Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of all ages...

Last month we went to the circus with the deRijke clan. We didn't have high expectations that B would make it more than 5 minutes, but he absolutely LOVED it. We left right before the very end of the show, so we missed the elephants, but other than that, it was an absolutely perfect day. my favorite part was seeing seven, count them SEVEN motorcycles in the ball of death. I still don't know how they didn't kill themselves. how do you practice that? how do you even begin to ask the other 6 people to get in that ball with you?

Here is B admiring his cousin rece's $20 snowcone...



rece was nice enough to share...



in a trance (and yes, that is gross)...



the thumb definitely tastes better...



Rece really admired B's souvenir...



and B thought rece's was quite nice too (so they ended up swapping)...



and here are the boys checking out the action in the ring...

future's so bright...

he's gotta wear daddy's shades...



Oh no...



can't believe daddy's letting me wear his glasses...AND his ring...



ok ok, no more pictures...

Where'd we go on the bike ride?

to the park of course. we went over to john howell park in the highlands for a little change. They have some funky geometric equipment/structures (some leaning posts). We realized how much B really likes cars and trucks. Stephanie and I bought him a pack of matchbox cars and were able to enjoy one of the most peaceful meals out we've had in quite a while. These new trucks actually caused B to realize that we had bought him an old-school tonka truck (for christmas 3 months ago). It'd been sitting there collecting dust ever since.

Say hi...



Somebody appears to have left their truck on this bench, awesome...



Driving the truck...



playing with the worlds biggest beach volley ball...



down the tubes...



and slip sliding away...

Bike Ride

Here are some recent pics of one of our bike outings. B loves his seat, much better view than he's going to get when we move him to the other child carrier when riley gets here...



He really loves to pretend to steer...

Pajama Party!!!!

B had a pajama party a couple of weeks ago at school (i don't really remember why they had the party, I think it was for valentines day?!?! Valentines, pajamas, i don't know. i kind of get it for adults, maybe, but...). It was really fun to see all of the kids.

Here is B in his favorite PJs...

Down side of umbrellas

So today I learned a valuable lesson about the downside of umbrellas. It turns out the downside of umbrellas is the down side of umbrellas (or the underside). Don't get me wrong, umbrellas are great. They do a fantastic job of blocking water that falls from above. As for the water that has already fallen.......not so much. I had a pretty interesting walk to work this morning in the monsoon that's ripping through atlanta. I saw a girl running to her car, with a plastic Kroger bag on her perfectly curled hair (reduce REUSE recycle). Then about 2 blocks later I had one of those movie moments where the car drives by and hits that puddle perfectly as i'm walking by it. Soaked my right side, all the way to my face. Well, to top it off, I crossed the street and another 2 blocks later another car got me again, this time on my left side, at least i'm evenly soaked at this point. Luckily I don't wear my work shoes to work, unfortunately I don't keep a spare pair of shoes at work. I came into work and headed straight to the bathroom, grabbed as many paper towels as I could, and headed straight to a stall. I rung out my socks in the toilet as much as I could, dried them and my pants off as much as I could, and am currently sitting at my desk waiting for my socks to dry out, good times...



if you can't make out the picture, it is (from left to right) my socksless legs in soaked work pants and dry work shoes, my absolutely soaking walking shoes, and my rung out-paper towel dried socks. I'm setting new records today for how far you can stretch your pants down to cover your bare ankles and how far you can stick your legs under a desk.

Kicking it Old School...

Here are some pics of B from a week or so ago, just relaxing in the back yard. There is nothing more B loves than to be outside. Its always a huge struggle to get him back in the house for dinner (there tend to be quite a few tears and promises of loveys and Bob the builder).



Just playing with bubbles...



Luckily the wind was soft, or he might have flown away...



Shockingly, i don't think the bubbles fell over...



At least not until he moved them over here...



But no big deal, there is plenty to do outside, like Frisbee...



Its not necessary to make this face when throwing the frisbee, but it helps (ala michael jordan's tongue)...



And when frisbee gets boring, there is always climbing the fig tree...



But its pretty tall...



so sometimes it just easier to play with some sticks...



Or to just run...



really fast...

Brusha Brusha Brusha

We all know how important it is to maintain good oral hygiene, and B shares in these feelings. He absolutely loves brushing his teeth. In fact, we have about 6 or 7 tooth brushes (is that right, brushes). We've got firm, extra firm, soft, electric, and even one that plays the theme to indiana jones. I believe it to be one of the highest per capita toothbrush ratios in north america. If you break out a new brush he HAS to use it. If you hide it from him, he'll hunt relentlessly until he finds it.



So happy to brush...



But mostly I think he just likes drinking water off the brush (or straight out of the faucet)...

More or Less...

Ok, so i posted the big news a few weeks ago that we were having a baby. I also posted that we were having a girl, pretty exciting stuff. If you missed that blog, here is a recap... When we were down in savannah over the holidays we had drew take us in and do a VERY early ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. He said that we were looking for 3 lines. he found the three lines a few times, awesome, its a girl. right as we were wrapping up the exam drew says "wait...oh, nevermind, i thought i saw something but it was just the umbilical cord". we saw the three lines a couple of times, hello louisa. now i'm not sure how many lines you're supposed to look for on a boy, but its not 3, its either more or less (i'm assuming). well about two weeks and a HUGE shopping spree for dresses later, stephanie went in for one of her prenatal apts. I didn't even go because we already knew we had louisa on the way. well, stephanie calls me at work and before i can even ask her about the apt she tells me "its a boy". Apparently louisa found some lines, or lost some. I was totally shocked, i must have asked 5 or 6 times if she was kidding. but the doc made certain it was a boy, she even drew 4 arrows at the "proof". what are we going to tell everyone, stephanie had the perfect answer, tell everyone, louisa is fine, she just has a penis. so anyway, that is riley's story, more or less...

Another day at the park...

yes, we do go to the park a lot, but its really fun for all.

brayden hasn't quite mastered the concept of swallowing yet, but he's pretty good at looking cute...



big stepper...



what, i'm just looking at the ducks...



my first bridge...



wave to the camera (its daddy, over there in the trees)...



can't wait til i'm about an inch taller...



hi again...



and here's my impression of jack...

Playground with Opa and Oma

We got to try out a new playground with Opa and Oma, pretty awesome. Swing, check...



Castle looking tunnel, check...



Music chimes, check...



Hot pot, check...



they really should consider rearranging those letters...



hi...



seriously, did you guys see that sign, for some reason, i feel hungry...



the anticipation is killing me...



opa, you're strong (and apparently wear socks with sandals)...



my turn...