February Overview

our february was pretty low key.  we had some fun with friends, celebrated valentine's day, and enjoyed the mild weather outdoors.

we had friends caleb and audrey over for lunch

anthony and audrey have been such close friends since they met...

audrey is a sweetie pie who loves to hug on anthony

the boys open their valentine's day cards from nonna and nonno

lucas' mickey mouse card sings the mickey mouse clubhouse theme song, and anthony's cars card sings the "life is a highway" song from the movie

amazingly enough, now it's april, and the cards have been played with so much they look like they've been through a war, and THEY STILL WORK!  amazing!

anthony gives lucas a ride on his lawnmower

these boys love being outdoors

they play really well together outdoors--all grins, and (bonus!) they run off tons of energy!

there's the occasional tussle over a toy

(we ended up having to get lucas his own lawnmower!  the boys love mowing the yard with their daddy!!!)

anthony is a big helper pulling up lots of weeds and carting them off in his dump truck

who is this handsome big boy???

their friend chesed came over for a visit one evening...they got to watch a thomas movie

i finally opened the pottery barn kids table we got for the boys.  of course, they enjoyed the box more than the table!  i think they fit every toy they owned into the box and then sat on top of it!  :)  what fun!  silly boys!

Wrapping Up January

Well, yes, I know it's April already, but we've got to wrap up January sometime, right? Better late than never!!! :) Here's how we rounded out the month...

a trip with daddy to the sand park one cold saturday morning

the boys loved filling up their new dump trucks with sand

doing gymnastics at Taylor and Hudson's birthday party

i think they thoroughly enjoyed themselves!

daddy helps lucas on the mini parallel bars

nice handstand!!!

we gotta work on his form! ;)

getting ready to try their new flashlights out in the dark

(notice the trucks had to come in the bathtub with them)

oooooooh...how fun!

loving the glow

bubble bath!

it's always a hit!

gotta get the mohawk pic!

and, of course, a trip to the merry-go-round with meme and papa while they were visiting for lucas' birthday

lucas has been carrying that mickey around since Christmas

(except mickey usually doesn't leave the house! well, i'm glad mickey got a ride on the merry-go-round too!!!)

"Oh TWOdles!"-- a mickey party!

In mid January, we had a special Mickey Mouse birthday party for little Lucas! He absolutely adores the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as well as his Mickey plush he got for Christmas. When I was asking him what kind of party he wanted in the weeks leading up to his birthday, he wavered back and forth between Mickey and Cars. Mickey won, mostly because this Mama already believes her baby is growing up too fast! ;) Sorry for the picture overload, but we had such a fun day!

mickey bannner

yummy favors

sweet little place settings

gifts beginning to pile up

the craft table

subway art with some mickey sayings as well as some of lucas' sayings that are special to our family

the "cake"

boys excitedly looking out the window as daddy puts together the play tunnels

a little pre-party show

(don't worry--he's not standing as close to the tv as the picture makes it look like!)

checking out the balloons

this boy is soooooo excited at this point

just look at that sweet face!

some red, yellow, and black mini fruit skewers

(the platter is for the cinnamon rolls that were still in the oven!)

we're ready for friends to come!

michael is the first to arrive! what great buddies these three are!

audrey arrives too, and the kids can't wait to dig into the cinnamon rolls and fruit

YUM!

baby Elle enjoys playing with the balloon strings

lucas goes for the frosting

craft time! mickey stickers and coloring books

daddy helps--getting the stickers off the page is the tricky part

michael enjoyed playing with the garbage trucks instead!

"i got one!"

mommy had confiscated mickey for party decor, so lucas is happy to have him back!

lucas opens one of his favorite gifts to date--the Wall-E movie

(thanks, uncle josh and aunt michelle!)

excited about a mini truck and digger from meme and papa

this card plays the mickey mouse clubhouse theme song! he could have listened to this the rest of the day!

and as if icing coated cinnamon rolls weren't sugar enough...

time for CAKE!!!

he's a pro at blowing out the candles!

for some reason, he wasn't sure how to eat the cupcake. nevermind the fact that he had just eaten an iced cinnamon roll that had a similar shape. the cupcake threw him for a loop. he goes in mouth-first.

now he's got the hang of it!!!

oh yeah! after finishing this one off, he started pointing to which one he wanted next! silly boy!

i think he's doing a little happy dance here

i think they all enjoyed their cake

here's the tunnel system...it's a little lumpy because there are already some kids (and some trucks) hiding in there! i can't even begin to tell you how gorgeous of a day it was for january--just perfect!!!

lucas found some balls and is watching all the other kids run around

going over to check things out

anthony and michael know how to have some fun!

elle kicked back and relaxed in the swing. chewing on the strap was the best part of the day for her, i think!

michael is all smiles

anthony is never far from his dump truck

audrey takes a ride on the big purple dinosaur

michael plays peek a boo

lucas makes his way up the big ladder

these two never slow down!

michael shows off his great swing

sweet little audrey...once she got inside the tunnels, she didn't want to get out!

maybe, just maybe, the birthday boy is ready for a nap

i know papa is!!! ;)

happy 2nd birthday, lucas my love! your mama sure enjoyed making your day super special!

see ya real soon!

and last but not least, a little song for the birthday boy!!!