Penny Rocks Out States

A Birthday 10 Days Late

As usual around these parts, my blogging frequency has been sub par.  But my boy had a birthday, and those are things I like to celebrate.  Every time a birthday rolls around, I'm overcome with how much I love these little babies of mine and how grateful I am to be their mama.  And so we celebrate.  But lightly.

Birthday breakfast sucker.

Teddy was born on a beautiful February day, and this birthday was even better.  It was warm and sunny, and because the boy likes being outside so much, we grabbed some lunch from a restaurant and headed to the park.

(Penny hiding in the tunnel.  She has a new hatred of being photographed.)

And because he likes vacuums so much, he got a vacuum cake.  But he couldn't tell what it was and now I think my cake-making days are over.  I can't handle the rejection.

The day before Teddy's birthday we went swimming at the new Provo Rec Center.  They have a wonderful indoor pool with kiddy slides and a lazy river.  It was freezing (even nice February days are too cold to swim), but Seth and I have decided to forgo giving our kids gifts and instead have experiences with them.  The babies loved the pool, Seth and I loved spending time with them, and I loved not adding anymore crap to our already overflowing toy box.

Happy birthday, Teddy.  Two looks good on you.

A Look Back at 2013

January
 Teddy boy is a baby.

February
Penny's big blue eyes still shining bright.

March
Packing herself for our move to Elk Ridge.

April
Learning they have a built-in best friend.

May
A fingernail painting party with aunties.

June
Turning three and a selfie.

July
Princess dress-up.

August
Best birthday present ever.

September
Growing more and more handsome (and helpful).

October
And even more handsome.

November
Mama's main girl.

December
Snow day.

We've had a blessed and happy year.  And we've learned that Seth hates to be in pictures.  Here's to a blessed and happy 2014.

Family Pics '13

All photos taken by Alisia Packard Sansom (duh).

So as not to be redundant, no family-family photos were posted.  You'll just have to wait 'til Christmas. 

New Camera....

...which means I can't find any of the Halloween pictures we took, but about some high quality photos of Ted?  Okay, here ya go.

A Handful of Pictures

Here's what happening lately.....

Defying time-out.

Painting a bench. THAT I MADE!!!! (More to come on that!)

Dancer of the Day!

DIY plastic bag kite.  And no, it's not cold enough for (Teddy's) snow clothes yet.  She just really loves dressing up.

Afternoon snack.

Tea party with friends.  I love this neighborhood.

Being left out from the tea party with friends.

His new love--a $2.00 vacuum toy I found at D.I.

See.  She really loves dressing up.  And dressing other people up, too.

Awesome horse ride after a dentist appointment.  Let me know if you need a good pediatric dentist in Spanish Fork.  I got one for you.

Not being left out from awesome horse ride.

We (kind of) Planted Flowers

New home developments suck in the nature department.  We hunted for Easter eggs in a dead field, all the trees are shorter than Seth, and the only flowers we've enjoyed are the volunteer sunflowers (aka-weeds) that have filled up our yet-to-be-landscaped flower beds.  I actually love the sunflowers, but for the sake of this post, let's pretend I don't.

We needed some BLOOMS in our house.  So we made some.

All good flower beds need worms.

Sampling the "dirt."

No sampling necessary.

Forget the flower, we just want the mud.

Next year, a real garden.  The end.

My Pretty Penny

Tedward

Teddy has been largely overlooked on this little blog of ours, so why don't I catch you up and tell you a bit about my little man.

1. His nickname is Tedward. My dad called him that once when he was about 2 weeks old and it STUCK. I love people's reactions when they ask his name and I respond with Tedward.

2. He's big and sweet and naughty. He wears the same size clothes as his 3 year-old sister. He blows everyone kisses, and makes the hardened construction workers around our house break into huge grins when he waves emphatically at them. He runs away from me when I tell him to come to me.  Every.  Single.  Time.

3. He's enthralled with shoes. Everyone's shoes--Mama's, Dada's, Penny's, stranger's at the pool. Not a day goes by when he isn't trying on a several pairs.

4. He loves his "loveys" as much as Penny loves hers. He knows which ones belong to him, and which ones are Penny's. He won't nap without them, and he almost always has one shoved in his mouth. So, neither of my kids had pacifiers, but both will end up with braces.

5. Penny is his favorite friend, and she's starting to warm up to him, too. Just yesterday she insisted that she and Teddy would be married one day.

We love our Teddy-boy. He is the perfect ending to this little family of ours.