My Special Day

We celebrated Mother's Day with a picnic up in Grand Teton National Park. It was a glorious sunny day with my boys. Jacob took us to the top secret location where the capital Christmas tree was found and we did some exploration (between nap times).

On a "hike"

Christmas tree stump

Picnic!

Tossing some rocks and laughing!

Oh, happy day!
(and then we stopped at Dornan's!)

Dale, dale, dale . . .

Our creative and infinitely patient nanny, Marta, created a "pinata" out of a beach ball and tape for Maeve and Augie to play with during this past couple of rainy days. She sings the traditional Mexican pinata song, "Dale, dale, dale" while the little ones take turns batting at the pinata or clapping. So much fun!

Fiesta de pinata!

Miss Maeve

"Es un nino contento, no?"

Around the World

Augie has always (knock on wood) been a great little eater. Last week, when he got sick, his nanny wasn't worried a bit, "Augusto tiene mucha reserva" (Augustus has a big reserve). Now that he's feeling better, he's back on track to trying all kinds of foods! Our Bountiful Basket helps keep us in stock of delicious organic fruits and veggies, so all we have to do is doll them up!

Thai chicken and noodle lettuce wraps.

Deconstructed version.

Mexican fish tacos. Step one: deconstruction.
p.s. his favorite component ended up being the roasted red peppers!

!Tortilla deliciosa!

Making Faces

As our little boy continues to grow, he is shining more and more of his personality through. And boy oh boy, does he have some personality!!!

*NOTE: yes, he's wearing a Christmas bib in May. We were washing EVERYTHING in the house to rid ourselves and possessions of the Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.

silly

fake cry

discovering

No Child Left Inside

Spring is in the air in Jackson Hole! On Tuesday, I got home from school and Augie (of course!) wanted to be outside. I followed him over to the play structure behind our house and watched him climb the stairs and go down the slide. ALL. BY. HIMSELF. We had never done this before! Maybe he practiced with Marta and Maeve, but I love to watch him in action.

Ready for launch.

On your mark . . .

Daddy got home just in time to help with the BIG slide.

And a quick bike ride before dinner!
(Dinner was elk, broccoli, quinoa, cucumbers and watermelon. Yum!)

Skype Date

We try to keep our weekly Skype date with Grammy and Papa back in Madison, Wisconsin. The filming gets more and more challenging as Augustus cruises around during our conversations. Last week, he practiced stepping in and out of this upside down stool! He is clearly motorically advanced. :)

Hi Grammy and Papa!

Augie drug this stool in from the kitchen during our chat!

Endless fun!

Feliz cumpleanos Rio!

Cinco de mayo is also the day we celebrate Baby Rio's birthday!

Feliz cumpleanos a ti . . .

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Our Cinco de Mayo celebrations started with a bilingual story time at the children's museum that doubled as a date with Boone. Then we ate and napped in preparation for the Latino Resource Center's big party. Augie's nanny, Marta, was busy preparing over 300 tamales and teaching cooking classes for the big day. Sorry there's no photo of the food . . . it just disappeared so rapido! The highlights were Augie running around in a pack of kids (having no idea he was chasing pinata candy), showing off his Spanish skills and dancing in the middle of the room, then stopping to lay down for a rest. We rounded out the evening with one last bonfire/margaritas/WI bratwurst at Jill's home on the Snake River. Feliz. Feliz. Feliz.

Fiesta!

Hola pinata!

ASH loves Dwayne!
(Dwayne is the camper van.)

15 months

My mom gave me fair warning. She said, "When you see Augustus next to Henly, you'll know he's not a baby anymore." Despite his best efforts to show us he's still a baby by climbing in her stroller, resting in her nap nappy, playing with her toys, etc. The truth was there. Augustus is a toddler. The moment he put down the rattle and walked over to adjust Tommy's guitar amp, done. Although toddling is quickly morphing to running, his constant motion made me long for the days when we would swaddle him up and complete a small task. That said, his movement and exploration are marvelous windows into his fascinating brain and sparkling personality. He continues to make discoveries each and every day. Yesterday he learned to cover his mouth when he coughs. Genius.

A toddler.

The first month Henly was a part of our lives!

Henries Hit cHicago

Augustus and I finally made our way to Chicago to meet (in person) the newest addition to our family. Henly Moen Choi was even more beautiful in person, and we fell in love immediately! It is so fun to watch what awesome parents Tesha and Tommy already are, and they even found time to chase Augie around too! Although we didn't do to many Chicago-y things during our quick visit, we look forward to more fun this summer. Besides, the moment when Tesha and I realized we were both nursing our babies . .  was pure magic.

The "Lunch on Lunes" game we were playing at the moment I got the big phone call!

Two sisters. Two cousins.

Finally ASH gets his turn to plant a few kisses on sweet Henly.

Worth the trip.

Aunt Terri!

In keeping with his weekly play date with Grandma Sharon, Augustus was up for a big surprise when Aunt Terri was there to play too! Even though she just lives down in SLC, we don't see her beautiful smile nearly enough. At least she left with a few Augie kisses to last her until next time!

Henrie hug!

Yellowstone Journey

On April 22nd, Augie made his second journey to Yellowstone National Park! This was Jacob's last day of "freedom" (he's had a pretty busy spring) before returning to work full time, but the real reason for the venture was Kjera. Yep, me. I'm in charge of planning a spring "journey" for my third and forth grade students from Journeys School. I just wanted to get up in the park and check out some of the locations in preparation for the end of May. Now, what I really need to prepare for is being away from my sweet little boy for three days!

Go geyser, go!

We love walking! (It's just challenging to only walk on the path!)

Look Daddy!

Bison jam. Typical.

Oh, hello there!

Sapped up moccasins!