Baby Reid Turns 2

 Okay so "Baby Reid" really isn't much of a baby anymore (ignore the pacifier in his hand).

He is turning into such a silly little guy. 

He is still emotionally charged and has to take "breaks" in his room during fits just to calm down,

but he really has all of us wrapped around his little finger...especially his daddy.

Reid's birthday fell on a Monday, which happens to be Ace's busiest day this semester, by far.

So on Sunday we celebrated Reid!

We opened presents and then invited some family friends over for cake, ice cream and other yummy desserts.

We usually just do family stuff for birthdays but friends have definitely stepped in for us as we've been far away, and we feel very blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Sadly, we did not get a single picture of Reid blowing out his candles, or the party crowd, but they really did exist. 

Reid blew-out the first candle himself and after several blows on the second one Garret asked if he needed help and Reid said "Yeah." (Garret was so excited!)

It was so fun watching his super happy, smiley face as everyone sang happy birthday to him. He loves being around people!

He is pretty content to sit on my lap, most of the time.

Reid's actual birthday was pretty uneventful.

As I mentioned before Ace was gone ALL day and it was snowing ALL day so we were inside ALL day. Get the picture:-)?

Luckily, some of Reid's friends came to play and so we tried to make the most of the day.

We ate snacks!

Played silly games.

Which included Reid rolling off the couch over and over to get a laugh out of Carter.

One to many roles and Reid is still limping:-)

The things we do to get a laugh out of our friends.

Played trains and cars with some friends.

 And we even built a fort!

 Thank you Reid for being a part of our family.

Thank you for adding some silly to your sass.

Thank you for holding my finger so tightly when we walk.

Thank you for helping me choose to laugh instead of scream.

Thank you for always saying "Thank you."

Thank you for being my sweet baby Reid!

Garret turns 4!

Garret, the happiest most easy going kid turned 4!

I love this picture of him.

It kind of represents a lot of who he is; just full of life and wind swept hair...gosh I love that hair.

As he gets older he is reminding me so much more of Ace, with an edge of sass that Ace doesn't really have (maybe that's where I come in)

I'm learning more and more that Garret is a pretty independent, introverted spirit 

(again much like Ace)

For his big day we bowled, ate at McD's for lunch, tired to swim in G'ma's pool and had a Pizza Party with family and friends.

It was very different from birthdays in the past but I am coming to learn very quickly that not all change is bad.

 I love these two pictures! This is how Garret sends good vibes to his ball cruising down the lane towards the pens...and then there is Reid's way.

 Garret loves swimming and he is completely fearless in the water.

He is taking swim lessons right now at the local Y for the month of January and he is crazy about it

Almost immediately after we leave the pool he begins his count down "how many sleeps until my swim lessons Mom?"

So naturally we had to try to swim in G'ma's pool nearly everyday during Christmas break. We gave it our all on his birthday, but still we only waded in it.

                                                   

Best Buds

That's what Garret tells Ace multiple times a day.

Garret's birthday cake; Star Wars of course. 

I usually make the boys their bday cakes and really missed doing it for Garret this year.

But with traveling to Florida and not being in my own kitchen, this was definitely the best solution. 

Plus Gar didn't even notice and had fun with his Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker action figures for days after.

Thank you G'ma for throwing a wonderful party for our sweet guy! 

These two have a lot of love for each other.

Garret got Ace's first guitar.

Im pretty excited about this gift and I think Gar is too.

He keeps telling me that he and his dad are in a band.

The goofballs at the party...every party has to have at least one of these.

Happy birthday my sweetheart Garret!

You make me laugh everyday and make life all the better because you were born.

May the Force be with you!

I felt really lazy this Halloween. But somehow the boys managed to be in their costumes on four separate days besides Halloween. Dressing up is exhausting for me to do once, so I'm actually quite impressed that we somehow managed to get it done five times this year... though I'm not necessarily making this a tradition.

Besides getting all dressed up, we did enjoy other Halloween festivities. We carved a pumpkin, and by "we," I mean Ace. Good thing he loves this holiday so much, or else certain "fun" traditions might get lost if it were up to me to carry them on.

Meet James J. Braddock. Garret requested a "happy punching pumpkin" this year, so Ace created this: the Pumpkin Pugilist, the Sparring Squash, the Jack-o'-Lantern of Jabs.

We also drove around in style.

We went to a Halloween carnival.

We played in large piles of leaves.

One thing I have found quite fascinating about living in New York is the leaf piles. People rake their leaves into huge piles along the side of the road. For nearly a month, the piles get bigger and bigger until sometime in November, when a big truck comes and sucks up all the leaves into its magic machine. Pretty cool to see and pretty fun to play in until the cleanup crew comes around. 

Members of the Ithaca Fire Department drove around in a fire engine blaring their sirens and handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Garret was so excited to sit in the fire engine and put on a helmet. Reid, on the other hand, could not get out fast enough... hence no picture of Reid in the truck. 

Luckily, I wasn't too tired to enjoy our first Halloween in Ithaca. It was different, but full of a lot of fun new memories and people.