a joke from elia

Last week, Todd and the kids were having breakfast while I got ready for work. Wells was covered with at least half of his breakfast and Elia blessed our morning with this little joke that we found legitimately funny.

Elia: Good morning, Cheerio!

Todd: Good Morning, Wellsy-O!

Elia: He's not Wellsy-O, he's sucio!

Okay, I realize this is going to take a little explanation. I speak Spanish with the kids and sucio means dirty in Spanish. Get it? He's not Wellsy-O, he's dirty. 

You have to admit that's pretty clever, a sweet little bilingual joke. Cue pride swelling in Mom's heart.

four things for spring

The weather here hit sixty-plus degrees here yesterday. All of a sudden, I am feeling very comfortable saying that spring has finally arrived to West Michigan. Welcome spring! Please, please, make yourself feel right at home.

In celebration of spring's arrival, I'm sharing four things for spring today.

1. Jones Design Co. Spring Essentials Print

Do you follow the Jones Design Company blog? It's beautiful. Emily Lex is the creator of the site and showcases her beautiful home, lots of fun do-it-yourself decor ideas, tutorials and workshops, monthly printables such as this beautiful print (available as a free download here), and a wonderful variety of beautiful moments and wisdoms. She also sells art prints, her own and others', through her marketplace, Maker + Ink. I love the lightness of it all!

big church

Elia has been asking to come to "big church" with us before heading to nursery on Sunday mornings since the fall. We drop Wells off in nursery and then head to the service together until Elia decides it's no longer interesting and heads towards nursery for the remainder of the service. This morning started off the same but today she stayed long enough to see all of the kids go up to the front of church for the children's message. And she wanted to join. Why not?

With her teddy bear in her arms and pacifier in her mouth, she made her way up to the front. Thankfully, we were sitting much closer to the front of church than we usually do. I followed behind, finding a spot along the side aisle where she could see me and easily come back if she decided the children's message scene wasn't for her.

She got there and didn't quite know what to do. She spent about a minute standing up and staring at the pastor as she spoke but then, she turned around and found herself a seat amongst the bigger kids, all by herself. She sat listening for a few minutes, getting a feel for the landscape. She made eye contact with me and I gave her a big reassuring smile and a thumbs up. You're doing so well!, I thought.

wells: month nine

What a month it has been for Wells! Of course, if you read my last post, you already know that he is hitting milestones left and right: crawling, teeth, pulling up on things, saying "mama" and "dada" and making all sorts of other sweet vocalizations. He's changing so fast and it's so fun to watch.

Wells is nine months as of this week. When I think of the nine-month mark, it always feels to me like the start of the approach to his first birthday. Eight months still seems closer to the middle of a year than the end but now, at nine months, he only has so much baby time left.

This was the first photo I took of him today.

That pretty much some up life these days - this kid is on the move!