What's That You Say?

What's that you say? Your dining room actually gets used for its intended purpose instead of being turned into Forts R Us on a daily basis?

What's that you say? Meetings of Masking Tape Wasters Anonymous do not happen in your house?

What's that you say? The toilet paper in your linen closet was not put away in this decorative manner?

What's that you say? The lights on your walkway are in some sort of line along the edge of your walkway and not all grouped together because clearly it is important to light this ONE SQUARE of walkway and leave the rest in the dark:

What's that you say? You have not had a box of donuts sitting on your counter for almost a week because someone refuses to let you throw them away even though they make an audible CRUNCHING sound when eaten?

What's that you say? You have never heard the words, "Mom! You may notice something different about me!" after naptime, and then looked upon this sight (that's a stamp all over his body):

What's that you say? You do not have a 5-year old boy at your house? Ah, everything makes perfect sense now.

12 months of Becca

If you click on this, you should be able to see a larger version.

Becca's stroller

Here's Becca with her birthday gift from Aunt Angie - a baby doll and stroller. She LOVES to push this around the house.

One Year Old

Becca had her 1st birthday last weekend! Here she is with the bear:

I'm working on a compilation of all 12 monthly photos of her with the bear and will post that when it is finished. It's neat to see all in one place how she has grown over the past year.

We had a small party for her because we were kind of partied out from Samuel's Buzz Lightyear party a few days before. Here are a few pictures of Becca opening presents:

Her cake (MUCH less frosting than Samuel's so we did not have a repeat of crack baby who will not go to sleep.)

Some of her favorite things at 1 year old:

• Food: mandarin oranges, popcorn, yogurt.
• Toys: baby dolls, books, stacking cups.
• Activities: swinging, going for walks, taking baths.

She has started imitating us and will do things like walk around with a toy phone up to her ear pretending to talk (this morning she walked around with the calculator to her ear, talking.) She also likes to put our shoes on her feet, try to eat with a spoon (a work in progress), and push her baby around in her toy stroller. It's very cute to see her do all those things.

12 month compilation picture coming soon!

To insanity and beyond

We had Samuel's 5th birthday party yesterday. He wanted a Buzz Lightyear party this year, so we made that the theme and did a bunch of activities related to outer space and Toy Story. We had 9 little kids here and it was completely crazy. Thank you Meg for taking most of these pictures, as things were so nuts I would not have any if you didn't.

Pin the eye on the alien:



Discovering what is inside their "moon rock" (a toy covered in a baking soda paste. To get it out, we added vinegar and let it dissolve the baking soda.)



The claw game:



Princess Lilly inside the rocket ship:



Each kid got their very own Buzz Lightyear shirt and wings. As you can see, the wings did not last very long (they were just paper towel tubes and foam), but hopefully the shirts will last longer.





The cake:



Samuel after blowing out the candles:

Becca tasting part of a cupcake. Afterwards she was so hopped up on sugar that she did not go to bed until an hour and a half past her usual bedtime. She had these crazy crack eyes and was FULL of energy. Samuel, on the other hand, actually SUGGESTED that he go to bed right after dinner since he was so exhausted from the party. I guess that means it was a successful day!