rainy but fun!

We have had a fun week filled with birthday parties, rainy day activities (yes it's STILL raining here!!), farmers markets and the boys first race.

Our friend Jonah celebrated his 3rd birthday!

The rains are still with us...I think it has rained almost everyday in May! So we have had to pull out some of the winter rainy day activities.

The boys have been enjoying painting!

They sure do like to concentrate while painting!

We went to the mid-week farmers market and the boys got to hold a boy bee (no stinging parts!). I've never seen them stand so still!
After the farmers market we went for a stroll with our gal pals, Shan Li and Mei Zhen. The sun came out for our walk and our raspberry eating session!
This weekend was the 4th annual Run for the Hills...a benefit race for the Greenbelt Land Trust's (where mom works) trails program. The boys ran in the 1/4 mile kids race. Dylan shot out of the racing block, ahead of the rest of us. He sure was flying! He's not even touching the ground in this shot! Our friends Nicole and Jonah are next to us too!
Here is Dylan crossing the finish line.
Cole ran the whole way too...just attached to mom's arm. Mom was going to take pictures but the kids ran so fast that Dad ended up running ahead of them to the finish line to get the good shots.
They both got winner's ribbons to show off! Then it was time to hit the snack table!!

birthday...dancing...derby??

It has been a bit since our last post...but much is abound.
Mom celebrated her birthday and was surprised several times by her wonderful husband and fabulous friends! Here Dylan is taking on the opening present job for mom...

...and just LOVES the new necklace! So does mom...who has been eying this piece for a while now!

The weather is turning nicer...not so many rainy days. We headed out to some lunchtime music with friends and Cole got a hold of the camera and took a bunch of pictures...
Here is one of our bag...my newest sewing project (not a great shot of what the bag looks like but you notice it carries the important items like chips and sunscreen!)

The light post.

Cole's self portrait.
Dylan in the mean time was boogieing down to the music!
Random shot during the week of mom in stripes with son in stripes.
The best part of the birthday celebrations was going out with a bunch of friends to a roller derby bout. A few of us dressed up for the occasion!
Oh yeah! We're tough all right!
After the 'bout' we headed out to a martini bar for food and drinks...and as you can tell we changed into our martini bar attire. Not a bad way to bring in mom's 36th year!! I can't wait for our next adventure!
To top off this week Aunt Lesley came for a visit while Daddy was away on a work trip. Let me just say LIFE SAVER!! or shall I really say MOM SAVER!! It was so great to have the extra help and the boys had so much fun!! Thanks so much for visiting us Auntie Lesley!!! We can't wait until next time.

Old Fence Out

This past weekend we were busy putting in a new fence down by the creek in our backyard and removing the old fence closer to our house.
The boys were very excited for such a big project and wanted to help with every facet of the plan...whether we wanted them to or not!

Dylan is very excited any time he gets to have a go with Mommy and Daddy's tools...hmmmmm maybe a little too excited??

Before...

...and after.
A few years back it was solid blackberry behind the fence. After years of digging out the blackberry and ivy and planting many native trees, shrubs and forbs (flowering plants) we were ready to take out that old ugly fence. The boys love having so many new places to play!

Today I was surprised by Rob coming home a little early from work with flowers and an amazing plan. He and one of my best friends, Lynn, hatched a plan to have her come over with her girls to watch the boys so that Rob and I could go out for my birthday dinner. She even showed up with dinner for the boys! What an amazing friend! She is a rock star...watching 4 kids by herself AND feeding them all dinner. After changing out of my jeans and t-shirt Rob and I had a lovely dinner at a fancy restaurant! Thanks Lynn and Rob!!

Happy May Day!

To celebrate May Day we headed out to Central Park for a bit of May pole dancing...

...and boat making.

There were quite a few other activities offered at this May Day Festival...but dancing and boats were the highlight for the boys.

Cole wound up his boat so much that it was too fast for my trigger finger and I missed getting it in the photo.

We were so excited to have some warmer weather this weekend. We invited our friends Jonah, Nicole and Matthew over for some playtime and lunch out on the deck. Fun times!!