Monday, January 25, 2010

Just Hanging Out

After flying cross country every month since we moved here, it's been really nice to spend the weekends this month just relaxing.

August is getting more and more helpful around here. He has a special love for cleaning. A couple of weeks ago I accidentally knocked over a cup of water on the floor. Frustrated, I worked on getting the books and clothes out of the way (what?! No I never leave books and clothes on the floor!) and didn't notice August's mysterious disappearance until he arrived with kitchen towels in his hand and got on his hands and knees to start wiping. Yes! Best kid ever! Now, if I could just teach him to clean the toilet....

Cool picture, August. What is it? Wow, Mama? (Some parts of motherhood have not been good for my self image.)

So happy to finally have carpet to play on in the living room. (Thanks Deenie!)

Daddy made Aug a new chair out of the laundry basket.



After a week and a half of rain everyday (but one), August is getting used to his rain coat.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The dat is home!

For the past four months, we have been living without our dear super cat, who has thankfully been staying with Basia and her two cats.

But, the time finally came for him to move to San Francisco. So, we put him in a bag and carried him on to the plane and he moved into our house. August is so happy to have his cat back. When they lived together four months ago, August called him Eh-ah. In fact, Ezra was one of his first words, after dada (before mama).

So, it makes me laugh that he now calls Ezra, "Dat." (His version of cat.) He walks all over the house, calling "dat? dat?" and when he finally finds Ezra, he kisses him and says: "Hi Dat!"

Here they are bonding (August enjoys bonding more than Ezra):






Christmas in Philly

Of, course, being behind as usual, you probably don't need to read a play by play of our Christmas in Philadelphia. Just know that it was fun. We loved being with Christopher's mom, visiting his dad and family in Connecticut and ringing in the new year with dear friends.

Here's some photos of the trip!

August may look super scary and naked. But the truth is he's just playing "AhBoom!"on Basia (his grandma)'s bed. This is his favorite pre-bed activity. We used to call it, "wrestling on the bed." But August has renamed it "AhBoom!" due to the fact that the whole time we're all wrestling, we seem to say "Ah...Boom" over and over.
On Christmas Eve, we went to our church in Philly's Children's Christmas Eve service. This is August with our friends Joe (his godfather) and Kate's four daughters (is there such a thing as "godsisters"?) . They are the cutest girls ever and we love them.
A Christmas Eve kiss.

Two happy boys opening presents from JoJo and Pops on Christmas morning.

A mid-presents opening Christmas dance!

August's new tricycle from Basia...woohoo!

With Basia and a super HUGE shark from Grama Sue and Papa Pipe. August loves this shark and all sharks in general.

Playing with Grama Sue Christmas night.

Two shirtless boys at Grampa's house in Connecticut, reading a dinosaur book.

At the Aquarium in Connecticut with Auntie ChaCha, who loves August almost as much as he loves her...
Peaking in at some penguins...




Friday, December 18, 2009

Decorating the Christmas Tree

One of the great things about having a little apartment is that your tree gets to be the same size as your 18 month old...which makes decorating very fun for that little boy. (It doesn't help the mom who is constantly trying to keep that little boy from taking the ornaments and pelting them with brute strength against the hard wood floor.) That being said, we have had a lot of fun these past two weeks in our sweet new home all shinied up for Christmas. Before we leave tomorrow for our Christmas in Philly, I thought I'd share some pics of our holiday cheer. We have a few decorating traditions in our house: 1. We drink wassail. 2. We listen to Amy Grant sing Christmas songs. And, 3. Chris and I both have stored among our decorations: a brown (women's) Christmas vest with applique snowmen...which belongs to Chris and a children's navy santa sweater which belongs to me. It is our rule that as soon as we find these cheery Christmas tops we must immediately put them on and wear them for the entire fesitivity. And we should try to wear them to at least one Christmas party in the season. Chris wore his vest to work last week.
I've got my sweater on... Most awkward hug position ever. And here is Chris a couple of years ago in the vest. Wow. This was August trying to help decorate last year. Here is August this year:

video

I recently came into the living room to find August's favorite ball (one JoJo made him to match his blanket "Bup") pressed into the middle of the tree, highlighted by the blob of icicles we keep trying to hide from him. He just has an eye for this stuff.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

More Fun in Amarillo

After Thanksgiving, we also got to help Jojo and Pops decorate their tree.


And the next day, Blythe, Luke and Karsen came to stay with us for a couple of days while Sunny and Brooks went out of town. On Sunday, Amarillo had it's first snowfall, a good three inches. So we got to spend some time outside building a mound of a snowman.



More playing...

Yes, that's a hamper.

Thanksgiving in Amarillo

Thanksgiving was full and happy for all of us, especially August, who idolizes his older cousins. He was such a big kid this time at home and it was so fun to see him actually experience my family's traditions. It was also so nice to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family since I haven't been there for the holiday for six or seven years.

We always have soup night on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, which is usually followed by the kids helping Pops make his pies. Here's our family eating soup and some of Pops' helpers.


I also have to include a video of August playing with his cousins that night. Or really just walking on a cushion and throwing his little turkey ball Jojo made him.

video

On the actual day of Thanksgiving our family had to eat separately from my cousins and their families who were in town, simply because our houses cannot hold all of us. But afterward we all ate pie together at Meemaw's which was the first time all her grandkids (and their kids) were all in the same place in at least a decade. It was commemorated with a picture of all their descendants (and in laws)...

Later, we had our annual who can beat Brownie (my 88 year old grandfather, whose ping pong skills are intimidating) ping pong tourney. Chris made a strong showing. And we followed that by the first ever Boyett family football game. It was awesome. Here are the cousins that night.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

The Apartment!

Yes, I promised many people pictures of our apartment, like, a month and a half ago. But it's just more than I can bear to stick photos for eternity out into cyberspace of a home full of boxes on the floor and absent a dining room table. In other words, we just finished unpacking this past week. So now, I will give you pictures.

Before I do so, I have to give a shout out to my stud of a husband who decided: heck no were we going to buy some bookshelf or shelving unit from Ikea! No, he was going to buy some wood and sand it and drill it into the wall. And, my goodness, he did it.

And that bookshelf looks good. Real good.

Go Christopher! My newly minted woodworker! Now we can seriously move into that commune of our dreams so he can make sausage and wooden sunglasses. Here's our sweet little San Fran home.

Every time we leave the house, August sits on this step and waits for me to open the stroller we carry down. He's a good boy.Here he is in front of the stairs. Our door is on the far right at the top of the stairs.

The view of our street from where August is sitting. Down one block is Washington Square Park and a lot of cute Italian restaurants and coffee shops.

Our sweet little kitchen.
Our dining room and the table we finally got this past week. Yay! No more eating meals on the couch!
Another view of the dining room.


Our very long hallway, standing in the dining room, facing the front door.


August Henry's little boy room.

Our Craigslist found mid century modern couch and chair...We love them very much though I can't wait for some new, less mustardy upholstery.



The rest of the living room and a good look at those handmade bookshelves. What a man!