Turning 2

I won't even go into the level to which I can't comprehend that my baby is 2 years old. We had a fun time celebrating Scott's big day in a mellow fashion this year. We started on Sunday the day before his birthday with tacos and ice cream at the Ventura pier with Scott's grandma and g pa. On Monday morning (Scott's birthday) we woke up bright and early at Mimi and Papa's house (we had been staying with them all week while daddy was in Daytona) for a fun dinosaur birthday celebration. First of all our baby dinosaurs that the boys had been watching all week finally hatched and the whole breakfast table was swarming with dinosaurs, which was a great distraction while we waited for Parker J and auntie to arrive.

Then we feasted on dinosaur shaped gluten free cake cakes with Dino sprinkles and sirpup - basically Scott's dream breakfast.

We opened a few gifts after breakfast...love Scott's interested look in this picture. Auntie painted Scott the most wonderful dinosaur for his bedroom....I will take a picture at some point...oops for now.

Then we headed to our Dino day...we were early so we got to play at the park first!

climber!

I can't say enough good things about our Dino craft morning. We didn't know what to expect exactly except for building a dinosaur at the end, but we did so many Dino related crafts before hand. The boys loved it!

We colored brontosaurus and dinosaur eggs. We glued dinosaur skeletons. Played with play dough. It was so neat!

Then it was down to business...dinosaur stuffing time. The boys (mommy/auntie) hard at work

Scott's finished product! His new t top even made it to bed with him that night with his pitas! That's big time!

Then we came home (to Mimi and Papas) for lunch and birthday cake. Side note: when asking Scott how old he was turning on his birthday these past few weeks his response....."birthday cake!". Keep in mind that I do not claim to be a pastry chef or a photographer....but here ya go: dinosaur cake du jour!

This was right before Scott stuck T Rex into the flame....whoopsie mom!

who needs a fork anyways?

Later that afternoon we finally came home and so did daddy! Best birthday ever is seeing your daddy after 10 days....yay! We had dinner and more cake, bath, a movie and wrestling....all with daddy!

sadly it was once piece of cake too many....that combined with all the excitement and wrestling led to a pukie boy that night....but much better today.

Thanks to everyone who helped make Scott's day special and to those of you just sent sweet wishes and thought of him that day. As much as I feel like I should have thrown him a big bash I know he had a fun day and this year with daddy's work schedule and Owen's arrival right around the corner this was the perfect type of celebration.

Scott went to his he pediatrician today and checked out great! 31 lbs and 35 inches! A few more 2 year old details: he still loves animals of all kinds and especially dinosaurs (duh!). He loves reading and curious george. He likes practicing his letters and numbers, although sometimes he is confused as to which are numbers and which are letters. He can count to 14 all on his own! We are working on colors but currently everything is pink! But he can tell the difference between all types of dinosaurs (we are talking ankylosaurus, ornithomimus and velociraptor people) so I guess colors will come in due time.

Scott is smart and funny and interesting and inquisitive and I can't wait to see how my sweet 2 year old continues to grow and become a big brother! Love you mr. munch!

Not a potato lover...

I have never been a big potato gal. Don't get me wrong a baked potato every now and then is great (especially with trader joes organic vegetarian chili on top) and on thanksgiving I can kill some mashed potatoes, but I don't really like them any other way....breakfast potatoes are bleh....especially hash brown....gross with a capital "G". And I have always been able to resist potatoes of the junk food variety: chips and fries....not.my.thing. Until today at TJs I just absolutely had to have ridge cute salt and pepper potato chips. What?!?! Random and gross. I guess that's a pregnancy craving for you. It took all my will power not to open the bag while I finished shopping and eat half before checking out...and looking back who would have stopped me? I highly doubt if anyone is going to deny the 9 month pregnant lady from her chips...paid for or not. But I controlled it...because even if no one stopped me I think that would have looked pretty glutinous. And oh snap if they were ever good when we got home. And I am happy to report I didn't eat the whole bag. This was my first true pregnancy craving for either baby. With Scott I couldn't get enough fruit, especially oranges, but it wasn't a craving, it's just what I enjoyed most. And this time around I have been loving spicy food, but I didn't HAVE to have it...and now I have retired from the spice all together thanks to the return of 3rd trimester heartburn! But the chips...had.to.have.em. Craving satisfied! Have a great weekend friends...happy snacking!

Firetrucks + Hockey

Scott and I got to join Andy and Zoey when they went to watch Danny's Ontario Fire Department hockey team play the FDNY Hockey team in Ontario. Of course I have zero pictures of the game or the kids in the arena. But we did get a couple pics by the trucks before and after the game. This was Scott's first sporting event and overall he had a good time. But at first he was a little freaked out. Right when we were walking down to our seats the announcer came on to introduce the players....Scott was not a fan of the loud voice that came from no one. We finally got him settled into his seat then Danny's team scored: horns, lights and lots of cheers = lots of tears from my boy. By goal number 3 Scott was better, but still not crazy about the noise. I'm sure he will get used to it, I told Brian its time to start taking him to more sports events, no arguments there I'm sure!

After the game Zoey's Daddy (aka: Wowo dadda, or just dadda...Scott calls him dadda too, not to be confused with daddy or just plain dad that he calls Brian) took us onto a truck! Totally awesome!

And we attempted to get both kids to pose in front of the truck....fail.

Thanks for a fun day out Richards fam!

Jumpin'

If you know Scott you know that he spends a good percentage of his day jumping. In things. Off of things. Just randomly. His dear friend Zoey gave him a jumper at Christmas and we just got around to getting it set up. After a long (rainy) morning at the indoor play zone we set it up that evening...just incase we didn't jump and climb enough.

In case you are wondering I'm not using this as my birthing tub...but it is big enough to double as one. Scott had a blast. Definitely a toy for use under adult supervision only!

Valentine's Crafts

Scott asks me to paint or do crafts ("caaafs") every day it seems. This past week we focused on some homemade valentine's. I'm thankful for my creative little boy...and for washable paints!

Lovelies...

Saturday Andy and I took the kiddos to the beach...only to have it start raining the moment we parked. Good job checking the weather mommies...plan b: park for two hours!

S & Z loved the see saw and went back to play on it time and time again. It was even more fun when pregnant mommies bounced it from one side - hey at least I didn't make my side go all the way down to the ground : / P.S. Even more fun with one prego mommy and kiddo on each side!

This ladder went above our heads...but no problem for our littles...they took it to the top over and over.

And the slides....also fun!!!

Don't forget about the tunnel...

Even the best of friends have their moments!

We never fail to have a good time (even when we fail to check the weather). Can't wait to add baby brother and baby sister to this mix soon : )

Cousins for Jay

Parker J gets two new cousins, one in February and one in March. This is the last picture of Parker with his two pregnant aunties and his cousins in the bellies. Ryder Cole was born on February 1st and is as cute as can be (haven't met him in person yet but I hope to soon). Now we are just waiting on Owen so we can take this picture again - cousins outta the bellies! Little boy cousins are so much fun!