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I don't know how he does it, but Uncle Chase was right again.
Bring on the bows, braids and baby dolls. And if she's anything like me, basketballs.

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Yo, it's Spring I think. And some celebrations.

When the weatherman says "Welcome to Spring!" and warns of severe weather whiplash in the same sentence I kind of want to throw my heels at the TV. I don't really do the heel thing but those shoes would cause the most damage, I presume, so the heels must be thrown to show my disgust at this darn, darn introduction to Spring in New York. I'll just remind everyone that the weather has been flip-flopping from 20 degrees to the 50s every other day for the last week. It's a dirty trick I tell ya. Sure, this arrangement is better than everyday in the 20s (or worse) for sure, but.

 

So, we've been celebrating a little around here to make up for Mother Nature. Mostly celebrating the return home of James who spent the week working a case in Alabama. He ate fried moon pies while I scrubbed toilets because the boys waited until his flight took-off to be hit with the stomach flu, which fyi I don't think is a very fair trade! But since we were stuck indoors for so many days in a row we were thrilled, THRILLED, to have another human being to talk at--and boy do T and I like to talk! Ever mostly just likes to cuddle. So Daddy came home, hooray! We sure miss that guy when he's away. {Halfway through the week Everett let out a deep sigh and said, "Oh no, our Jim just isn't going to come back!" I guess he was feeling a little hopeless about how long it was taking!} And here are some other fun things from lately:

 

We had a few friends over to share pie on pi day. Mostly James wanted an excuse to make Key Lime Pie, and man did he rock it!

Not one picture of friends (seriously though?) but here's some pies just in case you wanted to see them.
 

 And then there was our green dinner on St. Patty's day. The boys were sick and we didn't even leave the house but they loved that everything on their plate was green (and more importantly for Talmage, my vegetarian--no meat!)

 Oh yes, they were in their undies and I wore no green, but shoot we had a festive dinner!

 I thought we were all well enough to go out come Saturday, but turns out Ever Knight was still sicky and seriously grumpy. We went to VH1's Save the Music event hosted by Nick Lachey and while T had a blast, we ended up leaving early to bring Everett home. That poor baby doesn't catch a break in the sick department.

T got to test drive a bunch of instruments (don't worry! they were all sanitized and each kid got their own reed!) and has now decided he wants to take violin lessons. The idea of my Mr. T with a violin on his chin is almost too much for me to handle. Looking in to it while we speak!

And Sponge Bob was there--T was so excited. He's never seen this show but will say, "Uncle Chase likes Sponge Bob!" or "Pepa bought me a Sponge Bob ice cream once!" So funny!

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Key Largo

One Saturday when James was off of work we rented a car and drove down to the Florida Keys. We had heard rave reviews about a glass-bottom boat tour at an underwater national park in Key Largo and thought it sounded perfect, especially since snorkeling the reef is a no-go with out littles in tow. Because lets be really honest, Ever kind of made the boat ride miserable so I can't imagine what would have happened if we attempted to actually go in the water! That kid is something else.

The boat went so, so fast and the boys were feeling pretty brave watching the wake.

The highlight of the trip was the 45 minutes we spent over a huge coral reef. These pictures don't do it justice but the water was crystal clear and you could see all the vibrant colors of the fish, the plants and the other animals. Plus there were tour guides on the boat giving us information about everything we saw. It was a really cool experience and James and T were in heaven!

Everett and I spent most of our time out on the front of the boat. That kid is passionate, that's for sure. He loves hard but boy he grumps hard too! And just about everything was setting him off.

And then there's Talmage, who couldn't love an adventure more if he tried. He is such a fun kid to take places because he truly loves learning, exploring and just plain doing.

Lovies on a boat!

You know, you got to have at least a few super awkward family photos on vacations. That's about the only family picture we got on this trip!

Ever on Dad's watch. I don't know why I take pictures of him in tears. Weirdly enough I look at them and think he's darn cute though. I adore him, no surprise there...huh?

After boating we went to the yummiest ever seafood restaurant right down the street from the national park. They only use fresh seafood from Key Largo and you can taste the difference. It was amazing!

Cute, cute place.

The BEST food!

And you know, to finish things off here is T with a pirate. Arrr!

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Newsies and a Birthday Interview

Talmage only wanted one thing for his birthday--to see Newsies on Broadway! He's been begging to see it for almost six months now and I told him that Broadway shows are for kids 5 and up so he could go and see it for his 5th birthday if he wanted. Well, it's all anyone has heard about since! Through a stroke of righteous luck (and a really great friend) we scored two free tickets to the show the night before we left for Florida. It was the perfect early birthday present for Talmage and he and Daddy had a really special date night. 

 

The boys sitting in their amazing seats! T knew almost every word of almost every song and was in heaven throughout the entire show.

Broadway shows are super long and this one didn't even start until 8 pm, but that didn't keep T from insisting that they stayed to meet all of the actors at the stage door. Such a little party animal!

James, Talmage and "Jack Kelly"


****

Birthday Interview:

What is your favorite...
Color: yellow
Food: apples
Game: um, checkerds
Book: Go dog Go
Toy: My Buzz Lightyear and my Woody
Treat: um, cotton candy and skittles! And even m and m’s.
Song: Latter day prophets…number one!
Thing to learn about: sharks
Animal: camels, cuz they have a wump. A wump is a bump that they have. I love wumps because they look funny and you can sit on them.
TV show:  Cars
Thing to wear: shorts and a t-shirt
Holiday: Christmas and birthdays—that’s a holiday! And Valentine’s day.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A construction worker

If someone was being mean to your brother, what would you do? Um, hm, I don’t know. I’ll give him a hug and a kiss maybe. Maybe that would make him feel better.

Who is your best friend? I don’t know cuz every preschool friend is my favorite friend. Even Spencer who already moved.

What is something you want to learn to do this year? I really don’t know, cuz I can’t think of one. HUH!!! OH yeah, snowboarding! Snowboarding!

What is something that you are really good at? Doing backward flips all by myself in the pool. I learned how to do that Dad!

If you had a million dollars, what would you buy? A rocket ship. A real rocket ship that I could blast off it.

If you were an animal, what would you be? I’d be a parrot and I’d hang upside down.

What do you want someone to invent? Volcanoes—pretend volcanoes. Why? Because they’re kind of a boy thing!

If you could have a magic power, what would it be? Scoopy the Lion power. And when I’d smell cauliflower with cheese sauce I’d say, “Purr, Growl, Roar!” and I’d eat it all up.

How many kids do you want to have when you grow up and get married? Um, um, 100 thousand million hundred. Because then it will be so noisy, I’ll get to play with my kids…it’ll be so fun!

What kind of house would you like to live in: an igloo, a tree house, a castle, a cave, or our house? A tree house, because tree houses are most fun. Because this apartment is really small and in a tree house everyone would fit.

Who is the prettiest girl in the whole world? I really don’t know because I’ve never seen one before.

Where do you want to go on your mission? Russia, because there I could see the Olympics.

What's your favorite scripture story? Daniel and the Lions Den.

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Man alive, this kid is FIVE!!!

We interrupt our Florida posts for a very, very important reason. And person.

 

On March 11th Talmage Scott turned FIVE. He kept telling people all day, "Isn't it crazy? Just yesterday I was 4 1/2 and now I am 5!" And I must agree, it is crazy. Although just yesterday wasn't he born or something? We had so much fun celebrating our big boy all day long!

We started the day with Dad's famous waffles, which absolutely never disappoint, especially when Speculoos, strawberries and whip cream are involved.

Daddy and his boy before work! Maybe as a 5-year-old T will learn to take less-awkward pictures. Probably not, but a mom can hope!

In between bites of breakfast Ever would help T open up presents. T was so grateful over every present he opened, and ended up opening things and playing, playing before moving on to the next gift. It was super cute and it was fun to spread the presents throughout the day.

What does a kid wear on his fifth birthday? Well, if you are Talmage and obsessed with trains you wear this 5 train shirt...and love every second of it. I think the thing he loved most about it was the opportunity it offered to tell EVERYONE it was his birthday. "You see the 5 on my shirt? Yeah, it's because it's actually my birthday today and I'm really 5!"

I had grand plans of hosting preschool at my house on his birthday and inviting all of his little friends to celebrate, but that just never happened. Instead we brought cupcakes to preschool at someone else's house and everyone sang to him. He was so thrilled and life was made so much easier for me--wins all around!

His cute preschool friends (and their fabulous parents) brought balloons and presents to spoil our boy. It was so unexpected and kind!

Talmage is pretty sure that the weather was so gorgeous to honor his birthday. And I can't really argue. His big day boasted temps in the 60s while the rest of the week we've been in the 20s and 30s--happy birthday T from Mother Nature! We decided a pizza picnic in the park with our preschool peeps was definitely in order. In t-shirts no less.

This was T's cute smile when he was talking to Cousin Kai on the phone...so adorable!

Me and T selfie during quiet time!

A few of Talmage's cute faces when he was opening presents. He really was so excited about all of them...and so grateful! All of our family members were so generous and T felt so special.

In typical T fashion, his birthday dinner choice was McDonalds. I can pretty much guarantee that he'll either choose McDonald's or Kraft Mac n Cheese. We decided to eat at the one in Times Square so that we could also go to the giant Toys R Us. Daddy met us there after work which made it even merrier!

The best picture I could get of Mr. T in Times Square on his 5th birthday. What a goofball!

Toys R Us has a 3 story ferris wheel in their store and for the first time we let the boys ride it (and Daddy, because kids under 7 need a chaperone!) They were so excited...so excited!!!

And then we ended the night with T's dessert pick--real New York cheesecake! We picked some up at Junior's on our way home and he ate every last inch of his piece!

Happy 5th birthday Talmage Scott. You are a brilliant boy and a total joy. We love you so little one.

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Chief Buffalo Tiger

The boys are asleep and I'm sitting on the couch eating apple slices dipped in peanut butter and speculoos. The PB's for protein and the speculoos for no other reason than have you tried speculoos, because if you have to ask why then I'd have to believe you haven't. I've got my mom hooked on the stuff too, a feat that has left me smiling ever since my dad called on his way home from Trader Joe's with my mom's goods. It kind of sounds like a drug deal, right? That's what I thought. It is addicting.

 

So, eating food, boys are sleeping, oh yeah...maybe I should be productive and blog more about Florida. Because it was Talmage's birthday yesterday (happy birthday T!) and I should probably get a few of those details up here too for goodness sake.

 

The only thing that James was dead-set on doing while we were in Florida was exploring the Everglades on an airboat tour. I almost made him go alone for fear that T and Ever would become alligator bate but after calling Chief Buffalo Tiger a few times they reassured me that it was totally {mostly} safe, and shoot--tickets for kids were free, so there you go! We rented a car, tried to remember how to drive a car, and then drove to the middle of nowhere for one of the awesomest days ever!  

 

There are many airboat tours offered in the Everglades, but Chief Buffalo Tiger came highly recommended by the judge and had glowing reviews on Yelp. We had the very best of experiences with them and would definitely recommend it!

Sun-kissed T and Daddy getting ready for the ride.

I just found it slightly ironic that they had this alligator for kids to play with right next to this sign:

Right?

Me and my littles so ready for our adventure. We were the only ones on our tour that spoke English and both T and Ever kept the tour guides busy asking any and every alligator question that came to their mind.

This kind of explains life with my 2 boys--T is SO excited, and Ever unimpressed.

The first time we spotted an alligator I was shocked and ok, totally scared. Have I ever shared my probably irrational fear of like every animal in the world? I was sitting on the edge of the boat and we got so close.

The guides reminded us many-a-times that alligators brains are not big enough to train so, regardless of how many tours are done, these are completely wild animals. They even made us back up a few times because one of the alligators was attracted to the blonde, curly hair of a Spanish woman.

Ever and an alligator!

It was absolutely gorgeous in the Everglades. This is not a landscape I am used to, nor one that I'm particularly crazy about, so I was surprised that it literally took my breath away with its natural beauty. Pictures just can't do it justice.

James said his favorite part of the tour was watching me squeal with delight when the airboat really started going! It was way, way more fun than I imagined...and so fast!

 

Another alligator. This one may have been a little hungry!

T and the 'gator.

And then it started putting on a show for us. Mostly it wanted us to think it was cute and harmless so it could eat us for lunch. My opinion only!

And then all of a sudden we were surprised by another alligator, and T asked me to hold him tighter!

He swam right, right, RIGHT up to the boat.

And hopped in a mud bath of his own.

James and I wanted a good picture, T and Ever wanted to keep their eyes on the enemy ;)

A cool part of the tour was when we stopped at an island and they taught us a little bit about their Indian tribe and history. We loved it.

...and the weather!

When my boys are sitting next to each other I get asked all. the. time. if they're twins...and mostly I just think the people are crazy. But then I looked at these pictures and thought, wait a minute...

No, they don't look alike at all, do they?

Ok, yes...I think I get it. And since they dress themselves the same almost every morning it makes them look even more similar. So funny!

T still has a few inches on Ever though. For now!

After the tour the boys got to pick out alligator toys from the gift shop to bring home so they could always remember the trip. Somehow T's alligator ended up in the hotel pool once and nearly scared a lady half to death. Woops!

Thanks Chief Buffalo Tiger for such a great trip!

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