Baby Asher 2016!

My law school "little sister" Sarah and her husband Aaron had a beautiful, healthy, and already very expressive baby boy. I can't believe a tiny person like Sarah had a baby that's over 8 pounds but that's great. It means good health! Congratulations! You guys are going to be the awesomest and most fun parents! I can't wait to meet this awesome person you created.

Little Asher-face

With Aunt Becca and mommy Sarah in the back

With dad Aaron

Snow Storm Jonas 2016

Snow Storm Jonas arrived early on Saturday, and then it snowed all day long. In total it snowed between 22-24 inches in our area which is the most snow I've seen in years. Kevin and James went out to do a little preliminary shoveling during the storm on Saturday.

Where did our deck go?

James shoveled out the car while Kevin did the driveway.

A little post-shoveling playtime

Sunday we didn't have any more snow so we all went out. Kevin and James touched up the driveway and car, and Miranda and I took pictures. Miranda was a little worried about the snow. She's just a bit above 30 inches (32?) and the snow was pretty high for her. So after an initial investigation, and as she's apt to do anyway, she made us carry her around. 

James and Miranda checking out the back yard

Me and Miranda

Cubans in the snow

The front yard was a little deeper than the backyard. And even in the front yard the depth weren't consistent.

Miranda and James in the deep end

Family picture in the shallow end- thanks Carol!

Miranda is 21 Months 2016

Wow! Miranda is a personality! She's so cute and interesting, and she's talking so much more than James did at this age. She sometimes speaks with just one word at time, but other times she combines as many three words. The first time she did it, she was jumping on the bed trying to sing "Five Little Monkeys." What she actually sang was, "No more jump jump! No more jump jump!" to the same tune.

A more typical example of something she might say is "Cookie please?" or "Apple sauce please?" Yes?" She'll show me things and tell me their name: "Shoes! See? Shoes?" Although, her pronunciation is that of a baby so "cookie" is "coco" and "please" is "peas." At night she'll ask us to sing particular songs, "ABC" means the alphabet song, "Bah sheep" means "Bah-bah Black Sheep."

Here she is being smart and cute and giving her doll a checkup.


Attempting a puppet show

And she's so funny. She knows she's funny and uses it to charm whatever she wants out of you. She's still rocking her evil Frenchman laugh too.

Example of her sense of humor- "foot in face for selfie"

This is her "hiding" during Hide-and-Seek (unintentionally funny but still)

Oh HI!


Squishing her brother

Oh she's a treat! She's unstoppable! No... really... I can't stop her. Can someone please come over and help?

Breaking the law!

Trying to break out!

This day was particularly eventful...

This isn't so bad...

But this is...

And so is this! And she can open the refrigerator if she's mad enough!

Oh dear, baby overboard!

Also, she might be a little spoiled. I know that technically this is our fault, but I swear she's been wearing us down little by little. She's just stronger than us.

Insists on sitting on our lap at dinner and eating our food- even though it's the same as hers

She steals a tiny bit of my coffee every day

She also kind of purposely torments her brother. She'll wait until everyone's guard is down, snatch the one toy he's playing with, and make a run for it. James claims he loves her anyway.

Taking selfies together because LOVE.

Flying paper airplanes together (with my assistance)

She's dancing- he's watching TV

First Snow of the Season- January 2016

The first snow is so late this year! We had no snow at the end of 2015! And this is our first snow at our new house, though I didn't get a picture of the house in snow. It was just a dusting anyway. We're getting more snow this weekend so I will get lots more pictures.

Playing in our backyard!

Bowling Date Night 2016

Date nights are awesome. We definitely didn't have enough in 2015. Though I think I creatively labeled some of our outings "date night" on the blog, we only had 7 solo dates in 2015. And only 1 in 2014 because we had a baby and Kevin had a book which is as bad as a baby. So we're trying to at least have 12 date nights this year. Sort of like a marriage New Year's resolution.

When Kevin suggested bowling I was super excited because I've never been bowling before (maybe once? I have a memory from a bowling alley but I don't know if I bowled?) and it's the perfect winter date night because it is always indoors.

Oh my gosh, it was so fun! I felt so awkward at first because I am so bad. But that was part of the magic of it. Remember how awkward everything used to feel when we were younger? Or how bashful you felt when you started dating. Well that's actually kind of novel and fun now.

My amazing technique

We were both awful at first, which was great because I was able to win the first game. Yay! Then I stayed awful and Kevin remembered how to bowl and won the next four games. Meanwhile we were drinking beer, I was loosening up, enjoying my "violence against the bowling lane." And then, at 9 PM, the lights went off and the teen music came on. It was amazeballs.

Rock and Bowl!

I started dancing in the bowling alley. No joke. I got a bunch of spares, and Kevin got an assortment of strikes and spares. When he got three strikes in a row the scoreboard announced TURKEY! We'd never heard the bowling term before and it made us laugh because we have an ongoing joke with James about how he's a turkey or Miranda's a turkey. 

This is what winning looks like

So yeah, best date night in 2016 so far. Hugely fun!

Daisy, David, and Melanie- January 2016

My brother David, Melanie and Great-grandma Daisy (Abuelita) came to see the new house and visit with us before Daisy leaves for a couple months in Miami. She lives the life huh?

Group picture!

We ate a lot, played with the kids, and talked about travel and their 2018 wedding plans. I've been trying to teach James Spanish and he was excited to try to talk with Abuelita. At one point though he resorted to putting a cartoon on for her in Spanish. I think he was trying to help- haha.

Watching Littlest Pet Shop in Spanish

Melanie putting on a puppet show

This photo cracks me up

Drawing together

Playing with the new doll from Abuelita

PJFL Parent Toddler Workshop 2016

I can't take Miranda to Mommy n' Me this semester so I decided to try this free library program on Fridays. It was totally different than Mommy n' Me and I was really confused. There were tons of people there, including many dads. It was almost all free play time, and at the very end we cleaned up a million toys and sang some songs.

Miranda racing cars with a new friend.

Wee!

Queen of this castle!

New Years Resolutions 2016

I've really been avoiding this. I don't want to make resolutions this year. I did so much last year!

1) Have James be conversational in Spanish! (Get Miranda started.)
2) Become personally involved in an organization that does good.
3) Complete our powers of attorney & healthcare powers of attorney (was also on my 2014 and 2015 resolutions)
4) Read 12 books from my reading resolutions list

James & Miranda's resolution: Brush teeth twice a day. (Yes, we picked it for them.)

James and Miranda brushing before bed in October

LI Aquarium- January 2016

Great grandma Ruth gave us a family aquarium membership for Christmas! Saturday was Family Day so we ran right over.

Too many fish to look at to focus.

James remembered the names of the fish he used to have on his wall in Floral Park!

Some serious anemone action here!

Fish faces! Miranda only has bee face so far.

Pointing out the starfish.

The sharks are pretty freaky. James was kind of nervous in this room. Miranda was totally freaked and wanted me to hold her once she saw what was up, and she'd turn and flinch when the sharks came by the glass. James grew bored after a few minutes but then pretended to be a shark grabbing at him from behind- he did not care for that! And he told me so!

The shark room. Wish I remembered what he was telling her here.

Hearing the Jaws theme.

There's was one cave-like room with some tanks at Miranda-height. She started saying "wow!" as she approached each tank in this room. So cute and funny. Reminded me of James reaction to the planes in Cradle of Aviation when he was just a little older than Miranda.

Miranda enjoying tanks at the right height.

James also had the opportunity to pet some stingray (not pictured) and some clams. Probably the last big exhibit we saw was the seal room. The seals are involved in some show above sea level but come by for visits below. I imagine that for them it's the "human pup tank" they're visiting.

Petting clams- but why?

A visit from a seal.

Can't wait to go back! Thanks Great Grandma Ruth!