Lucas is 2!!

OK...so this is a VERY long overdue post, especially consider Luke is going to be three in less than two weeks.  Oops...such a bad mommy, blogger, mommy-blogger!  Man, sometimes life just gets in the way of blogging.  But, I'd much rather be living life than just watching it pass me by, so if I have to "catch-up" on some blogs here and there (a lot more "here" recently, I will admit), that's fine with me.  This blog is more of a memory book for me anyway!  :)  I am going to back date this though, so it fits into the time correctly.  Hehe  Oh my goodness, doesn't he look like such a little baby still?!?  I think when I took this picture I thought he looked like such a big boy, but now...not so much.

So...on to Luke's 2nd birthday.  Of course it was a train party.  As is customary, we had a party at our house and invited all of the boys little friends, and several of mommy and daddy's too.  Because let's be honestly...at this age, the parties are really for Mommy and Daddy, right?  I don't think Lucas really even knew it was his birthday, except for the fact that we sat him in front of a cake and sang Happy Birthday to him.  :)

A Jumpin' Good Time

Can you believe that this little guy...

is now this not so little guy?

For T's fourth birthday we celebrated with a party full of friends at Jumpin' Jimmy's.  It was a GREAT time and all of the kids had a great time.  This was the first time we did a party away from the house and the extra expense was so worth the convenience of going somewhere, messing up their facility and coming home to a still clean house!  Plus, being 34+ weeks pregnant, having no prep or clean-up was almost a necessity this year.  :)

And honestly, it was such a hit with all of the kiddos.  They really loved all of the bouncing...

They even had a Scooby Doo house.  :)

Daddy took a turn coming down with Luke.  He was having a hard time climbing to the top, so Daddy helped him.  They both had a blast!

and the timing was perfect.  Just as they were all bounced out, it was time to head to the party room for pizza and cake.

 Since he has become a huge fan of Scooby Doo, we HAD to have a Scooby Doo cake.  

He loved it and did a great job blowing out all of his candles!  Wonder what he wished for?...probably to watch more Scooby Doo shows!  :)

This little girl even came dressed for the party!

They had an awesome throne for the birthday boy.  All of the kids had a lot of fun sitting in it.

A great day for a great little boy.  Happy 4th birthday Tyler...we love you so much and have loved every minute of the last four years with you!!

Lucas is 2!!

OK...so this is a VERY long overdue post, especially consider Luke is going to be three in less than two weeks.  Oops...such a bad mommy, blogger, mommy-blogger!  Man, sometimes life just gets in the way of blogging.  But, I'd much rather be living life than just watching it pass me by, so if I have to "catch-up" on some blogs here and there (a lot more "here" recently, I will admit), that's fine with me.  This blog is more of a memory book for me anyway!  :)  So...I am going to back date this, so it falls into the time-line, appropriately!

So...on to Luke's 2nd birthday.  Of course it was a train party.  As is customary, we had a party at our house and invited all of the boys little friends, and several of mommy and daddy's too.  Because let's be honestly...at this age, the parties are really for Mommy and Daddy, right?  I don't think Lucas really even knew it was his birthday, except for the fact that we sat him in front of a cake and sang Happy Birthday to him.  :)

Lucas is super into trains right now, so the theme for the party was "Two-Two, All Aboard for a Happy Birthday!"  Again, I tortured myself and made the cake.  I know, I know...Wegman's does an awesome job, but I really do enjoy it.  OK, maybe I don't act like it while I'm making it, so I guess it's the satisfaction of how it turns out that I like.  ;)  Oh, and they do taste pretty yummy, too! 

Luke had a really great time with all of his little buddies.  The weather was fabulous (maybe even a little TOO hot - at least for early April), so all of the kids got to play outside and had a ball.

We opened presents inside and that of course was a hit for Lucas.  He was amazed that it was all his!  And of course, Big Brother was there to help him out.  ;)

 It was a wonderful celebration of the past two years we've spent loving and nurturing this special little blessing.  I can't imagine our lives without him.  Happy Birthday Little Buddy!!  We love you SO very much. 

Ka-Chow!!

As much as Tyler loves his trains, he love his cars, too! Maybe more, even. :) When the time came last year to pick a theme for his party, he wasn't really old enough to get it and be able to tell me what he wanted. He had yet to discover "Thomas" or "Lightning", but he was into cars and trains, so I chose a simple transportation theme that had a little of everything and made a cute little train cake for him.


This year however, it took him less than a nano-second to tell us he wanted a "Lightning McQueen" party. It's amazing what an opinion a little three year old can have!! I started asking about 6 weeks before his birthday and asked him several times through the course of a few weeks. Each time the answer was a resounding "Lightning" and once I even heard him say "M-o-m...I told you I wanted a McQueen party!" This year, he kept reminding me that he wanted a "race-car" cake. That was that and I got to planning. Of course I made the invitations and Daddy found some REALLY cool party decorations and supplies, that he ordered on-line. We are so lucky that he is such a gread Daddy!! He did a wonderful job.


I'm not sure who was more excited for the party...Tyler, or Mommy and Daddy?!? I had a lot of fun designing his invitation and Daddy did great with the supplies and decorations. It was fun to decorate the house with all the neat decorations. We started outside with cool flags lining the driveway
and continued inside with an awesome backdrop of a CARS scene,
and some balloons and banners.

Unfortunately, I failed to think of taking the photo before a few of our guests had to leave. :( I'm actually impressed with the success of this photo, considering there are seven, three-year old boys in this picture.
The day was perfect!! The weather was beautiful. (It can be kind of hit or miss in June...hot, humid, stormy, it's a toss up...but low 80 degree weather, with an ocean-like breeze, now that is nearly unheard of.) The party was a lot of fun, too. With the weather being so beautiful, the kids were very content to be outside playing in the moon bounce, on the jungle gym or with one of the handful of ride-on toys that we own. Turns out they came in very handy!!


I am so thankful that the weather was so beautiful, because I am not sure our house could have held up to the energy of 13 little kids. The three sweet little girls wouldn't have been a problem, but 10 boys, hmmm!!

We were inside for lunch (which turned out SO well...I decided to make brisket for the adults -- something I've never attempted before and my husband thought I might be a little crazy for taking this on. He is from Texas afterall...and a connoisseur of BBQ! Apparently it hit the spot for everyone, though...because there were not even a few straggling pieces left!! Darn it...I was REALLY hoping for leftovers for dinner. Guess I'll be making that again soon.) and made it through that without any major incidences,

but I did decide to return back outside for the eating of the cupcakes!! That was, maybe, the best idea of the day.

After burning off a little more energy (and sugar from those gobs of icing with cupcake), it was time for Tyler to finally open his gifts.

It was a struggle to convince him that we did not need to open every single gift right when he opened it, and to move on to the next gift. But eventually we made our way through them all. He got some really neat gifts, most of which we have already played with!!

I said before that three was hard for me, because my baby is growing so quickly and fastly. But this means that he is beginning to understand so much more and makes days like these so much fun!!

Memories...

How can it be possible that it was three years (and one day, to be technical) ago that we were spending out last night as soon-to-be-parents, chit-chatting (into the wee hours of the night when we should have been savoring our last night of uninterrupted sleep) about what the next day (our scheduled induction with Tyler) would hold and our expectations of parenthood?

I remember that night and the following day...days as if they were yesterday. (Some may question if this is really true, considering for the past three years, I have had a very good case of "mommy brain". But "mommy brain" doesn't seem to extend to the memories of one's children.) Nope...I can remember those days as clear as they could possibly be. Days filled with excitement, diapers, fears, lots of pictures, hopes, visits to visit Denny (our wonderful lactation consultant) dreams, more diapers and possibilities. Nights filled sleeping sitting up, to hold a tiny Tyler affected by acid-reflux. How is it possible that it has been three years since we became this absolutely wonderful and blessed journey of parenthood??

After an uneventful pregnancy and an easy labor (relatively speaking...as easy as labor can go, I mean), I have to admit that I was a little fearful of what bringing a baby home would be like. Well, those fears were completely unwarranted. Aside from acid reflux and some early nursing issues, we were SO blessed with a wonderful, easy going baby. Sleeping 6 straight hours the night we brought him home from the hospital (yes, I was blessed with sleeping babies...he is 3 and still gives me a good 2.5-3 hour nap daily!) and through the night by six weeks really helps a babies demeanor. He was always so happy and pleasant. He was such a joy that by 10 months we were talking about baby #2 and by the time he was 14 months old, Tyler was on his way to becoming a big brother!!

And while we have had our shares of ups (learning to walk and talk) and downs (learning the word "no" and numerous busted eyes, lips and noses) through the past three years, nothing has been more wonderful than watching Tyler grow! I thank God every day for the blessing of becoming parents (to both our wonderful little boys!).

So, here we are wishing Tyler a Happy 3rd Birthday today!?! The thought of three has been hard for me. Harder than two, or one even. One was bittersweet. Bitter for the fact that my baby was a whole year old (not four months or 11 months), but 1!! But, also fun for me, because it was amazing to watch him learn and grow. Two years old was very much the same. He was beginning to become a big boy, but if I looked closely enough, I could still see the baby in his face.

Now, at three years old...he's not a baby anymore. He's a little boy. No more diapers (and barely any more pull-ups), no more paci's, no more bottles (he does still have blanky, and I'll probably really lose it when he gives blankey up)...he even wants to drink out of "mommy and daddy" cups. I'm beginning to hear "No Mommy, I can do it" gradually replace the utterings of "Mommy, help me please". My little dependant baby, is becoming an independent little boy. And while it really is such a blessing to be able to watch him learn and grow, each new challenge met, means one step further from being my little baby.

While I sit here having many of the same thoughts of excitement, fear, hopes, dreams and possibilities for Tyler's future, my mind is now also filled with the memories of his past three years (and my eyes are filled with a few rather large teardrops, blurring my vision. I guess that means it's time to wrap up this walk down memory lane).

We love you Tyler, our little boy!! Happy Birthday.

Birthday Boy!!

I am still working on my post for the birthday boy, but for now, here's a cute picture of Tyler earlier in the week! Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!! We can't believe you are 3!!

Lucas 1st b-day Portraits

I wanted to do some unique/cute shots for his 1st b-day photos, so we attempted to take some shots in downtown DC while the Cherry Blossom trees were blooming. I also got some cute pics with his birthday hat. I do still want to do some more traditional looking ones, but I haven't had the time for them yet. Now that the birthday party and his baptism ceremony are over, maybe I can make these the next item I tackle. For now, here are the photos from the first two sessions.

The outdoor shoot was much harder than I thought it would be. Not only is it difficult to keep him contained, but the posing was REALLY hard. I think I picked the wrong time of day to use natural lighting, as most of the pictures have really harsh shadows. These are a few that weren't terrible!!

And these are the ones I took in his cute "Birthday Boy" bloomers/hat that I had made. Man is it hard to get a one year old to stand still. The first time I attempted these I was doing it by myself, which was IMPOSSIBLE. By the time I sat him down, turned around to get the camera and got it up to take the picture, he was half way across the room!! So, I tried a second time when Daddy was around to help pose/shoot! I did get a few decent shots, but still tough and frustrating.

These are a few of my favorites...all of the hard work is so worth it, when you get a shot like this!!

This is what I meant about it being so tough to get the shot. By the time I was ready to take the picture, he was nearly out of the shot!!

He was not happy with me. I kept trying to put the hat back on and he was letting me know that he was DONE with the darned hat!!

I still do want to try and get some more traditional looking portraits, in his birthday outfit, but I thought it might be a good idea to give him a break from the camera for a little while. Maybe then it will be easier to get some smiles out of him. And right now, he's not feeling the greatest, so the smiles are few and far between anyway.