Jake's Second Birthday & Party

We had Jake's second birthday party on Dec 28.  I didn't want to do anything big, we just had a small party at our home with family.  My parents and my niece, Haley came into town the night before.  My parents helped me shop for the decorations and all the food.


Jake's second birthday was themed "dinosaurs."  We had cupcakes, mud cups, sandwiches, grapes, lemonade, deviled (dino) eggs, veggie tray, and water.  & if anyone ever reads this and knows how to put pictures in a little picture collage on the computer- please let me know.  I only know how to do it on my phone for instagram.

Check out Jake's cute birthday shirt that I ordered on Etsy.

His party was even smaller than planned, one family was out of town, another friend was sick, and my grandparents weren't able to make it.  So it was just My parents, my niece- Haley, Tim's mom, my sister in law and her husband, and my brother in law and his family.  & of course, us.  Jake and Ryan didn't seem to mind- they had so much fun with all the goodies and the presents.  Jake was probably stoked and he had just opened all of his Christmas presents three days prior.

My babies & their Grandma- Tim's mom.

My babies and their parents.  Doesn't Jakey look so happy?!

My sweet family <3

Taking it all in while everyone sings him "Happy Birthday."  I think this might be the best part of my kids birthdays, watching their expressions while everyone sings to them.

& Jake's first time blowing out his own candles!  I wonder what he wished for.

Their favorite present!  More cars and an awesome track.

2 days after Jakey's birthday party was his actual second birthday.  We had to have a fun filled day for his birthday too.  We all went to breakfast at Dennys.  I had a coupon for their, but that was an awful mistake.  They were soooo slooow, which resulted in two very hungry, whiney babies.  So you can imagine how fun our breakfast was.

Afterwards we headed to the zoo!  Thank goodness for zoo memberships, we use ours all the time.  The kids LOVE the zoo.

After we left the zoo, we came home so that Jake could take a nap.  When  he woke up we took the boys to Peter Piper Pizza for pizza, games, and playing.  Jake was being a booger and not looking at me and I didn't get one good picture of him on his birthday!  Little stinker.  We made it home in time to have more cupcakes, and some more "Happy Birthday" singing before it was time for baths and bed.

After we were done Ryan said, "Ryan's turn!" so we had to sing to him too.

Jake's two year well check was 1/2 and he was 23.5lbs and 33 1/4 in.  Growing bigger every day!

You're officially two, little man.  & I hope momma was able to make your birthday extra special.  You sure are a special little guy who brings so much love into our home. 

Jake is TWO!

Dear Jake-

I wanted to write Jakey up there, but I didn't.  I wonder if you'll ever look back and hate that everybody calls you Jakey.  I guess it's not worse than your nicknames.  When Ryan couldn't say "Jakey," he called you "Gakey."  I hate to say it but that stuck with daddy and me.  So you have so many nick names, Gakey, Gake a Bake, Cake a Bake.  I even call you "snack" or snacky."  I'm not sure what daddy and I did to have to little boys named Wubby and Snacky.  Ha.  Sorry baby.

Anyways, you are now two.  You are actually 749 days old today.  I am so blessed to have you in my life.  I can't believe I was so nervous to be pregnant with you.  You are the best addition to our family.  This year has been incredible with you!  Year one was pretty fun.   You have the best little personality and it has come out this year!  You are so much fun and so super sweet.  You are attached to mommy's hip!  You follow me all around the house, usually dragging your blanket around the house.  You love to watch me get ready in the morning, putting on my make up and straightening my hair.  You love sitting on my hip and watching me cook dinner.  You love to snuggle on the couch when I watch my evening TV shows.  You are just CUTE!

You have done so many firsts this year!  Right after you turned one you got your first two teeth and you started walking.

We took you to get your first haircut.

You did a great job, and you've gotten so many haircuts since.  Except now daddy cuts your hair in our bathroom.

You saw snow for the first time!  & it was right in our backyard!  I'm not sure you liked it too much.  You just stood there and didn't move. You are very much an observer.  You like looking around and scoping out everything that is going on around you.

You had your first Easter egg hunt.  Last year you were only 4 months old.  This year you were able to get your own eggs.  I took a ton of pictures on my camera- and then daddy's friend borrowed the camera and lost my memory card.   I'm sad I don't have those picture of you and your first hunt, I'll just have to get even more at your second hunt!

We took you to the zoo a lot this year.  We got a zoo membership in March and have gone a ton since then.  You and Ryan love going.  When we take you out of the stroller, you walk around and stop at all the animals and just point at them and talk to yourself.

You went to your first movie!  You and Ryan only sat still for about the first hour.  I had to bring lots of snacks and your milk cup to keep you sitting that long.  You are definitely not old enough to be watching movies.  However, we took you anyways because they have super cheap kid movies during the summers.

You got to go to the lake for the first time, twice actually!  You loved it!  You love laying in the water in your life jacket.  Gosh- you are cute.  I can't wait to take you every year :)

You sat in your first time out!  You had your first time out for throwing a car at Ryan.  You sat so nicely until I told you that you could get up.  You have only had a handful of time outs so far.  You are a good boy.

You are the best eater!  You eat anything and everything that I put in front of you.  Makes my life so much easier.  You love everything, blueberries, grapes, applesauce, burritos, pasta. etc.

& I don't need to feed you anymore =(

You had your first real Halloween!  It was so much fun.  Last year, you were only 10m old so we pushed you around in the buggy.  This year, you were able to walk around on your own and get your own candy.  You snuck in a ton of candy in the wagon when we weren't looking.

You have done so many new things this year.  I am so proud of you.  I am so proud to be your mommy and to watch you grow every day.  I am so incredibly blessed to see you every day.  I get to watch you play and grow and smile and laugh.  

You love

-Your blanket, you drag that thing around everywhere

-Saying "hi" to every person we see!

-Your milk, you drink a ton of milk and the doctor even said we didn't need to give you so much, but it makes you happy.

-Taking baths, you love splashing with Ryan

-Playing cars,  You don't care for TV so when Ryan watches it, you go into the front room to play cars

-Snuggling, you are the best snuggler

-Stuffed animals & your Cloudb pillows, you call all of your stuffed animals "babies"

-Mommy :)  I am your favorite and I couldn't love it anymore

You are so perfect.  I am looking forward to watching how much more you learn and grow during your third year and every year after that.  I can't imagine you being any more amazing than you already are, but I know you will be.  Happy second birthday to the littlest love of my life.  I love you baby.

Love, Mommy

Wrote on 1/16/14... backdating to 12/30/13

December Randoms

I'm sitting here wondering where the year has gone.  How is already December?  Actually, How is December almost over?!  Of all the months of the year, this one just flew by quicker than all the rest.  There is so much to look forward to in December.  Not only that, but the end of December means I get a two week break from work!  

This month hasn't been too cold, which I am more than thankful for.  I hate cold weather.  It's cold enough for my kids to wear long sleeved shirts.  But not cold enough to wear I feel like my fingers and toes are going to fall off.  Winter has also just started like a week ago, so I'm sure it's going to get worse from here on.

There hasn't been too much going on around here.  My parents did come visit again the second weekend in December.  Ever since I moved here in 2003, my mom comes every second weekend in December because she gets a half day at work.  We used to spend the weekend Christmas shopping.  Now that I have kids, we spend the days at home.  It usually lands on the night of my work's Christmas party too so it's nice that she gets to come here and spend the night with my kids while Tim and I go out for the night.  My parent's have been coming down a lot these last couple months, which I am more than grateful for.  But I know that once the year ends, the visits might not be as frequent.  Ryan and Jake love to spend the time with them.

Auntie Loni sent Jake's birthday gift super early this year.. I think she always does though.  They got a new Thomas the Train set which has provided for many hours of entertainment.

I love how simple their lives are.  How the little things in life make them the happiest.  After Tim  & I set up the train, they had the biggest eyes and smiles watching Thomas go around and around the train track.  They sat in their room for a while just watching him go around the track.  They were so in awe.  It's the little things :)

The boys also got an early Christmas present of a Children's Museum membership!  That will definitely be awesome to have.  We went at the beginning of December and of course, we spend the most time in the train room.  We didn't have time to go through the whole museum because we had to get back home for Jake to take a nap.  But I can't wait to take them back!  We have plans to go back on New Years' Eve with our friends Christine and Hannah.  Santa was at the museum the day that we went.  They also had a little station to make Christmas ornaments.  There was also the cutest snowball fight.  They got a huge box filled with cotton balls and dumped them all over the kids.  My kids were so excited to throw snow balls!  Only in Arizona, do we have snowball fights with cotton balls. :)

You can't tell by this picture, but both of the boys were so excited over Santa!  This is the first year that Ryan actually understands about Santa and Christmas presents.  He told Santa that he wanted a red bike and candy for Christmas.

More Christmas jammies.  I always want to remember how cute Jakey is when he's sleepy.  He sucks his thumb and plays with his ear with his other hand.

I am still loving my mornings with Ryan before work.  He usually wakes up about 10 minutes before I leave the house.  Right after I'm done getting ready and right before I start making my lunch.  We lay in bed and snuggle and kiss and hug.  He's the sweetest thing.  He's always wanting to snuggle.  He'll usually lay in our bed and bring his cars into our bed and play with them.

On December 16th, Ryan turned 3.5.  That is just crazy- wasn't it just his third birthday.  Now in just 6 short months he's going to be 4 and starting preschool.  He's becoming so independent.  He wants to dress and undress by himself.  He wants to put on his shoes and buckle his car seat buckle by himself.  He has to do everything by himself and he gets mad if I do it for him.  He won't even let me turn on the light switches in the house and if I do, he will turn them off and put them back on again.

Jake is no longer my little quiet baby who observes everyone.  Out of nowhere he has started talking and is saying so many words.  He says new words everyday and can pretty much say anything you tell him to say.   This past month his personality has totally blossomed and I feel like he is no longer a little baby but a toddler instead.  His favorite word is "mommy"  except it sounds more like "maaaaah-meeee."  He is hilarious.

He sees Ryan go potty all by himself and will ask to sit on the little potty.  I'm thinking he might be potty trained a lot sooner than Ryan was.  Would be nice!

The Wednesday before Winter Break started was SO nice.  We didn't have any staff meetings and report cards were due the day before, so I got to be home with my babies before noon.  The weather was just perfect so we got to go for a nice long walk!

Ryan gets more mail than me these days!  The boys got new squeaky shoes in the mail from Auntie Loni, P, and Marlo- so we came home to try them out.  They were a huge hit.  The kids loved them and ran all over the house and all you could hear was "squeak squeak squeeeaaak." & lots of laughter from the boys.  I put Jake down for an early nap so I could wake him up early.  We took the boys to the park for their Christmas pictures.  We let them wear their squeaky shoes to the park.  They were so funny running all over the place with their loud shoes!

One of my old students came over while her mom was at work so I could watch her for the day and we taught Ryan how to play hide-n-seek.  His little brain is just growing so much.  It's crazy that he is becoming such a big kid.  I showed him how to hide and every time it was his turn he would hide in the same spot! Under his bed, and he would giggle while being looked for, he was pretty cute.

My mom was here this weekend for Jake's birthday party and she asked me if I still blogged because she hasn't seen anything for a while.  So here I am, blogging for hours and I'm about to pass out, it's way past my bed time.  But it is the end of the year and I need to get caught up.  I have a few more posts to do before the year is over and only 48 hours to write them.  Christmas & Jake's birthday.  My baby will be two in just 11 minutes.  Good night!