I am pretty excited about my newest find: home produce delivery via Full Circle Farm.

My box stuffed full of gorgeous, organic, unbelieveably fresh, quality-guaranteed produce arrives on Tuesdays before we wake up. I open my front door and there it is, next to the milk box.

We are very impressed by the flavor of the produce. So far this week we’ve had the spinach, radishes, apples, oranges, mangos, tomatoes, yams, and broccoli. I have to say that I don’t think I have ever had yams that good before, and Jim keeps threatening to eat my half of the last of the mango that I have saved in the fridge for a snack today. I like supporting local farming, and I’m enjoying trying out a few new things. Most of all, it just tastes good. Thanks to my friend Elisa for telling me all about it. And if you try it out, make sure you note that we referred you! 🙂

We had such a great time at Asher’s birthday party this week. We started out at the bouncy house. Haley thought her pink bow was pretty fun.

Elisa and Gracelyn

Happy guy!

Lisa and Trent

JT gave Abby a big smooch on her cheek right after this…

The boys were wearing matching brown striped polos and jeans – without planning it!

We went back to Asher’s house for pizza and cake. What a fun birthday!

We had the best time at Sadie’s birthday party today. It was a pool party! It was also Haley’s first time in a pool. She had a great time and even put up with a few “eyes in” dunks under water. Her little swimsuit was sooooo cute!

I had to go out of town to present at a conference for work, and I didn’t want to leave Haley for three days. So my mom, a professional grandma, volunteered to come with me. She hung out in the hotel, did a little shopping, and mostly kept Haley on schedule and happy. It was awesome! Haley was a great traveler and slept or babbled happily for the entire car ride both ways.

Here they are arriving at the hotel… glad to be out of the car, and hungry for dinner!

I know we all love our kids, but can I just tell you how much I completely adore my oldest? He is kind, helpful, funny, and smart. I am so glad we get to watch him grow.

The other day he said something that made my heart skip a beat: “Mom, can I help you clean the kitchen?” Talk about speaking my love language! 🙂 He did a great job putting all of the silverware away correctly and matching up tupperware containers with their lids, amongst other tasks. Hooray for a big helper!

Speaking of big helpers, I was trying to get the laundry put away before bedtime and JT got to watch WordWorld while he waited. Poor Haley was struggling with patience and her binky just wasn’t cutting it. Without taking his eyes off his show, JT wiggled closer to her on the bed and absently started petting her head. She calmed right down. It was so sweet.

Jim was snuggling Haley on the couch the other day while I was getting lunch cleaned up. JT thought it would be so fun to join them, but of course he wasn’t tired. He said he would pretend to be asleep so I could take a picture.

The other day I was explaining to JT that it is my job to teach him things, like how to be kind and patient and obedient. He said, “Yeah, and you taught me to tip my soup bowl and get the last bite of soup.” I’m so glad to know that all my hard work on character has paid off. 🙂

And don’t worry… little Haley bean is loved and adored too.

Last night we went to dinner with some friends and when we got home, Jim taught JT to make a snowball in the driveway before we came inside. Then JT suggested, “We could build a snowman!” Jim said, “Maybe if the snow’s here tomorrow, we can.” But last time we had enough snow for a snowman, JT didn’t want to go outside. I wanted to capitalize on the moment and it was only 7:30. So I said, “Why don’t you right now?”

The men geared up and went out to the backyard while the women stayed inside and prepared the snacks.

Rolling the balls

Finished products

JT wanted to make two. The funniest line of the night was when Jim popped his head in the backdoor and said to me, “Yeah, we’re going to need more carrot sticks. Slider ate one.”

They finished off with a snowball fight… you can see JT’s snowball flying toward Jim at the right side of the picture.

And before they came in, Jim said, “Do you want to leave the snowmen up or knock them down?” Being female, I had never heard of such a thing. But JT yelled, “Knock them down!” and Jim said to me, by way of explanation, “Because that’s why you build things. To knock them down.” Duh, Mom.

They had some toasty warm hot chocolate before bedtime. This is what little boys look like when they run out of hot chocolate.

A great night!

Princess Bean has really been changing in these past few weeks. We have noticed a little more chunk on her face and thighs (yay for baby chunk!). She has figured out how to play in the Exersaucer all by herself: she turns to face the toy she likes, spins the circles, presses the buttons, and more. This is partly because she grew enough to touch the bottom with both feet and stand. So fun!

She has succesfully transitioned to two naps a day. Her schedule blends so well with our families’: up and breakfast at eight, nap about ten, lunch around noon, nap about two, dinner between four and five, some solid food with us at six, and bedtime at eight-thirty. To get her from afternoon nap to bedtime is a long stretch, and sometimes she needs some “me time.”

This week I gave her the soft, snuggly lovey that Aunt Merrie got her and she loved it. I refuse to get stuck in the “lovey” trap because she already has a binky, but there is nothing wrong with holding something to settle down… I made JT use a clean burp rag but Princess gets a beautiful lovey with faux chocolate fur and pink striped satin edging. Go figure.

Here’s the standard laundry basket photo. I have one just like it of JT when he was only a month old.

And some videos… this first one is of her laughing at JT. He can make her laugh easier than anyone else. She absolutely adores him, and he tells me everyday how much he loves her. It is so sweet. I hope we can keep this up!

Haley’s sitting is getting better quickly. She can sit with a Boppy around her bottom for awhile now. I love this clip because JT is in the bathroom and you can hear at the end how successful he was. 🙂

And finally, this week we introduced spaghetti squash. She ate about an ounce of it on the very first try. Yum! Please note that she says clearly, “Ma!” It’s because she loves me.

Around here, snow is a big deal. We were supposed to have this crazy, nasty winter and so far it’s been very normal. So when it snowed this week, we couldn’t help but head outside and take some pictures. JT, Haley, Slider and I took a snow walk after nap one afternoon. JT got to wear his snow pants for the first time ever and he was so excited. He kept running around the house saying, “My no pants! My no pants!” (We are working on pronouncing that initial S sound. It is tough!)

JT getting ready

Haley getting ready

I hope you caught the contrast there. 🙂 Anyway, Haley cheered up considerably as soon as we got going. She really hates being stuck in something like a snow suit or a car seat… and don’t even think about putting a hat on her without some angry tears.

The snow was rapidly melting off the sidewalks but JT got in a little snow time in the grass.

Haley turned six months old today. Yesterday I jogged five miles. It’s been a good week. 🙂 Haley got her picture taken in her new Pottery Barn Kids outfit that I got new-with-tags-on at a consignment store… and she is sporting, for the first time ever, an adorable pink bow. Hooray for hair long enough for hair bows!

We had a tough time at the photo shoot. I was over ambitious about having her sitting by herself (which she can do for, um, two seconds). She caught JT’s nasty cold and is feeling pretty crumby. There were tears and so I abandoned my idea and let her sit in her BebePod. I got a lot of bad pictures and one or two keepers. This one cracks me up and it shows off her pretty blue eyes.

I also took her picture in a very special dress. I wore this on my first Easter, and my mom wore it on her first Easter. But my mom was born in February, and I was born in March. And Haley is small, I didn’t want to risk waiting until April and having it not fit. So we took a picture in it now, just to be sure.

Haley is working on falling asleep with no swaddle. She falls asleep just fine but doesn’t sleep long, so then I go in and swaddle her so she can get a good nap. It has just been the past week or so that she has been able to wriggle one arm out of my super swaddle, so we’ll have to start transitioning out of swaddling soon. She usually falls asleep playing with the elephant that JT brought her in the hospital.

And the winner – last week’s impromptu snapshot of “Princess Bean,” as Jim calls her. 🙂 She is certainly high drama compared to JT’s easy going nature, even as a baby. It will be interesting to see how that plays out as she gets older!

She has her six month check up next week and I’ll post her stats then. And Happy 86th Birthday, Great Grandma Christensen!