Birthdays are AWESOME!!!

December 8 our Willybird turned 2! He is so grown up now, I just can't believe it. He loves Yo Gabba Gabba so his party was all Gabba themed. I didn't know this going into it but nearly all the Yo Gabba Gabba stuff has to be bought online. Since I am such a good mom, I started planning this one early enough that I actually had time to order party stuff online and get it shipped without having to pay for expedited delivery. And thanks to black Friday I got it on super sale with free shipping.

Thank you Pinterest for the Muno-inspired chocolate dipped pretzels--they were a hit with the kiddies, and delicious too.

Grammy made him a fabulously scrumptious DJ Lance Rock fluffy orange hat cake.

What Gabba party would be complete without Gabba land?? I thought I was buying a Yo Gabba Gabba book for Will on Amazon, but when it arrived it was really this fold out-paper doll play set thing. Not super fun for a 2 year old but made for cute counter top decorations for the party. Luke has enjoyed playing with it.

Luke spun Gabba tunes all afternoon in the play room and showed off some sweet moves.

Will was a fabulous host and welcomed all his friends with big hugs!

He blew out both his candles like a champ.

Grammy made some cupcakes too per special Willy request. Will ate his one sprinkle at a time in true Willy fashion.

 Playing in his Gabba tent filled with balloons! I am still finding balloons all over the house.

The kids played pin-the-eye-on-Muno.

A couple of cute DJ Lances at the exclusive after party.

 It was a fun party and we were so grateful to the friends and family who helped us celebrate. Fitting in one more event in the already busy month of December is no small feat! We had all been at cousing Maya's party the day before so it really was a weekend of birthdays for our families. Next year we are going to try to plan consecutive parties for the two. Hmmm. We'll see if we can be organized enough to pull that one together.

20 facts about Will at 2:
1. Loves cereal. Eats bowls and bowls of it. Probably at least 4 bowls a day. His favorite are Froot Loops, Chocolate Cheerios, and Honey Nut Chex.
2. Loves to jump. On things. Off things. Just jump around. The kid has got so much energy to burn.
3. Favorite TV shows are Yo Gabba Gabba and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Still has a little soft spot for some Baby Einstein though. (Seriously, do kids ever outgrow Baby E??? Even Luke enjoys one every now and then.)
4. Not so much into wearing clothing. Really likes to show off his undressing skills in public places.
5. Temper. Temper. Temper. Stand back.
6. Bangs his head on things when he is really upset. Not just things, he specifically finds hard things. Shelves, tables, wall, ceramic tile. He will get up and walk over to the tile just to bang his head on it.
7.  Wants to be just like his big brother when he grows up. (And this drives Luke bananas.)
8.  Favorite CD is Mama Mia. He can't help but dance when its on.
9.  Gives some pretty sweet snuggles when he needs some love. 
10.  Knows a billion words. Speaks in sentences. Says "Awesome" on a daily basis (which makes me laugh).
11.  Knows all his capital letters, some of his lowercase letters, and numbers 0-10. Can sing most of the ABC song by himself.
12.  Loves to be read to. Current favorite books are Knuffle Bunny, anything Llama Llama, Dr. Seuss ABC's, and Berenstein Bears Clean House.
13.  Charmingly crooked teeth and cross bite create a cutie-pie smile but mommy and daddy forsee a lifetime of orthodontic bills.
14.  Will never turn down ham. Loves the stuff.
15.  Loves dogs, all sizes.
16.  Loves going to "school" and likes the idea of wearing a backpack. Once its on though he rethinks the decision and would really prefer if someone else would carry it.
17.  He needs a haircut. I can't stand when the hair falls over their collar. I'm sure when they are teenagers, my boys will make up for all the short cuts I keep them in now.
18.  He loves to put on a show when he is supposed to be sleeping. He has come up with all sorts of acrobatic tricks to "fall" (read flip, slip, jump, skip, etc) out of bed at bedtime--over the toddler rail of course.
19.  Watching him do somersaults is hilarious. I had him in tumbling once but it's mommy & me classes and he wears me out.  He can't go by himself until he is three.
20.  He is the funniest, sweetest, most energetic, smartest two year old I know and I wouldn't change him for the world.!

Thanksgiving--better late than never

Maybe I kept putting off posting about this because it was such a crazy day. . .

It started off well-ish. Um, I think that might be an overstatement.

We all got up early to run the Fort Worth Turkey Trot--a family tradition. It was bitterly cold and bitterly windy as a front moved in during the morning. We tried to load up quickly, but, Luke made the unfortunate decision to unlatch Will's car seat from the car. If you have never tried to install a car seat into a car that is not LATCH (that is an acronym for some sort of safety feature) equipped, let me just tell you it is a major PAIN.

We started out almost fifteen minutes ahead of schedule but it took us nearly fifteen minutes to get the darn thing back in. Grrrr.

We brushed off our feelings of frustration quickly and got the boys excited for the trot.

The wind was getting colder and colder. Will was bundled in the traditional reindeer suit. Breakfast was served in the strollers, and we started making a bee-line for the starting line.  Everyone was still happy. . .

. . . until we actually crossed the starting line. Once we made the trek to the starting area (a good trek because we were late and had to park far away) and actually started the 5K, Will got very upset. I don't know what it was--perhaps he was cold, perhaps he was tired, maybe he just doesn't like turkeys. We tried to push on for a little thinking he would settle down, but he didn't. The more attention Will got, the more attention Luke wanted, so, whatever Will did that scored attention, Luke copied it.  That means, that Will screaming loud = Luke screaming loud, Will throwing cup/cheerios/mittens = Luke throwing cup/cheerios/mittens. At one point I got Will out of his stroller to carry him thinking it would settle him. It didn't, and then Luke wanted out of his. We said no to Luke which caused him to pitch a fit and fight to get out to the point that he was basically standing on the ground while still strapped into the stroller.

So we bailed--or at least tried to. We got off the course thinking we could shortcut it back to our car and get the he!! out of there, but as it turns out, we made it to the furthest possible point on the route. We ended up walking parallel to the actual course for most of the trek. When the race route crossed ours, we just joined up and hightailed it to the end. Once I had realized that carrying Will made no difference in the screaming, I just plopped him back in the stroller and ran. It actually was a little to my advantage as the wailing worked like a siren and parted the sea of turkey trotters.

Gene and I got split up at this point, but at the end I found my sister--who was split up from her hubby as well. Kim, Will, and I headed back to our car. When we got there Gene and Luke had already made it and were waiting on us.  We located Kim's hubby and got them back together and then drove home. Will passed out the minute the car started moving and slept all the way home and then continued to sleep until we got him up to go to my parents house for lunch.

By lunchtime he was all smiles.

Will loving on cousin Zoe.

And scamming Aunt Kim out of her pumpkin pie.

The afternoon was a big improvement over the morning--but really, that wasn't too hard to accomplish.

The next weekend we celebrated with some of Gene's family.  It was a beautiful day and the boys spent much of the day outside. Will, again loving on a cousin, and getting to go for a swing ride. Luke had fun raking up the leaves and jumping in the pile.

Cousin Alecia joined in for some leafy fun.

A few days later, I took some cutie pie pictures of Will in our backyard while Luke was throwing a temper tantrum inside. Whoever said two's are bad never made it to three. Soon he will be four, we are starting to see the light already.

The Food Frontier

It's been a while since I did a good update on Will. To sum it up--he's a maniac. He has earned himself the nickname "Will-da-beast." He still doesn't sleep great at night and now has decided that naps aren't really his style either. He really spends so much time working on his gross motor skills, how can you expect him to find the time to sleep? The kid wears my butt out! He is seven months old today and has completed the following tasks:

rolling both ways

sitting up unsupported

army crawl

regular crawl

super fast get-to-something-forbidden crawl

can get from laying to sitting

pull up on furniture/toys/crib rail

walk along furniture/toys/crib rail

can stand unsupported for 5-10 seconds

has taken his first steps

I really think his motor development is ahead of his age. What else should a baby be doing at midnight other than learning?

Over the last six weeks we have integrated cereal and baby foods into his life. He is not quite the starving baby Luke seemed to have been, but he is enjoying most of his food. The first couple of nights I just fed him in his bumbo chair because I hadn't yet brought the highchair in, but he seemed to enjoy it just the same.

Luke was initially fascinated with feeding Will and even took a few swipes with the spoon. Here he is being silly and trying on a bib. (Yes, he is in a polo shirt and underroos, because that is how he rolls.)

Okay. Enough with the happy baby in the high chair pics. I just wanted to show you the "before's". . .

Before. . .

PEAS!

I wasn't initially taking pictures this day, but the faces he was making were hilarious. This was the first day I fed him peas. He likes them better now. There's a bunch of pictures but they still crack me up every time I look at them. I only wish they had sounds with them.

I love the foot in the air here.

Such drama!

Quack, Oink, Moo, Luke is Two!

Today was Luke's second birthday party, even though his real birthday isn't until next week. The weather was perfect and it was so much fun! Luke is very into farm animals right now and asks for his "farm tv" (Baby Einstein's Baby MacDonald) almost every day. In one swift move by super mom (with help from super dad) we transformed this place into Luke's own personal farm, well, as close as we could get it without going broke or springing for real animals. Heck, we didn't even spring for real hay. Anyway, I think everyone had a good time, I know Luke did.

At the beginning of the month, I whipped out these little invitations:

The barn doors opened to read "Oink, Oink, Moo Moo! Luke M*** is turning two. Join us in cowtown for the celebration!"

Just a few short weeks later it was party time. Our little man woke up ready to party today. Grandma Juli was here which made things extra special. Luke LOVES his Juli. When Juli is here, Luke's world IS Juli. Here he is getting in party mode early.

Mama made some pretty realistic decorations. Luke tried to sit on each animal--somehow though, none of the animals would have it. (Sadie made sure I knew that those animals weren't real.)

Cousin Zoe, whom Luke talks about almost every day, poses sweetly in her cowgirl hat. He says it "Zohhhh-Eeeeeeeee.

I was a little nervous about games. Last year we didn't do any games/activities, but this year I felt like we should. I was nervous about getting the kids interested, but I learned all you need is Sadie or Madie. Get one of those two going, and everyone wants to see whats going on. Make sure they are on your invite list if you need a hoppin' party. Sadie helped Luke and little bro Connor at the henhouse. Each nest was full of eggs and you had to find the eggs with your sticker on it. All the eggs had a prize inside, candy, stickers, super balls, etc. She was really good at finding the matching stickers, and her favorites were eggs that had candy inside.

Cousin Maya was riding this horse like she was in a rodeo! I see some barrell racing in her future.

One attempt at getting a family picture. Do you know how hard it is to get a two year old to stand still?

I truly believe that Luke's favorite element of any party is the food. The fact that our parties are generally buffet style, and almost always have chips, is like Disneyland to him. Not only did he eat the fruit and crackers out at the beginning, but once lunch was served, Luke & Maya split two plates. Then Luke proceeded to eat all the fruit dip off Juli's plate before just taking it away and polishing it off. I got him a second plate which he was hard into when I realized the party was nearing its end and we had yet to open presesnts or cut cake. I had to take his plate away to open presesnts. What other kid do you have to take the food away from to get them to open presents? If you remember from last year, this is pretty much the same food story.


Luke opened his presents slowly. As like Christmas, Luke takes the time to enjoy each gift as he opens. It was a little hard to take away his new toys and "force" him to open another one. He has really enjoyed getting to know his toys after the party.

Then it was time for cake. . .

MMMMMmmmmmm! Creative Memories Bakery provided us our delicious (and cute) cake!

We've been practicing singing the Happy Birthday song and blowing out candles so Luke thought it was great.

A second attempt at family photo.

Luke enjoying his cake.

Sadly, the party, and the all-you-can-eat buffet, had to end. Luke with his Great-Grandparents who had driven a long way to celebrate with us. It was wonderful to have them here.

Luke helped Aunt Kim get ready to leave. They tied on their cowboy hats together.

The party's never over until we have a silly picture of daddy.

Haha! I didn't make you suffer through any compare Luke now with Luke last year. But if you enjoy it, you can check out our birthday post from last year by clicking here.