All Boy

Chris found some of his old matchbox cars and gave them to Marshall over the weekend. He LOVES them. He "vroom vrooms" the cars everywhere. They hide under pillows, crash off the couch, and run errands ("blue car go to Starbucks"). When he woke up this morning, the first thing he said was, "Marshall play with cars please." Other boy activities:

"Marshall napping with kitty." Amica was predictably thrilled.

Lauren nicely watched the zebras at the zoo while Marshall decided he needed a closer look.

Reading a book about dinosaurs to his dinosaurs.

Ride 'em cowboy!

Marshall Turns 2

Hard to believe I have a two year old...the time has flown by. The week before Marshall's birthday, it was sunny and warm and of course, the weekend of his b-day was freezing and cloudy. Oh well! We had a small party on Saturday, which was a lot of fun. Both my mom and dad made the trip up, which was great. We also got to celebrate with Marshall's birthday buddy, Tom.

Very stylish, thanks to Aunt Stephie.

A sleepy two year old.

The new potty was his favorite present. The birthday boys.

The cutest cowboy ever!

Toddler Talking

Marshall's talking has me laughing just about everyday. He keeps a running commentary on everything. When we're in the car, he points out all that he sees ("yellow bus, tiny white car, orange letters on van," etc.). He loves traffic lights and enthusiastically exclaims, "red means STOP, green means GO, yellow means SLOW DOWN!" I caught myself telling him that yellow means, "punch it" but then thought better of it. The other day he ran into the room and declared, "daddy works at office, mommy stays home with Marshall." Today he let loose a huge paragraph of unintelligible words followed by, as if anticipating my question, "what did Marshall say?" For some reason, he refers to everyone as a boy. At the grocery store last week, he spotted a women in the dairy isle and said, "that boy getting eggs," or on a walk he'll yell, "that boy running" as a woman jogs by. I figure any day he'll start exclaiming some potentially embarrassing info. Can't wait!

Trip South

Chris, Marshall and I spent last Wed. through Sun. down south visiting my family, watching part of the Tour of California bike race, and wine tasting. Unfortunately, Marshall was really sick one day, but he recovered quickly and we otherwise had a really nice trip.

Wine tasting with Ellisha and James.

Marshall enjoying his time with Grandma and Gram-Gram.
Grandma brought out the barn and animals.

Darcy and I had a nice visit at the race.

Race leaders: Stage 5 winner Mark Cavendish and overall leader Levi Leipheimer among them.

Chris at the finish line in Paso Robles.

What road trip is complete without In-N-Out burgers?

Party Weekend

We had a fun filled President's Day weekend. Our friend Britt had a birthday and we celebrated with a family dinner out on Friday and an adult only progressive party on Saturday. Chris had Monday off, which was a treat. Marshall loved the long weekend with daddy.

We celebrated with Mexican food, can you tell?
Haley and Carolyn got Marshall into their hair accessory party.

Rock Band! Danielle on guitar, Mark on drums, and Chris singing lead (yikes!).

Me, Danielle, Britt, Sue, Marci and Kathryn

Taylor, MABs, Chris and Tom

Marshall's 1st Snow Trip

We took Marshall to Sierra at Tahoe for his first snow visit. There was a ton of snow on the ground and lots of fresh snow falling. Marshall loved it! A huge thanks to my friend Aundria, who outfitted Marshall with the proper attire (and sled). It was a fun weekend overall: we stayed with our friends Anne and Josh in Placerville. They have have a lovely home and two cute dogs. Anne watched Marshall one day while Chris and I went skiing. We hadn't skied together in three years! Just like old times (including me falling down all day). Chris is already talking about getting Marshall into ski lessons.

January Photos

All continues to go well on our end. Aside from a little rain, January was an oddly warm month. We had temps in the high 60's, low 70's. Lots of playing outside, going to the park, eating frozen yogurt. Fun!

Ice cream is still a big hit.

Helping daddy with the trash cans.
The high chair is seldom used anymore. Kind of a bummer when spaghetti is served!

Playing in bed with Bamma's shower cap.

Porch swinging with Bamma and teddy.