just like that

crosby's hair is silky and blond and perfect.  ben has a head full of thick, fluffy hair.  ben's hair requires regular cuts to be tamed.  i never wanted a pair of scissors to touch my baby's head.  but since cros' hair is stick straight, my vision of him having a little surfer-boy do, in reality was just a mullet with long bangs.

so we got his haircut.  and with the help of jelly beans, he did great.

 and just like that, he's not a baby any more.

my heart.  somebody do something.  it's breaking.

then to further depress me, ben turned five and instantly got his first loose tooth.  i got the big event on video.  i have no idea where he gets his theatrics from.

must be his father.

 and just like that, he's a big boy.

somebody make this slow down.

greatest hits

i'm so sorry i have neglected this little blog.  i see this spring as one big check-list: ben's birthday, portland, my race, crosby's birthday, and ben's school carnival.  i am deep in the middle of them all, busy checking them off one by one.  we are making progress people, but there's still work to do.  

here's what we've been busy doing lately.

1) i celebrated the fourth anniversary of my thirtieth birthday.  i am feeling every bit my age lately, but i choose to believe it has to do more with how busy i've been than how old i am.

we celebrated with a lo-key dinner at my fav with the family.  i kept trying to mug on my boys and they  kept playing hard to get, as usual.

2) ben is almost ready to move on to kinder and the thought of him leaving his sweet little school makes me sad.  i am so happy he had two wonderful years there.  here he is at the festival of cultures celebrating africa (gorills live there, fyi).

3) for valentine's day, i bought chris tickets to the untapped festival in ft. worth.  marcy's sister anna was nice enough to let us shack up with her and even accompanied us to the festival!

it. was. awesome.  vendor after vendor of local brews (and others not-so-local).  we had tiny cups and sipped tiny beers on a beautiful, windy afternoon.  and after our bellies were warmed from the millions of minis, we enjoyed the music of the orbans, justin townes earl, sarah jaffe, and deer tick.

tim and jules were there!

justin townes earl

deer tick

4) came home to swing with the boys.

5) cousins snuggled.

6) celebrated this man's 89th birthday (or the fifty-ninth anniversary of his thirtieth birthday).

he's the best.  no lie.

7) right before ruby passed, we decided to wait awhile before we got another dog.  right after she passed, we changed our minds.  this week we welcomed annabelle into our home and she is the perfect fit for us.  want a basset?  check out north texas basset rescue.  they are amazing.

looking forward to celebrating my family's april birthdays tomorrow. 

 how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?

p.s. i'll leave you with some of my favorite songs from justin townes earl and deer tick.

this and that

it's been a while since i dumped the contents of my google reader onto this this blog...but google reader is going away soon (GASP!) and i have no plan.  yikes.  so for now, i am doing a little spring cleaning by sharing with you all of the goodies from the internet that i hoard.  i'll figure the rest out later (help?!?!)

* i am a sucker for some pretty typography.  i am loving these by zachary taylor.  see more here.

* wouldn't mind have one (or a half dozen) of these.  source.

* this quote about motherhood struck a chord with me.  leave it to c. jane to put into words what i am thinking.

"I highly recommend motherhood, by-the-way. It begs of almost everything you have to do it--but the little, spontaneous, rewarding returns are surprisingly magnificent (whatever shape they come in). Especially for those of us who hardly ever know what we're doing. (Which I dare say is most of us.)
(Or maybe just me.)"

* these zoo potraits are killing me.  here are two of my faves.  source.

 *oh my goodness, please, please, please watch this.  it's fascitnating.  this artist did a performance art piece where she sat in silence as museum patrons came one at a time to look into her eyes.  this video shows what happened when an old lover came to participate.  goosebumps!  read their story here.

i love artsy weirdos.

* wouldn't you love to have one of these kim cogan paintings in your home?  source.

* artist bradley hart makes these paintings by injecting bubble wrap with paint.   who thinks like that?  artsy weirdos, that's who.  god love 'em.  source.

*i'll leave you with this.  it's true.  source.

stay tuned for more.

xoxo

greatest hits: the portland edition

sorry i was m.i.a. for last week's greatest hits.  we were in portland drinking craft beers, hiking, eating yummy food, catching up with some of our besties and snuggling their five-month-old.

we were gifted this trip for christmas from my amazing parents who also watched the boys for the 3.5 days we were gone.

our pictures would give some (who don't know us very well) the impression that we are a very out-doorsy couple.  and you immediately know that is false by the granny way that i phrased that sentence.

the change of scenery was a nice change of pace, as was our brush with nature.

waterfalls and japanese gardens do the body good.

the whole trip was one big hit, so i have picked a few dozen or so pics to show you how we spent our time.

1) portland was in bloom.  gorgeous.  there were far fewer hipsters and far more rays of sunshine than i ever imagined.

2) look at sarah and travis' cute house, next to another cute house, and another....

3) once ikey got used to our faces all up in his mug, he let me snap and snuggle away.

4) we hiked to some incredible falls.  we got soaked, hence the fuzzy pictures.

{chris = crazy fool alone on that bridge}

{chris + travis + ike = three crazy fools on a bridge.  no girls allowed.}

{much like a tree, you can tell my age by counting the wrinkles around my eyes.  happy wrinkles.}

5) warming up with some pho.

6) proof that we did other non-outdoorsy things: dinner and drinks with other texans-turned-portlandians.  sorry for the blur, this pic was snapped on manual focus at the end of the night ;)

7) more snuggles from my homeboy during a breakfast with sweet michelle and her gorgeous family.  we have known each other for a million years and have reconnected through facebook and blogs.  wonderful interwebs...

8) the japanese gardens were high on chris' to-do list.  i sure am glad.  beee-you-tee-ful.

{somebody looks an awful lot like his daddy}

this trip makes me miss having these friends in our own backyard, but at the same time it makes me so happy that they have carved out a place for themselves in such a beautiful city.  as long as they promise to come home frequently so we can fill their bellies with mexican food, margaritas, and what-a-burger...

hooray portland!

here's a list of the amazing places we tried that came recommended by others.  it's my way of paying it forward:

stanich's- messy burgers and pitchers of beer

pine state biscuits- delicious coffee and mouthwatering biscuits (with or without gravy)

pho an- steaming bowls of pho

pok pok- asian chicken wings.  delicious food and atmosphere.

liberty glass- fun bar in an old house under a bridge.

posie's- bakery and breakfast

smallwares- tapas, only asian style.  best meal of the trip.

kenny and zuke's- jewish deli.  bagels and pastrami for breakfast?  yes, please.

have you been to portland?  what did you think?

xoxo,

coco

five years old

this little nugget is now five years old.

 fellow mommas, how does your heart handle another year older?  mine's about to burst.

it seems like he's gone from my little shnookums to a ninja overnight.

 on saturday he had a bowling party here.

it's was crazy and busy, fun and downright adorable.

 we have fully confused ben by telling him all year that he will start kindergarten when he turns five.

so this morning, he woke up a little anxious because he thought he was starting a new school today without saying a proper good-bye to his friends.

parent fail.

 i assured him that he wouldn't start kinder until the end of the summer.

after that, he was totally on board with his birthday.

 here's how a conversation went with my ninja this morning~

ben: momma, at the end of the summer i'm going to start calling you mom.

me: awww man, momma is my favorite.

ben: i know, me too.  but momma, it's ok.  things change.

 i guess he told me.

happy birthday, benjamin.  thanks for entertaining us for the past five years.  life wouldn't be the same without you.

xoxo