Learning to ride a bike

We finally got around to getting a bike for Brendan. He was so excited for it he wanted to ride it to the checkout counter and home from the store, even though he didn't quite have the concept of peddling down yet and it was raining outside.

He had to wait two whole days (which is forever to a child) since the rain didn't let up but then finally we had a nice day and he could try out his new bike. He picked it up much quicker than I thought he would.

He was so proud of himself. I loved watching him concentrate so hard on what he was doing.

 Pretty soon he'll be doing these kind of tricks all on his own!

Go, Brendan, Go!

I can't resist buying stuff for my kids

Brendan's preschool is strange because they require the kids to use a bucket instead of a backpack for all their papers and projects. Lame! It's impossible to make a bucket look cool. So when we happened to find the perfect backpack for Brendan, I couldn't NOT get it for him even though he doesn't technically need one for any reason. It was too cool to pass up.

And he loves it of course. In fact, when we had to go to a doctor's appointment, Mario had to come with too.

Who knew the coolest backpack ever would be found at a smelly global food store? Well worth every cent, though!

The rest of the cake massacre pictures

I just had to post some more pictures of the Goober enjoying his birthday cake.

 He was so excited when he saw it coming!

 He wasn't too sure what to do with it though so he tested it out by licking it.

 He decided he liked it so he got his hands involved.

 He couldn't shovel it in his mouth fast enough.

 He was quite intrigued by the texture. He loved mushing the cake and frosting in between his fingers.

 A cake handle bar mustache.

Cake up to his armpits. He had cake everywhere.

And because this one is my favorite, I had to post it again. I just love this boy!

Preschool makes both of us happy!

Brendan finally started preschool and he is loving it! He was so excited to go to school- I've never seen him get his shoes on and move out the door so fast! He really likes his teacher, his classmates (especially because his BFF Josh is in his class!), and all the fun activities and projects that they do. Every day he's just bursting to tell me what they did that day and show me the sticker in his notepad that he gets daily. I love that he's getting so much out of it already and that I have a tiny bit of free time. It's so weird I don't know what to do with myself yet but I'm sure I'll be putting that time to good use soon enough.

He was getting frustrated at me because I wanted to take some pictures of him on his first day before he went in to class. He was so ready to go I could barely get him to sit for a few seconds.

I still can't believe that he's so grown up and that next year will be Kindergarten- but I'm getting ahead of myself. For now, I'm happy to have my sweet boy loving learning, making new friends and being independent. He's the best!

Happy Birthday To..............Me!

 So, today was my birthday. I'm one. My parents keep saying how old I look, but based on the pictures I've seen, I look like a baby, so logic would suggest that I'm not really old at all. On the other hand, I've seen pictures of my brother, Brendan, when he was one and he actually did look old. Imagine Gordon B. Hinckley being about a foot and a half tall and that's pretty much what he looked like; same hair style and everything. Ironically, as Brendan has grown older, he actually looks younger. Not me, though, I just look like a baby.

Being my first birthday there were a few things that I didn't quite understand. One, I got lots of presents from my parents and grandparents. My parents said all the presents were for me. The cards the gifts came with also said the presents were for me. But then Brendan said all the toys were for "big boys" and that only he could play with them. In fact, as I'm writing this Brendan is sitting inside a boat (upside down Little Tikes table) sailing to "Dream Island" and he's taking all my new toys with him. Sure looks like fun. I can't wait for his birthday, then maybe I'll get to play with his new toys.

The second thing I didn't understand was why I don't get to eat cake for dinner every night. Holy crap, it was delicious! Why would I ever want to eat anything else. Let's see, the past year I normally ate pureed lasagna, pureed sweet potatoes, pureed carrots, pureed horse meat, and other blended fruit medleys. Those have all been fine and I'll admit a nice bowl of equestrian meat can be quite satisfying after a hard day of playing and napping. But seriously, cake is good. It's very good and I don't think I'll go back to eating that other stuff for many years to come.

Other noteworthy items from my birthday include the insurance adjusters coming by to make sure I didn't take my afternoon nap. Apparently hurricane Irene caused some wind damage to the roof of our house. It opened up some holes in the roof, let some rain in, and caused a nice sink hole in the ceiling of Mom and Dad's room. They're a little worried that birds and squirrels might start sneaking into the house. Personally, I'm hoping they do. Anyways, the insurance guys came in the house, walked on the roof a little, and I overheard one of the guys saying that the sheathing on our house is incredibly thin. He thought he was going to fall through the roof at every step. Good to know. Now that I'm one year old my parents said one of my new privileges is being able to play on the roof with Brendan. We'll just have to be extra careful now. In the end, I'm just glad no one fell on me while I was in my crib. Granted, the guy might have deserved to fall. He came over on my birthday, woke me after napping five minutes, didn't leave a present, and didn't even sing me a song. I'm not saying I'm bitter, but I'm not saying I'll ever forget this, either.

In closing, I think it's important to recognize other special people celebrating their birthday today - The great Dmitry Medvedev, leader of the Russian Federation turns 46 today. What do you possibly get the guy who leads the Russian Federation?  A Pillow Pet, perhaps?

 The Lone Ranger turns 97 today. I wonder what Tonto got him? Maybe a new Bedazzler so he can add more rhinestones to his holster.

 Lastly, but definitely not leastly, the late Amy Winehouse would have turned 28. Only the good die young. I wonder what rehab in heaven is like.

So happy birthday to me, to the entire Russian Federation, the Lone Ranger, and to the girl that looks a cross between Sloth from Goonies and Elvira. Turning one feels pretty good. So happy birthday to all... and to all a good night.

Just the two of us

It seems like a lot of my posts lately center around Alex so here's a Brendan post.

I decided that Brendan and I were going to have a special outing just the two of us- no Alex allowed! Luckily, this happened before school started so I could snag one of the young women to babysit for me during the day for a few hours while Brendan and I headed out to see Cars 2. He loved the fact that it was just mommy and Brendan and he ended up loving the movie. He might have been the loudest laugher and gasper in the crowd- he was so into it! And I loved that it was a great bonding time for me and him. I don't think a mom has ever loved her little boy more.

We snapped a picture of us before we headed home and while it's not the most flattering picture of us, I absolutely love it. I'm glad I have it to remember the day by. Definitely something I plan on doing again in the future.

Still his favorite place to hang out

Whenever the dishwasher is open, Alex comes charging. He loves it and since he's discovered climbing, he loves it even more since he can climb up top and reach everything much more easily.

It's too cute so I do feel a little bad when I have to pull him off and close it so he can't pull out any more knives- which is oddly the first thing he goes for. Why?! I think it's a boy thing to be attracted to anything and everything dangerous. This one keeps me on my toes, that's for sure!

Just a happy picture of my youngest

I snapped this picture the other day while the boys were playing in the basement. Alex was so proud of himself for climbing up the little table we have down there for them.

This munchkin has definitely turned into a climber and it's making my life very difficult right now. But I still love my Goober. And with a smile and dimples like those, who can resist him?!

And on September 14th, he'll turn 1. I still can't believe it!

Tippy Toes

Alex is rarely flat on his feet and this picture captures his tippy toes perfectly. He looks like he could be a ballet dancer!

I did manage to catch him flat footed, which only lasted a second though.

And then it was right back on his toes.

I think he might have ballet dancing in his future.

Our trip to Colorado

Alright, it's time to catch up! We had a blast when we were in Colorado last month. The plane ride went better than expected (despite delays and having to run to catch our connecting flight) and both kids were as well behaved as we could have hoped for. Brendan woke up the first morning and immediately wanted to find Grandpa and Grandma. He was so excited to be there. And then when the cousins showed up, he was in heaven.

 Brendan and Spencer hit it off, which was too cute for words. Brendan saw Spencer reading a book on the couch one evening and got right up next to him with his own book and pretended to be reading it aloud too. He definitely looks up to his older cousin.

Alex loved meeting his cousins too. He was especially smitten with Marisa and Leila (so was I!). Those two girls are the sweetest, cutest and funniest girls and I wanted to take them home with me. I need to even out the girl-boy ratio in our house!

We did lots of fun things while in Colorado and enjoyed being with family that we don't often get to see. It was a nice treat for us to be there a whole week too!

We took a train ride and enjoyed a beautiful park.

Visited the donut factory, aka Krispy Kreme.

And stuffed our faces.

  Watched Grandpa fly his planes.

 And spent lots of quality time together as a family. It was nice to just sit around, talk and laugh. Lots of laughs when it comes to Chris and Carrie sharing stories.

 Alex definitely loved having so many people around to play with him. He took a shining to his grandpa and I think the feeling was mutual, even though Alex did managed to break one or two things around their house.

And these two boys are just a few weeks apart. Andrew is a pro at walking and I think it seriously impressed Alex, who still shows no signs of being interested in walking himself.

If Brendan didn't already adore his grandma, he certainly did after she got the kids a Slip n' Slide for the back yard. It was love at first sight.

He couldn't wait until the cousin arrived or even to change into his swimsuit- he striped down to his undies the second he saw it and got right in. That's my boy!

It's memories like this (and all the others) that I am so grateful for. We don't get a chance to see Chris's family very often, but when we do, it's the best feeling in the world. I'm so lucky to have such an awesome family and I wish we lived closer so we could visit more often. Brendan was so sad to leave and there were definitely some tears when we had to get on the airplane.

Brendan was so exhausted from our trip that he fell asleep in the car on the way home from the airport in the middle of eating his snack. We all felt the same way and I take that as a sign of a good trip. We enjoyed every moment of it and I'm looking forward to the next time we all can get together. (But John, Erin and Sophia- you guys better be there! We missed you guys!)

A quick hello

I have sooooo much to post but I wanted to really quickly put this picture up because it cracks me up. Can you believe that Alex is 3 months older than the handsome fellow sitting next to him? I love my tiny baby.

And can you also believe that Alex is the one with the Hispanic heritage? Alex is so white he's almost glowing! Neither of my kids tan... poor boys.

Stay tuned for lots of posts coming soon... if I can ever find the time to get everything ready and done!