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I know I'm constantly talking about my boys on this blog, but there is one boy that I have to brag about. Chris is a dedicated church basketball player and I'm really impressed with his dedication. He plays on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings (at 6:30 am!!!) every week. They recently finished their tournament season and finished in the semi-finals. We had a fun time cheering for him at one of his games!

My boys woke up on St. Patrick's day to find that the leprechauns had brought a treasure, their Grandma Stevenson came to visit! We had a great time with Grandma in town and we were all sad to see her go. It was fun to show her some new sites in Charlotte. Some of our favorites included: Visiting the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden Visiting the garden was always on my to do list and I was glad to finally have an excuse to go. The weather was amazing, warm and blissfully 80 degrees. We ate a picnic lunch on the terrace and then wandered through the gardens. There are several fountains, which delighted the boys, especially the one that you can run through (parents be warned that if you bring your kids to the gardens, be prepared to have your kids get wet). The boys stripped shirts right away and when pants became a burden, they were stripped too. We finished our visit with a trip to the amazing Orchid House. St. Patty's Parade, Mint Museum, and Belmont We caught the St. Pat...

A friend of mine called me last week with a photog request. She had found out that day that her mom had passed away unexpectedly; as these things happen, her spring garden decided to bloom the same day and my friend wanted some pictures of her garden to remember that day. Knowing the spiritual connection my friend has with her garden and hearing the depth of emotion in her voice, I didn't question but instead grabbed my camera and two boys and headed to her house for a photo shoot. It was a beautiful day and I appreciated the chance to take pictures of something other than people (especially since the pictures of Rowan throwing rocks into her pond and stepping on flowers would have ruined it a little, sigh). My thoughts are with my friend and I hope that she find peace at this time. There is nothing like the renewal of spring to give us faith that such a thing is possible.

It was an event long anticipated, even by the incoming tooth. Davin’s first tooth finally gave up its effort to remain firmly planted in the bottom front row. I took a few pictures to celebrate the event, but you can’t really tell the tooth is missing as the new one is already in. Davin was very excited to lose the tooth, especially since he was able to take it out on his own terms.   Regarding tooth fairies, I’m not really a fan. I’m super excited about Santa Claus, happy to include the Easter Bunny (though he visits us on Saturday instead of Sunday), but the Tooth Fairy seems a little weird to me so I decided to forgo this tradition in our house. I never mentioned the little bug to Davin; instead I decided to meet him with full honestly but not diminish the value of the bribe. I told him that I would give him a dollar for his tooth, clean and simple. He was very excited about the prospect and eagerly reminded me of my promise as soon as the tooth was out, which I happily ...

The markers that the boys received from Grandma Rees are window markers, something very cool in Davin and Rowan’s book. They had a great time drawing and writing letters on the windows. Both boys have made amazing strides lately with their handwriting/drawing skills. Davin’s handwriting, something he really struggled with initially, has improved dramatically this year. Rowan is starting to draw things and tell me what they are. The other day he drew a circle with two eyes, and mouth, and a few arms and told me that it was a monkey! I was so excited! Rowan is also learning his colors and can usually identify them correctly. His favorite is yellow (he is going through a major Curious George phase right now so it doesn’t surprise me that he is drawn to yellow and monkeys). 

Here is silliness for silliness sake: we celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday this week, which is appropriate as silly things go. The boys and I baked a chocolate cake (well, it was kinds of a quasi-brownie mix turned into something that resembled a chocolate cake and the ultimate result was yummy no matter the official title on the box). Of course they were great helpers, especially when it came time to clean the bowl. Later that night, we cut out circles and layered the cakes into a tall “Cat in the Hat” type hat shape and then added frosting and fondant shapes. The result was not quite “Ace of Cakes” standard, but we had fun anyway. The frosting on the cake was the surprise that Grandma Rees sent with Chris after his recent trip to Austin for work. I threw the airplanes, helicopters, markers, and stickers into gift bags, which rounded out the night perfectly because who doesn’t get gifts at a birthday party? Cheers to Dr. Seuss and his amazing legacy!