catching up.

It has been busy lately....a too-busy-to-blog-or-check-my-personal-email kind of busy.  The good news: it's nearly the end of the semester and Chris and I will get a much needed break from school soon. The bad news: final projects and papers. It's always a cruel joke that the end of the semester is either Christmas or beautiful weather. Talk about a demotivator!

Nate and I have spent a lot of time playing outside with some of the neighborhood kids. My rule is that I don't post pictures of other people's kids on here unless they ask me to -- so sorting through my virtual mound of photos has not been number one on my to-do list. Usually we're outside late, eat a later dinner, and take an even later bath. By that time it's a horribly late bedtime and we're too tired to do anything else. But tonight, we're a bit earlier than normal and Nate is happily dunking his chicken nuggets into apple sauce, mandarin oranges and milk (eww!), so I have a moment to spare.

So what have we been up to?

First of all, we've been making lots of use out of our deck that we put on last summer.  Nate likes to take all of his tiny toys (the ones that hide in the grass and take forever to find) and line them up on the railing. I asked him what he was doing, as he grouped them together one afternoon, to which he responded "I'm making them friends".  Such a sweet boy!

Next, we celebrated Easter this year in a nice low-key way. It was raining outside, so no Easter egg hunts like we did last year. Instead, Nate got to blow bubbles on our sunporch, play with his toys, and devour his (now) traditional Easter Goldfish crackers. Two years in a row can count as a tradition, right?

My friends and I also took Nate to play mini-golf. Words of wisdom to all of the parents out there: if you have a two-and-a-half year old and aren't positively sure that they'll be interested in mini-golf, don't take them. I am astounded to report that Nathan made it to the seventh hole before he decided that mini-golf was boring and he would rather try to play inside all of the landscaping instead (read: tried to climb on the rocks, decorations, and into the fountains). My pictures are deceiving, though -- makes it look like he had the time of his life. I think these were all taken on the first and second holes. A fast lens and a big memory card, I'm tellin' ya! It's the only way to do it :)

And what else? Hmm...just more playing outside after school and work every day. We've expanded on our outside toys, adding pinwheels, a toolbox, a butterfly net, you name it. Somehow, even with running up and down the hill on our driveway, he still lasts longer than I do and I'm the one begging to go to sleep at the end of the night. The child has an amazing amount of energy!