Down & Dirty

One of the pleasures I've had with creating our new garden space is watching the pride Elijah takes in caring for it. He always makes sure to remind me when we need to water the garden and is always quick to jump in and share what we have planted with random passerby's. I'm proud of the garden as well. We took a bit of space, originally filled with mostly shrubs and turned it into a flourishing garden. Our greens are growing strong, our herbs are spreading and I am shocked at how fast our peas are growing. There is definitely a strong sense of proud ownership when you can sit down to a meal where many of the ingredients are from your front yard. We're nowhere near growing all of our own food, but this small step makes me happy.
I also think that there is some silly pride associated with just how dirty Elijah can get. At some point socks and shoes come off and Elijah's toes wriggle around in the dirt, free as can be. Sometimes I will join him, relishing the feel of the cool dirt between my toes. Other times I'll just watch him enjoy himself and think to myself that another dirt rimmed tub will be the end result that night.

Game night - fun for the whole family!

A few months ago we started up game night - a night that occurred about once a month where we'd get together with friends, have some good food and play some fun games. The best part about game nights is that the kids would come along and get to play, while the adults were (mostly) left alone to enjoy whatever game we had chosen to play that night.
A couple of weeks ago we hosted game night here. We ordered some pizza and after a few rounds on the wii, headed upstairs to play Cranium. The kids busied themselves playing games and after a while we got absorbed in the game. That's when we realized it was quiet, almost too quiet. SOmebody then sniffed the air and thought they smelled shampoo. After sending out one of the adults on a search expedition, we discovered the kids in the third floor shower, emptying a container of shampoo down the drain. In the process they also managed to get shampoo smeared all over themselves. After quickly being stripped of their clothes we turned the water on and let the kids take an impromptu shower. Getting them redressed, however, proved to be a bit more of a challenge, and so we let them run around naked while we went back to the game. At one point Elijah and Zeben found the clay that came with the game and enjoyed playing with it. The night wore on until a team won (Marc, Lex & Megan if memory serves me right), and sleepy babies insisted that it was bedtime.

George & The Man In the Yellow Hat

The other day Elijah asked me for some more water while he was eating lunch. I walked into the kitchen to refill his cup and brought it back to him. He responded with, "Thanks Man In the Yellow Hat!" and broke into giggles.

I looked at him, unsure of what he was up to, but I soon caught on when he said, "Ima - Man In the Yellow Hat. Elijah, George."

Clearly we were playing pretend and I just got the memo. This morning he slipped back into his role of "George" with ease and all morning was spent in character, with Elijah chastising me if I neglected to call him George instead of Elijah. The imagination that he possesses at just two years old makes me feel creative and I love him for that. It's wonderful to watch as he lets me in on the joke and shares his world with me. I wish I had some pictures of us as George and the Man In the Yellow Hat, but we were just too busy being silly. Instead, here are a few more from the park the other day. 

My little shutterbug

Elijah has always been fascinated with our camera. It's probably because he's had it shoved into his face from birth, as I snap away doing my best to document everything that has gone on in his short life. He continually asks to try the camera out on his own, and isn't pacified when I hold it out for him to see through the lens. He needs to hold it himself! So, throwing caution to the wind this morning, Marc and I let him have at it, always hovering to make sure the camera didn't fall or smash into anything. He snapped away, sometimes just taking pictures of random things, other times setting up a scene to capture something specific. He asked Marc and I to pose a few times as well. We both watched quietly, letting him do his own thing despite the fact that I frequently wanted to tell him to lower the camera or raise it up a bit. I was a little skeptical while I uploaded the pictures, but was shocked and amazed when I saw the results. Elijah already has quite the keen eye when it comes to taking pictures. His perspective is totally different than mine and that comes through in his photos. He really did seem to put a lot of thought into the pictures that he took and I think that shines through.

I love this series of his little guys. He used the same background, but switched up the guys for each picture.

Close up of his baby doll

We were instructed to be silly

A couple pictures of the photographer. Wearing a t-shirt for "pants" and his baby in a mei tai. He chose his own outfit today, clearly.

Peas & Carrots

There is a line in the movie Forrest Gump, when Forrest is describing his relationship with long time friend Jenny, "Me and Jenny goes together like peas and carrots."

I find myself thinking of that quote a lot lately when I watch Elijah and Sina playing. They can go days or sometimes weeks without seeing each other because of our busy schedules and when they get together it's like no time has passed.

Super Saturday!

The possible threat of rain had me a little worried for all the fun we had planned for our Saturday. However, we woke up to sunny skies and warming temperatures. We started the day off early, driving down to Connecticut to enjoy breakfast with some friends we haven't seen in a while. After a delicious breakfast and some play time we were off to the University of Hartford to take part in a dvd taping for some of our favorite musicians, The Nields! Not only did we get to be included in the making of their first kid's dvd, but we got to enjoy some fun music as well. I wasn't able to get any pictures though, because the television studio didn't allow flash photography.
After singing and dancing our hearts out, we headed back home for some lunch and a well deserved nap. After Elijah woke up we decided to head into town, to check out the Pride event that was going on. Because of a late nap we only caught the tail end of it, but still had fun listening to music and running into a few familiar faces. Elijah loved looking at all the beautiful balloons.

Still riding his new bike. He likes to try and pedal on his own now!

We then decided to head to the park since Elijah had been cooped up in a car for a good portion of the morning and could use some outdoor fun. Marc seemed to agree and played along.

After working up an appetite running around, we decided to grab some dinner at a favorite sushi restaurant. Elijah scarfed down two avocado rolls and half of my tuna roll! He loves his sushi! Then we decided to cap the day off with some ice cream. We made it in before the line was out the door and enjoyed our delicious cones. 

The air had cooled off a bit when we got back outside, but it was still a perfect spring day. Elijah biked home and played outside for a while before heading back inside for a bath. Spring days like these make me so happy we live in an area where there is always something fun going on!