Cooper's 3rd Birthday

Cooper turned 3 on January 12th, and we had our usual small family party at home with cake and presents. I tried to decorate a little more than usual this year to really make it festive, and Coop did seem to enjoy the fact that it was all for him.  Coop has always been a fan of cars but up until recently only really had the small Hot Wheels and Cars movie cars.  Well, this was the birthday of big cars.  He got several larger remote control/motorized vehicles with flashing lights and sounds and he has been having fun with them, though I do think he prefers his little die-casts (what can I say, he is retro at heart).  He also got some books, pajamas, legos, and yes, more small cars. I think it's fair to say he was in heaven. 

About a week after his birthday we had his big "friends party" at a local playset place that has a party room.  He shared his party with his friend, Tyler, who is just three days younger.  We had about 60 people in total (kids plus adults), and though we were a bit concerned about the number of people in the space, it turned out great and the kids had a blast.  The theme was Cars, of course, and my friend Celeste made a Lightning McQueen cake, a Finn McMissile cake, AND a sheet cake for the boys.   My parents and brother were both there to boot.  They may never know how meaningful it is to have them present at these special times.

The kids ran and ran and ran for most of the party.   With my children in particular, I just don't see the benefit of orchestrating a party at the house with games they may or may not like when I could do it somewhere outside the house, let them get all of their crazies out, and have other people clean up the mess!  Win win all around  :-)

Happy Birthday to my huggable, snuggly, yummy boy!

 The Birthday Boy

 Birthday Fort

 Mama and Coop

 Boys had fun all afternoon with this activity!

 Coop opening his musical card from Nana and Papa

 Birthday brownies at home

 Coop's awesome McQueen cake made by Celeste

Dad and Coop taking a cuddle break

 Coop opening gifts at home (an orange soccer ball)

Holiday Card

Happy Hanukkah

Homemade "Kaden-safe" gelt

He likes it  :-)

Coop displaying the menorah he made in school

A fave gift from Nana and Papa

Lights

Happy Hanukkah 2011

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Winter

 

Picking out our tree

Decorating

Mop 'n Glo glitter ornaments (gotta love Pinterest)

Salt dough ornaments, pre-paint

Making snowflakes using coffee filters and liquid watercolors

Kaden liked using the eyedropper.

Coop preferred a paintbrush.

So pretty when the light comes in the window.

Josh's Birthday

Josh turned the big 3-7 on December 4th.  The morning of his birthday, the boys and I gave him some gifts, including both homemade and store-bought goodies.  He is a "connoisseur" of small-batch Bourbon these days, so I got him a bottle of Bakers Bourbon to enjoy.  And, since starting his new job at Red Hat, he's been working long hours without many breaks during the day.  I put together a collection of healthy snacks like Cliff Bars, almonds, and freeze-dried apple slices (ok, and some chocolates and jelly beans too, just for fun), that he can keep at his desk so that on the long days he doesn't have to go hungry.   I also got him a travel mug that looks like a Nikon telephoto lens (and it even zooms!).

Several days prior to Josh's birthday, I sat down with the boys and asked them a series of questions about their Dad, and I framed their answers and that was their gift to him.  Funny to see the differences between a 5-year old's answers and an almost-three year old's!  The boys also made Josh some cards and pictures.

Later that day we drove out to Chapel Hill (along with my parents) to visit with our friends, the Ragostas, who moved to the area not long ago.  We had a great dinner and a little celebration for Josh there.  I hope he had a Happy Birthday!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year the Thanksgiving holiday kicked off with a feast at Cooper's school.  My parents accompanied me for a lunchtime performance and meal.  Coop got up on stage with his class and didn't sing, and then he sat down with us and didn't eat, but it was cute anyway!   He made a little necklace of colored pasta and a placemat that we used at our family's Thanksgiving dinner.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and didn't get any photos (I know, bad Mama moment).

Later that week I volunteered to help out at the Thanksgiving Feast at Kaden's school.  Throughout the morning there were centers set up with crafts and the two Kindergarten classes rotated through the centers.   I was assigned to the center where the kids made rainmakers using toilet paper rolls, rice, and felt.  The morning was going swimmingly until Kaden walked over to me from another center with big eyes and a hand on his nose.  Apparently, in the excitement of making a dream catcher he decided to put a bead up his nose to see what would happen.  First time ever.  He wasn't able to blow the bead out himself so we had to make a quick exit to the school nurse, who advised us to go to the nearby urgent care.  We did so and the P.A. who saw us was awesome.  She got the bead out in no time with big (scary) tweezers.  Needless to say, Kaden learned his lesson.  We then headed back to the school and joined in on the meal (fruit, mini muffins and goldfish--how traditional).  Yeesh.

Our big Thanksgiving dinner was actually an intimate affair--even smaller than usual because my brother had to stay up in NYC to work (sniff).  My mom prepared a wonderful meal at her house consisting of turkey, corn pudding, cranberry sauce, broccoli stuffing puffs, sweet potato casserole, carrots, and warm rolls.  I made baked macaroni and cheese for Josh as this was one of his family's traditional foods at Thanksgiving, and I also baked a carrot cake to celebrate my mom's birthday, which is on November 26th.  My mom was actually born on Thanksgiving, and I told her in her card that it is so appropriate because she is heaven-sent in so many ways and I am SO grateful for her as a mother and as a friend.

Nota Bene: the wrong balance of baking soda in carrot cake will turn carrots green so be careful!  OMG, just pulled high school Latin out of my A**.  :-)  

We had a very nice meal (well, to be more accurate, the adults had a nice meal; the boys ate mostly ice cream and cake).  We all missed Noah a lot that day, but we will get to see him at the end of December so I am jazzed about that!   Unfortunately, I neglected to get photos of the pretty table all set for dinner but I did get a few family shots.  Happy Thanksgiving!

 Kaden's headdress read, "Strong Cheetah"

 Kaden's class (he is smack dab in the center)

 Our thankful tree (yes, it's totally wonky and crooked!)

 My mom's birthday cake

 The family on Thanksgiving

The boys with their Nana and Papa

Food Allergy Walk 2011

The third annual Food Allergy Walk took place in Cary, NC on November 5th.  The four of us walked with my parents (bummed I don't have a photo with my Dad in it), and we lucked out with another day of absolutely gorgeous weather.  This year the site changed and we walked around a lake just down the road from where the boys were born and near to where Josh worked in a previous job.  While there, I recognized some faces from previous years and was happy to see Kaden's allergist, who had a table in the vendor section with literature on asthma/allergy.   A huge THANK YOU to all my friends and family who supported us through donations to FAAN.    It is such an important cause to us and your support is so appreciated!

 Mom insisted I take this photo of her with a (much younger) Fire Fighter.  Gotta love her!