bittersweet

we are heading to my family's vacation spot. the greatest place on earth. this was taken two years ago when we all were together. this year it's minus one. chris isn't coming with us because he has a busy time at work. he's sacrificing his vacation for the good of our family. what a babe!

this blog will (hopefully) be updated daily so we can let him know what's going on with us...it's hilarious, i've been so emotional about everything and he's living the life of a bachelor and loving it. i'm sure he misses us but i'm sure the guitar music, junk food, and beer are flowing like milk and honey. (i'm not making assumptions, i checked the bank account before i did this)

we love you bub...sooooo much!

"'but somewhere in my youth or childhood, i must have done something good"

we've had a really fun spring. nothing overly remarkable but having the weather be so lovely for so long has been just amazing. we are making some fun plans for the summer. we want to put a deck on the house and get a swingset. so lots of fun things to look forward to.

the most amazing things have been the kids naturally. max is signing so much now. tonite he sat down on my lap and signed "color-what?" (voice off) and pointed to a bunch of different things in the room. he really loves using ASL when he knows what to say. he enjoys it so much. he's getting closer to reading everyday. he totally gets phonics and knows it well but english is such a tricky language...he gets a bit frustrated. he loves star wars and tom and jerry. he plays with his ds as much as he can but would drop all of those things to play outside with his beloved nina. he is developing more and more friendships that he talks about often. he is becoming so dynamic and interesting. he loves to chat and i love listening to him. at times, it's really overwhelming and tough to follow but he's delightful.

little miss T. our joy. our smiley little princess. she cries a lot easier than max ever did but somehow it's working out ok. she's so adventurous. she climbs on everything. she LOVES playing outside. she wakes up and walks straight to the door. she is signing too. she signs "more", "milk", "want", "sleep", and she says "yesh"--(yes). she hugs her babies so hard and then throws them down. she loves cooking and pouring tea. max has shown her to pour hot tea on people to get a reaction. it's funny. she laughs from her gut all the time. she loves reading...FINALLY. she has never seen baby shows. she disregards TV. she rips books like she's paid to do it. she LOVES me! i love how snugly she is. she puts her head on my shoulder as soon as i pick her up. she buries her head in my neck and just lays there. every morning we lay in bed together and chat.

~and of course our honorary kid nina....she has been with us since the beginning so she often feels like ours. she is such a girl...she loves everything pink and frilly. she loves shoes and she is very matter-of-fact--"jessa, that's not the way i always do it!" she likes to wear her hair in a messy bun/ponytail like me--who'd thought someone would WANT that?? it's my fallback. :) she loves people a lot. she treats talia like a little queen. she is bright and sharp and is max's best friend. ~

not excluding sasha...she's a babe too...she wasn't in the picture though...

i was singing my title tonite to T as i was putting her down...from "the sound of music" --and of course, started crying, i love this little family i have so much more than i can explain on a silly blog. but i'm so grateful that they're mine.

spring break

the best part about working at a school is the breaks. we had a really great time. i had to work on the first monday but we had such a great week. i took very few pictures during the week. i'll post them later.

spring cleaning~celebrating easter on palm sunday with my family~we went to the zoo with carly to celebrate her 35th birthday~we went to johnstown for a day~we threw a shower for stacy's baby vickboy~threw a 35th birthday party~had two egg hunts~a scavenger hunt~played outside for countless hours with friends~had a couple fires~dyed eggs twice~opened three easter baskets (each kid had three)~stayed up past 3am for two nights with amazing friends~caught up on greys anatomy~read a great book~laughed with my kids~rejoiced with dear friends and their third child's birth~sighed a huge sigh of relief when a friend had an ALMOST tragedy~watched chris play surprisingly well in a soccer game~and most recently dealt with sick kids~i'm sure there was more...but i don't remember...what a surprise!

we had a fabulous time and i love the crap out of them.

fun weekend with nina

francine, hereafter referred to as MIL (just kidding i hate that stuff)

gets professional pics taken of the kids, bc we don't. we love snapshots and have over 5000 pictures of them. so why invest into something contrived? (our opinion)

so she takes them...they are always so cute...

this picture is the reason i posted something tonite. this is the bottom of the archway btn the dining room and living room. there is a blue mouse hole there that i put up months ago for max. he LOVES tom and jerry. A LOT! we limit their TV watching ~probably more than necessary~ but he zonks out and becomes a drone if he is given the opportunity to watch TV...so we watch just a little bit a day. he always picks tom and jerry. we watch star wars the cartoon, together at night sometimes.

so today someone knocked the mouse hole off of the wall. he asked for tape, we were out so he found the duck (duct?) tape and fixed it. it wasn't until later that i saw how he fixed it. i love that he didn't want it to be perfect, he simply wanted it back up. when i made it, we were out of black paper. it had to be blue. i was disappointed. he, on the other hand, hugged me when he found it after his nap. he was delighted. now, seeing the tape like this, in my goofy ways, i went to fix the hole and put the tape behind it. hide the repair work, but i left it. he fixed it.

and now it's perfect.

BOUNCE U

super fun place. we took max on his actual birthday. he loved it. nina loved.

tonite a friend had his birthday there. up late bouncing and eating cake...

is there a better way to spend a friday night?

max has finally agreed to marry her.

i think it's because she loves to WATCH HIM play video games and doesn't request a turn.

that's the life.

apparently, my SIL erin, was nicknamed "erin danger" when she was talia's age. adventurous and fun loving, my favorite story was how she walked right into the pool, clothes on and everything during chris' swim lessons when he was six, she was one! my MIL said that she sunk straight to the bottom and was staring up at her from the pool floor. obviously she's fine but she really gave them a run for their money. that's how talia is. i never strapped max into the cart at the store. he just sat and observed. when she was seven months old, i turned for a minute at the checkout line and she was sitting on the conveyer belt. she's constantly up the stairs, climbing on shelves, up on tables....tonite, she figured out how to get on the couch. she's WILD. she also can cry real tears when you disagree with her plan. she's really good at getting people wrapped around her little finger and then raking them over the coals. she's so sweet though...you can't help but squeeze her...

another year passes

i have these people in my life. they are small and have changed my life. their birthdays are one month apart and seeing them become older little people has been very emotional. talia turning one and max turning four were both ....well, emotional for me.

as cliche as it is, i didn't know i could love people like this. they both have taken complete control of my heart. sometimes i hold them so hard that they squeak. i get angry with them and a simple look from them of sadness about my displeasure brings me to my knees. i am changed. i have become a mother and the process has changed me.

as full of fault as chris and i are, somehow the best of us has been passed on to them. i feel so incredibly blessed just to know them.

my strong willed gal

talia eve bovard

i know that you shouldn't compare your children but it's impossible not to a little bit.

max was easy like sunday morning. he always seemed to know right from wrong at a very young age. he never pushed the limits. he just knew somehow...

then there's this one.

so smiley, so sweet, so loving, but WOW!

tonite, she wasn't hungry. we had french toast, which she loves...but for whatever reason,

she wasn't hungry. i thought she was eating slowly-then i caught her.

she was shoving the pieces ~very slowly~ down beside her in her chair.

when caught she smiled. i asked her to pick them up and she did. then she cried.

see her little barrette- not a great picture.

her favorite spot. in this chair reading. hilarious.

here's my other wild thing...LOVE them both.

christmas in review --there is another new one below

i hope they always adore each other the way they do now.

i'd definitely take 2 of her.

my mom bought them these "guido" outfits...they

actual shine in the light.

LOVE this picture...he's hard core.

we went sledding at night and she had like 14 layers on.

she didn't make a peep. she had a great time.

we were at a friend's grandparent's house,

perfect hill.

we went in for hot chocolate and

the grandma said to max "make yourself at home"

he started jumping on their couch.

i glared at him and he sat down, muttering,

"i do that at home. what the heck?"

happy birthday jesus cake

IMPOSSIBLE to get them all to look--forget smiling...

just 8 eyes on the camera would be a success

never in the history of time has a one year old child been

so grateful for

a gift. we didn't buy her anything and my parent's

bought her a

playhouse for the yard. when she got her first gift,

she held it and stared at it

for soooo long. she just looked grateful for

someone thinking of her...hilarious

my family

max's school production...HUUUUGE meltdown before the show.

we bribed him

with an early christmas gift and he promised to "sing his heart out".

the girl in front of him

was a wild gesturer and he was overwhelmed by her.

as he came down to his seat,

he said

"that wasn't so bad"

we said, "here's your nerf gun!"

last but definitely not least, this is max on the

polar express

we went with friends/neighbors to ohio to ride a train

intended to look like the polar express.

a bit overpriced....

i was looking out the window

at the "north pole" thinking

"wow, this looks a lot like blawnox"

when he looked up at me and said

"i'm really glad we came here. i'm having so much fun."

it was fun...

thanks for reading...leave a comment so i know i still have a fan base...

oh blog, it's been waaaay too long...

i remember when life was simple, pre-talia, i could blog while max played or after i put him to sleep at night. now that we have miss T, life has dramatically changed. (for the better, that goes without saying, but i will).

as most of you know, we have not been hurting for snow at all in pittsburgh. we have seen a lot of accumulation here...it's been lovely. i am a sun worshipper and despise being cold, wet, snowy and i now know that i felt that way because of how quickly snow melted here. grey days with dirty snow are the winters that i remember. this year, it rarely stopped snowing for days and seeing the windy, tree filled roads that we live near covered with snow was gorgeous. it's all gone now and i'm not upset at all....today was GORGEOUS!! it was warm and sunny--we needed LIGHT jackets...no hats and gloves...lovely...global warming my butt...glaciers formed and are still around on the three rivers...

a sunny day after the snow finally slowed down

our home

my boys are camping out tonite...watching "star wars, the clone wars"

as of right now, 11:21, he is still awake...ugh.

max is like me...LOVES sledding and playing in the snow for a SHORT while

he said and i quote...

"mama, i can't WAIT to swim!"

talia loved the snow and played outside for over an hour. she stands at the door and begs to go out...she doesn't mind rain, snow, sleet, or hail---perhaps she'll be a mail-woman.

"i'm the pittsburgh jedi"

that's what he says...