Turning Two

My baby Lincoln turned TWO today!  Lincoln's current favorite cartoon has been The Dinosaur Train. He is always carrying around at least one of his dinosaurs and constantly roaring at everyone. On Friday we took him to the Smithsonian Museum in DC to see all the dinosaur fossils and he loved it! He would repeatedly shout "ah-saur! ah-saur!" which is his way of saying dinosaur. Today Chris and I took the kids to the park to celebrate a little and let them burn off some of that energy. (Is there ever nice weather on the East Coast!?!) He was so red and drenched in sweat but he had a blast running around! Ella is also a little adventure seeker and she was climbing up on everything. Once he got a little worn out, we sang to him and gave him his cake. He loved the dinosaur cake, once again shouting "ah-saur! ah-saur!" I also made some yummy fossil cupcakes and a little birthday banner for him. On our drive home both kids knocked out, and there is nothing more I'd like to do than take a long nap too!

 

"ah-saur!"



Lincoln and Ella were both afraid of getting too close to this one

He stared at this display forever!



I made him a dinosaur breakfast!



best tasting dinisaur ever!

the Stegosaurus I made for him!



fossil cupcakes!



my silly boy!

blowing out his candles

he went straight for the M & M eye.

...and the he spat it out! ha ha



so then he decided to try the tail spike

Ella wanted in on the action too

she's giving you a kiss!

she was just as active as Lincoln!

with his dino friend

he loves the swing!

me and my tired out Ella on the swing too

dino's turn on the swing

worn out

he wanted to wear the new shirt his grandma got him!

"wow." Dinosaur Train!

he was studying up on his dino knowledge 

  happy 2nd birthday Link-a-dink! We love you!!  

My Little Lady's 1st Birthday!

Our little cupcakes turned 1

  Yesterday we celebrated Ella's birthday along with two other babies turning ONE. Little Gerard turned one on August 8th, Makai's birthday was August 9th, and my little Ella is one on August 15th. It was such a last minute combined party but it turned out so nice. It was a fun evening with our military family!  



I had so much fun crafting for Ella's table!

Fallon did a great job on Geradrs table too!

She was so delicate and dainty with her cake...

...then she started really digging in!

There's Gerard enjoying his yummy cake!

and my Linc-a-dinc with his chocolate cupcake!

Happy 1st birthday to our beautiful Ella-Bella!

cuddles with Dana!

with our pretty Camille and Marie

Girl time with Kim, Addie, Kerri, Bella, and Dana!

               

Jon, Kim, and baby Addie

Click here to see some more of her special day!  

Celebrating Dr. Seuss' Birthday!

Dr. Seuss is very much loved in our home!

Here are some of my favorite quotes by him:

(in no particular order)

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

"A person's a person, no matter how small."

"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way."

"You are you. Now, isn't that pleasant?"

"I'm afraid sometimes you'll play lonely games too, games you can't win because you'll play against you"

Here are some fun Dr. Seuss crafts you can do with your kiddos.

366 Days of Fun! {February}

...'cause it's a leap year!

Day 1: We made pink Valentine's salt dough!

This was such an fun and easy activity! We made our own play dough and I found these really cute valentine cookie cutters at target for $2!

Here is how we made our play dough:

- in a large bowl, mix together 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of salt

- mix in a few drops of food coloring into about 1 cup of water

- slowly pour in the colored water in with your flour and salt mixture until it is the right consistency

(as you can see from the picture, it took us 3 tries to finally get it right, so I'm writing these instructions from experience!) 

Try it out with your little ones. It did get messy, but I loved seeing the curiosity and excitement of their face. You can even set them out to harden and make cute little ornaments or even use it as a hand print mold! ...painting them can be another activity!

Close Enough to Kiss

Oh no! I think I'm becoming semi "crunchy!"

 I'm not a tree hugger, or vegetarian, I don't cloth diaper, and I definitely don't lean to the left (so I guess I'm not even close to being "Crunchy Granola"). But I do BABYWEAR! (Which I learned some what falls into that category of people). For me, babywearing just makes life a little easier. I can have Ella in the sling with me while I'm chasing Lincoln around or if Lincoln is tired of being in the stroller I can carry him around with me. I love it! It's so nice having them near me and always at eye level. I'm even trying to master wearing them both together! There are so many benefits of babywearing. My sister says I look like Sacajawea, which I'll take as a compliment.

Babywearing seems like it's becoming more of a fad lately. Every time I'm out I get so many stares and people saying "Awe, how cute..." It's actually pretty awkward, but maybe there will be more babywearers because of it... So if you want to start wearing your kid around to make things more convenient, or to bond, or because you simply want to look cool, here's what you need to make your very own Ring Sling:

• a shawl (or fabric that has some give to it but not stretchy) I got one at JcPenny on sale for $10!
•two 3" aluminum rings (slingrings.com $4/pair)
• your newborn, infant, or toddler (some even wear their DOGS!)
• and follow this video I found on YouTube

Now you're ready to start babywearing. There are so many instruction videos on YouTube on how to put your child in properly.
HAPPY BABYWEARING!

Here are some of my babywearing moments...

 

Even dogs like to wear their babies....

hee hee!