happy birthday to you

today my wonderful husband turns thirty seven! yesterday morning i made him a secret vegan cherry cheesecake, it is one of his favorites and i don't make it very often. i hid it in the fridge behind some leftovers and a few loaves of bread, and then surprised him with it after dinner. once the kids had gone to bed, we both enjoyed a slice and watched the office together on dvd. then we discussed how close he is to turning forty, and how insane that seems since most of the time he still acts like a child, haha. 

danny, i hope you know how much the kids and i love you. you mean the world to us, and we are lucky to have you. no, you do not look forty, and honestly, i hope you never act it either. i love you just the way you are (baby weight and all), and i am looking forward to getting old and wrinkly with you... uh, if we survive life with these kids of ours. yikes! hap, hap, happiest birthday to you! :)   

let's go fly a kite

this weekend sure was windy! on saturday danny thought it would be fun to go fly kites. we picked up a couple of new ones at target and then headed to duke gardens in durham. on the drive there i thought our car might get blown off the highway, the wind gusts were so strong. but once we finally got to our destination, and found a nice open area to play, the wind was nowhere to be found? danny and alanna got their kites up a few times, but then the gusts would send them crashing to the ground. while they fought it out, malcolm and i went exploring. it was a beautiful day, a bit chilly, but it felt so good to spend time outside.

after leaving the gardens, we enjoyed some delicious mexican food at our favorite local dive, cosmic cantina. when we arrived back home in raleigh it was still windy, so danny sent his kite back up, and wouldn't you know it, that thing went up, up, up... and stayed up! haha! we drove all that way, he spent half the day trying to get it in the air, and then in the comfort of our own yard, he was able to let out all of the string! pretty funny. i'm just glad our day didn't end like it did on our kite flying day last year, found here :)

marbles & BUZZ DAY!!

last wednesday was a busy day for malcolm. at noon we took a little trip to marbles to play until it was time to pick alanna up from school. then the three of us headed to the mall so that alanna could spend the money dan & vicky had given her. while we were there we stopped in the disney store to get malcolm some new pj's. no more footie pajama's, since he is using the potty now. i let him chose the designs, and of course he chose a woody pair, and a buzz pair. that boy sure does love toy story! 

a marbles employee asked malcolm if he would like to go out into the garden and help plant a little lettuce plant. he did such a great job! i can't wait until we can start our own little garden this year. i know he will love helping alanna and i take care of it. 

we discovered a brand new play section while at marbles. this area used to have a pretend post office and shipping truck, which have now been replaced by a new "pet vet" play area. very nice! 

after danny got home from work we had dinner and then went to target. we've been working on getting malcolm to stay in his own bed at night. for many months he's been getting up in the night and climbing into our bed. at first we didn't mind (i think we both secretly liked having him close by), but then he started coming in earlier and earlier, which meant less and less quality sleep for danny and i. some nights i would put him back in his own bed, but most of the time i was too tired. our queen size bed just isn't big enough for the three of us... plus lucky dog, who takes up 90% of it already. not to mention that the frame is badly broken and is slowly caving in on one side. 

danny had mentioned malcolm's sleep habits to another dad at the park, who had been having the same problem at home, and he gave us a great idea. he suggested that we use a calendar, a set date, and a little bribery, to help show malcolm how long he needed to sleep in his own bed before he would earn a reward. we chose one week, and malcolm chose a buzz lightyear doll (he's been asking for one ever since his birthday, to go with his woody doll). i printed out a calendar page for the fridge, and each morning after he had stayed in bed all night, he got to put a sticker on the calendar. he did a really good job all week, and was so excited for buzz day!  

buzz meeting woody :)

one of his best days ever!

what's new

wow, i can't believe that march is already almost over! this time of year always seems to move so fast, and i'm glad, because it gets us that much further away from the end of winter, which always seems to drag. we've had a busy week. let's see... i did a little spring cleaning, which included a major mopping of all the floors. yikes, that mop water was black! (note to self, i need to mop more often!) we've been working on sleep training again with malcolm, via a little bribery, but more on that in a later post.

on thursday we were pleased to find out that alanna has been selected to attend an early college high school program at nc state university starting this fall. she will be going into the ninth grade (which is high school out here) and this program will allow her to earn both a high school diploma and up to two years of college credit at nc state university (for FREE) at the conclusion of this five year program. this is a brand new school, so alanna will be one of the first fifty six students in the county ever to have been given an opportunity like this. we are beyond thrilled! alanna... well she's not as excited as the rest of us, but we hope that once she visits the campus and then when the school year begins, that she will change her mind and realize what a wonderful and rare opportunity she has been chosen to be apart of. fingers crossed. i know how hard it is to start at a new school where you might not know anyone, but she will be fine. she is always good at making new friends.

let's see, what else... oh yeah, malcolm is almost completely potty trained! hooray! no more money wasted on diapers! we've been working on this since the weekend. saturday and sunday he had a few accidents at home, sunday and monday he also peed while at the park (which made him so sad) but he did really well while we were out running errands etc. and all day today he did not pee his pants at all. we even went to marbles, and drove to danny's parents house and back (45 min. each way), and he held it well the whole time. he is still using pull-ups at night, but most mornings it is dry, so we are making great strides and i could not be happier. i'm so proud of how big and smart he is getting. he's such an amazing little dude. 

here are a few random photos from the week:

malcolm and i watched this buzzard (turkey vulture) enjoy a nice meal of roadkill on the street in front of our neighbor's house. it was pretty gnarly. he was definitely the largest wild bird i have ever been so close to, yikes!  
r.i.p mr. squirrel :(

i went to work for a few hours on saturday, and i got to spend part of my shift with this amazing dog! cuda is a local celebrity of sorts, and she came to our store to do a fundraiser, "kiss a cuda!", to help out two rescue dogs that we currently have up for adoption. i haven't really posted about the store on my blog yet, so here you go: it's the cutest locally owned jewelry & accessories boutique you'll ever see. my boss is a true dog lover and is constantly rescuing dogs in the area (many are pit mixed), so we quite often have a dog in-house. she puts out so much of her time, heart, and money to help place these furry friends in their forever homes, which truly makes her happy. it's pretty awesome to go to work and be surrounded by such good energy. "we sell jewelry and rescue dogs!" my job rules.

here are a few links you can check out if you want to know more:
cat banjo on facebook
catbanjo.bigcartel
cuda on facebook

malcolm kissing cuda!

showing off his new underoo's! he chose super hero squad :)

sunday evening we met up with danny's family for dinner to celebrate the news that alanna had been selected. vicky & dan gave her a very generous gift, and made her this huge cookie, plus another giant one for the rest of us to enjoy. it was a nice time.   

welcoming spring

it is definitely springtime in raleigh, and it is beautiful here. plants are in bloom, the grass is starting to grow green, the weather is wonderful, and we are trying to spend as much time outside as we can. as i type this, thunder is clapping outside the window, and it is starting to rain. i love this time of the year.

on monday, malcolm and i spent a good part of our day exploring our yard. we have only lived in this house about 9 months now, so this is our first time enjoying this season here. i took some photos.

he found this little frog toy. it probably belonged to one of the three dogs who lived in this yard before us.

these large bushes on the side of our house are currently covered with the prettiest flowers. anyone know what type of bush/flower these are?

even the dying ones are beautiful.

the large rosemary bush by our front door is also in bloom. it smells so good.

a boy and his dog.

thank goodness for that old tuff shed. we don't have a garage, covered porch, or back deck, so everything goes in there. our many bikes, the mower, malcolm's outdoor toys and kiddie pool, etc. 

jack dogrel

the many faces of malcolm

as captured by grandpop dan :)

scary

mean


happy


sad