Future Supreme Court Justices?

When Danielle and I tried to get a good picture of Dan and Ben and Connor, we quickly realized that it was going to be next to impossible to get all three of them looking at the camera at the same time.  Dan was more interested in looking right at Connor's face while Ben just grinned to himself off to the side.  I was reminded of every picture of the Supreme Court justices that I've ever seen--they are never looking at the same camera at the same time.  These men and women are pretty smart and accomplished, so maybe there is hope for our boys.  Even if they can't take a decent picture, they're still cuter than these guys:

Sotomayor and Scalia are the only ones looking at the camera.  Everyone else is looking right or left.  Alito appears to be looking at the ceiling.  Who are these clowns?

For comparison, here are the cutest boys around:

Yoo hoo! Over here, boys!

Okay, Dan and Ben, look a little to your right.  Connor, sit up straight.

You've got it, Dan! Now we just need to work on Ben and Connor.

No, don't look at Connor! Nice smile, Ben, but you're still not looking at the camera.

Get out of his face, Dan! Ben, where did your smile go?

Connor and Dan look great!  Ben, get with the program.

Oh, forget it!

It's a good thing you guys are cute, because you sure don't take direction well.

Monday in Tampa

Since Zach is out of town for about two and a half weeks, the boys and I decided that we needed to hit the road too!  Why should Daddy have all the fun?  So we packed up and headed to the airport on Sunday for  a quick four-day trip to Tampa to see Aunt Lauren and Uncle Jesse (and Danielle and her family, including new baby Connor).

Wilmington has a non-stop one-hour flight to Orlando on Sundays and Thursdays, so I thought that would be a good way to figure out how best to travel by myself with two little ones.  And it would have been an easy travel day--if the flight hadn't been delayed 2 1/2 hours.  So Dan covered every square inch of the (very small) airport while I chased him around, carrying Ben and our stuff the whole time.  Not exactly my idea of a good time, but we survived the wait and the flight and made it to Florida safe and sound and exhausted.

On Monday morning, we hung out at Lauren's apartment.  She and Jesse moved to Tampa in November and really like it so far.  Their nice, quiet apartment was soon overrun with toys and books and boys playing.

After an attempt at a nap (successful for Ben, not so much for Dan), we headed to Kate Jackson Park in Danielle's neighborhood.  What an awesome place to play for Dan!  He loved both the water fountain area and the playground.  I think Lauren and Jesse should definitely move to the Hyde Park area so they will be closer to this park next time we visit!

Lauren dubbed this the "easy chair swing."

I'm still sore from this maneuver.

Lay off the protein powder, Connor!  Eleven weeks and sooooo squeezable!

Apparently, that shirt was way too constricting.

Fun in the mud

We had torrential rains yesterday morning, along with a tornado watch, but the rest of the day was gorgeous!  I think spring might be here to stay, finally.  For Dan, the best part of a rainy morning is a muddy afternoon.  So I put on his galoshes and hat and he grabbed his wagon for a little fun in the mud.  I'm very glad that our laundry room is right off the garage so I can just strip him down as soon as we come in the house!

Instagram fun

Thanks to one of my favorite websites, Pioneer Woman, I downloaded an awesome app for my iPhone called Instagram.  It's free and it does cool things to pictures.  Check out the pics (some old, some new) that I played around with today:

What a good helper!

As I was cleaning up after dinner last night, Dan decided that Ben needed a few more bites of squash.  So he picked up the spoon and fed his brother!  (Pay no attention to the fact that Dan is sans pants; that's just how we roll around here sometimes.)

Oreo Balls of Death

By popular demand (the ones of people who read this blog have a sweet tooth apparently), here is the recipe for Oreo Balls of Death, thanks to Jill Lee:


Ingredients:
Package of Oreos, crushed
8 oz cream cheese, softened
Baker's chocolate (white or milk)


Directions:
1. Using a mixer, combine Oreos and cream cheese.
2. Roll into balls and place on wax paper on a plate.
3. Freeze for at least one hour
4. Melt white chocolate or milk chocolate.
5. Remove frozen Oreo balls and dip in chocolate.
6. Freeze again and enjoy!
7. Apply for next season of Biggest Loser.


Okay, I may have made up that last step, but I'm just thinking ahead.  Hope you like these as much as we do!

Happy 33rd to me!

So I'm now 33!  Now I know why my parents and family never really made a big deal out of birthdays growing up (McDonald's parties when we were little, a few presents and friends for a sleepover as teenagers).  It's so I wouldn't be disappointed later in life when my birthday rolled around and all I got was a 2-year-old throwing a tantrum and peeing his pants in the driveway when he didn't want to come inside.

I kid, I kid.  A few cards came in the mail, my sisters sent me a lovely present, my mother-in-law sent a very pretty shirt, and my out-of-town husband even managed to wish me a Happy Birthday the second time we talked during the day.  (He claims that no one had to remind him, but I remain skeptical.)

The best part of the day was when my neighbor Jill brought over dinner and dessert.  Yummy homemade pizza and these amazing Oreo cake balls that I saved for later so that I could shove them down my gullet while I watched Biggest Loser.  What?  I'm pretty sure I could eat 1,000 Oreo balls and still not qualify as a contestant.

"Happy birthday, Mommy!  Aren't we being well-behaved?"

Aaah, that's more like it

Dan and Ben and baby Grace