A bit of hims and her

More fun shadow pictures, he just didn't get the idea of stopping so I could shoot just his shadow :)

Our Tiger Kitten.

I spy a dog.

One busy but also incredibly wonderful 1st year

From the first day of it...

with breakneck speed to their birthday. (Man, those make my heart do a great big huge, "awww" quiver every time I look at them.)

I wonder what is in there!

Hope it's not what SHE got, although, she looks pretty happy with that dolly.

Nope, thankfully mine goes "bmm, bmm".

A side note, those cute gifts were from my secret pal (anyone getting the idea that she must be wonderful?!) Steve and I did not get them a gift. Does that put us in your terrible parent book? That does not mean we went without celebrating with MUCH thanksgiving that we have all made it through this first year. We just had cupcakes instead of presents. Cara seemed a little disappointed that her PINK ones didn't make quite the same statement that Cody's blue ones did!

Hey, let me try some of that!

Obviously, though, a cupcake is delicious and fun no matter what the color.

It's 7:30 feeding at the zoo and the monkeys are very grouchy. The zoo keeper is getting a bit short tempered and is considering feeding the monkeys to the lions.

A belated birthday

Seeing as it's more than a week overdue and as we are now already celebrating the next birthdays in our family, thought I better quickly get some pictures up.

This sweet boy helped me get ready for his birthday party. He watched carefully to make sure I piped the icing appropriately and then he took charge of all the sugar chainsaws and laid them carefully mid cupcake.

Then he set the table where he and some of his cousins would devour said cupcakes. Do you know how hard it is for a 4 year old to space 9 plates when there are no boundaries? But we got that figured out and then he added some cups.

He blew the candles at the appropriate time and now that I'm finally looking at the pictures I'm kicking myself for not putting them on the plates and getting better pictures!

Oh well, he seemed to enjoy it anyway. (I chose the picture that doesn't show the burnt bottom. Having some issues figuring out my oven)

He also gave and got some very loving hugs as he said thank you to all who showed him such love.

He ended his day with some special visitors. It was very nice to have Opa and Nana able to stop by!
An I spy book big enough for a couch full of spyers.
So, big thank you's to all who showed this dear boy a special day. Again we can not say enough that we are blessed beyond measure.

Thanks to my cousin Ruth I once again have a pink and a blue monkey. I loved these jammies in 3 month size and I'm so glad to have them in 12 month size again. Pink and Blue Monkey mornings always make me smile.

I hope to get Sam's birthday up next.

I promised my sis I would put these pictures up. Made some little piggy banks for some sweet, tiny, oh so precious new men in my life.

Ps. The blue circles on the white circle have a story on their own. One you can hardly even believe. I just about pulled my hair. You see, I like to use empty toilet paper rolls for a stamp. They work great with paints or ink and make either neat circles or funky shaped ones. Problem number one, there was still 1/3 of the roll left and no empty rolls in the garbage can. So, yup, I really did, can you imagine????? I unrolled the tube feeling as gleeful as a one year old (!) as I watched that white softness make a pile on the floor. Then I picked up the pile and put it on the back of the toilet to use as we otherwise do when Cara's been the one to empty the roll. Too bad for me, Cam came along and created problem number 2, took the entire pile and dumped it in the toilet bowl. While I did a, "oh dear, Cam, you are NOT allowed to do that!" and ran for a plastic bag to scoop it all out again, Sam came along and thought to help me get rid of the problem all together by flushing. I still am waiting for the silly toilet to back up but I'm sure glad it hasn't happened yet. Object lesson, next time, no matter how much you want to get the project done, leave it for a few days until the toilet paper roll is empty. Problem is, because the toilet didn't overflow, the impression wasn't great enough and next time I'll want to "just get it done" and probably forget today's trouble.

And these two... I know it keeps them quiet and I know they aren't breaking anything and I also know in the grand scheme of things it cleans up really fast BUT the truth of the matter is that this drives me crazy. Always has. And no matter how much I just try to ignore it and enjoy the peace their fascination brings, I still usually end up chasing them into the living room and tossing everything back in the cupboard before they've had their fill.

so telling

Sometimes we look are our children and wonder what they are thinking. And sometimes, without our asking and prompting, they let us know exactly what is ruminating in those little brains of theirs.
Sam is four years old today and this morning he came upstairs carrying his birthday bag he had received from my secret pal (thanks! he was delighted). He sat on our bed and had a few commments about the balloons. Then Leah let him know, "you're four already, Sam, since the middle of the night!" And Sam, in such a disappointed voice, turned to me and said sadly, "I'm not big." Apparently, he thought that last sleep the night before the big day was going to do wonders.