MORE CAKE!

Today was my real birthday.

You know what that means?

MORE CAKE!

I even got to blow out the candles one more time.

After a rousing song of "Happy Bird-day to me,"
Dad helped me blow them out.

Can you believe I'm already 2???

My 2nd Birthday Party!

My second birthday party was today.

It was WAY fun!

There were balloons and presents and candles and CAKE!!!

I LOVE CAKE!
Check out my birthday cake. I got to pick what kind of cake I would have, and I chose a train cake. A THOMAS train cake.

Amber made it for me.

Here is the other cake. For those who don't want all the icing.

All my favorite people were there.

Grandma P and Papa Kim, Aunt Mandy, Ashley, cousin Tim, Mikayla,

Papa Mike...

Uncle Pat, Aunt Kathy, Great Grandpa and Grandma Sweeney...

Amber (and Mike), Brad...

Austin, Uncle Adam, Grandma J, and Aunt Michelle.

After some dinner (my favorites--pizza and cheese dip with chips),

it was time for presents!

I REALLY liked the cards that played music!!!

They were almost as good as the gifts!

I got this really great train set from Grandma J and Papa Mike. Michelle and Adam thought it was so great, I actually got 2 of them!

There was even a working "ding-ding" train sign!

Aunt Mandy gave me the world's largest bag FILLED with Crayola stuff...

I almost got lost in the bag! There were markers, paints, chalk, coloring books...lots of stuff!

Mom and Dad got me this great stool for brushing my teeth!

Then, it was time for CAKE!!!

Mom helped me blow out the candles.

Then, it was time to dig in!

I used my fork the whole time, but I still managed to get icing everywhere.

The cake was so good, I didn't even notice everyone had left!

Grandma and Papa stuck around and helped me put together my train set.
It was waaaay cool!

Thanks everybody!!!

Hiding from the bath

It's not that I don't want to get in the bath.

It's that I love to play Hide-and-Seek.

This is a new part to my bedtime routine.

We come upstairs and I immediately dart off into Mom and Dad's room.

Tonight, I was buried in the closet.

Then, once they get all my clothes off, I run off again to my favorite spot...

under the desk.

Found me!

Christmas lights

Today, Dad put up Christmas lights on the house.

I was really excited to help.

They even let me climb the ladder.

I tried to go higher than Dad really wanted me to.

They look AWESOME!

Great job, Dad!

Turkey Day!

For Thanksgiving, we drove to Mom's aunt Peggy's house for dinner.

I got to hang out with all my second cousins!

Here is Papa Mike and cousins Aaron and Rachel.

And here's Grandma with Aunts Peggy and Carol.

I did a lot of playing with Jake and Chelsea.

We played with my trains, read some books, played the piano...

Mom and Dad actually got to have some adult conversation!

Taking a dessert break with Chelsea

Later in the evening, we all gathered in the living room.

I dazzled my audience with a song on this horn from Australia.

Then I tinkled the ivories with Papa.

It was a great time.

I can't wait to see everyone again at Christmas!

Cookies with Grandma take 2

Grandma came over early this morning to make Turkey cookies for Thanksgiving.

Things started off better than last time with icing actually going on the cookies before it went in my mouth.

But then I got a taste of the mini M&M's that were suppose to be for the turkeys' eyes...

...then it turned into a lot of eating.

They still turned out great!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful for Friends

Mom and Dad had the whole gang over tonight for a Thanksgiving dinner.

I was really excited about the whole thing.

We mostly ate and just hung out.

Shane, me, Mike, and Daddy here.

Allen, Andrea, Kelly, and Brad over in the kitchen.

And Molly and Joel.

Ashley and Amber were over too, but apparently not in a picture.

We may have been in the other room dancing.

You know how I love to dance.

And my friend Zack came over with his dad Mike for a few beers.

(Ok, there's no beer in there, but it's a pretty good picture!)

Jackism

From Mom...

A few days ago, Grandma Phyllis was really excited about a name that "came to her on a walk." The name was Hamilton, and she was just sure that it meant something since it came out of the clear blue. It had not been on our name list.

Not long after that, Aaron, Jack and I were sitting around dinner discussing what we should name our newest member. We suggested names like "Bob," "Joe," "Willy," and "Bart" followed by a "no" but without so much as a giggle from Jack.

However, when we got to Grandma's suggestions, the conversation changed. We asked if we should name the baby "Hamilton." Jack froze in his chair, looked at me, threw back his head and laughed like a maniac, then stopped and shouted "NO!" with a grin on his face. Aaron and I laughed so hard, it made Jack laugh even more.

So just as we called Jack "Curly" before he was born, we now call the baby "Hamilton," or "Ham" as Jack likes to nickname him.

But no, this is not my youngest son's name. We'll keep you posted on that.

Having a little...

Mom has been feeling pretty good lately. The baby has been growing too. I've noticed Mom's lap is getting a bit smaller.

Well, Mom and Dad went to the doctor back at the end of October and got a surprise ultrasound (Mama's doctor is really nice).

Here's baby, growing right along (now 15 weeks in this picture).

They got another surprise too...

I'm going to have a BROTHER!

Pretty cool.

Here's his tiny foot.

Well, we didn't tell everyone right away, because the "big ultrasound" where we find out if it is a boy or a girl wasn't suppose to be until today.

Because Mom is a baby doctor and knows waaaaaay too much about bad things that can happen to babies, we went for a Level II ultrasound to check out all of brother's parts.

Here he is now at 19 weeks. Getting big! 8 ounces!

The great news is that everything looked perfect--brain, heart, lungs, belly, kidneys...

And he's definitely still a boy.

Here's my baby brother, grabbing himself.

(it's 2 legs running left to right and the little dots between are his knuckles around his "boys")

Aww, just like his big brother.

Can't wait to meet him!

Snuggling with Mama

Preschool has been a LOT of fun. I really like Miss Rebecca, my new friends, Circle Time, sleeping on my own cot, and playing at recess.

But I don't like all the sick time that has come with it.

It only makes you stronger, right?

I still need to just snuggle with Mama some times.

That makes all the sniffles and coughing and throwing-up better.

Jackism

No good pictures this weekend, but did do some fun things--play with the neighbors, go for a hike, and go out to breakfast. No only did Jack learn the words "Bob Evans" but this is how the conversation convincing him to go somewhere new went...

Mom: Do you want to go to Bob Evans?

Jack: No.

Mom: But they have eggs and bacon and pancakes.

Jack: How about that.

No joke. Mom and Dad laughed until we were in tears.

The Fort

After dinner, out of the blue, I had this great idea to build a fort.

Check it out!!!

What a great place to sit and read books with Dad!