Happy (Belated) Father's Day!

Cuddling with Daddy after his back surgery..
Dad with his new grill!

To a Dad who wipes runny noses, changes poopy diapers, makes pb & j sandwiches, watches Elmo repeatedly.. a Dad who truly appreciates his children as blessings..

Happy Father's Day!!! :)

How far we've come..

Sweet babies, I can't believe you have been on this earth 2 whole years. It seems like yesterday we were driving home with you for the first time. We left the hospital late at night and it seems like we drove ten MPH the whole way home. I was getting so anxious that we couldn't see you from the front seat, but I couldn't fit between you in the back! You were so tiny then, the buckles on the car seats covered your whole bodies! I remember that first night we brought you in, layed you both in the pack 'n' play and just stared at you while you slept. Finally we brought you both in the bedroom with us and I had the pack 'n' play so close to me I could touch you from where I was laying. I remember I left the lamp on so I could see you and I layed facing you and propped my head up high so all I had to do was open my eyes and there you both were, in perfect eye shot.

After that it gets a little blurry for a while. Mommy's sorry, but I was very tired and half way to Crazy-ville. Some day you'll understand. I do remember the first full night of sleep I got, and being able to actually sleep in my bed again. I remember the first smiles, the first belly laughs, I remember the first time you ate baby food. I remember rocking you both to sleep and smelling your sweet baby breath while you layed on my chest. I remember we used to read a book, give you one last bed time bottle and then put you both in your cribs. I do remember all of these awesome things about your first year.

There have been more milestones in your second year of life, and those are just as special to me. I remember the first steps you both took. We thought Lilly would never walk but she actually took off before Nate! I remember moments this year when all of a sudden it seemed like you understood what I was saying. You both surprised me when you started taking direction and I realized I wasn't just talking to myself anymore! You are like sponges, learning new things every day.

Nate, you are my big boy.. and I mean BIG! You eat almost as much as I do!

(not finished but wanted to publish anyway!!) 

Lilly and Nate's Sesame Street birthday party!

This post has taken me forever- sorry! I have been having problems getting pictures on my posts for a long time now, which is especially tricky with posts like these where I want to add tons of pictures.

We had an Elmo/Sesame Street birthday party to celebrate turning TWO! We had it at our house, which is something I don't think I will ever do again. It was fun, but a little crowded. I would love to have done something outside but it was SO HOT. Maybe next summer we will do something outside with water, or some other fun (bigger) place! I wish I would have gotten more good pictures, but you know how hectic these things can be! Thanks again to my friend Lindsay for the pictures we DID get!

Some pictures I took before the party..

Elmo cupcakes!

Now let's get this party started with some socializing!

Lilly and Aiden (he's a twin too!)

Lilly and cute little Logan

In case you're wondering, YES, ALL of our friends have BOYS!

Here is Aiden's twin brother, Tyler!

We got to unwrap LOTS of cool presents!
Happy Birthday to YOU!

Time to blow out the candles on our cupcakes!


Lilly having fun with some new toys..

And trying to test the strength of some other ones..

We can not thank our friends and family enough for coming to the birthday party for our sweet ones. I hate that I didn't get any pictures of the cousins- I think they were having a good time playing back in the bed rooms! We love all of you!

Fun in the sun with cousins!

As I mentioned in the post below, I was off the last part of last week with the kids, and Thursday was able to go out to my sister's so we could have a fun day of swimming at their community pool! It was surprisingly less stressful than I thought it would be and did all three of us a world of good to get out of the house and in to the SUN!

Here is Lilly hanging out in the house while everyone was getting ready to go. She loved this chair and the girly room with zebra print and hot pink!


Scarlett loving on Lilly..

My sister's sweet boys..
Here we are at the pool. I was really nervous about Nate freaking out, but I just let him cry for a few minutes and tried to ignore him and sure enough, he made his way over to the little kiddie pool and started checking it out. I waited until I thought he seemed more at ease and put him in.
That's right folks! He got in the water and actually had fun with cousins! The kiddie pool by our house is still a little too deep, but this one was the perfect depth!
Lilly checking it out.. She wanted to get in much quicker than Nate. We gave her the rings and she was ready to go!!Nate hangin' with my sister..

Lilly took a break from the water to eat a few chips..

We had so much fun, we are definitely doing that again this summer! Hopefully next time my other sister and her two kids can join us and we will take over the kiddie pool again!

M.I.A.

Sorry to all of Nate and Lilly's fan club that I haven't blogged in so long, BUT I have about ten posts I need to do, so hopefully I will make up for it (and if I can't, the cuteness in their pictures will for sure!).

So here's the deal, our babysitter went on vacation so Brian and I took turns being off work to hang out with the kids. He took four days and I took three days. In the three days I was off, I was getting ready for their birthday party, which was yesterday. It was a good time but kind of a blur. It happened so fast! One of the days I was off I also drove to my sister's and we went took all of our kids swimming. It was a blast and exactly what I needed to get my mind off of the birthday party plans and just have fun with my babies. Their real birthday is Tuesday June 22, so I am taking off work that day too, to spend it having fun with them.

Lots of posts coming your way about swimming with cousins, Sesame Street birthday party, two years old and Father's Day!

Here is a sneak peak of the cuteness:

This was tonight. They were laughing at Brian. They both wanted in the recliner chair to rock (Mom, they were singing the "Rocking, rocking.." song that you sing to them, and they are wearing the jammies you just got them!). Very cute!

Birthday Party at The Little Gym!

This post is way late, but last weekend we went to a very fun birthday party at a place called The Little Gym. What a neat place for birthday parties- I am totally looking into this for Nate and Lilly's third birthday party next summer!

I was surprised at how well my kids took to this place. It was a lot of gymnastics mats and fun things to jump on, crawl through, etc. They had really fun music playing and a girl whose sole job was dedicated to blowing bubbles for all the little kids to jump around in! I don't know what it was about seeing them venturing out and exploring on their own, but it made me truly happy to see them gaining some independence.

This is Camden, the birthday boy, playing with some hula-hoops!

All the kids had a blast on this bouncy thing.. SO FUN!!

Nate wanted up on the bouncy thing, but he just wanted to sit and watch..He DID NOT want to jump! He was almost bounced off a couple of times..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, CAMDEN!!

Digging in to the cake!

Thank you for inviting us, Jana! We had a great time!