September 1 = Alexandra & Tyler Day

Alexandra and her boyfriend, Tyler, came to visit today.  It was the first time I've met Tyler so it was a special day for sure.  He really wanted to go to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the kids are decent in the car so it seemed like a good way to keep them occupied- and it was!  They liked the tunnels and seeing the ocean surround us.

Also- this is true and I have no words for how excited I am.

The one bad thing about me doing the most recent posts first is that I have to give background info that I'll repeat in subsequent posts.  But.  This is Zachary's first underway in a while so Grandma graciously offered to come up and help BEFORE I broke my ankle.  So it was even MORE appreciated with the broken ankle.  Well she watched the kids this morning so I could run all over Chesapeake to find these little containers to make packing lunch easier.  Guys I am 100% into doing a million hours of prep work if it makes the task itself go smoothly when it's go time.  So we have a system for packing lunches.  I read that if kids pack their own lunches, they're more likely to eat it.  Last year we just had Liam buy his lunch at school because the boy will eat anything but Malia... no way.  And if I'm packing her a lunch, I might as well pack Liam's lunch too.  So here we go- they'll grab a snack container containing veggie straws, pretzels or cheez-its... every Sunday I'll refill the 10 containers and be ready to go for the next week... grab an applesauce pouch, juice box for Liam, yoohoo for Malia, a granola bar and a fruit snack pouch.

Then they grab a veggie container- either carrots, cucumbers or celery this week- we may add bell peppers in the future but between those three I had plenty to fill these 10 containers which, again, will be refilled on Sunday and ready to go!  Oh and there are cheese sticks in the drawer that they'll grab.  I'm thinking of making a checklist they can use to make sure they've got everything... but anyways!  I'm super excited!

Also- here are some pictures from Grandma's visit!

There are cards that go with this equipiment and the guy in them has no shirt so Liam decided it would only be appropriate for him to also be shirtless.

July 13 = Date Night

So this is a post with no theme at all... here's just some pictures from today!

Such a big helper:

 Eating lunch is hard:

We got to go out.  This is sad but I can't tell you where this is- don't remember it at all and it's only been two months...

She's thinking...

Saw this and laughed out loud- the cat looks more like Joey but has more of Marley's mentality I think.

And a convenient explanation for why I can't remember the date pictured above...

May 17 = Pool & Spaghetti Day

We brought the turtle sandbox over from the old house but since we don't have a yard to ourselves, we didn't want to put sand in it... so Zachary thought we would put water in it.  We've done this before but today Malia got to wear her new bathing suit!  Liam did too but he wasn't so into it so there aren't any pictures of him.

But we made up for it by taking pictures of him after he ate his spaghetti for lunch...

December 15 = Big Nap Day

I was apparently really impressed with the lunch I put together for the kids and myself so I took a picture of it- not sure why it's sideways but I'm rushing through so... there we go.

Malia was super impressed as well:

Also, this:

Liam ate his lunch and took a good nap- here's a mini photo series of him waking up:

July 22 = Mommy/Son Day

Here's Liam waking Malia up.

We took Malia to the CDC today so that I could take Liam by himself to his OT appointment.  I got to read the whole time- it was amazing.  And after his appointment, we still had a bit of time before we needed to go pick up Malia so I took Liam to lunch at The Main Ingredient.  We had such a good time together.  He was being so funny and sweet!

My favorite part was when he was playing hide and seek behind the sugar packets.  Such a silly, sweet boy.

Later that afternoon, after we picked Malia up, we headed to Amy's house for a playdate.  Amy and Evie missed Malia's birthday party but got her a present anyway- a tea set!  Here's Malia in Amy's husband, Will's, shoes...

 And here she is at home, playing with her tea set!

Also, I got this picture and it's now my background on my phone- she's too cute.

Also this:

July 21 = Malia Day

Liam went to the CDC today so Malia and I had some quality girl time... including lunch...

 ...and shoes...

Afterwards, when we were all home, her sweet times continued with some snuggles with Daddy.

June 15 = TV Lunch Day

We are still into apples...

And Zachary set them up for lunch today- we've been super strict about making sure they eat all their meals at the table- we want to eventually get our carpets cleaned but there's no point if they are just going to keep spilling stuff all over the floor so we're trying to make it to where we don't have a lot of trouble getting them to eat at the table.  But today- Zachary treated them to this set up: eating lunch and watching Bubble Guppies!

March 31 = Say Goodbye Day

Alexandra's visit was so wonderful but she had to leave us today.  We headed to the gym again and then went to the commissary to pick up some things for lunch and we ate at the kids' favorite playground.  Here's our spread of deli meat, bread, cheese, strawberries and triscuits.  Yum!

March 3 = Ice Cream Day

We tried a new activity today!  In the past, we've used craft poms by getting Liam to put them through old paper towel rolls but they were Halloween poms and only dark colors.  I went to AC Moore and got a bunch of colors and found bowls or plates for each color and encouraged Liam to sort them.  He had fun... can you tell??

 Malia had fun too just not in the same way...

Liam got back to work and started sorting again so Malia found fun somewhere else... the laundry basket.

Liam had a good lunch- his new favorite food is butternut squash.  He'll eat a whole squash in two days.  He'd eat the whole thing in an hour if I let him.

And later, Zachary tried to enjoy a bowl of ice cream but didn't get very far...

Also here's my favorite Facebook meme of the day:

January 11 = Preschool Day One

Let me start with another Facebook meme that I think is hilarious:

And now I'll tell you about our day!  We started with our morning routine: getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing teeth and cleaning up Liam's room.  Then we did our inaugural "circle time."  It's more like triangle time if all three parties are engaged... but just go with me on this.  So we updated the day of the week, the date, and discussed the weather.  Our theme this week is "All About Red" so we read a book about colors- I've put a hold on some better books at the library but they haven't come in yet so we will have to settle for a book we already had- and then sang a song to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it," telling him to put his finger on his head if his clothes have any red- which I strategically ensured.   Then we did our matching folder:

 Malia decided to help.

And then it was time to go to the grocery store.  I usually go to the commissary on Sundays but Zachary worked all weekend and he thought he'd be able to go on his way home yesterday but didn't get off in time so I headed to this cute grocery store down the street- it's so nice and clean- and it had this cool cart:

Well they look innocent there but boy, oh boy.  They wouldn't stop fighting each other.  Liam was honking Malia's horn and Malia slapped his hand away and told him, "NO!"  So I moved Malia to the normal baby spot on grocery carts and that worked well for a while.  And then Liam discovered he could get out of the car.  So I calmly buckled him in.  Then he discovered he could still stick his arm out of the side.  And by doing this, he could knock over a whole row of hairspray.  Like fifty bottles of hairspray.  Or like thirty cans of Campbell's soup- ya know, whatever was in his reach.  So that was fun.  We checked out and I renewed my vow of never going grocery shopping with the two of them alone ever again.

Then it was lunch time!  Since both of them do so well eating at a little table at the CDC I decided to try it out at home:

They did great!  Then it was nap time and then I had to go to the pharmacy to pick up Malia's seizure medicine (her neurologist called me on his cell phone and had a conversation with me about her care instead of making me go all the way to the Bethesda) so that threw off my plans for the rest of the day but here's a picture of Malia after throwing her dinner on the floor: