little fishie

a couple weekends ago, hendrix got the chance to do some swimming with his daddy and uncles, and he just dove right in with no fear even though he hadn't been swimming in a couple months.  i had wondered if he was going to be a bit apprehensive......nope.  not at all.

he loves playin' with uncle joel.

and he really loves hangin' out with daddy, so if he is doing it, then it must be super cool. ;)

oh, and he adores uncle jake!

the big boys did a little racing, and hendrix just splashed and splashed!

the water was cold, and his lips were purple, but he still didn't want to be done.  

now i am especially excited for our mini vacation to the wisconsin dells to splash in the water parks over spring break.  this little fella is going to have a blast!

he's getting so big, i just can barely even wrap my mind around it fast enough.  

love these boys so much!

blaire-bell

so when we were discussing baby names my husband and i put a ton of effort into avoiding names that were too prone to nicknames.  we didn't want people to feel free to nickname our child whatever they wanted to, and we know firsthand how confusing it can be to try to transition back to your given name when you reach a certain age.

with hendrix, that endeavor was super successful.  he is hendrix.  everyone calls him hendrix.  he calls himself hendrix.  

i guess when my hubby and i are messaging each other about him, we might refer to him as H, but that is a shortcut for type only.....not usually verbal, and most certainly not when speaking to him.  lol

now with a very short one-syllable name like blaire, we do funny things with nicknames.  instead of abbreviating, we seem to find it natural to elaborate.  case in point.  blaire is most often referred to by the ever endearing terms of; blaire-bell, missy lou lou, twinkle toes, or sweet baby sis. 

i guess when you are babbling to a precious chubby cheeked sweetheart, you say whatever will get the most smiles, coos and giggles!  

i love your name, blaire, and i hope you will too!

pinteresting for mommy

since we all know that i take a million photos, i bet you are wondering what i do with all of them?  

me too!  

my normal routine is to get them uploaded to my computer (with backups on my external hard drive, and an online share location) sorted by month taken, and post my favorites to facebook.

occasionally when i get really inspired i gather up a collection that seem to go together and print a photobook.

and once in a very great while, i print some larger photos to hang on my walls. 

i was recently inspired by a pinterest idea to create an entire gallery wall of my favorite photos, and i actually followed through with it!

i have done pinterest projects for my baby, and for my toddler in the past; but i seldom find or make the time to do a project that is really 

just. 

for. 

me.  

this was simple. inexpensive. and cool.

so first off, we bought 16 quare record frames from michaels (they come in 3-packs, and were on sale for $9.99.....an affordable way to buy that many frames!)  they are simple and clean.  i like that as they allow the photo to stand out more. besides when you put that many of them on the wall, they are bold enough without having thick, dark frames. 

i bought a matte cutter, and matte in bulk.  also very inexpensive, though a bit time consuming to cut. 

i ordered some of my favorite photos in a size 8x10 and cropped them to fit into square openings in the frames.

i love the end result as my walls are now full of current, candid & meaningful photos of my two favorite subjects.  

we didn't have one wall large enough, so there are little groupings of them spread out in between the windows on the whole north side of my main floor.  

and let's see...

while i am talking about pinterest projects, i also recently turned a goodwill purchased picture frame......

into an adorable headband and bow holder for miss blaire.  i saw the original idea here. 

oh how much i love pinterest! 

meeting sue

over the weekend, my father-in-law took us to the science center so hendrix could see the dinosaur exhibit.  

the t-rex was named sue, and hendrix was fascinated with her.  on the way there as we talked about it, he was a little frightened and told us that he didn't want to see a t-rex, but instead wanted to see a long-neck because they are nicer.  

once we got there though, he was fascinated, and impressed by how large she was.  he talked our ears off about the bones, and the different kinds of dinosaurs, and was difficult to pull from the dino exhibit to move on to see other things. ;)

it was neat to see him enjoying this experience with his grandpa!

our dear friend from college, matt, came to visit us for the weekend, and he graciously enjoyed our family fun; which made for an even more memorable experience for hendrix ;)

there was a dig zone, and hendrix enjoyed excavating some bones of his own.  

he had the hang of it already, as we did something like this on a smaller scale at his dinosaur birthday party this past fall ;)

blaire was such a chill gal, hanging out in her stroller, snoozing tons, and watching hendrix's every move.  she is so flexible, making it very easy to take her on all-day outings; and giving us a chance to focus on the energetic one in the family!

check out my cool goggles, mom!

there were so many other learning zones in the science center, and hendrix loved each and every one of them, though his attention span was rather short so he enjoyed jumping from one thing to another all day long. 

hendrix even did a great job using the potty all day.  he had a little accident right as we got there as he needed to go after being in the car for the hour trip and we couldn't quite make it to the bathroom on time, but he is doing great with using public restrooms (as long as they don't have an automatic flush.......) and is proud to be a big boy!

it was a really fun family day, and i know we will be going back again soon!

my valentine sweethearts

hendrix - 2 years

blaire - 4 months

happy valentine's day!

here are a couple behind-the-scenes shots of our mini valentine photo session.....i always find these interesting when other people post them, so here you are. 

as you can see, i have a very big prop helper ;)

i know there are far fewer photos of my little guy than there are of my little gal, but he just doesn't lay still and cooperate the same way that she does.

in fact, i may or may not have had to bribe him with cookies.

love these chubby little legs.....i just want to photograph them over and over again, since i know she will lose her baby chubs and slim up when she gets mobile (just like her toddler brother) far too soon.

and i LOVE her baby blues!

this little man is such a cool little guy, with so much attitude, and still so much sweetness.  

i just adore him.

these two are the best valentine's a mama could ask for!  ;)