A visit from Aunt Em

Emily came to play the second week of March. She started off her visit by being so nice and letting Stan and I have a night out.

We started off with a delicious time at Cheesecake factory. It's one of my favorite restaurants and not even for the cheesecake.

I texted and asked how the kids were doing and this was Em's response:

Sterling had been so good but at one point close to bed time he disappeared behind a couch, picked up my jacket and laid down next to our door. He promptly fell asleep. Tugged at my heart strings a little. He is a mama's boy

We stayed at this neat bed and breakfast in Old Towne. There were some neat decorative things, like this rotunda in the garden!

Loved my get-away with this handsome man. It was so relaxing!

Friday we just took the day easy, hanging out and running errands. Saturday we headed out on an adventure! We met up with our friend Avram and drove out to Tent Rocks National Monument. It was a good hike and a beautiful day!

Scott has become quite the hiker and loves to walk on his own when we let him. It usually takes a little longer and he gets a little distracted sometimes, but it does make for a lighter load! :)

The rocks were so neat. I should study up on my geology so that I talk in smarter terms, but for now I'll just say the layers of rock looked so cool!

Scott climber under here and said he was going to hide :)

This tree and it's root system were crazy! Talk about the ground being washed out from beneath you! Guess here in New Mexico with out sand we could sing "The wise tree grew not upon the sand"

Aren't those layers cool??

Parts of the hike were slot canyon-esque.

Some Tent Rocks, with a little ball on top

Handsome Happy Hikers

So beautiful

Scott thinks Avram is a fun friend. We are grateful for good friends that are great examples and patient with our boys.

Sterling loves the water bladders.

And he is adorable

Checking out a little cave

Scott insisted on taking a little break right here in the sand.

There is a little cave/ruin that we headed to towards the end of the hike

Swinging with the guys

Only the boys climbed up into the cave. Sterling was asleep and I wasn't about to wake him up just to climb up there.

Scott liked looking out the "window" though.

It was such a fun hike and day!

Back at home after our hike, Sterling contently sat on Emily's lap while she played the piano. I was completely jealous because he never does that for me! I had to document it.

Sadly Emily got sick on Sunday so she slept most of the day away.

A yummy blackberry pie!

She felt better on Monday though so we got busy having fun again!

Facetiming with Jenni...he is just cute.

Playing piano with Aunt Em

We went on a walk down to the park:

Far across the way are Scott and Emily riding the horses. Scott loved playing with Emily.

Sterling likes to just lay on the floor and play sometimes.

There were laughing and playing. For every picture, one of the boys wouldn't hold still :)

Sterling is also so funny with blankets, stuffed animals, and pillows. He will just go lay on them and stay there for a minute.

We love Aunt Em!!

Around Albuquerque February 2017

February was a fun month with lots of adventures here in town.

Scott took this picture one morning but it is so characteristic of Sterling. Scott loves electronics but Sterling REALLY loves electronics and I can't keep them away from him.

This is the masterful work of my one year old. In one day he broke both the crockpot and the griddle :( ( :( He pulled the griddle cord while I was cooking some BBQ chicken quesadillas and the plastic on it broke everywhere. Then less than a couple hours later he grabbed the crockpot bowl out of its spot and it was gone.

We made Tikka Masala to take with us to California. We think it was our best batch yet, so yummy!

It has been so fun to have the boys interact more together as Sterling is getting older. One Sunday afternoon while I was at meetings, Scott came out from his nap but then fell asleep on the living room floor. Sterling woke up a little later and Stan recorded these interactions:

Grandma Merrill sent some Valentine's Day candy, here was Sterling trying Fun Dip. He loved it.

One day, while I was making dinner, Scott wanted me to do something for him in the toys. I told him I needed to cook dinner. He said he would take care of it and I needed to put the toys in the basket. This is him taking the chair over to the stove.

And then him stirring the food.

Sterling LOVES Stan

And being tickled by Stan's head.

One of our favorite parts of February was a visit from Wilford and Amanda. On Saturday we headed to a fun park (It is a fully accessible park) and then to a spur of the moment rattlesnake museum here in town. We finished with a walk around Old Towne. It was a fun outing!

Sterling had missed his nap time and was soooo tired. On the way home, I looked in the rearview mirror to see him doing this:

Uncle Wilford's cool technology watch! Sterling couldn't get enough of it

Blueberry pie!!

A climber on my hands! It was his idea to not only turn it over but push it over to the table and climb on top!

Scott LOVES socks. One night he was being very indecisive about what socks to wear to bed and we finally just told him no socks and to go to bed. It was a little traumatic/dramatic but he eventually quick crying. When I went to grab something from their room later that night I opened the door to find the sock drawer totally empty and Scott asleep on the floor (his head is over on the right).

Just a big dinosaur eating a little one...

Sterling doesn't like tomatoes. One night I looked over surprised to see all of them off of his tray only to later find them in a small medicine syringe he had. Sneaky kid.

Photo cred: Scott. Stan re-read Harry Potter during February/March. He and I watched the movies after he finished each book.

A little Sunday wrestle with Dad

One evening I was resting on the bed and Sterling was being adorable:

And this was one day he was trying so hard to stand on the little toy hospital. He never quite figured it out...

A fun month for sure!