Unicorn Miriam

Today Reuben found his first flowers of the year. Two yellow crocuses. Poor things, they are currently getting snowed on. Seven inches of snow.

And these pictures of Miriam are especially for my mother. She knows why.

Cousin Time

There is nothing, I repeat, Nothing better than cousin time. Even grocery shopping is a good time if you have a cousin to spend it with.

Even when you are really squished. This last photo was taken by Reuben.

Love Hurts

We wish everyone a joyful celebration of the ancient fertility festival which is Lupercalia aka St. Valentine's Day, the anniversary of Aaron's and my first kiss together, our half year anniversary (6 1/2 years) and my mom's birthday.

Love is in the air. Congrats go out to my brother Robby and Amanda, my soon to be sister in law. They got engaged this weekend.

Around here we're all enjoying each other's love.

Miriam and Reuben love each other. Here's Reuben petting Miriam's head as proof. Ow.

Aaron and Miriam love each other.

Miriam loves to go! Today she got up on her hands and knees for the very first time today. Yay, strong girl!!

I love Advil. Miriam is teething. You can see her sucking on her bottom gum in this picture.

Reuben loves balls. And balloons which are "air balls."

He's recently taken a shine to a little girl at church. He met her at a church party and started very cautiously following her around. (She's wearing the red bow in the picture) As fate would have it, she just happened to be playing at the park when we arrived this morning. When Reuben noticed her, he called out her name and started to stumble blindly towards her. I don't know what exactly happened but his feet got tripped up and he stumbled and went face down in a mud puddle. His whole left side was covered in mud. I brushed him off as best as I could. He then spent the next 30 minutes running circles, and calling out "I run really fast!" in front of this girl. I can't say she seemed to notice his poor mud covered self too much. Poor kid. Welcome to Valentine's Day.

PS Aaron and I love each other but we sadly have no photographic evidence to prove it.

No NPR

Aaron likes to listen to NPR while he gets ready in the morning. He didn't get a chance to turn it off before he ran out the door today. I wasn't paying much attention but apparently Reuben was.

He dragged a chair over, climbed up onto the counter where we keep our radio and began pounding on it determinedly. I asked him what he was doing and he said "I doN'T like the men talking! " He finally managed to switch the station to some music and then contentedly hopped down.

In other news, Miriam cut her first tooth today. So she's finally keeping pacifiers in her mouth, but only to gnaw on them. Silly girl.

Tropical Get Away

Last Thursday I felt like we could all use a tropical get away. So we braved the 20 degree temperatures outside and went to the zoo. Once there, we went directly to the Amazonian Rain Forest Building. Inside it was 80+ degrees and full of steamy goodness. It made my skin feel amazing.

As a bonus, we were the only people crazy enough to come to the zoo so we got to hang out with the keepers and get a personal tour of the whole place. This picture shows the four keeper to one visitor (Reuben) ratio. There was actually one other staff member but she didn't fit in the frame.

Feeding the rays

I really like these rays. Reuben calls them the burnt crepes rays

After seeing the keepers throw a bunch of shrimp into the water Reuben decided he wanted to eat some himself. Here he is attempting to climb into the tank. He almost made it.

Reuben checking out some millipedes. He made sure I got a chance to hold them. Then Miriam, who I was also holding, tried to grab one and eat it. It was an exciting time. Thankfully everyone survived.

I guess this little guy was feeling lonely without any other visitors so he came down from his tree and followed us around for a bit.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Bob!

First off, a big happy birthday to my Grandpa Bob! Miriam Reuben Aaron and I wish we could be celebrating with you in sunny, beach filled California. Sadly, we are far, far away in a land of ice and snow.

Despite the ugly weather, we've done our best to go on our daily walks. Here's Reuben geared up for the cold. He kept pulling the hat way down. When I tried to fix it, he pulled it down again and said his eyes were cold. So I let him walk around like that. Unfortunately he kept walking straight into snow piles and trees. Live and learn.

Reuben asked what animals do in the cold so I told him about burrows and hibernation. Ever since then he's been determined to make a "Reuben burrow." He keeps stealing our pillows for the purpose. Here are some shots of his construction efforts.

Go Away Snow

We are all looking a bit like Battle these days. This snow and ice is making us stir crazy. When I asked Reuben if he wanted to go on a walk, he looked outside, saw all the snow and said:

No!

Go Away Snow!

I think the poor kid has forgotten what warmth feels like. In another grand parenting moment I showed Reuben the Michael Franti & The Spearheads music video. When he saw the people dancing on the streets of Brazil in the music video, we had the following conversation.

Reuben - Those people are dancing! Dancing!

Reuben dances happily then watches carefully, clearly thinking.

Reuben - Those people cold.

Me - what?

Those people are COOLD! (Signs cold to make it clear to me)

Me - What? No, they are dancing. They're not cold.

Reuben - Those dancing people cold. Those people have no clothes.