Birthday Boys

On May 16th, we had a joint birthday party for Aiden and Evan. Aiden has been talking about his birthday party since we threw Isla's in January! He's literally been talking about it for months and has been looking forward to this day. I really struggled on how to handle the party(s) this year. I knew Aiden was so excited and I kind of wanted him to have his own and with Evan turning one I also wanted him to have his own but then that meant I was asking our family to come two separate weekends and on and on and on! Then, Josh ended up having to travel to Maine for two consecutive weeks so it really made the decision for us to have a joint party. SO. We moved forward with our hot wheel party complete with t-shirts and hot wheel themed cakes. Cakes made by non other than Grandma Downing. It's so special that she continues to make cakes for birthdays :) We kept it simple with family and some close friends. All Aiden could talk about was his "friends" coming for his party and he really enjoyed playing with everyone.

Last year we could barely get Aiden to participate and this year he was more than willing! He tore through his presents and was happy to be sang to. In fact, I don't know who got him what because he ripped through them so fast!

Evan wasn't too interested in opening presents. He wanted to go play with the big kids. He LOVED the cake that I made just for him and he seemed to enjoy the day as well.

Happy Birthday to my little(big) guys!

Five Little Monkeys~Studio 320 Dance Recital 2015

On April 26th, Isla performed in her 2nd dance recital with Studio 320! She LOVES dance and she did such a good job. It's such a proud moment to see her perform the routine she's been working on for months. This year they danced to "Five Little Monkey's" and her teacher was Ms. Sheila. 

The interesting thing about the Studio is that the owner actually grew up in this house. Isla has the same bedroom she did and there is a little area in the unfinished portion of the basement that has mirrors and flooring just to practice dancing, It's such a small world sometimes! Ms. Sheila really worked the kids hard this year and it's so awesome to see the kids progress. It's amazing how far a cartwheel can come in 9 months! Isla was devastated when it was over because they take a break over the summer. She has asked us to do two classes next year so I think we may have a dancer on our hands!

After the big show

 Her supporting and enthusiastic brothers! I say that now because it's just a matter of time before they are begging us not to go to the recital ;) 

Evan---- 11 Months

At 11 months old Evan has conquered a major milestone, he can walk! He can also say "please" and he waves at cars and sometimes people. He sleeps really well now and he is working on getting rid of his morning naps. He has one bottle in the morning and one before bed. He is so HAPPY! He just loves to walk around and play with toys. Although, his favorite place to escape to is the bathroom....... It's like wrestling a bear when you change his diaper or clothes but he's not afraid to bust a move when the music from Madagascar starts playing! He can give kisses, loves to play peek-a-boo but most of all LOVES to be chased by Daddy. I think he looks forward to josh coming home every day so they can play. It's very sweet to watch.The hair, oh the hair! Let's just say he wears a comb-over well :) We love love love this little man and can't believe we will soon be celebrating his first birthday!

It's blurry but there he is! Big smile and all :)

Goofball!

 Sweet baby kisses 

Easter Weekend

This past weekend we celebrated Easter! On Saturday the Josh and Aiden got their hair cut at a little barber shop in town. I tool Aiden there about a month ago and he was super excited to take Josh to "his" haircut place :) That afternoon we went to celebrate Morley's 3rd birthday complete with princesses and jumping on the little trampoline. After the party we decided to brave it and eat out at Texas Roadhouse! You never know what's going to happen when eating out with 3 children but it was a very enjoyable meal with lots of laughs! Aiden did choke on a peanut and it was terrifying but I handled the situation and he was OK! The kids and Josh were dancing to the music after we ate and it was so heartwarming to watch everyone having a good time.

When we got home we dyed Easter eggs and did baths and then off to bed for the kids! The Easter bunny came and delivered some fun stuff in their baskets and hid the eggs. On Sunday morning we actually had enough time to find the eggs, dig through the baskets, get dressed and make it to church by 9am!

After church we headed to Oak Grove to have dinner and spend time with my family. The kids of course got more treats! Nana makes a mean ham and maybe put a little too much rum in the tiramasu but everything was delicious! We played outside and had another egg hunt where the kids found some money and of course......more treats :) Even Evan had some eggs with puffs and yogurt melts.

It was a wonderful weekend and we are always happy to have a happy weekend!

Evan~10 Months!

I swear he has the same expression in all of his 'monthly' photos but they still make me smile! And maybe soon I will get to post more than just his monthly updates. I apologize for that! Evan is such a happy little guy and he has become so vocal. He cruises around the house on the walls and tables and has lots of bumps and bruises to prove it. We have been able to open the sun/play room up now that it's nicer and he really enjoys roaming around out there playing with toys and looking out the windows. He loves to be outside but its a challenging age right now because he isn't sure about the grass/ground but he doesn't want to swing the whole time. He eats like a champ and is now only doing two bottles a day. He is sleeping well and rarely waking up in the night now which is lovely. He loves to play peek-a-boo with anyone who will and he LOVES it when Josh chases him around. He really thinks he's getting somewhere and it's cute to watch. It's hard to believe it's about time to plan a big birthday party for my little guys who are growing up way too fast! Until next time :)

Evan William~9 Months

As I sit here writing this, Evan is sitting in his high chair chomping away on his waffle, drinking some water from his sippy and all covered in snot. He has accomplished so much in the last month of his life. Evan has 8 teeth you can see and he is full of smiles so you can see them all of the time. He weighs 23.5 pounds. Evan likes to eat real food. About a month and a half ago he screamed the entire time I tried to feed him baby cereal and as soon as I gave him some toast he was completely happy. And when I say he eats, I mean he EATS! He will eat more than the other two kids combined and to this day he has not willingly stopped eating, I just stop feeding him once he eats a normal portion of food! He is on the go all of the time and he's quick! Take your eyes away for a minute and he is down the hallway and usually headed to the bathroom for some reason. He can crawl the right way now. No more army crawling for this guy. He is pulling up on anything that seems to be sturdy and he cruises around the house upright as far as he can before crawling the rest of the way. He babbles a lot and tries to imitate what you say. I usually point to his toes and call them toe-toes and he tries to say the same thing which is precious. He can also say the "ba" sound and then "dada" and "mama". I don't think he is quite there as far as knowing who is who but it's a start. He is such a happy baby and he really only gets mad when he wants to run around with the big kids and cant or when he's tired. He is doing so much better sleeping now and only occasionally wakes up in the night. Only 3 more months and my baby will be a big boy!

Valentine's Day Weekend

Well this Valentine's day was much more exciting than last years. Simply for the fact that everyone was healthy :) Isla had her Valentine's party on Friday and they had quite a few little activities set up and of course lots of treats. It's always been so nice with her preschool parties because they always include the younger siblings and they get to participate too. That always makes it much easier than trying to keep Aiden out of everything and he really enjoys playing with the kids!

Then on Valentine's day we Josh was well prepared for some fun gifts for the kids. The most popular gift being the balloons. Come to find out, we could have just bought them balloons and they would have been perfectly happy. I just threw the last one away two days ago! They lasted forever! But they also got little bracelets, stuffed batman, superman and elsa and cards. 

Valentine's day was the 2nd Saturday of the month and there is a place in downtown KC that sells a variety of wholesale items for the home so we went to find a bathroom vanity for the kids bathroom and we were excited to come home with one! We also checked out some antique shops and found an old kitchen scale and Folger's coffee can. We went and purchased Isla's booster seat and then priced other materials for the kids bathroom. We are hoping to complete that in the next month or so. Carpet in a bathroom is quite possibly the worst idea ever.........ever!

Overall it was a very productive day and my mom got a new car! While she was watching the kids my dad went and finalized the new car. It was a good day for everyone :)