belly full of laughs, and a heart overflowing with love. 

My and my girl

A soccer star is born!

Well. It appears I am officially a Soccer Mom. I suppose it was bound to happen. I tried to resist. But all of our friends decided to sign up for the same team and we thought it sounded fun, and thus a soccer star was born.

Let's be clear - 3 and 4yo soccer is basically a disaster show. They really have no idea what they are doing, they all run around in a clump surrounding the ball (if they are paying any attention to where the ball is at all - often they are picking flowers or performing some sweet dance moves on the other side of the field).  So you could say we were more than surprised to watch EJ actually seem to get it (when she is paying attention).

Learning the "no hands" rule

Going over some last minute strategy.

She has scored 2 goals in every game she has played in other than the first one, most of the time the only one scoring any goals. She is fast, and seems to instintively understand how to play defense and get between the mob around the ball and the goal.

But most importantly - she seems to really enjoy it. While it is fun for us to have the "star" on the team, what is most fun is seeing her excitement and happiness in this new sport. Both Omar and I grew up playing sports and it helped define our childhoods in many ways. We have had hopes that our girls would find similar experiences and we are so happy that EJ seems to be having such a good time!

She loves her awesome Coach!

And of course, little sis Nora has taken on the role of #1 Fan with much enthusiasm. We are sure that in just a few short years we will be watching her tear up the soccer field as well. 

Tiniest soccer player. 

Her sister's #1 fan

Taking notes.

 GO KICKERS!!!!

Snow day!

Luckily we did not have the insane winter weather of last year, but we did get one good "Atlanta snow day" which means about 3" that was fun for a few hours and gone the next day. My kind of winter. 

Of course the girls (well, mostly EJ) love it!

EJisms

As Everett approaches 5 years old (whooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh, slow down) she becomes more and more well-spoken, with an ever expanding vocabulary and an amazing, meandering string of logic that both makes us laugh and also ponder the world around us in ways we hadn't considered. She is a truly funny, smart, observant, and creative little girl and makes our days so much brighter with the way her mind works. 

Here are some of my favorites from the last few months... 

"Mama, if you listen very hard to the rain it makes music"

(when I asked her yesterday why she didn't eat the lunch I sent her to school with)
"But mom, I don't like rice on Wednesdays!"
.
.
At least she knew what day it was.

(In reference to the route I'm driving her to a birthday party)
"Mommy, unfortunately, I don't think you know what you're doing."

And of course, the wonderful mispronounciations that we love and it breaks our heart just a bit each time she figures out the correct way to say it:

• Bananture (adventure)
• Cross Game (lacrosse game)
• Squarecrows (scarecrows)
• "Uh oh pisghettios" (Uh-oh spaghetti-o)
• Ten Little Aliens (for many months she sung 10 Little Indians using this phrasing, which for a while I legitimately thought perhaps that is they way they were teaching it these days in an effort to be more PC)
• Bootius Maximus (they learn a part of the body every week to go along with the letter of the week. This week's letter was G....)
• Camote (remote)
• Joking hazards (choking hazards)
• Banana Squirrell - Omar and I are still not sure what she is actually trying to say, but it refers to a special desert that she tries to make us which involves bananas, ice cream, and a bunch of other weird ingredients. 
• Asigant (accident)
• Amimal (animal)

Love her.