Oh no...

...I've had a nasty stomach virus this week- so coming up next week are some fun pictures from before the attack of the killer virus at the Art Museum...sit tight...they're on their way.

Brave Mama!!!!

So my VERY BRAVE mother and I tackled her basement this Presidents' Day holiday. Suffice it to say that it had been awhile since my Mom had had time to get stuff out of it. And she had a LOT in that basement.

Four trips to the thrift store later, she has everything off of her porch- so exciting!!!!

Scenes from a basement cleanout...

But by the end, we got the basement totally empty so we can fill it up again!!!!

On the Way to Swim Class

Vake and I went to his swim class on Saturday- we don't have any pics from the class itself because it was just him and me- and a camera was more than I could manage...
Here he is- so excited to go in and get started!

Fire!

There was a huge four-alarm fire about two blocks from our house on Grove Avenue yesterday so Taren and I took the boys to see their obsession, the firetrucks. They were entranced.
And probably would have stood and watched the firetrucks all afternoon.

And maybe handed out some hugs for free.

But then we walked down the street a little

And checked out the steps of the museum and handed out more hugs.

Vake's Birthday!

Vake's birthday dawned with a little snow on the ground- I was bummed because it wasn't enough to keep me home this year the way it was last year- too bad.
The birthday flag was up so everyone knew we had a birthday boy at our house!

The birthday boy in only a little more than his birthday suit!

We had a fireman theme banner because of Vake's current obsession with firetrucks.

Here's the birthday boy in his special outfit- you can tell he's not feeling 100% in this picture.

Birthday fire hat.

Here's the table once we finished decorating.

Closeup of the party favor boxes. Taren and I made the favors. Next year we are buying them. Enough is enough.

Happy V Day and Catching Up!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Poor Erico now has the Vakester's cold, so we are just hanging on by a thread here- Eric's going to go back to sleep in a minute and I am going to go out on a run.

THE GOOD NEWS is that Eric gave me a new camera for Valentine's Day/our anniversary. I actually think it will be perfect- still a point and shoot (perfect for someone like me who doesn't have the patience to learn how to use an SLR) but a LOT better than the 2005 technology I was rockin'.

2 Year Checkup

Vake's doing great! Drumroll for the stats please. 40 pounds. 37.5 inches. Above the charts for both.

He's also got strep. Of course. So no pics today but hopefully he'll feel better on his BIRTHDAY tomorrow!!!!

Sweet AbbyPony

This should give everyone out there in the internets some idea of how sweet and longsuffering AbbyPony is.

Doesn't get much better than this!

Vake's Birthday Party!

Guess who celebrated his second birthday with his buddies on Saturday!!!!
That's right- my precious little man is celebrating his second birthday all this week. We'll do some year in pictures stuff later on, but on Saturday, we woke up SUPER excited about his party at Maymont. Maymont is an old property that a wealthy industrialist left to the City of Richmond. A highlight is the Children's Farm.

"I'm two years old." (Which is very cute when said in the Vakevoice.)

So we booked the party with the idea that the children were going to be able to wander around and feed the animals and have a hayride.

UNFORTUNATELY, Saturday was just a gross day. Cold and miserable. Fortunately, Jennifer and I realized it was going to be a problem and bought craft supplies and the children did crafts- tragedy averted.

I will say that 2 hours with no planned activity other than crafts and cake is about 30 minutes too long!

Making a flower pot!

Sweet Huff.

We had lots of happy little munchkins!

Vake getting a hug from his neighbor and buddy Oren.

Eric made AWESOME cupcakes- the amazing thing was that they were vegan so Huff could have them!

My small man can flat out eat some icing. Just like his mother.

My first baby angel, Wills.

The two birthday boys!


They love to hug it out!

New Bathrobe

These pictures aren't all that good- I don't think my crummy old point and shoot had enough light- but you get the general drift- my little angel baby got a new bathrobe from his West Coast grandparents.

It is REALLY soft and he is in love.

Passing

Eric's grandmother Millie died peacefully after a long illness yesterday. Millie and Vake were Eric's maternal grandparents and a huge influence on who Eric is today.

I never knew Millie and both Eric and I are sad about that but Eric's cousin Leslie wrote a really nice piece about her- the link is here. www.undersundog.com/2011/02/bye-millie.html

Cousins!

Vake is thrilled to let his readers know that he will have a cousin in early August!

Anne and Dennis are looking forward to their new baby!