Natural Progression??

First there was:

Then:

And:

Now I find this:

And this:

For crying out loud! What's next!?!

Flat Stanley

Last week, we had a fun visitor! Clayton's friend from Vegas, Jessie Day, had to send Flat Stanley to someone in a different state for her preschool class. For those of you who don't know what (or who) Flat Stanley is, it is a children's book about a boy who gets flattened by a falling bulliten board and then travels the country in the mail and learns about all different states and cultures, etc. We got to have him for two weeks before sending him back to Vegas. We had to take him all over town to see and do authentic "Vermont" things. It was a lot of fun. Everytime we left the house, Clayton would ask me if Flat Stanley could come. It was pretty cute. So here are some pictures of the things that we did with him (Clayton and Flat Stanley are pretty small and hard to find in some of these pics, it's kind of a "Where's Waldo" thing):
We took Flat Stanley to UVM to see where Justin goes to school. It is such a pretty campus. It's very green and the buildings (well, some of them) are really old and very cool! We also went to Battery Park because it has an amazing lookout over Lake Champlain (it also has a really great park). I love Lake Champlain. You can take a ferry across the lake and it takes you into New York. I think that's awesome!
We also took him to our favorite place in downtown Burlington, Echo Aquarium!

We also took Flat Stanley to the boardwalk. It was such a great day to go! The weather was gorgeous!
Clayton wanted to walk on the docks. He was fasinated with all the planks and ropes! He kept running without watching where he was going. It's a wonder he didn't fall into the lake!!
This is a view from one of the docks. The boardwalk and downtown Burlington are behind him.
We also took Flat Stanley to the park with us. Noah had a great time trying to bury him in the sand!
Finally, we took Flat Stanley to one of the Ben & Jerry's scoop shops around town. Ben & Jerry's ice cream is based in Vermont and we love it. I had to put this pic in because these employees were so great! They thought it was so cool that we were doing the "Flat Stanley" thing that they gave Clayton and me free ice cream!!!

Here is Clayton and Flat Stanley enjoying their free ice cream (mmm, New York Super Fudge Chunk)! I wanted Clayton to pretend to give Flat Stanley a bite but he looked at me and said "Mom, Flat Stanley can't have a bite. He doesn't open his mouth!" I guess he told me!

Here is our family with Flat Stanley on his last night in town. Noah wasn't too happy to sit for the picture (he wanted to get back to eating Clayton's leftover ice cream).

I hope you enjoyed your virtual tour of Vermont through Flat Stanley's eyes! Perhaps it will inspire some of you to want to experience it in person! I really love living here. If it weren't for the freezing winters and the fact that my family was on the other side of the country, I would seriously consider spending the rest of our lives here.
It was so great having Flat Stanley visit. Thanks Natalie and Jessie for sending him out to us!! We hope he had as great of a time as we did!

Happy Mother's Day!

This year for Mother's Day all I wanted was to get some new pictures of the boys. I love having their pictures taken, especially because Noah is at that age where his look changes so dramatically every few months! The last time they got their pictures taken at a studio was about a year ago, so I figured we were due for another photo session!
We went to Sear's Portrait Studio and I have to say, I was really impressed. We had the first appointment of the day (which I LOVE because then you never have to wait). Our photographer was really good with the boys, Clayton was very adamant about the fact that he did NOT want to be there and Noah kept running out of the room every chance he got! She never appeared to get frustrated and was great at getting the boys to laugh and smile for the pictures! I would highly recommend Sears for all your portrait needs based on this experience!
So, here are a few of my favorites!
Of Clayton:
This "rock" is really random, but I like this one anyway!

I think he looks so grown up in this picture. I can't believe how big he is getting!

This is my favorite one of him. He posed himself and it is just so classically Clayton. I realize that his shoes are dirty. I tried to clean them before the picture session, but that dirt is ground in there! Oh well, I suppose it adds to the authenticity!

I just love his big smile!

Of Noah:
This is my absolute favorite one of Noah. I think this picture really captures who he is! I know it isn't really "posed" or anything, but I just love that you can look at this pic and tell what kind of a kid he is!

I like the "something smells bad, but I'm working through it" expression on his face!

This is just a handsome picture of a handsome boy!

I love this one because it sums up the photo shoot for Noah! He is escaping and so happy to do it! This picture made me laugh out loud!

Of both boys:
I like how tightly Clayton is holding Noah. I think it's really sweet. They are such great brothers!

I just think they look really handsome here. I ordered this one for the living room!

I can't get enough of this picture! I think it looks so good! I love how blue Noah's eyes look and I love the expression on Clayton's face (he is actually looking at me and smiling which I think is part of what I love about it)!

It was a great photo shoot and I am really excited to get my new prints and update all our pictures! This was a really great Mother's Day gift! Thanks Justin, for letting me do this!

My Dad

I know that I am probably a little biased, but I have the best dad EVER!!! Those of you who know my dad know how truly amazing he is. He is one of the most humble, hardworking, selfless, Christlike people I know. He is the calm in the storm that is the Peterson family. We are such a loud, exciteable, crazy group of people (and we love it that way) and he really is our anchor! I really hope that I can be like my dad when I grow up. I hope that people talk about me like I hear people talk about him. Growing up (and even now) I never heard anyone who had anything even remotely negative to say about my dad. I always heard about what a selfless child he was (he built bikes for my aunts for Christmas one year), how honest he is in all his dealings, and how kind he is. I love my dad and I am so grateful that I get to be his daughter!
I had the good fortune of having my dad fly back with me and stay for 5 days. If you read my blog regularly, you know that our flight home was ROUGH!! My dad though, as always, was so calm and kind and really helped me get the boys home in one piece. Another wonderful thing about my dad is that he is EXTREMELY handy and he likes to keep busy. While he stayed at my house he kept himself busy. He likes to have several projects to do and while he at my house he got so many things done (for me).
We also tried to have a little fun. Unfortunately, the weather while my dad was here wasn't that great so we weren't able to do everything that we wanted to. We still had a lot of fun though. So here are a few pictures of my dad's visit (some of these pictures may be repeats, but they're good ones so it's okay).
We went to the aquarium (we go there a lot, it's so fun). This is the lookout. I think Lake Champlain is so beautiful!

They had a really fun exhibit that dealt with construction. This part of the exhibit was a big tub of dirt that had all kinds of trucks and tractors in it. It was fun to watch my dad and my kids play in it together. You can see that it appealed to boys of ALL sizes!


My dad was teaching Noah about the importance of a helmet on the jobsite!

Clayton really liked the scales exhibit.

Our favorite permanent exhibit, the waterway, was back open (it was closed the last time we went and the boys were so sad)!

These frogs were just cool. They looked like toys! I can't believe that frogs can be these colors! Crazy!

They also had a really cool event called the "Mud shot". They let the kids throw shovels of mud off the deck at a large target. Clayton LOVED this!


Of course, while my dad was here he stayed busy (I don't think he is capable of sitting still)! He put in a fabulous new light in our living room (which I already posted pics of) and he drywalled and textured our downstairs bathroom! He really is the greatest!
Before:


After:


I still need to put flooring in, but other than that, this bathroom is good to go! I love it! Thanks dad!
We also got a lot of use out of our new fire pit while my dad was here. It was so fun having him teach Clayton how to make a S'more. I can still remember when we would make S'mores together when I was a kid!!



It was a great visit and I was really sad to see my dad go. I wish that we lived closer, but I think it makes me cherish the time that we do spend together even more. I love you dad! Thanks for an amazing week!!

These are a few of my favorite things...

Being back home with Justin!!!!!

Boys having a fun (until they get caught).

Bunk beds and under-the-bed storage! Clayton's room is so clean and organized. I LOVE IT!!!


I got a Cricut this week! I have been lusting after one for several months and now I have one!! I have been having a lot of fun experimenting with it ever since!

Yay! We finally have a central light in our living room (and BONUS it has a fan)!! Thanks Dad!
Before:

After:

My dad has been here for the past few days. He was brave enough to fly home with me and the boys. As if that weren't enough, he spent the following five days doing little projects around my house (like the fan). We had so much fun. My next post will be all about our fun while he was here. We miss you dad!

Justin bought a fire pit while we were in Vegas. I think it's awesome! Bring on the S'mores!


Finally, what's not to love about these cute faces!