Birthday Bash

What a fun day! It was a cold, overcast day, but we made the most of it...G&P McCoy and uncle "cabub" came for the day...I tried to get these pics in order, but didn't exactly go as planned...

Anyways, after eating some lunch at Arby's, we stopped by the local firehouse.
They were so nice! They let Rody climb all over those trucks and he even got to start the engine...I think he loved it!

Although he wasn't exactly thrilled over the fact that we let the firefighters hold him...

As you can see, he was wearing his birthday firetruck shirt...

Randy enjoyed it as well!

Start the firetruck

I love this photo...my littel firefighter

Opening some presents from Grandma and Papa...lots of firetruck things and Dora things...Dora books...which I've read no less than 20 times in two days

Anna Kate wasn't exactly thrilled with the festivities

More presents...and some of our neighbors cam by as well

Caleb enjoyed himself too...

Papa and Anna Kate

Blow out those candles!

A family picture...yes, Randy does have pigtails in his hair...more to come on his hair situation...

Hope you had a great birthday, Rody!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY RODY!

Oh, the tears...yes, my baby boy is 2 years old today! Time truly does fly...and I needed to remind myself of that yesterday taking him and AK to the doctor for the 2nd time this week by myself when he wouldn't listen to me for anything in the world (was that a run-on sentence?)...anyways, nothing that a good nights sleep cannot fix...I love you Rody!!!

I tried to upload these photos in chronological order, but did them backwards...oh, well...So, here Rody is in 6 month increments...in reverse chronological order (I'm trying to make sure your brain gets exercise today)...

Appr. 2 years old!

18 months

oh, my heart...1 year old! (look at those 2 front teeth...and he still didn't have much hair)

6 months...so squeezable

precious hours old

What are you up to these days?

-You can talk a LOT! You repeat anything we say and come up with new words everyday

-You like calling us by our names...every once in a while when I am not paying you attention, you'll pull out a "katie" on me...hilarious...sometimes you call me mama katie

-You love to be "funny"...are a jokster at heart

-You LOVE dora (or "ador" as you say it)

-You can count to 10 in English and to 5 in spanish

-You are recognizing some letters of the alphabet...you can repeat them all after me

-You still love oatmeal in the mornings

-A great sleeper you continue to be...bedtime about 9 or 9:30, wake up about 10 am and have a 2 hour nap from about 3-5pm

-You LOVE being outside

-You love other kids...it is a treat to go places with kids your own age

-You LOVE your sister...are so kind to her

-You still LOVE to read books (he loves a lot of things doesn't he??). Right now your favorite is the Little Engine that could--or how you call it "chackochoo"

-You are cutting your 2nd year molars as we speak...

You are SO much fun and SO loved!!!

Happy Birthday precious boy....

fat and happy: 6 weeks old

Anna Kate is now 6 weeks (and a couple of days) old! She is starting to smile and coo ever so more these days...it is fun to interact with her!

I just love her chubby cheeks!

Sweet baby girl

And here is an Easter preview...I got her this cute dress at Target for $7, bought some white tights that will last for a few months, and a cute cover sweater at the consignment shop for $2!

It was so fun to dress a little girl baby in a dress!

I don't have time or energy for many words tonight. So, below you will see pictures of us meeting Lily Cole (Rody and Anna Kate's cousin) for the first time....Lily and AK are just 17 days apart...

Stephanie with Anna Kate

Me with Lily

Anna Kate: 5 weeks old

We had such a fun time hanging out tonight with Anna Kate on our bed. She was happy, alert, and interactive for a solid 45 minutes...She was really responsive to Randy....and we tried to capture some pics of it while keeping Rody at bay too!

She 5 WEEKS old now! And is doing really well...During the last week or so her long stretches at night have become 8 hours (nice, I know)...with another 3 or so sleep stretch after that...we've been getting up around 9am and Rody still sleeps till 9:30 or 10....so that is when our day begins...

My attempt at trying to get one of her first smiles

One of my favorite pictures of her so far...I love the look in her eyes

She was napping on our bed this afternoon and I just loved her little feet sticking out of her blanket

differences

low maintenance and peaceful

sleepy and beautiful
tiny

high maintenance and exhausting

fun and crazy

daring and silly

messy

sweet

what a difference 22 months makes!

kids

I LOVE My Kids!

Books

Rody makes us laugh everyday. He is jokster at heart...a fun loving, lovable little man...and I wish I could tell you what prompted this picture. But I really can't. It is too awkward, embarassing, or some other adjective. But, if you guessed it, then I might reveal. And, Molly, if you are reading this, then you probably have a clue, but remember secrets between sisters are just that...secrets...ahem..

Our almost two year old LOVES to read books...loves, loves, loves them...so much so that he took all the books off his bookshelf and surrounded himself in books and read to himself for about an hour last night...
This is the face I got after asking "Rody, what are you doing??!!"

Well, apparantly just reading a book

His favorites change every so often. Right now he is hooked on "Piggy Wiggy"...which is so cute when he actually says those words and "The three little bears"....He loves to say "Papa bear"...