just down the street

When we first saw our house our realtor made sure to drive us by the park down the street on our way out. It's only 2 blocks from us and is perfect for kids of all ages. It has the typical playground equipment complete with a baby swing and smaller structures for the littlest ones. It also has a full basketball court, a huge grassy hill (that even I wanted to run up and roll back down), a field, and a sandbox with a water pump. So cool, right?

We finally made our first trip about 3 weeks ago when we finally had nice enough weather that lined up with our schedule being a little more relaxed. Right now the most Malakai can do is swing and play in the grass, but he absolutely loves the swing. It makes me heart swell to see him giggle while he's in it.

He laughs so hard that you can't help but laugh with him.

{I may have mentioned this before, but the shirt he's wearing here is one of my faves because Ben + I bought it before we were even trying for a baby. It was too perfect!}

The next day Malakai and I took our first trip to the park just the two of us. It was really sunny and I hadn't purchased sunscreen yet, so we spent almost all of our time spread out on my super huge beach towel in the shade of a tree.

 

I just love that the park backs up to a dead end street (no traffic!) and a beautiful orchard.

Since Malakai couldn't climb the play structures with the big kids, he climbed me and his stroller instead.

It was a lot of fun, but it's always more fun with company. So last week we went with some friends. 

{This is Haley, 13 months. Her mom Jessica and I met on The Bump when we were expecting these two cuties}

Today looks like it'll be another nice one. The perfect excuse to ignore the laundry and head back out to the park with my little man.

PS don't forget to cast your vote for Malakai P today and every day til 5/17!

eating pretty

Why is it that when food looks good it usually tastes so much better? I even get more excited about what I'm eating when it's on our nicer dishes.

Tonight I actually started dinner early {usually I  wait til Ben is home to play with Malakai} and had time to prepare everything and make it look good. We had this wonderful bowl of deliciousness just a couple hours ago. On our nice set of dishes of course.

{excuse the photo quality, took these with my cellphone}

It's obviously super simple, but here's what I did in case anyone is interested.

Ingredients:

• Seasoned ground beef (leftover from last night's soft tacos, I had cooked 1lb)
• White rice
• 1 can corn
• 1 can black beans
• 1 container favorite salsa 

Not pictured

• sour cream
• iceburg lettuce
• tortilla chips
• salt, lime juice + hot sauce to taste

Since I had the ground beef cooked already the bulk of the time was cooking the rice. For the two of us I just made one cup and we have leftover. While that was cooking I got the salsa mix ready. 

I love black beans so one day I decided to make a black bean + corn salsa. I didn't have all the ingredients I needed so I just emptied a can of corn and a can of black beans into a bowl with about half a small container of our favorite salsa. I added lime juice and salt and it was GOOOOOD! So I continue to cheat and make it this way because we like it so much. We usually use this mixture for dipping but this time I heated some up and put it on top of the ground beef. 

I cut up some avocado and added that to the top. After I took these pictures I also added some shredded iceburg lettuce and tortilla chips. When we sat down to eat we both added a dollop of sour cream and I added more salt and some hot sauce. So yummy and a great mix of veggies + proteins!

baby contests

Recently I posted about a photo contest in which Malakai was a finalist. Well I was pretty excited about it until I realized that he was 1 out of thousands to vote on that week. He was in 26th place at one point, but finished at 108th. Not surprising since I don't have hundreds of people to vote for him daily.

Then yesterday a friend of mine heard Malakai's name on the radio when they were announcing the Top 50 in a local baby photo contest. I had no idea, so I checked on their website and there he was "Malakai P"
I emailed the station to ask why I wasn't notified and they said they don't notify other than the radio announcement. Weird.

Anyway, I'm not about to start entering Malakai's photo all over the internet to exploit his cuteness for cash or prizes. I just casually entered him in 2 contests and didn't really think anything would come of either. The prize for this local contest is a $1000 Savings Bond in his name. What a great thing to have for his future! So, if you feel so inclined feel free to go on over to KDUK's website and cast a vote for my Malakai P to move on to the Top 25 next week. Votes can be entered once per day until May 17th.

more on Mother's Day

I forgot to mention yesterday that my mother-in-law also got me these lovelies.

Stargazers are my favorite flower. She got some for my  baby shower for Malakai, which was around this same time last year but they were left behind at our rental so she got me another one to plant at our new house. Wish me luck in keeping them alive!

My boys made yesterday such a wonderful experience. I felt so special all day long and had a lot of fun.

Ben + I got up at 7am and had a relaxing breakfast while Malakai slept in. Once he got up Ben showed me the video of them getting Malakai to do the handprints on the potholder. Then there was more video of he and Malakai working on another art project. After it was over Ben pulled a gift out from behind the couch.

{Isn't Malakai cute in his Christmas PJ's in May?}

{I got teary eyed as soon as I saw it, oh motherhood}

Then we went to 1st service at church around 9am, worked in the nursery together during 2nd at 10:30am and afterwards Ben had another surprise planned. We went to Starbucks and got my favorite sunny day drink {iced caramel machiatto} and headed to the park to take a walk by the river. However, I was wearing high heeled wedges that were not made for long walks and Malakai had fallen asleep. We decided to post-pone the walk for another day and take Kai home to keep napping while we ate lunch. 

When we got in the car later that afternoon to head to my parent's place there was ANOTHER gift waiting for me! Ben had picked out an adorable top for Malakai (because he knows how much I love it when he picks out his clothes) and a giftcard for me that specified I can ONLY buy things for me with it. 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing with my family and celebrating my wonderful mom. Here she is with all her lovely gifts from us kids. Sadly I don't think we got a photo of her with all of us. 

And here is Malakai in much more appropriate attire for the spring season. 

We had a fantastic day and I was truly blessed by all the things Ben had planned for me. Then when I went to get into bed for the night there was one last thing waiting on my pillow. A beautiful card just from Ben. He wrote me a sweet note that brought tears to my eyes. I don't know what I did to deserve such a wonderful man. I thank God for these boys every single day.

What did you do for Mother's day? How did you celebrate your mom, or get celebrated by your children?

my first mother's day

This past Wednesday Ben kicked me out of the house so he and Malakai could work on part of my Mother's Day present. I went out and did some shopping and came back 90 minutes later to my smiling boys. Shortly after I noticed a bright red mark on Kai's thumb and thought he was bleeding somehow. Upon closer inspection I realized it was marker or paint of some kind. I looked at Ben and said, "If you know what this is and it's non-toxic I'll stop asking questions". You see, he has a VERY hard time keeping secrets, especially when they involve something he is excited about. If I ask enough questions I can get him to spill the beans, but I happen to like surprises so I do my best to help him keep things secret.

Today we celebrated Mother's Day with my in laws and I found out what the red fingers were all about.

{TO MY MOMMY ON HER FIRST MOTHER'S DAY 2010- LOVE, MALAKAI}

It was my mother-in-law's idea to make this for me from Malakai. She also made one for his great-grandma on their side and herself. Ben video taped the whole process and I get to watch it tomorrow. I have a feeling it's going to be hilarious, I mean just look at those messy little handprints!

My boys are still holding on to a few more secrets. I have no idea what's going on after church tomorrow other than we'll eventually end up seeing my mom. And at this very moment Ben is wrapping things in the other room. I can't wait!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there. I hope that your children, your significant others, and the rest of your family and friends make it extra special and memorable for you like mine already have.