Counting Sheep.....

Three going on Thirteen??

From this......

...To this

Sweet Dreams!

She slept like a 'baby' the first night. Said she had dreams of 'Mimi and Papi'. Went to school in the morning and ran in the room yelling to her teacher 'ME sleep in a Big Boy Bed! Me no sleep in a crib!' Please keep in mind she hasn't been sleeping in a crib for almost a year. Day 2- wanted to read some books in her new bed after lunch and was asleep in less than 5 minutes (Que choir singing 'Hallelujah here). So far, so good..... minus the tears of Mama watching her baby grow up WAY too fast.

Our Boy is Tttttttwooooo???!!!

So we didn't have a big bash this year. Nope. No big 'to do' celebration with a million friends that took months to prepare. Instead- we reveled in our Mikey for a week and had a few 'mini' celebrations. First, on the Saturday before his birthday, we gave him his birthday present. When he woke up from his nap, he came into the play room and saw a new TRAIN SET all set up! Big hit (for Mikey and for Daddy!) Then on Sunday, we had a family dinner of spaghetti and meatballs (per request!) and it lucked out that it was on 'snow day' so the Moody's were here too. We had a 'Meey Mouse' (Mickey Mouse) cake (definitely per request!) and ice cream and some 'boons' (balloons). It was perfect. On his actual birthday (a Tuesday) we spent the day doing really nothing but when I let him wear a Birthday Button that announced that he was '2' so when we went to run our normal errands like the grocery store and such, he was given even more attention than the normal 'look at that cute red-head!'. It was 'Oh-- look at that cute 2-year-old red-head! Let's sing Happy Birthday to him!'. The next day Mikey had Mom's Morning Out 'school and I let Mikey take some mini-cupcakes to class with him at school so I'm sure he got the full birthday treatment there (not quite enough this week, right?!). On Thursday after Daddy got home from work we surprised him with a pile of birthday presents that he got to unwrap! I think the favorite of that pile was Spiderman-- that's right. Real, life Spidey. So far he has gone everywhere with us so I think he's Mikey's new BFF (next to Kaitlyn, of course). I think that will do it for the birthday celebrations for our birthday boy. It's safe to say he's officially 2 now!

Mikey had his 2 year old check up and did great. He's actually lost a bit of weight since his last visit but the Doctor thinks that's because he's so active what with his swimming and everything. He eats all day (taking after his cousin Ryan: 'Need another snack!') but he's right on track and doing great. She was thrilled that he's wearing Big Boy Pants and doing so good with them (knock on wood)! Both the nurse and doctor were both in awe when they saw him wearing underwear. The nurse told us to get down to a diaper and Mikey plainly told her 'NO! Big Boy!!!' and laughed! The nurse got it immediately and looked at him and said 'No way!! Are you wearing big boy pants? Let me see!' 

He really is doing a great job talking--- almost too good. He is such a funny boy and really tries to make people laugh. I really think we have a class clown on our hands. Ruh Roh. There is nothing in the world better than his belly laugh. He loves trucks, dirt, now Spiderman!, and high heels and princess dress up with his sister. I like that he has a well-rounded personality! For example: today he really wanted to wear his cowboy boots when we went to a play date to a library in uptown Charlotte. He looked so cute and 'manly'.  While we were there for story time, he was enjoying himself so much he decided to really get comfortable and took off his shoes and socks.....which revealed his 2 pink toenails. See? Well-rounded!

Mikey can jump with both feet off of the ground and LOVES balls of all kinds, but especially footballs. He loves to go down the slide go for walks. Have a mentioned what a champ he is in the pool?! 

And my cherry on top... he is truly my love bug. Mikey loves to give me a good cuddle. He gives the best 'mooks' (smooches) and will blow a kiss. He often asks for hugs and to be carried and he likes to have his back scratched just right, and of course he still loves that 'Puppy'. I'm glad that when he's being a rough and tumble, dirty boy I can always remember this tender side to my baby! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Swim Like A Fish

*** I'm trying to catch up on some posts so I've added a few. If you'd like to see them, you may need to go back a few pages****

I'm SO, SO, SO proud of my little fish! Mikey has advanced to the next level in swim class! He was even asked to do a demo a couple of weeks ago to show prospective students how awesome he is! He was diving in the water like a baby Greg Louganis (wow- did that just show my age?!).
Kaitlyn made such an improvement toward the end of this session I can't even begin to explain. Her teacher, Ms. Gigi, is a miracle worker and I also owe a super special thank you to our Guardian Angels Auntie Pat and Uncle Joe... again! Auntie Pat stepped up volunteered her time and came to a class with us and I think that was a turning point for Kaitlyn. She blessed her with her special 'Auntie Pat Magic' and now she is just a super star in the water. She is really trying hard and doing her best. I'm very proud of her.
Can't wait to see what the next session brings us (besides further in debt, of course.. ha.ha.)

White stuff

So the other day it got REALLY cold outside. We were all bundled up and were about to settle in for an early evening in the movie room when I looked outside and something weird was happening. The sky was grey and then all of a sudden it all turned white. I mean ALL turned white. Kaitlyn ran downstairs and said 'Momma! Look!!' She was already in her pajamas so we just put rain boots on her and her big coat on let her go outside. Mikey went outside to check it out too, but he was NOT as big a fan as Kaitlyn was (yeah Mikey- Mama's boy!!) He lasted about 45 seconds, started crying and wanted back in. He said 'Rainy, Winnny' (Windy) and that was the end of that. He sat on my lap and watched Kaitlyn act a fool out of the windows from then on. Aunt Cara called a little while later and asked if they (Cara, Gary, Emma, Madison and Zane) could drive up and spend the night to play with us in the morning!! What FUN!
The next morning we had a fair amount of snow to play in and it was a sunny day. We actually dressed the kids appropriately (ok, maybe Mikey was a little OVERdressed-- ever see 'A Christmas Story'?). Kaitlyn had a great time and it reminded me why I really do like Carolina snow. One day of snow and then the sun comes out so you can play in it and enjoy it in warm weather and dare I say- short sleeves?! And then it's gone the next. PERFECT!

PJ's, Coat and Rain Boots!

Our South Carolina snowman!

.....And Mikey's OUT!

Snowman?!?

Mikey's all set for his inch and half of snow

Emma and Madison playing with Frosty

Who needs shoes? Not Zane!

First Snow Angel!!!

Nailed it!

Valentine Love

To really hit home how slack I've been so far this year, I forgot to take pictures of the kids while they were making their class Valentine treats for their friends and teachers (Mikey made 2 different kinds of  chocolate dipped (red and pink tinted chocolate) marshmallows covered in sprinkles and Kaitlyn make heart shaped rice crispy treats also dipped in red and pink chocolate and sprinkles). For teacher gifts, we framed pictures of Kaitlyn and Mikey... pretty cute, but you're going to have to take my word for it since we worked hard on them for 2 whole afternoons and had plenty of opportunities to take pictures and show you (especially the kids covered in chocolate, marshmallows and sprinkles!). OH WELL.
We also had a Valentine play date and craft at our house where we had a bunch of friends come to our house and make valentine hats out of paper plates and we had plenty of fun snacks and cookies and even Love Potion #9. Another perfect opportunity to take lots of fun pictures with our friends to show our LOVE! WHOOPS!! It was a fun time.... I promise!
Kaitlyn and Mikey had a Valentine party at school and were very excited about it. They told me that they had a great time at class and when they got home I did, let Kaitlyn and Mikey (for the first time) open and partake in SOME of their Valentine loot that they got from their school friends at their class party. I was able to capture some of this fun:

Eligible Bachelor and Lovely Lady ready for school!

Heart hair for Valentines!

What chocolate?!

Auntie Kelli made and sent an AWESOME hair bow for Valentines day- doesn't it look great?!!!!

Some of the aftermath of our fun play date!

TADA!!! We had so much fun!