contagious thoughts and smiles

i know some of you have mentioned how sick you are of this cold weather and i am right there with you. i find myself daydreaming about laying out on the beach, eyes closed, feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin, listening to the waves crash in front of me. ......

o - if i could only be here

while i am daydreaming about warmer weather and tropical locales, van is busy growing. i am not doing the greatest job of posting this month.

but all is well and happy in the utsey home. van is still being a picky eater (for me) but he happily eats for his nana and his mimi? i even try the same foods they feed him. here is what happens some of the time (if i'm lucky).

little man does not slow down. we have a lot of fun playing chase around the house. baxter even gets in on our games. van is the happiest little boy and can often be seen with the biggest grin on his face. his laughter and smile brighten my every day. what did i do to receive such a gift?

"bwahahahahahaha"

his smile is so contagious

van and i got to catch up with two of our faves last week. the babes had a chance to wreck house (sorry Libba) and the mommies got a chance to talk about things other than our babies!! it was a treat and something we really need to start doing more often.

lawton, betsy grace and van

we hope everyone has had a great start to 2011. we are looking forward to celebrating derek's birthday this weekend and some warmer weather. and by warmer i mean in the 50's but whatever, i'll take it.

"whatchu talkin' bout willis?"

"It's So Fluffy"

Our snow day yesterday was so much fun! The snow was "SO Fluffy"! Derek, Van and I headed out twice to play in it and attempted to make a snowman but it was seriously too fluffy to stick!

So we just threw fluffy snowballs at each other, stomped around in all the fluffy white stuff while Van cleaned off my car and ate the snow.

Did I mention how fluffy it was? Haha!

Baxter doesn't have much of a fur coat and didn't want to stay out in the cold very long!

"Haaaaaayyyyy Bear!!!"

Our little bungalow in the snow

Daddy making Van a snowball.......

more like a snowcone.......mmmmm it's so fluffy!

i love the snow - can't you tell?!?!

wagon ride in the snow anyone?

Then it was snack time & a chance to warm up. Van warming his little bum over the vent!

And back out we went.......hope everyone had a fun day in the snow!

little boys and their mommies

yesterday van and i had the greatest pleasure of having one of my oldest friends stacy and her uber handsome 11 week old son oliver over for a sunday afternoon playdate.

stacy and i have been friends since third grade. at least that is my first memory of us becoming friends.

it was so nice to just sit, drink coffee and catch up on our very busy day-to-day lives. (where do the hours go?)

i can't wait to spend more time with these two and see van and oliver become fast friends. i have visions of them running around together on the playground and stacy and i sitting on a bench drinking our coffee.

i love spending time with old friends. there is nothing like being around someone who knew you when you were young.

Happy Birfday Josh-WAAAA

Have you met my brother Josh-WAAA? Love him. Well, Friday (the 7th) was his birfday (i meant to spell it like that) so of course we had to go out and celebrate. It was the first family dinner without Van (tear). We hired a sitter and went out on the town!

First, was a margarita filled dinner at Cabo Fish Taco. We waited an hour and a half for a table! (hence the margarita filled evening!) The wait was totally worth it as always. We all had a fabulous time talking, laughing, eating, drinking and picture-taking!

the birfday boy

the ladies

the brothers

the rents

me and sweet cheeks

Then, it was time for cake and champagne at mom and dads' house. With 26 (self-lighting) candles on his cake Josh almost burnt down the house!

me and my Josh-WAA

Josh and Holly

Mom and Josh

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you"

"What the heck, why won't these things stay out?" (Check out all the smoke and the annoyed expression on Josh's face!!!!!)

delicious chocolate cake

the whole family

The evening didn't end here but the pictures did! Josh et al headed to Butter after this last photo.....................I'm sure shenanigans ensued! Hope you had as much fun as I did Josh. We all love you SO SO SO much.

"mama mama mama mama mama"

"mama mama mama mama"

music to my ears. van has known for some time that i am mommy but he just couldn't get that mmmmm off the tip of his tongue. until now. he says it all the time and i love it!!!!

aside from new vocab words van has also learned to almost completely undress himself. he does this at random times, he might be just hanging out in his room and then a half-naked baby will come running out squealing in delight. or you might be driving in the car and turn around and see that van has taken off not only his shoes but also his socks!!

speaking of shoes, he loves his new new monster claw boots that nana and colonel gave him for christmas. he sees them sitting on his dresser and he wants to wear them. then when you put them on he does a little dance we have nicknamed the "stomp the grapes" (similar to the utsey jig derek performs!)

he loves books (like his mama) and will bring his favorite baby elmo book to you. just don't expect him to sit in your lap while you read. he likes to play with his toys and run around the room while you read out loud. and if you stop because you think he's not listening, he will come back to you and hand you the book again!!

van is also very helpful around the house, he likes to use his broom to sweep up the dog hair and he's just started feeding the dogs. dog food. he goes into their dog food bin, uses the cup to scoop up food and then either puts it into the dogs' bowls or he takes out a handful and brings it to baxter. this must be something baxter has taught him!!!!

meal time has gotten a bit messy as we are trying to teach van how to use a spoon and a fork. he's not really interested in food unless he can feed himself. he has become an especially picky eater.

at the moment the only foods he will definitely eat are:

avocados

guacamole

nutri-grain bars

cinnamon graham cracker sticks

goldfish

blueberries

raspberries

bananas

apples

veggie pizza

black beans or refried beans

banana bread

yo-baby yogurt (can be a hit or miss)

"he looks like a bear businessman"

that's what the little boy at the playground told me the other day when he saw van in his super stylish pea coat and adorable bear hat! van just smiled and ran for the slide. i almost cried. someone PLEASE tell him to stop growing up so fast.

Happy New Year Lovelies

So this post has been sitting waiting for me to add pictures and edit writing for 7 days. Seven days that have felt like 2 weeks. I don't know about my other mommy friends but I am exhausted! My days start dark & early. Dark because we always get up before the sun.....sometimes 5:30 am! Van is not a morning person either. Let me correct that - it takes him a couple (minutes) to wake up and then his feet hit the ground running. I'm sure I've said this before but I am pooped by 6:45 and Derek is just getting in the shower to go to work. I barely get enough time in to check my blog updates let alone a good 30 minutes to write a new post. So, I apologize for the lack of interesting writing and the lack of pictures that I have started 2011 off with. All my pictures are blurry because Van is super busy. Super busy but so much fun! I'm loving every minute of my toddler-mommy life. Just please ignore if my hair is in a pony, my roots are several inches past due and I have cheerios on my shirt!!

We hope that everyone had a relaxing and special NYE. Our friends, The Boharts, came over for a little visit then Candace, Clay & Cole and Jereme & Selwa came over for dinner and a toast to the new year. It was very low-key and I surprisingly made it past midnight!! We rung in our new year by saying aloud what we liked best about 2010 and our hopes for 2011.

We wish you all many blessings for 2011. Cheers!

Daddy & Van playing in his playhouse (best.toy.ever.)

Van being sweet & trying to rock JD

sweet daddies

silly Cole watching football