Happy 2nd Birthday, Kaitlyn!

Today was Kaitlyn's 2nd birthday... she is recovering from strep throat so it may not have been her best day, but we tried to make it as special as possible. We started with a special breakfast of cinnamon rolls (which her brother enjoyed more than she did) and then Gram came over to play while Paul and I headed to work.Before dinner she got to open some presents.

Her big gift is her new big girl bed (which is in pieces downstairs!) so she opened up the sheets and comforter ("polky dots!") but she quickly tested them out to see if they will be comfy (and rest for a few seconds):

Gram made us some yummy cupcakes which we enjoyed after dinner- Kaitlyn blew out both of her candles without any problem and seemed to really like having Happy Birthday sung to her.

She seems to be feeling a little better as after bath and bedtime tonight, she was talking to herself for a while in bed... a few times we actually heard her singing "happy birthday" to herself :)
Here's a video of her blowing out her candle and our family rendition of "happy birthday"

A January and early February update...

Sorry for the delay in posts- no good excuse, other than enough to do at work and home, a comfy couch (and warm blanket) making it difficult to get downstairs to the computer and enjoying our family time when we're all together.
In case you didn't know, it snowed... and snowed... and then iced over. We've enjoyed as much of it as we can (and continue to be thankful that we bought a snowblower several years ago!) and I'm trying to pass on my love of sledding. Today the kids were 'racing' down the hill on their sleds, so I'm getting there.



We also had a fun visit with Uncle Ryan and Lauren last weekend. There were lots of laughs and it was great to see them. Kaitlyn made them a lot of tea and coffee, and there was a good deal of tickling.



The other weekend the kids and Paul decided do "work" together- unfortunately Paul was at the kitchen table the longest.
The other day Paul and Kaitlyn were both 'reading' on the couch after dinner- and invited Woody to join.

This week is Kaitlyn's 2nd birthday... how quickly those two years have gone by!

Story time with Paul

Tonight Paul gathered many of his friends for story time on mommy and daddy's bed. There wasn't a full story, but it was really cute.
After story time I was told it was circle (share) time in the living room and then art when I had to color some pictures for him.. and follow his instructions!

Christmas 2010

It was a wonderful Christmas! Back to work tomorrow, so here are some long overdue pictures...
"Daddy, can't I please try to sit next to the fire?"
Not sure who is more engaged- if you look closely, you can see little Paul crunched up investigating something in Kaitlyn's new play house!The gang on Christmas Eve....At least for now I can play with it by myself....Paul opening up the introduction to his new bike- a new helmet!How nice of Gram and BB to have a huge basement for me to test out my bike in the winter!Kaitlyn wasn't far behind!Gram and BB opening up their "Moose Lodge" moose glasses... lots of fun.Paul and I opening our gifts from the kids which they picked out at the Gettysburg craft fair.Kaitlyn and Uncle Ryan playing with one of her favorite gifts- a teapot from Uncle Ry! There ha been lots of coffee and tea made, and served, in our house this week.Paul and Uncle Ry playing Candy Land. We're still not sure if they really followed the rules....Bring on Play Doh! Making ice cream cones with Uncle Chris.Opening Kaitlyn's first Cabage Patch baby from Aunt Megan and Uncle Chris (which she is constantly checking to see if it has a 'poopy diaper' so it's often naked!)
Another of Kaitlyn's favorite toys- a shopping cart! She filled it up for several days (especially on Christmas day) with anything she could find... somehow it was empty at this moment.Please note a few things in the following picture... Paul is in his 2nd set of PJ's on Christmas morning (Spider Man PJ's- which he put on in the living room immediately after opening them... yes, he got naked at 11am and changed without a blink of an eye in front of all of us!) as well as the scarf to their snowman decorating kit ... Kaitlyn is wearing a pair of plaid pants and a polka-dot jacket which were also gifts (from Uncle Ryan and Santa)- most gifts had to be put on immediately!Paul's newest Eli Manning Jersey from his Uncles!
Uncle Ryan and Daddy need to go to Lego school- it took a LONG time to put together the Toy Story car!

This is on Christmas Eve- Paul set out cookies for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer. He told us that Rudolph was allowed into our house to keep Santa safe.
We also had a fun visit with Aunt Kerry- which resulted in a long game of Toy Story Memory (thanks, Aunt Katherine) and the building (and playing with) an awesome Lego fire truck.