April

April was a fun-filled month, considering we finally got to enjoy the outdoors for the first time in 5 months, without wearing 20 layers of clothing.

Here is Preston, trying to prove to me he can still fit in his infant car seat, so that I don't sell it on Craigslist. Watching some of his outgrown baby items walk out the front door has been a tad distressing for him at times. I've started telling him that people are just borrowing them. I'm all about moving the old stuff out! 

And making room for the new stuff! We finally said goodbye to Preston's crib, after more than 3 years. He still fit in it, but I think developmentally, it was time for him to have a more big-boy bed. Plus, I found this gem on Craigslist a while back, and it was taking up a ton of space in the basement. I always wanted one of these when I was a kid. That is one of the great parts of being a parent...you finally have the money to buy the kiddie things you always wanted, and can live vicariously through your child. 

Here is more Easter egg hunting at the park:

If you are ever short of free places to entertain your toddler, I highly recommend Home Depot. I'm pretty sure Preston could have spent all day in the tractor section alone. In fact, he was so fond of it, he had a supreme meltdown when it was time to go. Luckily, an HD employee lightened the mood by asking Preston to "help him" load all the bags of garden soil Mommy had bought into the car. He let Preston "hold" one end of each bag of dirt while he picked them off the pile, walked them over, and hoisted them into the back of the car, one by one. It made a 2 minute job into about a 10 minute job. I'm sure Home Depot didn't appreciate it, but I did! Still, when we got in the car to finally drive away, Preston was wailing, "I want to go back to Home Depot!!!"

First attempt at a burrito, and I was particularly fond of the attire. Usually I don't allow hats at the table...

An evening with Theo and Beckett! 2 more of Preston's BFF's, whose Mom graciously permits us to practice Preston's pretty rough-around-the-edges sharing skills with on a routine basis. Being twins, Theo and Beck (now almost 3), have a pretty good sharing system down. Preston is really good at disrupting it. But, Preston really needs the practice, so we are grateful to all of them for subjecting themselves to certain system-balance interference. 

Here, the boys are engaged in serious conversation over politics. I think they were discussing the Supreme Court's latest decision on McCutcheon vs the FEC:

Beckett clearly had some strong opinions:

Here was a rather tender moment where Theo (center), was "reading" to Beckett and Preston. Theo and Beck are quite the literaries, at home often retiring to their individual beds, or the sofa, to read to themselves, for rather extensive periods of time. I, cannot possibly imagine what that is like. But it makes me tremendously jealous. Perhaps that is the difference between the children whose mother went to Harvard, and one whose mother went to SUNY Binghamton. :)

Here, Theo and Beck retired to Preston's bed, for some evening reading. Preston jumped in a few minutes later, and was all, "Uhhh.....what are you guys doing??" And started bouncing all over them. You can tell by Theo and Beck's faces, they were like, "Dude. We're reading."

The birch tree in front of our house was long overdue to be cut down. Many a blustery night this past winter I was certain it was going to come crashing through the roof at any given moment. We were very fortunate it did not. I finally found a reasonably priced tree-cutter, who also then actually showed up to do the job. And who also heeded my request to do it on a day we would be home, so that I could take advantage of the entertainment factor. Cha-ching! To top it off, he was the old-school type of tree-cutter, who literally ascends the tree by himself, armed with nothing more than a chainsaw, and cuts the whole thing down by hand. It was quite fascinating to watch. And, as you can see here, Preston was glued to the front window for quite a while.

He quickly located some of his gear, and declared, "I'm a tree-cutter guy!"

Easter weekend we headed to the zoo on the day they give all the animals egg-shaped toys to play with. The octopus was moving about when we got there, which is always pretty awesome to watch. (He did not get an Easter egg, in case you were wondering.)

Here is the peacock, strutting his stuff for his girlfriend. I started to explain what he was doing, and quickly realized how complicated that explanation gets. 

Preston took about 5 turns on the tiger that day. Each time getting down reasonably agreeably, and then waiting patiently in line for another turn. Not sure how we averted crisis on that one, but I was grateful! 

Here he is Easter morning, playing with a new toy the Easter bunny brought him. Do you see the feet?

And practicing posing for Victoria's Secret:

Preparing to embark on the backyard egg hunt:

With substantial assistance, finally locating some eggs:



Celebrating a real mattress in his new bed, with vintage 1970's Sesame Street sheets. High fashion.


Preparing to consume some Pinterest-inspired Easter-bunny cake. Just call me Betty effing Crocker!


And lastly, blowing off some steam at a bouncy house. A marvelous place for physically unfit parents to bring their children to burn off their toddler energy while we sit and watch.