Playing Outside!

Spring is here!! My spring bulbs are blooming and our trees have beautiful buds and flowers. (Thank goodness for Flonase and Allegra!) Mostly, we're excited to PLAY OUTSIDE!!

The cutest little tiny daffodil in our front yard
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Love my plum tree :)

"Cheeeeese!" (So excited about getting water in his sand/water table)

"Blake! STOP putting that water in your mouth! It's yucky!"

The Zoo in March

We have had amazing weather lately! The forecast for one of our recent "stay home days" was 77 and sunny, so I asked Carter "What do you think about going to the zoo today???" He said "The Troit Zoo?!!?! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" So, I packed some picnic lunches and off we went. It was a great day :) Carter looked at the map and decided to head straight for his favorite animal, the tiger. Blake called "Gi-ger?? Gi-ger??" We spent a lot of time watching the polar bear swim around - I think Carter would have stayed there all day. He said "I wove wove wove this place so much." They also really liked watching the giraffes in "their house," which is something we've never seen before. Blake kept pointing and saying "Raffe! Raffe!" The boys loved looking at all of the animals, and I loved spending time with them doing something special. Blake was a little confused at times - he was really hoping to see some elephants, but they don't have elephants at this zoo. He thought that the rhinos were elephants, so he was happy. And then we got to the anteaters, and he INSISTED that they were the elephants. He kept pointing to their noses saying "CRUNK! CRUNK!" I guess it sort of does look like a trunk, but definitely NOT elephants, buddy :)


Carter watching the polar bear swim around

Spending time with the only elephant at this zoo. Carter said "Mom, is this elephant dead? It wooks (looks) dead."

My sweet almost 5 year old boy

It must be mating season for the peacocks - most had their feathers out. Carter said "Mom, why does peacocks have so many eyes on their feathers???" I love how he thinks.

Blake was so excited when he saw these elephants....er, rhinos....whatever...these made him happy.

I'm a terrible blogger...

I haven't updated our blog since July 2011. I'm a terrible blogger. But that's because my internet is such a terrible uploader. It takes me FOREVER to upload photos. And I have other things to do in addition to sit and wait for a slow upload. I put a lot of photos on Facebook, but some of my blog readers don't have Facebook. To those of you that fit in this category, I apologize. Here are some recent photos to update you all. I promise that i'll try to update this more frequently.

These are of my sweet little Blake at 19 months old. My plan was to take some adorable snowy outdoor photos for his 18 month photo shoot....but we didn't have any snow. Then I had surgery to have my tonsils removed and was down-and-out for almost a month. It didn't matter...we still didn't have any snow. On the day that I took these photos, we played outside all morning. It was a beautiful day. Carter pulled Blake around on the little inflatable sled, and pushed him down the hill in our yard. Then I pushed Carter down the hill a few times. We made snow angels and we built a snowman. Carter said "Ok, now we just need a carrot for his nose, sticks for his arms, and some eyes." He went inside to get a carrot, then placed it carefully on the snowman's face area. Blake got excited...grabbed the carrot...and took a bite. When I took the nose away from him, he proceeded to take a bite out of the snowman. Geesh. After playing, we went inside for lunch and a nap. When we woke up, it was like a spring day. Our snowman was suddenly a pile of sticks, rocks (eyes), and a half-eaten carrot. We put our spring coats on and went for a walk/bide-ride. It's been a weird winter weather-wise. I never complain about weather - afterall, I choose to live here. But, I am anxious for warm weather :) The kids look just as cute in summer clothes as they do all bundled up! But aren't these pictures SO sweet???? (Nevermind Carter's pirate eyes and crooked smile - it was sunny!)

Picking Strawberries with the Strawberry Monster

We had a relaxing morning celebrating Evan for Father's Day - and then we decided to hit the strawberry fields and do some serious strawberry picking. Last year, Carter and I picked berries 3 days before Blake was born - and it will always be one of my most treasured memories. Carter is passionate about picking berries for some reason...maybe it's the tractor ride, maybe it's the wide open fields, maybe it's just spending time with people he loves. Whatever it is, it's a tradition now! It was fun to add our little Strawberry Monster this year. Wow, does he love berries!! The signs at the fields say "One free sample - all other picked fruit must be paid for." Oops - we broke the rules - to keep the Strawberry Monster happy!

Here we are (minus me taking the picture) on the tractor ride back to the strawberry fields

Carter was very good at picking only the ones that were BIG, RED, and WITHOUT HOLES.
This is the one he chose for his free sample.

He spotted a strawberry and it was all over...we took turns giving the Strawberry Monster berries to keep him happy. He reaches and says "Meeeeee!" - his way of saying "more."

A VERY happy, and VERY berry stained baby boy!

Seriously impossible to get a photo of everyone looking at the camera.

Picking ONE MORE BERRY

The end result. YUM!

Carter is very interested in knowing what words say - "Straw-berry. Strawberry."

Daddy's Day

Here he is...THE WORLD'S GREATEST DADDY!!

I love Carter's face in this picture (even though he's glancing at the TV - you can see the love he has for his Daddy)

I love them!

Mr. Blake and his obsession with tags :)

The "All About my Daddy" project from school - very cute :)

Goofball - he climbs all over Mya's bed and wants us to laugh. This is his shy silly face.

Practicing his stethoscope technique - future doctor???

This is why...

Carly is BACK from South Africa! And we're so happy...especially Carter. He told me the other day that "me and Carwee have a name that match." Hmmm...sorta. He makes it very clear that he loves Carly more than anyone - Carter, how much do you love me?? "This much...but I wove Car THIS much." Gotcha. So this was Carly's first day back with us - and this is how she entertained Blake. This is why they love her so much!

Life and Love

Evan was gone for a weekend in June participating in a triathlon, so I had a weekend with just me and the boys (and work...BOO!) If you know anything about us, you know that our kids are NOT "natural sleepers." We struggle, to stay the least, in that department. With just me, both kids, and 30 hours of work in 3 days, I didn't bother struggling to make Carter or Blake sleep in their own beds. Shame on me. However, the time we spend snuggling together is priceless. While I was getting ready for work, this was my view. It doesn't get any sweeter than this. Well...maybe except for when they both woke up, smiled, and laid back down to snuggle with each other. Life (and love) is good in the Sutton House. These are the days that I'll remember.