Beach Week I

Can you believe that for the last three years we've lived just 2 1/2 hours away from a gorgeous coast and have only been to the beach ONCE? either could we! A week on beautiful Topsail Island knocked some sense into us for sure. We spent a few fabulous days playing like crazy on the beach with Alex, Ashley, Aidan and Harper.... then ended the week with a slam-bam family vacation with Joshua, Sharon, Caleb, Ezra and Judah-- and Anna and Eric! A perfect combination of sand, sun, walks on the beach, shell-hunting, wave-playing, hot-tub-sitting, and just plain fun. Back in Durham, Moses keeps picking up his little swim trunks and saying "beesh beesh?" I wish, little man!

Roll Call

Roll Call from Zachary Perin on Vimeo.

Lots of Sibling Love

I totally love my big sister!
I just love to hug and snuggle my chubby little brother!
And we have so much fun together!

Seperated at Birth (by 3 years and 1 week)

Ella at 16 months

Moses at 16 months

Both totally cheesin'

So Much Fun w. Anna and Eric

bouncing from Zachary Perin on Vimeo.

Untitled from Zachary Perin on Vimeo.

Waiting for the Train w. Anna and Eric

On a trip to D.C. the kids got to take the Metro. Oooooh!

Mo Dirty

Napping in the Car

Mo's Favorite Walking Target

walking to E from Zachary Perin on Vimeo.

Hmmm...

I was there and I'm not even sure what we were looking for.  Mo is always into something.  Sometimes he convinces the rest of us to go along with him.  

The Many Faces of our Four-Year Old

Busted

You can see Ella knows there about to be in trouble but Moses hasn't figured it out yet.*No worries. That's just where the cookie sheets go. Not a warming drawer and definitely not a broiler. Still, the children shouldn't be playing in the oven.

One Day in the Big Apple

Kelly flew to NYC this week for one looong day (woke up in NC at 4:45am, back in my own bed by midnight). I had a great work day in the national office, met a famous person (the guy with glasses from Queer Eye), had fabuous wood-fired pizza with Anne, and met Jacob's ADORABLE new puppy, Colonel Putnam. Here is my new NYC buddy! (yes, mom, it was too cold for a fleece and no hat!)

The Happy Chef

Untitled from Zachary Perin on Vimeo.

Teenage Years

In an adorable prelude to her teenage years, Ella spent about 1o minutes laying on the floor talking on the phone.  It was a boy...but it was her Poppie.  She just looked so 14!

From Words to Phrases and Steps to Walking

All Done from Zachary Perin on Vimeo.


walking from Zachary Perin on Vimeo.

Check out the heavy breathing with this walking.

Ella's Drop-off Party

Last weekend, Ella went to her first big-kid birthday party. Yes, folks, she got dropped off at Aidan's at 11:30 and did not get picked up until 12:55! She had a fine time- built a pony out of scrap art materials and ate a lot of cake . (Kelly did some unnecessary Target shopping- the perils of having time to kill on a Saturday morning!).

Here's Ella, Aidan, and the unicorn...

Zach, Anna and Eric at the Inauguration

Holding Down the Fort

Zach's been gone for almost a week, visiting the Obamas and the Perins and working in Baltimore. I admit that I was more than a little trepidatious at the thought of being the Only Grown-Up for 6 whole days... but Ella, Mo and I have had a great time! We've hit a sweet spot lately- Ella as sweet and helpful and goofy as ever, and Mo suddenly even more easygoing and playful. (Not to mention CUTE! I know that I'm his mama, but this boy is ADORABLE! Photo evidence to follow- my blog skills are limited.) We sledded up and down the street on our snow day, and built a nice tall snowman who is now melting creepily under his baseball hat. We watched the inauguration ALL DAY LONG (but didn't spot Zach on TV). We had dinner parties and coffee parties with our friends, dance parties with Dewey, and bath parties with lots of splashing and Mo's new slurp-up-lots-of-water-then-laugh-hysterically trick. We raced cars down the slide in the living room, put lots of clothes on lots of babies, and pushed Moses around in his new ride-on car. Thank you, Moses and Ella, for making it so very easy to be a very happy, very grateful mommy! (OK, Zach, you can come home now!)

Photo Shoot

Ella and Moses sure are lucky to have such a fabulous aunt (who happens to be an incredible photographer). Thanks for the photo shoot, Sharon!