C's Elmo party

SPOILER ALERT: If you read this post very carefully, you will be able to figure out C's name.

Today we celebrated C's second birthday with an Elmo-themed party for a few of his friends. He was able to get some personalized balloons (because my aunt works at a bank).

C dug into his favor basket as soon as people started to arrive. He immediately brought me his party hat and asked me to put it on his head. I figured I should snap a photo right away, and I was right... he tired of the hat relatively quickly.

On to lunch... some grilled cheese decorated with Elmo pictures.

Yum!

After lunch we had cake (of course), and Chase got to hear another chorus of "Happy Birthday to You!" He was thrilled once again to have a group of people sing to him.

P was decked out in (C's) Elmo shirt for the occasion.

Everyone went home with a favor basket. Besides what you can see, there are goldfish crackers (from Elmo and Dorothy), gummi worms (from Oscar and Slimey), and there's a rubber ducky (from Ernie and Rubber Duckie).

C also kept a tight fist on his balloons - he wanted to make sure those stayed at our house!

We had a specal party today for one of our special boys!

C's 2nd birthday

C woke up this morning to find about 40 of these all over the floor of his room and at the foot of his bed. P woke first this morning, and he was just as excited as C was to see this surprise when C woke up and P and I went into C's room to greet him! He walked in with me and said, "Happy birthday, C! It's your birthday... oh! Balloons, C!" The two of them jumped around and threw the balloons in the air for a few minutes with huge smiles on their faces.


Next we woke up Daddy A and headed downstairs to unwrap presents... P was more than happy to help C with this task! He actually did a great job - he would open something and say, "C, this is your present. Look what you got!"


We decided to save some of C's presents for later this week, but the hit of the morning was his ride on Thomas from Grandma Paige and Poppa Fred. (The battery is currently charging, so today it was a "sit on" Thomas, but it was a hit nonetheless!) This was a hit with P too, but the boys did a good job "sharing turns of it," as P says.


The snow delayed school a bit, so P had plenty of time to get ready. While he was at school, C and I had a chance to play and clean up breakfast in preparation for C's birthday lunch. We ordered pizza (one of his favorites!) and had a few friends over.


The cupcakes were an even bigger hit than the pizza!



I didn't even check to make sure I had candles, because it seems like a staple in our house. Next birthday, I'll make sure I do check! For today, we used these construction candles from P's cake last year, and I'll remedy the situation before C's party with his friends tomorrow.



I love this video. C's face just lights up when he realizes that everyone is singing just for him!

C asked for a light blue cupcake and then daintily ate the icing off of the top. He didn't make much of a mess at all.



Even though today was C's special day, P really wanted a chance to blow out some candles, so we sang "Happy Unbirthday" to P.

Since C made hardly any mess with his first cupcake, I wasn't too worried when he gave me this adorable look and asked for a second cupcake.

The second cupcake had red icing, and he made a bigger mess with that one. He even stuck his finger in the cupcake to hold it in place.

We asked C how old he was, and he gave us his standard answer, "Five!" (After working on it for several days, we finally got him to start saying, "Two!" after dinner tonight.)

I don't know if y0u'll be able to understand him, but in this video when we ask him whose birthday it is today, C says, "It's my birthday!"

Amanda couldn't come for lunch since she had a workday today, but she came by as we were finishing up dinner. We now know how much C loves her, because he shared his pizza with her, and he's not typically one to give away any food!

After dinner, both of the boys tried their hands at blowing up balloons. (I did take pictures, but I want to put forth this disclaimer: there were two other adults present and all three of us were watching the boys very carefully. The deflated balloons have all been properly disposed of tonight as well.)

C has felt like a rock star today with all of the special activities and attention!

I hope my two year old sleeps well tonight!

Happy Birthday, C!

We love you!

a letter to the birthday boy

Dear C,
Happy birthday! I remember the day you were born so vividly - it doesn't seem like it was two years ago! You are such a precious gift to me and your Daddy, and we love you more than we can say.

It is just now, as you turn two years old, that I truly recognize that you are not a baby anymore! Of course, you are my baby, and you will always be my baby, but you have grown so much and have become a little boy. I feel honored to help you continue to grow into the little boy, bigger boy, and eventually young man that God wants you to be.

Over the last month or so, we have truly seen you begin to express your own opinion and find your voice. You are an affectionate and energetic little boy! I look forward to seeing you continue to grow into your own person.

Being your mommy is such a wonderful job! I am learning so much from you and your brother every day. I love you forever!

Love,
Mommy

Twas the Night Before C's Birthday...

...so I was hard at work on his birthday cake!


I actually plan to use the cake for his party on Thursday, so I made some cupcakes for our family celebration tomorrow. (I was disappointed with the Elmo ones - I think I made the eyes and nose too small in proportion to the mouth, and as a result they look more like Animal from The Muppets than everyone's favorite furry red monster - but no big deal. I think everyone will get the idea.)

Ashley and Chelsea came over to help me with the cakes, and I really appreciated it... especially because they stuck around when the cake was done, and we were left with THIS.

I did have fun making the cake, and the company was wonderful, too.

I hope C enjoys eating his cake as much as I enjoyed making it!

Snow Day!!

Before I begin, sincere thanks to my friend Annie for naming today's post... on her blog. (I hope it's okay that I'm following your lead!)

It started snowing in Morganton around 1:00 this morning, and it is still snowing tonight! I have no idea what sort of accumulation we're talking about, but there is enough snow outside to make my family quite happy. Daddy A didn't go in today (he'll probably walk to work tomorrow), and he headed outside with both boys (and the camera - thanks Babe!) after an early lunch today.

The boys lasted just over an hour outside in their new winter coats from Grandma Hen and a hodge podge of other clothing. Neither P nor C has boots that fit right now, but P was able to squeeze into his old boots, and C wore a pair of P's old tennis shoes (that are now "new" tennis shoes for C). We got both boys' feet measured Friday and I cannot believe how much C's feet have grown in just a few months! But I digress...

The boys had a BLAST outside today! This year they both truly enjoy playing in the snow, and they enjoy it enough to ignore the cold for quite a while.

P was very glad it was snowing while he was outside, because he had been hoping for a chance this winter to "taste some snowflakes on my tongue... la laaaa" ("la laaaa" being "like this", said with his tongue out and head tilted back).

And of course, after P "tasted" the snow, C followed suit.

The boys spent some time playing on the swingset, running through the snow, and "carving" the snow with sticks. Of course, they made some snow angels, too.

P even made a "backwards" snow angel!

C tried to go sledding, sans sled. He didn't seem to mind a lack of equipment - "body sledding" was fine with him!

I was really excited Sunday when P decided he really liked this hat. Last year I had a hard time convincing him to wear a winter hat at all, and when I finally did there was only one toboggan that he allowed to grace his head. Sunday, he decided that this hat was "good" and began wearing it whenever I asked him to get ready to go out, even if it was just to leave the house on a journey somewhere else, such as church, and he wouldn't be staying outside. I bought this knit navy hat, ahem, two years ago. Fortunately I bought it big so it would last a while. (On a side note, I think P and I like this hat a lot more than anyone else we know, but I'm okay with that.) Today he put it on before heading outside.

While he was outside, his hat became a "snow scoop", so by the end of playtime he was wearing his hood instead.

Happy Snow Day! I hope you have a warm and cozy place to relax tonight!

Daddy A gets old(er)

Well, I hit the big 3-0 in August, and at the end of December it was Daddy A's turn. We were in Virginia Beach visiting his family on his birthday. We started the day off by letting Daddy A sleep in, and Grandma Hen got P some paper, stickers, and crayons so he could make a birthday card. From there, P decided to use the "shiny green paper" to make his daddy a birthday crown. I don't mean to brag (wait, yes, I do, but this is my blog so that's allowed), but P cut and taped the pieces of this masterpiece together completely by himself. The only thing I did was tape the two strips of paper together at the back to close the circle.



We went out to dinner with Uncle Mike, Bradley, Grandma Hen and Granddaddy Rooster, and Uncle Mike's girlfriend and her son. We enjoyed some yummy pizza at CPK and came back to the house for ice cream cake. P led a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday to You!", and then we all dug in.

Delicious!

Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Morelli Chaos

It was really important to Daddy A and I that we make time to visit with our good friends, the Morellis (who live in Richmond), while we were in Virginia. Wednesday night we headed their way for some ordered in pizza and lots of great conversation. Ryann headed off to swim practice, but the rest of us stayed home. While the four adults visited, the four littles played together. And, you know, jumped off of Hayden's dresser. Don't worry, we put a stop to that right away.

Hayden and P bonded over the games on Kris's iPad. (It's insured, so I almost wasn't worried about having it in the hands of one of my children.) The two had a great time with it. Now P wants an iPad. Sigh. I thought we had at least a few more years before we would get requests like that.


MJ actually managed to pretend to be shy for almost half an hour. After that, she was begging Daddy A to take pictures of her in front of the mantel.

We are so glad we got to visit with our friends. We wish we lived closer to them (although we love our town, too)! Both of our boys have been asking to see Hayden and MJ again. Maybe it will work out soon, and until then, the whole family will be in our thoughts and prayers!

Christmas 2010, Part Two

I mentioned in Part One that our Christmas was a whirlwind. Two days after Christmas, Daddy A, the boys and I headed to Virginia Beach to visit Grandma Hen and Granddaddy Rooster. We also got to see Boo-in-ah and Earl, Uncle Michael, Bradley, and few other neighbors and friends.

We had a white Christmas in Morganton, and honestly, I was pleased. P was convinced that Santa was bringing him snow, and I was glad it worked out the way it did for him. A white Christmas also seems magical to me. Wait, did I say seems? After our drive to Virginia Beach two days after they got 14.5 inches of snow, I may change my attitude to seemed. I'm pretty sure that Virginia Beach doesn't own a snowplow. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they own one snowplow, and it was just broken. Monday when we drove in, the interstate was a sheet of UNPLOWED ice.

Daddy A went out to the store with Granddaddy Rooster on Tuesday (approximately 72 hours after the snow) and took this picture as Granddaddy Rooster drove out of the neighborhood.


When we ventured out Wednesday morning, we noticed lots of snow piles in store parking lots. Granddaddy posed beside this one in the Sam's Club lot (I guess the one snowplow was fixed...).

Thursday Daddy A, the boys and I went shopping with Grandma Hen. My sunglasses disappeared from church during a play rehearsal in early December, and they haven't turned up, but in a stroke of luck there was a very similar, incredibly phenomenal pair of sunglasses almost 80% off at one of the stores we visited! (Daddy A actually asked Grandma Hen to get, ahem, two pair of those sunglasses for me because I tend to misplace sunglasses a lot.) C tried on some sunglasses, too. He liked this pair in particular - he didn't want to leave them behind!

We did leave the sunglasses behind, because we had to get home and get ready for Daddy A's birthday dinner. Yum yum!

Christmas 2010

This was a really fun Christmas for our family. P is starting to understand more about the holiday, from "Jesus's mommy, Moses, and the baby Jesus" (clearly we're still working on Bible knowledge) to Santa and presents.

While P loved getting presents (Is there a three year old who doesn't? Shoot, who of any age doesn't?), this year was the first year he was very excited about giving presents, too. He spent all of December wrapping anything and everything "up like a present" and delivering it to someone. He even asked me to help him wrap himself in a towel so he could be a present. We took a trip to the dollar store and let him pick out presents for each of his family members (including my sister's dog, Tucker), and he was very thoughtful and deliberate about each item that he chose. Seeing him get excited about the giving as well as receiving of gifts will always be a special memory for me.

We had a whirlwind holiday season, starting in Morganton with visits from Tiffany, John, and Tucker and Grandma Paige and Poppa Fred. We played, talked, laughed, ate turkey, and opened presents.

I'm sharing a few Christmas morning pictures (trust me, there isn't time to look at them all!) here.

P worked hard at opening his stocking. I made a stocking for each of the boys, and both times, they weren't ready until their second Christmas. I took it a little at a time, but I got there! My mom made a stocking for me when I was young, and it's one of my absolute favorite Christmas items. I knew from the time P was born (probably before he was born, actually) that I wanted to make a stocking for each of my kids, too. Hopefully my kids will enjoy their stockings for years, just like I have.

I didn't take any pictures of the stockings individually - only "action shots", so to speak - but here's a photo of C checking out the goodies inside his stocking.


While P opened presents with true gusto, C was more tentative. He picked up on P's excitement and was happy to rip his share of wrapping paper, though.


Of course, we took some time out to enjoy our new gifts.


The next two photos are visuals I'll keep in my head - and heart - for years to come. The boys really enjoyed playing together this Christmas. They didn't just play side by side, but they really interacted and were playing with toys as a team.

That said, the boys still had to check out each others' gifts every time one was opened. The present routine was pretty much the same every time one was opened: P and C were each given a gift to open. P opened gift A while C opened gift B. Immediately after the two gifts were opened, P asked C to "share" gift B so he could "look out it". C then picked up gift A and played with it. Since both boys were happy with the arrangement, I was happy too.

I mentioned already that Tucker was visiting. The boys loved having Tucker (although Tat wasn't thrilled), and I have to say I have really missed Tucker myself, because I've had to go back to sweeping under the table after every meal. C must have fed him even more food than I realized, because he's been feeding Tat from his high chair since Tucker left, and since Tat doesn't eat table food there is a lot of food on my floor! Not only did C feed Tucker from his plate, he also shared his pacifiers with him. More than once Tucker found a pacifier on the floor, and then I would see Chase about to put it in his mouth with it in his mouth. He survived the sharing unscathed, though.


I hope your Christmas was filled with family and fun, too!