Stratton wins the Lottery!

Yes, that is my front yard looking out our front door. Stratton and Piper were in heaven! Stratton pulled his step stool up to the door and sat with his dog, a cup of milk and snacks and watched for hours....literally. The men you can see doing such a fine job were from the gas company and thought there was a leak in the section of line in front of our house. And while Stratton thought he'd won the lottery, I wasn't so sure myself. Another accesible mud hole is hardly what a house with a little boy and dog needs! Having them dig up your front lawn adds such an element of unpredictability to your day. What fun!

Easter with the Neibaurs

We had a wonderful, low-key Easter this year. Stratton did a fantastic job decorating sugar cookies that were gone all too fast and getting in to the celebration. After all, anything that involves sugar is worth doing well to a 2 year old. So, Stratton and I made sugar cookies and birds nests Friday, the Easter bunny came Saturday morning and the egg hunt was such a hit that the Easter bunny ended up refilling all the eggs with breakfast cereal, and Stratton decided that was just as fun, and much better than the normal breakfast routine.

Here are the boys in their Sunday Easter outfits...I gave in and dressed them in matching vests for the first time, and probably not the last. I think there is something so interesting in seeing my boys dressed the same and still so different from each other. Maybe that's why the parents of twins do it...it makes the differences seem more obvious! And they were very cute. Lately Stratton's favorite color has been pink, so the pink diamond was alright with him. I even wore a pink shirt that day and Stratton said "I lika da pink shirt." He gives me more feedback on my clothes than Brigg! Lately Stratton has been talking with a bit of bad Italian accent so alot of words end with a. Not that he has ever been too easy too understand.

We also dyed Easter eggs and Stratton loved it! Lately his artistic aesthetic has involved using all available colors, whether with his crayons or paints or anything and easter egg dying was no different. Some of the eggs turned out lovely after their 25th dip, and some not so lovely. We had several very interesting shades of brown by the end. And of course, Stratton topped it all off by dumping the red dye all over himself and the carpet. Surprisingly, it came out of his pants, but the rug didn't fare quite so well. But, we weren't planning on keeping it forever, so for the next year, a little red highlighting is no big deal. I think Stratton liked having green/blue hands for the evening too. He seemed a little disappointed that they disappeared after his bath. Maybe he will get lucky again next year.

My brother makes me laugh!

Stratton says the silliest things. He is great for making Dashell, and the rest of us, laugh.We have had a couple false starts on potty training recently. Today while I was changing his diaper, I made a comment about him never being potty trained and he said, " Poopie in potty? Maybe later." If only....probably 5 years later!