April in Connecticut

I love these mugs!

• It has been an eventful month in our neck of the woods, with the most exciting news being that Ryan signed a contract with a multi-specialty group in the Phoenix area, so it looks like we are moving to the desert! In July! Hello sunscreen! I think it might take me awhile to get used to the heat, but come January I am going to be loving sunny AZ! We are really looking forward to this next chapter of our lives. 
• Isaac got glasses and the excitement of his new look hasn't worn off quite yet. Hopefully it never does. 
• Nater is scooting all over the place and eating everything in sight and waving bye-bye and generally charming all of us. He even started saying his first word this past week---"mas" (more) No one is the least bit surprised at his choice of first words. It suits him perfectly. He squawks, "mas! mas! mas!" over and over as he eats. I'm not going to lie, it's hard for me to deny his constant requests. 
• The very first blooms of the season are starting to pop up around here and I love it. It means afternoons at the park, dinner outside, and beautiful Connecticut rainstorms. I hope Spring lasts a really long time this year. It's kind of embarrassing to admit just how much my mood improves with the rising temperatures and melting snow. 
• Devin and Krystal (Ryan's brother and sister-in-law) are coming to visit this weekend and everyone is excited as we anticipate their arrival. I realized that they might be our last family visitors to the east coast before we head west in a couple of months. How can that be? Where did the last 3 years go? It is definitely bittersweet to think of our last spring here in CT. I hope we make the most of it. 

He really wanted round Harry Potter glasses but these ones fit his face better. I think the red frames suit him well. 

Nater @ 10 Months

• Crawls everywhere! He hasn't figured out the stairs yet and when I walked in on Maddie "teaching" him how to climb up them the other day I quickly put the kibosh on that idea and informed her that I DO NOT want him learning how to climb stairs yet. 
• Has quite a bit of natural curl coming out in his hair which has been intensified by the warmer days and humidity. It's pretty adorable.
• Is the center of attention at dinnertime. All the kids fight over who gets to sit by Nathan. They laugh at everything he does. I keep waiting for his charm to wear off with his older siblings (especially now that he can destroy their stuff) but it hasn't happened...yet. 
• He still has a really hearty appetite. I love this stage where they will eat just about anything. 
• The other night, Maddie put her plastic princess earrings on him and adorned him with her matching crown. She was in heaven and he loved the attention too. Who says Maddie needs a little sister? 
• He is still a Mama's Boy, particularly when he's tired or hungry. He's almost always hungry, BTW. 
• He's getting so big and pulling himself up on everything and looking less and less like a baby everyday.
•  The first year of a child's life is so demanding and exhausting for parents (and frankly, it's a ton of work), but it has been full of so much happiness for all of us. Our family really wasn't complete without Nater. We love him so so much.

From the Mouth of My Babe

Nater's first time on a  park swing.

This past month Isaac worked on an invention for a project at school. I was explaining to him that he would have to present his invention and possibly answer some questions from the judges (which happened to be students from a nearby college).
"Okay," he said, unconcerned.
Then, after a few moments of silence, he responded seriously, "Mom, do you think President Obama will be one of the judges? Because I want to be really prepared if he is."

Fooled Ya!

 My sister Allie always has fun ideas for April Fool's Day and her kids love it. This year I decided to follow her lead and play a couple of dinner tricks on my kids thanks to her help.

I told the kids that since it was April Fool's Day, we could eat dessert before dinner (yayayayayayayay!). Little did they know, our "Strawberry Chocolate Pie" was really pink mashed potatoes with meatloaf, garnished with a ketchup icing. Ike did show the slightest suspicion when he remarked, "Is this a healthy pie? It looks like a healthy pie."

After eating dessert, we moved onto our fish sticks and green peas dinner (sugar wafer cookies dipped in peanut butter and rolled in crushed cereal along with lime-flavored tootsie rolls). I tricked them again! I love young, gullible minds. 

Recognition setting in for each of them.  It was really fun to see their reactions.

Happy April Fool's Day, and please let spring be here to stay!!