Baby Mine

Friday, my baby boy turned 2.

Whew. I guess I should say that time has flown and I can't believe that he's that old but honestly, I must say that we have truly enjoyed everyday we've had with him. I feel like with Aly, I hurried through her stages; I guess I "grew her up" myself. I hurried Caroline through her baby stages because that seemed to be the best way to survive a fussy baby, new job, and two moves. But there is no "hurrying" with Jack. We all baby him, and, frankly, I think he enjoys being babied. He likes for ALL of us to come into his room and get him in the morning. And so we often all do. He likes for ALL of us to have glow parties with flashlights under the covers in our bedroom. He likes for us ALL to watch him shoot baskets on his hoop-- and he likes for us ALL to cheer for him! He loves to make us laugh and loves to laugh-along with our jokes. He absolutely adores "Abu" ("Aly Boo") and "Sis" (Caroline.) He practically comes out of his skin with excitement when he sees Chad, and is never happier than when he's in the presence of the basketball team or at the gym. He still has a complete fascination with trash, and is able to pick out even hidden garbage trucks and dumpsters around town. He likes to sit next to us when we read to him but is absolutely jealous if anyone else takes his position on my lap.

It's been a great 2 years of loving our always-and-forever Baby Boy!

Smile! It's your birthday!!

New Big-Boy seat

We hit all the different restaurants and celebrated at breakfast,

Lunch,

and Dinner

A Baseball tee, just in case the basketball scholarship falls through!

The plan was to celebrate Jack's birthday this past Sunday at home. But due to a funeral and the inability to move the party to another day, we ended up crashing the nearby McDonalds and enjoyed Happy Meals and cake. I must say, everyone had a great time and we came home to a clean house! Not too bad!

Jack's Thomas cake

Pint-sized Jack with his pint-sized buddies!

On the Eve of 2

He doesn't know it, but Jack is getting a booster seat for his birthday tomorrow, so that he can join us at the kitchen table. The high chair is being retired after 6 years of being part of our kitchen (3 different kitchens, actually). My last baby ate his last meal at this high chair tonight. To say that I'm feeling emotional about him growing up is a BIG understatement!

Birthday Girl

She's got the shortest name in the family, but the most nicknames. "Bug", "Little Girl", "Boogs", "Boogs Magee", "Als", "Aly Cat", "Aly-Cookie, "Aly-Boo", "Aggie", and "Abu".

And on Thursday, we celebrated her sixth birthday. She may be about sixteen on the inside, but she'll always be our little girl.

Birthday Breakfast at Panera

and snack at school

For her birthday, she asked that we make the trip to see Daddy's game on Thursday night. It was a tough game to go to, rather a mob-like atmosphere. At the conclusion of the game, Caroline was crying because she was scared of the crowd, Jack was crying because it was well-past bedtime, but the birthday girl was crying because the Hawks took their first loss to end their 22-game perfect season. It struck me how similar our little girl is to this famous face:

Truly Daddy's biggest fan.

Happy Birthday, Little Bug.

Fern and her friends

I think that one of the most fascinating things to watch as a mother is the different things that completely grab your kids' thoughts and imaginations. As I've mentioned before, The Nutcracker completely ruled our house for years, and still plays a big part in our day-to-day conversations. For the past 6 months or so, Aly's fascination has been completely taken by Charlotte's Web. She has drawn over 30 pictures of scenes from the book, has a beloved "Wilbur" stuffed pig, and of course, a "Charlotte" plastic spider. So of course, the theme of Aly's birthday party was easy this year. She dressed as "Fern", Caroline dressed as "Wilbur", we played some pig games and ate pig cake. All in all, a T-E-R-R-I-F-I-C time.

The Pig Cake

Aly's artwork, displayed

The Feeding Trough

Pin the Tail on the Pig (drawn by the birthday girl herself)

Fern

The Barnyard Friends

...And the Pinata...
I've promised the girls for a long time that they could each have a pinata when they turn 6, so at the end of the party, we went outside and broke a pig pinata. Here's where I should have used a little maternal foresight: we bought the pinata about 3 weeks ago, so Aly has had 3 weeks to make friends with it. As she watched friend-after-friend swing at her new friend, her face got more and more mortified. After one final swing by the birthday girl herself, Chad tore the remainder of the pig in half and shook the candy out. As the kids ran to get the candy, Aly ran into Chad's arms sobbing. Hmmm...a decapitated pig. I didn't think of that! Fortunately, a bag full of candy and a yard full of friends was enough to put the tragedy behind her. Maybe we'll choose a star or heart when Caroline turns 6!

Dance Recital-or-Bust

Our winter recital was two Saturdays ago. On the calendar it seemed perfect because it was one of about two Saturdays this season with no basketball game! It did, however, take place just 5 days after Caroline got her tonsils out. It was a tougher week-and-a-half than any of us had envisioned, but she was determined to make it to the dance recital. And make it she did. Costume on, make-up and hair ready, in the basement of the city audiorium. But the poor girl just couldn't make it on stage. She felt miserable and nothing could make her leave our side. So she enjoyed an evening of ballet on my lap. And sitting with my baby girl watching her beautiful sister dance, I couldn't have been happier.

The girls, pre-meltdown

Aly- Happy and healthy

Family Picture. Definitely time to go home!