Birthday Week

Birthday Week is always exciting at our house, with Casey, Andrew, and me all celebrating our big days within 5 days of each other. This year was extra exciting, as we were sure that we'd be adding another birthday during the same week. Sadly, we did not, but that's a story for another post.

Casey is first. He's 34 this year. We just had a little party at home for him, since for the 2nd year in a row I'm not really in the party planning mode. And for all of you who know Casey, you know how much it disappoints him to not have a big party with all our friends. Maybe next year.

The kids are always helpful with opening the presents.



The boys. They won't outnumber us for long!



Notice Willa's very concerned face -- I think she thought the cake was going to catch fire!



Andrew was next. He turned 7 this year. It's hard to believe he's getting so old! He's such a big kid now. He's in 1st grade and just has no time for little kid stuff. He loves playing Wii with Casey, reads like a 4th grader, hates doing homework, and regularly gets in trouble for staying up in bed reading or folding origami. Most of the time he gets along with his little brother and sister really well, and they light up when he gets home from school. Life is a lot more fun when Andrew is around!




Andrew is pretty mellow about things like parties, which is good because there is no way I was going to plan one this year! As long as he got to go to dinner and Friendly's and open all his presents he was good to go.




And have a blue cake, of course.




Incidentally, anytime we're in the kitchen this is what our little monster is up to: opening every cupboard and drawer, throwing things in the trash (and sometimes taking them out, which is always a fun surprise), dumping things down the air vents, and generally making a nuisance of himself. Gotta love the toddler stage.




Andrew got his first bike for his birthday this year. He's so big the training wheels we got didn't fit the bike, which is just as well because he didn't need them anyway. He learned to ride by himself in about 15 minutes flat and now wants to spend all his time outside on his bike.





Being the little sister Willa is of course jealous and wants a bike more than anything for her 5 year old birthday in June. She has to be out on her trike whenever he's on his bike.



I always close out birthday week. This year was pretty anti-climatic because I was sure that I'd have a baby this week. See my excitement when it didn't happen? And yes, I'm huge and I'm miserable. I did get a massage and pedicure that day, so it takes the sting out of it a little.



Happy birthday to us!

Christmas Pictures

Is February too late to post pictures from Christmas? Obviously not!

Christmas was great, as always. Willa woke up before everyone and snuck downstairs and checked out all the loot before the rest of us were up. When she finally came back up to tell us that Santa had come she was able to give us the full report about what each kid had gotten. Thankfully she didn't start opening presents without us.




Christian was busy checking everything out, but he had a hard time keeping up with the action. He kept crawling back to my lap for safety from the fray.










It was exhausting, but as always a great day!

1st Haircut

Now that he's reached the ripe old age of 1 we thought it was time for Christian to get his first haircut. (I'm so not talented that way so I don't give haircuts at home.)

Look at this mess of hair!



He was so good, he just sat patiently and let the hairdresser wet and comb and cut his hair. Not a single tear.



Of course the cartoons helped.



I hardly recognize him! He looks so big now.

Happy Birthday Christian!

It's hard to believe, but Christian is already 1 year old!



He is getting so big, and doing new things every day. He crawls, "cruises" around on everything he can pull up to standing on, has 4 teeth, and loves his camouflage blankie. He loves to follow his big brother and sister around, and especially imitates everything Andrew does. He's still a mama's boy but likes to make new friends. He isn't really saying any words yet (sometimes "mamamamama" for me, and the occasional "dada" so we think that's "daddy"), but he understands everything you say to him and makes his desires known by forceful grunts when he's not pleased and giggles when he is. He studies everything, and very quickly figures out how things work. We're so excited to have him in our family! (and he better start walking and talking quick because baby sister will be here soon...)

He didn't really get the hang of opening presents, even with all the practice at Christmas, but he had 2 helpers that were more than willing to jump in and lend a hand -- which, of course, may be why he didn't feel the need to rip open the presents.



His helpers also blew out his candle for him.



He didn't dig right in to his cake, just gingerly felt the top of the frosting and then looked around like, "Okay, what am I supposed to do now?" But as soon as he got one bite he was happy to keep 'em coming.





Andrew and Willa had to capture the moment with their cameras as well.



Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Snow!

It started to snow yesterday as Willa and I were going to school, and she exclaimed, "This is the best day of my life!" School let out 2 hours early, so they had plenty of time to play in the white stuff.

They had a lot of fun playing with the neighbor's dog.




The dog especially loved following Willa around, licking her and stealing her gloves.



Don't worry, I warned Andrew about yellow snow.



I was too mean to take Christian out with them. Mostly because carrying him around these days really does a number on my back. Poor kid.

Crawling

By popular demand, here are pictures of mobile Christian.

He pretty much has this look on his face whenever he's crawling. He is loving being mobile.



Andrew and Willa love it too, and they get so excited for the end of the day when homework is done and they can play with him.



Andrew is the greatest babysitter. I actually love the evenings when homework and school are finished too, so Andrew can take over and play with the baby until bedtime. And Christian just worships Andrew.




One of the downsides to his being mobile is this. Wherever I am, Christian finds me and starts climbing up my legs. What can I say, he's my little buddy.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a relaxed affair at our house this year. It was the first year in at least 4 years that we were on our own, without Brenda. Which means it was the first year in a while that I've had to do the cooking, hence the relaxed attitude. Oh yeah, it was also the 3rd year in a row that I've been pregnant for Thanksgiving, which is a little crazy. I'm looking forward to not being pregnant or having a baby on major holidays.

Andrew and Willa were fascinated with the turkey. I was a little afraid Willa was going to get her fingers chopped off while Casey was carving. She kept insisting that it wasn't a real turkey.




Andrew had his customary dinner of rolls and sweet potatoes. One of these years we'll get him to try the turkey!



At preschool Willa's class got to dress up as the pilgrims, while everyone else was the Indians. This was my 4th year at the preschool Thanksgiving feast, and I found myself getting a little nostalgic because it will be my last for a while.