The Davolts

It's funny to think of how anxious I've been for Spring's arrival. We've had the warmest winter I can remember. Temperatures have been spring-like and sunny for weeks and months. But the advent of Spring is still a milestone. It means we are inching closer to Spring Break, a much needed respite from work and surviving the "ides of March" within our classrooms. Nathan has been talking about the transition from Winter to Spring for a few weeks as he tries to understand the seasons. In the car ride home on many afternoons, he'll ask, "What comes after Spring? And then it's my birthday?" Nathan seems to talk our entire 20 minute commute home, in fact. He has lots of ideas about how the world works as well as questions. One day recently, he declared he was going to paint my car red with purple polka dots because those are his favorite colors. Just a few days ago, a song came on the radio and we had this cute conversation: Nathan: "Mom

October is always a busy month, starting with Aunt Jenn's and Andrew's birthdays and ending with Jeff's and mine. In between, we manage to find plenty to do! Andrew's first trip to the pumpkin patch on a sunny, fall day.  A trip to the zoo with Auntie Ellen and Uncle Thomas, visiting from Hamburg.  A colleague introduced me to a neat app that turns your iPhone pics into watercolors. So fancy! I call this one: Auntie & Andrew Our street at twilight.  Once Andrew turned one-year-old, he was able to join Nathan at his school. It is so much easier having both boys at the same school. Given that the two boys' classrooms were across the hall, the teachers made a big deal about Andrew's arrival. Nathan's teacher and class made several visits to see Nathan's little brother. Andrew's new teacher was bubbling over with excitement to meet Andrew. She and many other teachers in the younger classes frequently remark on th

 Back in October, Andrew celebrated his first birthday and that was about the last time I posted on this blog. I have a few theories why I've been away so long but I'll save that for another day. Let's flashback to October 2014... I've decided that I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest when it comes to kids birthday parties. I love all the creative things people come up with, but hate the pressure that builds inside of me to recreate something as imaginative. As a result, I decided to stay away from Pinterest this time around and simply go with a classic theme: primary colors and classic kids items, like crayons, balloons, and cars. The night before the party, Nathan and I put together goody bags for our guests. We started with clean baby food jars that I'd been storing for months in the pantry. I didn't exactly have a plan for them, which probably drove Jeff crazy, but it seemed like a good idea to keep them. You never know, right? And according