Birthday Season Part 2--Awesome

Awesome turned four at the end of January.  He was so excited to see his birthday sign on the wall and the first thing he said to me that morning was, "Mommy!  Come see, come see!  There's a four on the wall!"  Awesome is smart as a whip.  He loves pirates, Phineas and Ferb, super heroes and all kinds of make believe.  He makes up elaborate games where he's a nice guy and I'm a bad guy or he's Captain Hook and I'm Peter Pan.  His stories are fun and crazy.  I love his imagination.

On his birthday, we invited Uncle B over for a hot dog dinner (we called it our winter barbecue).  Awesome loved eating hot dogs, opening his presents, and eating cake and sorbet.  Happy birthday, Awesome!  We love you!

Birthday Season Part 1--C-Man

 I have a new favorite two year old.  C-Man turned two at the beginning of January and we had a great day.  We kept things pretty low key, but we opened presents after dinner and he thought that was pretty exciting.  We didn't do a cake on his birthday, but a few days later when we celebrated with the Funk family, he got to blow out candles on top of some finger jell-o.  He loved it and we sure love him.

Happy Halloween!

Yo Ho Ho!  C-Man is really good at saying, "yo ho ho!"

Trying to look at us with both eyes while wearing an eye patch.  Pretty tricky!

Now he's not looking with either eye.

Just too cool.

This is Awesome's pumpkin.  He decorated it with markers and a sticker.

We enjoyed being the Funk family pirates this year for Halloween.  Both boys had a great time trick-or-treating.  Awesome was very polite and C-Man charmed everyone as he held out his bag.  It was another fabulous Halloween.  Hope your's was great too!

Day at the Splash Pad

 We joined some friends at the splash park early in July.  The boys had a great time.  I think the person who invented splash parks is a genius.  What a great escape on a hot, summer day.  Awesome jumped right into the fountain, which surprised me because he's so timid.  I was super impressed.  However, once he discovered the river there was no going back.  Both boys loved the river, especially scaling the rocks. 

Awesome insisted on bringing a rubber ducky.  "It's a water toy, Mom!"

C-man would go near the fountain, but he always came back before getting wet.

 They were both so proud when they got onto the rocks and I think they are both so cute in their too-big swimwear.

July 4th

Awesome loves his shadow.  Here he is pointing out how tall it is.

 We had a very relaxed fourth.  We put the boys to bed before dark, but we still tried to do sparklers first.  It was too windy, but that didn't matter because the boys loved running around the front yard while Daddy tried to light the sparklers.

Keeping his balance on the grass.  Such concentration!

The race is on!

Parade

 Our county is made up of a lot of small cities that used to be small towns and they all bleed into one another.  It is nearly impossible to know where one city ends and another begins.  These cities are inhabited by people with fierce hometown pride that shows itself every year when the cities host festivals.  Our city's festival was last week and we came out to celebrate by watching Saturday morning's parade down Main Street with the Funk family.

Finally a picture of C-man simply wearing his hat.

Awesome and his cousins sitting on the curb.  You can see we convinced him to wear sandals.

C-man has the best seat in the house.

The parade was especially fun because Peter's younger sister and niece were marching with their school band.  We all had a great time at the parade, particularly Awesome.  After we got home, Awesome decided to make his own parade.  "I'm a drumming!"  (He meant drummer).  I guess we'll be doing this again next year.

Awesome's Boots

There are some battles you fight and some you let go.  I have given up the footwear fight.  I know in many homes the footwear fight refers to keeping shoes on.  This is not the case in our home.  Awesome is happy to put shoes on before we leave as long as they are these shoes:

That's right, his winter snow boots.  They do light up and have Woody and Buzz on them, so I can see the appeal.  However, it's hot outside!  I'm amazed the heat doesn't get to him.  It could be so much worse, however, so I don't fight it.  Wear your boots, Kiddo; you're styling!

C-Man's New Hat

On our last trip to Colorado, C-man tried on Uncle Taggart's hat.

  I decided it was absolutely necessary for him to have a newsboy hat of his own.

Happy Father's Day

On the Saturday before Father's Day, Awesome decided he wanted to wear a tie.  We convinced him to wait until church the next day and I decided to get Cool in on the tie action as well.  Here are my three men wishing you a Happy Father's Day.