Dear Daddy (Part 1)

We miss you so much, but we are having fun with our CA family.  We had dinner at Uncle Dave and Aunt Stella's on Tuesday.  This picture is incomplete without you!
Grandma is so in love with her two grandboys!  
Here is our darling boy with the girls... Aunt Jackie, Mary, Shannon, and Cassie.

Aunt Pattie and Matty

The Mason Fam

Matt and Aunt Mary

Marisa and Matthew

My First Mother's Day

And what a wonderful day it was! We started the day off with Matthew's dedication at church. Next, we headed over to the Graffes for a family BBQ. The sun was shining (for part of the day anyway) and my boy was the hit of the party!
My sweet family. We look so spring-ish in our bright colors!
Matty and Grandma.
What a face! Check out those chompers ... eight of them in there. If only he could figure out how to use them ...

Just For Fun

Like father like son! Except Matt prefers his plain while Joshua enjoys his brownie-batter covered. This kid spends way more time playing with kitchen utensils than he does with actual toys.

I have been trying to sneak veggies in to our food. Why? Well, you just can't eat too many veggies, plus I have been doing most of my shopping at Costco and I can only puree so many foods in one week. So far Joshua approved of wheat germ and almond coated chicken, cauliflower scrambled eggs, butternut squash baked eggs, and sweet potato hot cocoa. He did not like spinach/broccoli/pea meatballs or carrot/sweet potato tomato sauce. These spinach eggs I didn't even bother showing him; I knew they wouldn't pass his test. But Jackie and I enjoyed them!

Matt is looking a bit girly with his long hair. I try to cover it up with hats, but his sweet spirals just sneak out the bottom. I know you Hardwicks are wanting it to stay long, but the Grahams say cut it. I don't know how much longer I can suppress the Graham in me!

Escape from diaper change! For a while Matty would stay on his back if you laid him down - sort of like a turtle. That phase is over and he is off and crawling before I can finish putting his diaper on! I just love how his tushy looks in his cloth dipe. And check out those thighs!! I could eat 'em up!

Fun with Food

Matt is teething (again - working on number 8)and wants to gnaw on everything. He pulled this apple out of my backpack yesterday and starting gnawing away. So I chopped some apple and put it his mesh teething do dad. Hated it. Oh well, I tried.

Tonight I made some carrots for him and he just couldn't wait to give them a try. He licked that spoon clean!

Does this hairdo make my cheeks look chubby?

A Visit with Grahama

My mom came up to visit for a way too short weekend. We had been planning to go to the tulip festival, but the tulips are not quite in bloom yet. Bummer. So instead we went to Port Townsend for a day of window shopping and strolling along the waterfront. Sunday we had a lazy morning before seeing the sights of Seattle - Pike's Market. Jackie's church, work, and apartment. Then we zipped over to the airport at the last possible minute (it's so much easier that way - less tears).

Matty had fun bonding with his Grahama. And I enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to get up all night to care of him. And best of all, the night she left, his 10 month birthday, he slept through the night! Finally!

We miss you already Mom! It was a lovely weekend visiting with you!

Why stop at Coke?

Coffee is so good on a cold morning!

Happy birthday Mom!

Dear Mom,
We were so glad to have you here for a visit, short though it was. Thanks for all of your encouragement and wisdom. Sorry the tulips weren't in bloom yet - guess you'll just have to come back again soon. :) We are looking forward to talking to you on the video phone! We hope this year brings God's richest blessings.
Love,
Joshua, Erin, and Matty

Unconventional Easter

This year we had a very unconventional Easter. We realized on Saturday that all of our family was out of town or had other plans and we had nothing to do. So, Joshua made reservations for brunch in Port Townsend. We made it to church only 15 minutes late and Matt was the only baby in the nursery. The wonderful volunteers were thrilled to have him. We came home to get ready for brunch, but then Jackie called and was getting off early, plus it was an icky rainy day, so we headed toward Seattle instead. On the way we tried calling several places to get a brunch reservations with no luck. Joshua suggested a stop at Ikea to kill some time before we picked up Jackie. I thought for sure that place would be deserted. Nope. Jam packed! We had a blast strolling through the aisles and trying out toys with Matty. We even stopped at the cafe for a snack.
Next we got to see Jackie's new store. We sat and had some coffee before making our way toward the waterfront for a quick dinner at a grill. Then we spent some time browsing books at Barnes and Noble before heading back home.
Strange, but a fun day nonetheless.

Eat your heart out Pepsi

When we bought our minivan it came with a year's supply of Coke. Since we rarely drink soda, we still have tons of it sitting around and our now mobile son discovered a box. He opened it up, pulled one out, and tried to take a sip. Where did he learn that? Anyway, Coke should use this picture as an ad. He's making me want a Coke cause he's so darn cute!

Fun at the Park

Since Spring has actually decided to show up around here, we have been able to take Matthew to the park and try out the swings. He loves them! The slide he could care less about. Oh well.
Isn't he cute in that hand made hat? :) Maybe I should start selling them ... anyone interested?

Why Matthew is no fun at restaurants

Miscellaneous Fun

Matthew has trouble falling asleep unless he is being cuddled in some way. Joshua put him to bed the other night and I thought he was back to his studies. When I went back to check on Matt, I found them both snuggled up fast asleep.

We were packing for our trip and I needed Matt to play by himself for a while. He is into everything these days and can't be left alone for a second, so I packed him up and got on with my work. :)

Restaurants have become more of a challenge as our little one likes to exercise his vocal cords. Generally not in a mad/sad way, but definitely loud. Plastic cups keep him entertained for quite a while, and they entertain us as well!

Who needs toys when there are kitchen things to play with? Matt loves banging things together and on the floor and enjoying the sounds they make. Notice his fancy trucks being ignored while he plays with a plastic lid and container.

A Much Needed Vacation

The three of us have been working hard, so a spring break vacation was a top priority. With a limited time frame (and budget) we decided to head north to the San Juan Islands. After a 2 hour drive and an hour and a half ferry ride, we made it to Friday Harbor. Our accommodations were at the lovely Lakedale resort where we "roughed it" in style with a 900 square foot cabin. It was just like Little House on the Prairie, but with running water and electricity. :)
Here is our "backyard". We were right on the lake and saw deer and ducks galore.

We ventured out to do some whale watching at Lime Kiln State Park. See the Orcas in the background? Ya, me neither despite four days of searching. But we did get a lovely view of Canada across the water and the Olympic Mountains.
Are these alpacas cute or what?! We got to visit their farm (my favorite spot on the island!)

Much of our time was spent enjoying doing nothing in the cabin. I did do at least one thing productive ... see the hat my cutie is wearing? I was inspired after meeting alpacas to make a hat from their wool. Plus, it was crazy windy and I needed to cover that baby's ears. Not bad for an afternoon of crocheting in the car without a pattern, eh?

Joshua and I had the luxury of a date night on Saturday when his parents came up for a short stay. we ate at this beautiful restaurant in Roche Harbor and enjoyed fresh seafood while watching the amazing sunset. The three of us took a nice walk on the docks the next day so Matt could enjoy the sights too.

It was such a lovely weekend, I wish it could have lasted longer. I still have a couple days off of work to enjoy, but Joshua is back at it - a new quarter at school and all the craziness of work. Wouldn't it be nice to retire at 32?

Crawling in Reverse

My little boy is into everything these days! The funny part is, he hasn't quite figured out how to crawl. That doesn't stop him though. He pushes himself backwards and pivots, then repeats until he gets whatever it is he is after (most often something he shouldn't have... like the mouse cord he just picked up) or he backs himself into a corner. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!" Dirty Dancing, remember? Anyway, enjoy.

Wii like it!

Since I will likely be working full time next year, we splurged and bought a Wii. Matthew likes it just as much as wii ... I mean we do! Please ignore the fact that I cannot for the like of me remember that videos should only be taken horizontally and that my husband says "striked". Just enjoy those sweet giggles from my favorite little man.
Oh yeah, he has learned to shake his head no in a very timely manner. He loves to say no while pulling my hair too ...

Swimming

Today we had a family night out at the YMCA.  We had to cut our passes this year, but we can visit once per quarter free of charge.  We thought Matt would enjoy a dip in the swimming pool and we were right!  He looked so stinking adorable in his baby speedo.  His first few splashes confused him, but after a while he was smiling ear to ear.  As I took a look around the pool, I noticed that there were tons of dads with their kiddos, but no moms.  So I followed suit and left the boys and enjoyed my first soak in a hot tub in a long time.  :)  Ahhhh, what a lovely Saturday evening.

Bouncing Boy

Yesterday we received the much anticipated Johnny Jump Up. It took Matt a while to figure out that he has to make it bounce, but I think he's starting to get the hang of it. Check out those cankles atop his club feet! What a cute kid.
Any day now the swing I ordered will be here, and since it is officially spring we should have a sunny day or two coming up to try it out. Yippee!

So grown up

Matt is looking so grown up these days. His little man outfits melt my heart. Here he is enjoying some play time with Daddy - his favorite! Cuddle time he saves for Mommy. :)

Aunt Jackie spent a week with us babysitting and hanging out. Here is her outfit of choice. So stylish!

One of Matty's cute new tricks - clapping!

That's all for now ... just wanted to get some pictures up since I have been spending all my internet time on Facebook instead of Blogger. Sorry mom!

Ides of March

When the stranger told Caesar to beware the ides of March, he should've told it to the birds. You can tell when spring is here because the birds are out every morning chirping away. This morning, Erin and I slept in because Matthew let us. At 9am we finally got out of bed and migrated over to the living room. I opened the shades to find... SNOW! Isn't it March? We don't usually have snow like this in December during a normal year. "No wonder we didn't hear the birds chirping this morning." I thought to myself. The snow was like a blizzard coming down with fat, fluffy flakes creating a winter wonderland all over again.

We scrambled to get our snow gear on and get in our last chance snow playing fun before it turned into rain. It was really funny watching the birds hop on the snow and look a little confused. I think they were telling each other, "I knew we should've stopped in Oregon this year."

We couldn't resist resting Matthew in the snow and taking this picture. He acted just like Randy from A Christmas Story: all fluff and no movement. We gave him a taste of the snow. I think he just didn't like that it was so cold.

Shortly afterward the snow did turn to rain, wind, hail, and now sunshine. Weatherwise, we're done for today.