Happy Fathers Day

Another free digital ecard by Smilebox

Cherry Blossom Cruise

I just wanted to share some photos from the Cherry Blossom Cruise we took a little while back. They run these every year during the festival and I've always wanted to go. This is the boat we took out of Georgetown harbor.

One of the best things about being a full time mommy is that we get to go on week day adventures. There are a few other full time mom's that live in our building whose kids are the same age as mine. We've started doing "Friday Field Trips" and it's been a great way to get out and take advantage of all the fun things to do in the area.

This is one of Bex's best friends, Jordyn. We play with her and her mom all the time and the kids have so much fun together. One of their favorite games is to take turns screaming "cake" out loud. That's what they were doing here. It must sound even better with the wind in their hair.

I'm pretty sure they didn't pay too much attention to the cherry blossoms, but they were in full bloom and really pretty. The cruise took us up and down the Potomac from Georgetown to the back of the tidal basin.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly and the air was crisp and clean. We ate lunch by the water before heading back home. It was a good day!

(Photo Credits: Kelly :)

Bex's 2nd Birthday

We're a little slow on blogs lately. Here are some photos from Bex's birthday a couple of months ago. We were going to go with a construction site theme, but the party store didn't have any back hoes or dump trucks so we settled on his second favorite wheeled machine: trains.

Can you tell I decorated the cake myself? That's what happens when you wait till the last minute to order the cake. Turns out the need 24 hours notice (not 18) to make a Thomas the Train Cake. We ended up buying a premade one. It had orange and blue flowers around the edges so I just smashed them all down and built a track. Not my best work. I was also going to write his full name, but ran out of frosting towards the end. Thus the "Happy Birthday Bex". Next time I'll order the cake well in advance.
He had good birthday, I think. :)
Bex is a ham...just like his daddy! This is his "show me your teeth" face.
He didn't really care what the cake looked like. He totally enjoyed defrosting the train after he blew out the candle.
Happy Birthday Buddy!

The Addition

Anyone who has spoken to me at all in the past two years has heard about our storage room conversion. We were lucky enough to purchase a large storage space right next to our condo and (after hearing about a neighbor's plan to expand) decided that we could use a little more space. The one bedroom condo we purchased in 2007 seemed like more than enough space when we were newlyweds, but had quickly shrunk as we acquired more stuff, a dog and then two kids. I was determined to find a way for us to expand.

It seemed like it would be easy enough. We owned the storage space and all we had to do was tear down the back of a closet, build a new wall, put in a light and some carpet and we'd have access to another 100 sf of space! It was NOT so easy. It turned into a year-long process of red tape. First it was our condo association board (this was by far the most tedious and ridiculous part). There were emails, discussions, and eventually lawyers but we FINALLY got their approval. Finding a contractor (Kris from KD Homes) was easy, and he was great! He expected it to be a 3-4 day job, but underestimated the difficulty he'd encounter obtaining the permits needed from the county. Because condos are considered to be "commercial" buildings it ended up taking six weeks (instead of 3 hours) and costing three times as much as it would have if we were doing the same thing in a single family home. I didn't care I had a toddler sleeping in my closet and was very pregnant with baby boy No. 2 when we found out how much more difficult it was going to be. I needed, wanted, couldn't-live-without the space. They started work over Thanksgiving, after DJ was born and while we had visitors (Mimi & Pops) and after about a week, we had a NEW ROOM!!!!!!!!

This is while the room was under construction. The tile is where the original closet was. The room goes back and then to the right. KD Homes was very professional and did excellent work. If anyone need a good contractor I'd be happy to pass his info along to you.

Beckett in his new room. There is plenty of space for a crib, dresser, drawers, toy chest, laundry basket, diaper genie, and a very tall, very full, bookshelf. That's my favorite part. His favorite part seems to be the toy chest. Go figure.

He had no trouble transitioning from his pack-n-play in the closet to his (relatively) spacious new crib in his very own (for now) room. DJ is still sleeping in our room, but soon he will be joining his big brother and mommy and daddy will (finally) get their room back!

See, he likes it!

This is the new entry way to the room. We went with a monkey/frog theme. I couldn't decide and in the end, I really just liked the green and brown combination. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this new space. It makes our house feel so much bigger. It was a hassle to get it finished, but we are now the proud owners of a 1bedroom+DEN (a.k.a. nursery). Oh, happy day!

We had a great Christmas with the Wulffs in Stockton. Bex has a little cousin who is only a month younger than he is and they had the best time playing together. They were running up and down the patio stairs and then out to the "mountain" (golf course mound) in the back yard. It was so much fun to see them having such a great time together.

Here are three generations of Wulff men. From big brother John all the way down to baby DJ.

Bex having some quality story time with Pops on Christmas morning.

I love this picture of Chase. Her big brown eyes are just gorgeous! We had so much fun this Christmas. Thanks John & Sandy for hosting and to everyone else for making the effort to be together. I'm already looking forward to our next party!

Family Time in Napa

We had a great time with the Wulffs in California. It rained a lot while we were there but the grass was green and there were leaves on the trees. The sun even came shining through a couple of times. Bex and I took advantage of one of those moments and went for a dip in the hot tub. He loved playing in the water (as always) and could have jumped off the side into my arms a million times if I would have been up for it. Baby DJ is growing fast (16lbs at last weigh-in). He is calm and sweet and I am really enjoying this time with him.
Bex is almost completely the opposite. He's energetic and silly. He loves to run, jump, throw rocks and wrestle. He's growing up so fast. He's talking in sentences now and usually speaks in the third person. "Beckett running fast," or "Pancakes for Beckett?" It's funny.
He loves to play with his Dadu, who happens to be a whole lot like him. It's really cute to watch them play together.
I can see Bex and Ry posing for a picture just like this. Like fater, like son. And so it goes and so it goes. I'm feel lucky to have married into such a great family!

Winter's Thaw

I've been total slacker on blogging. We've been too busy playing with family but I promise to return soon with lots of awesome photos. (I got a new camera for my birthday. :)

In the mean time, here is a video from our walk today.