A Day at the Office!

Jack got to head to work with Papa again this year on bring your kid to work day! PEP really puts together quite a celebration every year for this special day! 

My boys heading into the office! Work hard! Jack spent the morning getting ready and running around the house saying "wurk wurk!" He grabbed his lunch box, his button down and his basketball and off they went! 

The kids got right to work followed by a delicious pancake brunch made by the PEP employees, book reading, play dough molding, and crafts! 

Jack loved spending the day with Papa, but probably not nearly as much as Joe LOVED getting to take Jack with him downtown for the day!! What a special day they get to share each year! 

This totally looks like a first day of school pic - But who needs school when you can head straight into the business world :)

Spring!

We are still just loving all the nice warm

Weather and Jack continues to be obsessed with being outside! We jump out of bed, throw on our shoes and head out in the back yard for the day! We eat breakfast outside, play with "dough dough" (play dough), dig in the dirt, use our "wed wakes" (red rakes) to pick up leaves and sticks, hide all the Lego guys in the mud, practice mowing the grass to be just like daddy, listen for "choo choos"(trains), mimic all the passing fire trucks and ambulances heard in the distance, listen and watch for "cwows" (crows), point out every tweet tweet (bird), play "baball" (basketball), and carry around and dig in everything with our "showshows" (shovels) The activities outside are endless!! 

What happens when you leave a toddler alone outside!! The great part about our yard is it's all fenced in and kid friendly and Jack can run around out there even if I need to be inside cooking or taking care of a few things - but I never know what I'll find when I come back out! 

Playing with "dough dough" in his jams while Mama makes breakfast! 

Trying hard to keep up with Papa!!

We sure have been taking a lot more baths around here after all our adventures outside! 

Happy Easter!

This year we got to spend Easter weekend in Cleveland with the March family! It was a very relaxing weekend!

Jack got to spend lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa and his uncles! We love how excited they get to see him and we appreciate how attentive they are to him!!

We made play dough, read books, took walks, played outside, played basketball, and hunted for Easter eggs and Easter baskets! 

Jack got a hang of the Easter egg hunt and got very excited to open each egg and find more raisins!! 

The whole family followed him around outside as he hunted for eggs - it was so cute how into it his uncles, grandparents and great grandma got!

Jack's sweet Great Grandma always tells me how much Jack's personality reminds her of when her Matthew (Joe's Dad) was little and how it makes her so happy to see Jack act in such similar ways! A huge compliment to our little son! 

He could NOT believe each egg had more raisins - he thought it was the coolest! He just kept saying "pwease, pwease" for us to open the eggs and then "tank you, tank you" each time he found more treats! 

"Tank you mama!" (Eh I mean Easter bunny!)

Love you munchkin!!

We didn't even make it to the highway on our drive home before this happened:

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful Easter weekend!!

Remembering to "Pwaay"

Praying the steps up to Immaculata Church in Mt. Adams is a very special Good Friday tradition my family has continued for as long as I can remember and for the 2nd year in a row Jack has become part of the tradition! 

For the last few years we have met Stef and Dave before the sun rises to pray the steps before we all head off to work. This year the thunder and lightening got in the way but we managed to make it to the steps during Joe's lunch break! Rain or shine, praying the rosary up the steps is a special part of our Easter weekend!

Jack has started a cute new thing where he folds his hands together and says "pwaay." It's the little things that our one year old does that helps keep us on track!  I look forward to continueing to teach him the importance of faith in our family!  

The Everyday!

Just soaking up spring here in Cincy and enjoying capturing the simple moments! Watching Jack's facial expressions to things is an all time favorite of mine! 

Great Oma teaching the boys to juggle with walnuts!

A boy and his dog! Jack is really into Roxie! Always calling out her name, kissing her and hugging her!

Practicing his driving skills!

Henry, Jack and I took an awesome trip downtown this week to enjoy the sun and play at the park! Always my favorite spot - sawyer point - a place I have been coming since I was Jack's age!

Two little monkeys enjoying the picnic!

Exploring and always so into what the other one is doing lately! They are becoming such good buddies!

One very sleepy boy zonked out on the ride home!

Loving his cool new hat from Aunt Lex!

Silly days playing with Omi - Omi pulling him around in the wagon!

We are just having a blast with Jack - he will be 19 months this week and every month just gets better and better! 

Our favorite things he does lately:

*point out all his body parts "knee, belbow, eye, foot, chin, neck..." Joe makes sure he's got them all! 

*Point out all the trucks in the truck book "digger, roller, car carrier, monster truck, fork lift , dump truck..." 

*put his hands together when he sits in his high chair before eating his food reminding us to pray

*adorably say "pweeaase" when we ask him "how do you ask nicely?" And then signing "thank you" when we give him what he's asking for

*beg and beg to go outside and play and then his extreme excitement when we are outside playing!

*how much he loves on Roxie and screams her name out of excitement whenever we pull in the driveway!

*his interest in so many things - he just always seems like he wants to learn and always wants to repeat what we teach him!

Hooray for beautiful spring weather - we are loving all this outside time!!