happy valentines day

what a nice day we all had. we don't really make a big deal out of this (silly) holiday, but i think it's nice to have a day where you can show your family how much you love them, give them yummy treats, and spend time together playing super mario bros on the wii. wait... we already do that all the time! hmmm, well anyway, it was fun to exchange gifts and hang out. danny gave me these beautiful white roses. he also got me two of my favorite chocolate treats from trader joes.

earlier this week, i sent out some cute vintage valentines day love, via snail mail. sorry if i don't have your mailing address. or if yours arrives late (i did my best to get them out on time)

alanna made us this cute card

here are the treats we gave her

nothing says "i love you" like a new pair of chuck taylors! (to danny, from me)

i finally ordered some dandies for us to try, and wow are they good! yay for vegan marshmallows! we loved them, and i'll definitely be ordering more. i wish they were sold locally, but since i got them with free shipping, i can't really complain. i also ordered some sjaak's vegan peanut butter cups, and they were good, but my peanut butter balls are better (and way cheaper!)

garrett was kind enough to watch the kids this afternoon, so that danny and i could go on a date. we snuck a cup of coffee into the movie theater and saw The Wolfman. very romantic, i know... but there was no way i could ever convince him to see Valentines Day, haha! after, we had calzones at zpizza. good coffee, a good movie, and good food! it was really nice to spend some quiet time with him without the kids. i love you husbandito!

and i even wore a festive shirt! i wear this top when it isn't valentines day. i think i can get away with it, since my last name is hart :)

i hope you all had a nice day as well, and got to spend some time with those that you love!

my funny lil' guy

this afternoon we met danny's parents for lunch. malcolm was very well-behaved through the whole meal. we even went to borders book store afterwards, and looked at books and toys. here he is being cute:

he is saying "yaaay!"

this is what had him oh so excited... a giant frosted chocolate chip cookie heart that vicky made us for a valentines day treat! yummy! it was really good!

he was petting her hair very softly, and being such a sweetie pie. it was pretty cute.


on the way home, the sun was shining in his face, and he was yelling "jack! jack! dark! dark!" which means that he wanted the reusable nightmare before christmas grocery bag on his head! hahaha, he is so funny. he found it laying on the back seat of the car a few weeks ago, and pulled it over his head and thought it was so funny. then i guess he realized that it blocked the sun, so now he wants it on his head all the time. and don't worry, it is made out of a thin breathable fiber, not plastic or anything that would make him suffocate. and alanna is almost always in the back with him when it is on his head. he fell asleep in it today. this is what he looked like when we got home.



dan got malcolm some flowers to give alanna and i. he was so sweet carrying them over to us at the restaurant today. i tried to get a photo of him holding them when we got home, but these are as good as i could get.



they are lovely


since the weather is so cold out right now (it snowed a little again last night), we can't really go to the park. so yesterday i let malcolm play at the mall. i needed to run an errand there anyway, so we stayed a while and he had lots of fun in the little play area.



he was running non-stop pretty much the whole time, so most of the photos i took were a blur.

playing is hard work!


while we were there, he made a little friend. the girl was probably about 4, and she was holding his hand, and putting her arm around him down the slide etc. it was super cute. i think she was smitten. he really liked playing with her too. then i heard her calling at him to follow her, and she was saying "come here caillou!" haha, he totally thinks his name is caillou right now, and she must have asked him what his name was and he told her caillou instead of malcolm. pretty freakin' funny! i've been trying to get him to say malcolm instead, but he thinks it's hilarious to say caillou. plus i don't think he can pronounce malcolm yet. so for now, i guess he has an alter ego. i got him on video a few days ago, he cracks me up!

(sorry if i sound awful. i know everyone hates the sound of their own voice, but i really hope that's not what i sound like in real life. ugh.)

dr. visit

today we took malcolm to his 2 year well check visit. his dr. says he looks great. he is healthy, and growing/developing/learning right on target. he is still a tiny little guy, just 25 lbs now, and 33 inches tall (he gained 2 lbs and grew 2 inches since his 18 month check up), but at least he has made it into the 25th percentile for his weight! at one point when he was a newborn, he was in the 4th percentile for weight :( and oh, sooo tiny. i really don't think it is a fair comparison though, since the majority of the general american population eats terribly, and feeds their kids all kinds of awful crap. no wonder they all weigh so much more than him (ahem vicky, you know, like the baby at the gym being fed bojangles biscuits and gravy at 6 months old!! ewww!). anyway, they also took a blood sample, and his iron levels look totally fine. yay for a healthy and happy vegan toddler!

(look at him standing on the sides of his feet, haha! he never does that? i think it was because he didn't have any socks on. funny that i caught it in a photo)

after the dr's visit, we went to the park, but it was really cold out, so we only stayed a few minutes. i cannot wait for the weather to get warmer. i am not at all looking forward to the hot/humid summer, but i am pretty much over this whole winter thing too. bring on spring please! i would love to live where it is like spring and autumn all year long! (does that place even exist?!)

he was super excited that there was still snow on the ground :)

and alanna got stuck up there in the slide, it was pretty funny

salt lake city...

...we'll be seeing you soon...

(images found on google)

we've booked our flights for a much needed, well-overdue visit to this beautiful city that i will always consider home. an extra special thanks to my very generous parents!! and to orbitz.com for having such awesome prices on flights today (the cheapest i've ever seen from rdu to slc)! we will be landing in utah on march 24th! i'm so super duper excited i think i could puke.

malcolm's party

on sunday afternoon, we had a small family get-together at our house, to celebrate malcolm's second birthday. last year we had family and lots of friends over, but this year we wanted to keep it more simple. he already got so much great stuff for christmas, so we didn't think it was necessary to have a big party this year. plus times are tough, and we didn't want anyone to feel obligated to buy him things that he may not even need. it was a nice little low-key party, and we all had a great time. we ate some food, opened presents, had cake, and played outside in the snow. here are a bunch of photos from sunday, taken by grandpa dan and myself. enjoy!

i made tons of snicker doodles!

garrett and malcolm

the cake was made at a locally owned bakery in cary, and it was delicious (as always!)


he was so excited for the cake, and loved us singing happy birthday to him


and he did a great job blowing out the candles

vegan cake coma, haha!

brushing his teeth, while sitting on the potty

after all the gifts and cake, he was fading fast. grandpa read him a book, but he wouldn't nap, so we all went outside to sled in the street/driveway.

alanna was cruising down the hill on her hot pink tube, so she missed being in this photo. bummer.

he rode the pony down the driveway...

...and we also sent him down in a cardboard box! haha!

another blog?

as if i don't have enough going on... i have started another blog. but don't worry, it's nothing fancy. i don't really do new years resolutions, but one thing i decided i wanted to do this year, was to keep a photo blog of one photo taken each day. so i have started with malcolm's birthday. and don't worry mom, it will include photos of alanna, me, and maybe danny (if i'm lucky).

come follow me here!