Cake smash photos are the best.

And way to go me for picking such entertaining frosting colors!

Baby D is One!

We know it has been a year, but Baby D feels brand new every day!

Just in time, Derek started sort of walking yesterday! He particularly likes walking towards Luke, but seems to kind of outrun his confidence or his balance after about six steps and collapses into giggles on his brother. Not being able to walk hasn't stopped him from participating in all sorts of fun though! Derek climbs all over playgrounds and up climbing walls and dumps himself down all sorts of slides and into all sorts of dirt and mud and leaves and just has a blast following his brother around.

Derek is enjoying being able to communicate more, too! He nods and shakes his head very solemnly when he hears 'no' and is very much aware of what he is not supposed to do (as he will shake his head while he does it). He loves to wave and say "Bye" and seems to say "Mamamamama" when he's really upset (though it's unclear if it's really directed at me). He also loves to give kisses and will make little "MMMMMM" noises as he goes in. Baby D can pretty much charm whatever he wants out of anybody.

His sleeping and eating are much better (thank goodness), his little personality is just a riot, and he's still just as squishy and squeezable as ever.

Happy birthday little man!

Easter Madness

I know this is a little late, but it was Baby D's first Easter! With so many fun traditions to continue, the boys couldn't quite handle all of them on one day, so we spread them out over a three day period.

Luke, true to form, fell deeply in love with everything we made, used, or talked about this Easter season. We have been doing mock-egg-hunts for weeks in preparation for the big day (always with Luke hiding the eggs) and have lost quite a few to long-forgotten hiding places. He put every ounce of his little three-year-old soul into dying his (many) Easter eggs and loved the activity so much it took three whole days to convince him to dump out the purple and blue Easter dyes, since they were his favorites. The confetti from this year's cascaronnes held a similar place of honor--luckily he knew better than to contradict mom when I firmly stated "it's little bits of garbage, Luke. We don't keep little bits of garbage."

Poor Baby D will have a lot more fun next year. Egg dying was a bit painful for him--it seems his lot in life for his mind to be far beyond his body and he could unfortunately tell that he was seriously missing out. He wanted desperately to participate and actually managed to drop an egg into a cup before he tried to stick his hand in too and was unhappily relegated to the floor. He did think cascaronnes were fun and had a great time opening eggs and watching the candy spill all over the floor.

Luckily Baga was here to celebrate with us! All of that Easter excitement needs at least one more adult buffer.

Hungry Little Caterpillars

The way to do a second child's birthday party:

co-host with two other enthusiastic women who are throwing a party for their first.

Derek, Bruno, and Robbie are all turning one within a month of one-another and for the most part seem to like each other! In that indifferent, baby sort of way.

Highlight of the party--outdoor cupcake-smash in white onesies. All three cried at one point, but what's a baby-party without a few tears!

Easter Best

The best we could do after forcing two wiggly bodies to sit still for over three hours.

"For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

פסח

This year our Passover dinner was upgraded to mostly-authentic thanks to our new friends Alexandra, Magnus, and Clara!

Our slightly-squished Seder tartpan/plate

With four kids to entertain (and it being hosted in an LDS-household) we thought it went rather well!

Highlights of the evening:

Toasting with grape juice in sake cups, finding the afikomen, and everyone making their way through Chad Gadya.

L'chaim!