Row Row Row Your Boat

rowing
Originally uploaded by shalberg.

There's just nothing quite like a two year-old.

My husband is a MODEL!!

I had my debut a few months ago, and now its Mike's turn. Check him out in all his leather-clad glory:



You can also go to page 14 of the April Showers ad to see the picture a bit bigger.

Pictures by Elijah

Elijah used Mike's camera to take 125 pictures today. He sure seemed to have a blast. Follow the link to see some of the best of them.

at Leslie and John's house

How to kiss a boy.

Claire, Ethan and Daniel
Originally uploaded by shalberg.

We had some friends over to play poker this weekend. Claire, Ethan and Daniel played really well together. And then at one point, Mike and I heard Claire say, "Ethan! Don't move your mouth!" and then she gave him a kiss. I guess you really have to tell boys what to do when you kiss them.

We also had a chance to meet Rusty. He looks happy in this picture, probably has something to do with Mike scratching his belly.

Betty Brinn

Today we went to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum. It was very cool, and we had a lot of fun.

Originally uploaded by shalberg.

Today is Cupcake Day!

I've been making weekly calendars with Claire lately. Every day has some activity planned, and she is getting pretty good at figuring out what we are going to do on which day. Its also fun for me to come up with new things to do. Some days are always the same, for example, we always have Swimming Day on Tuesday, since that is when her lessons are. Most days have something little, like we make a tent in the living room, or we do a specific art project. But today is Cupcake Day, and probably the most looked-forward to day of them all. Claire really loves the part where we get to dip our fingers in the batter....and really, so do I.

calendars
calenders
colanders
calender's
colander's
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Revert to "calanders"

Claire's new pictures

Here are some of Claire's pictures from this afternoon along with her commentary:


"Mommas picture!" "I take her picture"


"I love you books" "Rectangles and squares."


"Say cheese computer" "Ha, ha, I said say cheese computer!"

Happy Easter!

Originally uploaded by shalberg.

We had all of our egg-hunting and basket-finding fun yesterday. It was a beautiful day, to say the least. We spent most of it outside playing croquet, relaxing, and of course hunting for the Easter 'surprises' by following the map that was mailed to Claire.

A New Photographer

Claire has a new hobby! She loves to take Daddy's camera and snap shots of everything in sight. Here are some samples. There is a trend with pictures of people (no foreheads!).

sweetest EVER.

sunglasses
Originally uploaded by shalberg.

I know I'm her mom, and of course I think these two pictures are the sweetest pictures ever taken, but...aren't they??

We were walking to the car at the park, right into the setting sun.
Claire: Mom, the sun is in my eyes.
Me: Do you want to use my sunglasses?
Claire: That would be great!

I hand her the sunglasses and she puts them on, we continue walking a few steps.

Claire: Mom, you're the best.

Cut off!

The power cord that charges my laptop battery has finally broken down for good. I've ordered a new one, but it just can't get here fast enough. I feel so lost without my computer! All the pictures I need to download, all the blogs I want to read! Then again, I'm not nearly as desperate as I would have to be to go down to Circuit City or somewhere and buy one off the shelf. They can't even sell me the correct one, I'd have to buy a plug adaptor in addition to the power cord. I paid less than half of the cost Circuit City gave me by doing a little research online, and I'm getting the exact cord I need. Come to think of it, I could have paid for overnight delivery and STILL saved over $100 dollars!

Rock Climbing and Lobsters

You can't go wrong moving to a place with world renowned rock climbing and lobster restaurants.

More House Pictures

Here are some more pictures of our new house. We love it and can't wait to start making it our own. This one is the back yard, which has a nice fence to allow two-year olds to run free!


Here is a picture of the living room taken standing in the dining area.



...and a limited view of the kitchen (the fridge is staying thankfully!).

Its Monnie's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Monnie!!

A big group of us went out for dinner on Saturday night to celebrate at Old Fashioned. Its a cool restaurant in Madison that uses all Wisconsin products throughout their menu. Great food and great views of the capitol.

Its been a long time since I've posted anything. Claire has been sick the past two or three days, so mostly I've been sitting with her on the couch, while Mike does laundry. Or Mike sits with her on the couch while I do laundry. We have a lot of towels, but we can't seem to keep enough clean. I'm hoping today is the turning point, and so far, it seems to be.

Success!!

Our House
Originally uploaded by shalberg.

Our trip to Maine was a huge success! We found a house we love in the perfect area with great neighbors. We are so excited to move in. It has three bedrooms, a fenced in backyard and a garage (rare in Portland). There are parks and a library within walking distance, and across the street is full court basketball and a huge open and flat field. I can't wait to get there and start making it our own. Claire thinks it should be a purple house. Think she'll settle for a purple bedroom?

Also, on Sunday, we went rock climbing. And by 'we' I really mean Mike and a bunch of people went rock climbing. My new friend, Nicole, and I watched and laid out on the warm rocks and played with Nicole's dog, Gus (a huge golden doodle). We also went for an accidental hike trying to find a second cliff where some of the climbers were. We misjudged and ended up blazing our own path through the woods trying to find the bottom of the mountain. It took us just about an hour to do, and my quads are horribly sore today!

We also ate lobsters. What a fun (and busy) week. There are more very impressive rock climbing pictures on Flickr. I'm such a wimp, I was afraid just watching.