The Thrill of Spotting an Airplane.

This is one of my oldest and dearest friends, Christina's two year old boy, Matthew. Christina and I go way back to the summer after I graduated high school. We both worked at the local mall as market research interviewers and share some hilarious memories of all sorts of crazy people we met through that job. I'll save that for another time. 

Anyway, she is one of my only close friends who has also recently entered motherhood and because of this I feel we have an even stronger bond than before.  I love seeing her as a mom, and a great one at that, and watching her dear sweet boy's transformation from day one. It is so amazing to watch a newborn baby so quickly change into a child with such a colorful and budding personality. I just adore that little guy and love being his Aunt Wendy. He and my boys are already having so much fun together and we are just getting a glimpse of the havoc they will reap together in just a matter of a year or two.  

These photos were taken the other week when Christina and Matthew came over for a visit. We had been in the house all day due to the arctic temperatures outside. I think one (or maybe all?) of the boys were getting a bit restless so we decided that a walk would do us good. We bundled up for a loooong five block trek up the street to the local cafe and then back home again, where we stopped at the playground that is a block from our home. The reason it turned into such a long excursion is because both Matthew and Ivan did not want any part of sitting in their strollers. Instead, they took turns pushing the baby stroller and walking freestyle. And of course for an 18 month old, there are many, many distractions along the way. I was itching to take some pictures and the two younger kids were having so much fun going down the slide and generally just breathing "fresh" air that it turned out to be the perfect opportunity to click away. The eldest complained about his hands being "soooo cold" but I am glad we ventured out because it turned out to be an invigorating outing for us all.