Birthdays

 How do I pick up blogging after not doing it in so long? At least it hasn't been a full year, and honestly, I don't know if I'd say I'm "picking it up" again. We'll see. I think the most exciting thing going on right now is that we are expecting baby #3, due October 3rd. We are excited. I'm 15 weeks, and nausea is finally feeling like it's starting to let up, just in time for exhaustion to set it. But it's been going well, and I'm excited to see how this baby changes the dynamic of our family.

 William and Ann both had birthdays in the last few months. I have to say, there is not much I love more than seeing them feel special and loved, and that is what we make birthdays about. We did a small birthday party for William, with two cute friends in our building and his cousin Thomas. William wanted a "knights" party, so we decorated our own shields, and slayed the ferocious green "dragons" that were floating around the room. I thought this would be fun, but I didn't realize that it would be as big of a hit as it was! Nothing beats a boy with a sword. Here are 3 of the brave knights.

 William also requested a white cake with white frosting and white ice cream. We were going for simple, and he was in on it, although I splurged a little bit and got a fun-fetti white cake. He was so happy with my art skills. A sword. Perfect for this little knight.

 William is growing up so much. He can sit and play with Legos for an hour, building creative cars for his guys, and putting them in his own little world. He loves good-guy/bad-guy scenarios. He loves asking us to tell "Once upon a time" stories about him and his friends and their adventures, and quite often ends up telling us his own stories, which are pretty impressive. I love listening to him talk as he makes connections about things in the world. He's an explorer!

 Annie keeps him on his toes, too. She loves him so much. Maybe too much? She'll do anything to get his attention, including torturing him. She knows just what toys to touch to make him scream, and loves to push his buttons. But she adores him, and tries to be like him in so many ways. I love those moments when they play together in the other room. Sometimes I'll turn on the baby monitor just to listen, knowing that the second I go in, it'll all be over.

 We are also excited to welcome a cousin into the family, Baby Jeffrey. Annie also adores him, and it's so sweet to watch her with him. When ever we talk about him, she says "kisses!" The first time she held him she couldn't stop kissing his sweet little cheeks. It makes me excited to see her take on the roll of big sister.

 Ann's birthday was an even lower-key event than William's, but we spoiled her non the less. Thoughtful William, when given the opportunity to choose a present for her, chose this stroller, and she loves it. Like on William's birthday, we filled the day full of little things we knew she'd love. She was queen of the day, and quite enjoyed it. Grandma and Grandpa Tyler stopped by to wish her Happy Birthday (she shares a birthday with my dad), and brought her a cute little balance bike, perfect for her size. It hasn't taken her long to be brave on it. I love watching her try new things because she sees William doing it!  Overall, these two were spoiled rotten by their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends! They are two sweet kids, and even though it's exhausting, I can't imagine anything else I'd enjoy more than being their mom!

Thomas’ Racecar Party

My cute nephew Thomas turned 4 on the 24th, and my sister-in-law threw him an amazing racecar party. Thomas is one of William’s very best buddies, so we were so excited to help him celebrate.

To get the party started, they made their own license plates, with foam letters, stickers and glitter. Then they were off to the races, driving their cars down the “race track.”

There were balloons filled with prizes, and each kid got to pop a few.

Trying to hit the wheels with water balloons… I love how each kid is armed and ready…

And then to the most exciting part… the CARWASH!

Spencer and Andrea built this awesome “car wash” sprinkler out of PVC pipe. It was a HIT. They circles through this thing until they nearly dropped with exhaustion. William kept saying, “I’m not clean yet!”, aka “I need to go through again!”

Such a fun idea, and such a great thing to do on a hot day!

Once they were all washed out, it was off to cupcakes, traffic lights and playing with prizes…

 

Don’t forget to “fuel up”

At the end they each got a trophy. Thomas was one happy birthday boy, all the kids had a blast!

A fun busy day

Today has been a really fun day (especially for William), so much so that I think I'll document it after not opening my blog for a few months. There were so many little details that I want to remember. 

After Ann's morning nap we decided we would walk down the street and check out the new Dunkin' Donuts that opened yesterday. William wanted a Captain America book from the library, so I figured we'd hit two birds with one stone. William rode his bike over, and thought it was pretty cool that a police officer was directing traffic in the parking lot. It was so busy that the line for the drive through went out into the street. I debated waiting until after we went to the library to go in but William was so excited for donuts that I figured I couldn't turn back. I didn't look at what time it was when we walked in, but  the line took forever. William didn't mind though. He loved looking at all the pictures of the donuts, playing in front of the fan, and sitting on every single chair we passed. Ann was very patient in the stroller, adding to the chaos with an occasional high-pitched scream that she has gotten so good at. They both loved getting balloons halfway through, too. 

 William chose a rainbow sprinkle donut, but when we got to the library, he decided he wanted one of the other's I chose. He loved the powdered sugar, and was even more excited when he discovered the chocolate cream inside. They messed up my order, so Annie got a chocolate frosted donut instead of the relatively non-messy glazed I had ordered for her. What do you do. We walked over to the library to eat our treats, and woman who works at the library walked over to us. I was worried she was going to come tell us we couldn't eat our donuts at the tables, but instead told us that balloons are not allowed in the library. If they float away, you'd never be able to get them down from the high ceilings. Understandable, but a little sad to tell William and Ann we had to throw their balloons away.
I don't think Ann took a single bite of her donut, but managed to get frosting everywhere. William was covered in powdered sugar. William said they were tasty, but I still think Banburry Cross is better!

 After our donuts we walked down to look at books. We scored by finding an Ironman book next to the Captain America book. Life doesn't get much better than that. At least not for a 3 year old. He carried his books into the ice cave where he made friends with a boy in a Buzz Lightyear shirt. I went and found his other request. A book with a picture of Darth Vader.  We left and walked to Danny's office to share our treats with him. William sat on the front of the stroller, holding his Ironman book, and leaning back on to Annie, making her giggle like crazy. So cute.
At Dad's office, William was so excited to share his treats with Dad. It's been a while since we'd been in, so most people in the office had never seen Annie walk around. It is pretty amazing how much they change in a few months time.
After naps we dropped Annie off to play with our neighbor Jane until Dad got off work, because William and I got to go to a movie to celebrate Auntie Char's birthday! We went with Grandma, Char, cousin Max, and Aunt Andrea. Annie does NOT like to be left with people, and was pretty upset about us leaving her. William, on the other hand, was bouncing off the walls with excitement.

He was on the edge of his seat most of the time (when he wasn't leaning back with one leg crossed over his other knee like he always does). When the movie started, the played a little commercial for the sound system. He kept saying, "wow!" and "cool!!" over and over. He would take the drink, put the straw to his mouth and just sit there, so into the movie that he'd forget to drink. Every once in a while he would go to ask me something, and forget he needed to be quiet, but quickly caught himself. And best of all, during the final round of the scare off, he was just so dang excited that he leaped from his seat, and jumped up and down cheering. It was so great. Nothing better than to go to a movie with an excited 3 year old!

 After the movie we walked past a big advertisement for the Pixar movie Planes that comes out later this summer. There was a big pitter that he just couldn't get enough of. The rest of the night William talked about getting away from the lady at the library, and scaring all the grown ups. So funny that those are the two parts that he remembers most. I was nervous he'd be afraid, but pushed my hand away when I put it on his back to see how he was doing. William is at such a curious and adventurous stage of life. It was so fun to see him in the theater setting.
Ann of course forgave me for leaving her, and ran to me when we went to meet them on their walk outside. She's such a sweet heart. Poor girl is teething, so she has been drooling like crazy. But she's so happy, and so silly. And she can scream with the best of them. I just tell myself that at least they are happy screams.

Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter last week. We had Easter dinner at my parents, and then Monday night with Danny's family. His parents had been in Thailand and Japan for a month, so it was also a welcome home party. They spoiled us all with fun gifts from their travels. I wish I had pictures of Monday night as well!

 I finally loaded these pictures on to the computer, and as I was looking at them, I was a little overcome with how blessed our family is. We have incredible family. Our parents are so supportive of us, and we have wonderful relationships with our siblings. William and Ann have fun cousins who they adore. We are grateful to live so close to most of them (and sad that we don't get to see some as much as we'd like!).

 As a side note, I have to show off this beautiful Easter dress my mom made for Ann. The smocking in it is incredible. Annie is one spoiled girl! (She loves the dress, and in church on Sunday decided she didn't want to crawl in it, and has been walking more full-time ever since.)

 Anyway, Danny and I have truly been feeling blessed as we've been talking about what healthy, happy, independent, strong-willed, silly children we have.  It is so fun to watch them learn and grow. Ann, lately, has had such a strong opinion on things. How she eats, what she wears, how we hold her, who holds her, and so on. William is such a kind boy (with a wild side, of course), and a fun big brother. We love our two goofballs.

 Anyway, after dinner at my parents William and Ann took advantage of the nice weather and spent the rest of the evening outside. The trampoline and the swings are two of their favorite places to play!