Project 365: Week 35

Monday, August 23
Sometimes I think they are going to start playing together...

...and then I'm brought back to reality :) I'd say poor little Gabe, but he injects a fair amount of destruction into most of Zach's play sessions. Even when I sit and play with him to distract him, he'd rather head over to Zach's tower, house, or train track and knock it down.


Tuesday, August 24
Zach doesn't eat cookies all the time, and we have homemade cookies even less of the time, so this was really exciting for him.


Wednesday, August 25
The house he was building was for monkey and included a couch and tv. Then he insisted on getting in the house with monkey, and started crabbing when the walls fell over...I couldn't help laughing.


Thursday, August 26
Chooooooo choo! (he was even saying it as I snapped the picture)


Friday, August 27
Mommy: "What is all over your face?"
Gabe: "Yellow crayons are the yummiest!"


Saturday, August 28
Just hanging out.


Sunday, August 29
It seems like it rains every single day here lately, more than I remember last summer. Frank assured me that it's always been this rainy in Belgium, so maybe it just seems like more because I've been stuck in the house with two little crazies. But from time to time between the mini storms we get the most beautiful light, and this was the view from our backdoor after we put the kids to bed. (Obviously some photoshop "stuff" has been done to this photo, but it did look really cool like this.)

Check out this article that Frank found...I knew it!

Project 365: Week 34

After struggling to find interesting things to photograph, I decided to focus on some of our current everyday routines. I'm going to have to get creative if I'm going to make it 4 more months on this project.

Our mornings: milk+formula, coffee+computer.


Playtime: I'm glad they can play on their own at least once in a while.


A newer routine: buying+actually eating more veggies. We're working on this one...


Boppy pillow+bedtime bottle. Sometimes wide awake and sometimes almost asleep.


Brushing teeth.


Time for a story. Sometimes Gabe listens, sometimes he crawls around and messes. He always giggles, especially when Zach gives him a goodnight kiss (or tackle).

Project 365: Week 33

Abby and Loic came to visit us last weekend. Scroll down for pics of the beautiful Brussels Flower Carpet (and visit the website here if you want more info about it).

We picked some flowers of our own one evening while hanging out in the backyard.


I think that Gabe looks so much like baby Frank in this photo.


Gabe turned 10 months old on Thursday.


Our days are so chaotic that dinner and tv after the boys go to bed seems like a luxurious date night. Crazy.


I am always appreciative of the fact that Frank does most of the dishes. It's probably my least favorite chore. This is an example of "Can I photograph you because the day was crazy and I haven't taken a picture yet and I know it's not very exciting but hey this is our life right now..."


Heading downtown on Saturday:


We viewed the carpet from the balcony of the town hall. Click to view full-size.


Then we went to lunch at a restaurant in the Grand Place. You may recognize it from other photos or us having taken you there...we keep going back because the food is good and it seems like it's always almost empty. There's a corner in the front with a nice view and a way to corral Zach. And after seeing a few people go upstairs with cameras we realized that it had a great vantage point of the flower carpet too.


Sunday was a total rest day, with more time for catching up with our guests and for Abby to play toys with Zach (made him so happy!), and it rained like crazy so we were glad we'd done our outing the day before.

Project 365: Week 32

Frank here again, filling in for a tired Beth.

Another week, another set of pictures, another round of wondering where they are getting all their energy...

Gabe is looking and acting less like a baby and more like a little boy every single day. His crawling has improved to the point that there is no more hiding, he can follow us anywhere we go. He has even started standing on his own for a few seconds a time. I expect him to take off running any minute now. The only thing more impressive than his movement is his appetite. I couldn't even tell you how much he is eating, but I would buy some stock in baby food companies if I were you...

Zach is looking and acting less like a little boy and more like a teenager every single day. He is very, how should I say it, "vocal" about what he does and doesn't want. He has no problem letting us know what he wants to watch on tv or when he is not happy with the food we are putting in front of him. And of course, Zach is all about the bling now. Whether it is sporting super-cool watches, rolling up and down the street on his "ride", defending his toy turf, or wearing the latest shoes, he is all about his stuff. I sometimes think he is 2 and a half going on 12 and a half...

All this has of course resulted in Mommy and Daddy being very tired. In between carrying, pushing, feeding, and entertaining the boys, we have precious little time for ourselves, but it is worth it.

Project 365: Week 31

What can I say about our boring week? Gabe's hair has grown a bit (even from just a couple weeks ago) and doesn't stick up as much, Zach is obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Frank goes to work each morning for a break from the kids, and I'm obsessed with photographing our flowers. I can't believe it's August already.