Thanksgiving/Declan's 1st Birthday

This Thanksgiving we went to the Callahan's for the second year. I was a slacker and didn't take pictures until after dinner and when we had Declan's early birthday celebration. Complete with cupcakes and presents. Althought his 1st birthday wasn't until the next day I thought it would be nice to share with some friends. The cupcake started out rather neat but as you can see, it got a little messy!



I love this picture! He pretends he's shy when women talk to him and my friend Renee was talking to him when he did this. So cute!

I just had to give him some fresh strawberries to balance out the cupcake. I know it's his birthday but I couldn't resist. He loves his fruit!

Opening presents at the Callahan's. He was so interested in checking out the first present that we had to start the second one for him. I'm just happy he tried to open as many as he did.

The next day we had a little birthday celebration, just the 4 of us and Declan opened some more presents. He got a pair of shoes from Grandma and Grandpa and he just loved them. He held on to those shoes for a good while!

He was really unsure about opening this present because it was furry.

Of course Ian came to help and then proceeded to take over the "GA Gator" briefly.

Declan got over the odd feeling of the furry new friend and now loves giving him hugs!

I then had to wrestle Ian down for taking the gator from his brother which turned into the wrestle with mommy game. Now anytime I'm on the floor the boys tackle me. I love my boys!



Renee just sent me a couple picture of her son Emry and Ian from Thanksgiving that I thought I would share. They were taking a break from running around like crazies to watch a few minutes of cartoons!

Catching up...Part 2...Some Randomness!

So here are some random photos and videos of our life, which revolves around our kids. I never thought I would say that but it's so true and I wouldn't have it any other way! This is a video of Declan walking. He started walking October 5 but really started to take off around Halloween! I love the hands up method of balance!




Can you feel the brotherly love! Ian had just finished wrestling Declan to the ground and I missed it but I got the "I'm sorry" head pat!

We are in the process of doing some heavy duty potty training and that is another reason I've been slacking on the blogging. But for a couple days, the only way Ian would sit on the potty was if it was on the coffee table in the living room. Before I had kids I would have been totally disturbed by this thought, but now if it means less diapers to change, I'm all for it! I caught this picture of his reading while on the potty, which I was so excited about. His Uncle Zach will totally understand why!HAHAHA!

So this is the fakest smile I've ever seen on any child ever but I thought it was too funny not to post!

I was trying to get a picture of the boys in there matching Smokey the Bear shirts from Grandma and Grandpa but some wrestling happened instead. I think this is all Grandpa Mark's fault!


Just one of the cutest Declan I know! I love that he's just so happy all the time, ok almost all the time!

Catching up...Part 1...Happy Halloween!

This year was super fun since Ian was actually into dressing up and "trick or treating". He was the best looking pirate I saw all night and Declan was the crab from The Little Mermaid. We had so much fun carving the pumpkins. When I say "we" I mean Ryan and I since Ian touched it once and was having no part in the disgusting stuff and Declan really wasn't that interested at all. And I specifically carved a Thomas the Train pumpkin for Ian since he has a slight obsession.



Our little Sebastian the crab! He may look like a little girl but he was still so cute!






Ready to go! The evening could not come fast enough for Ian. It's a true test of patience for a child to wait to go trick or treating!



I think there was like two pieces of candy and a tooth brush in that pumpkin but it was so very interesting already! This is also one of my favorite pictures!

Of course we had to get some pictures of Ian with his little friends. This one is of Ian and Brooklyn as Minnie Mouse! Such a great age! Ian's facial expression cracks me up!



This is Ian the pirate, Gabriel the chicken, and Gabriel's sister the princess!


"AAARRRGGGG! AARRGG! AARRGG!"


Ryan ended up carrying Ian at the end of the night! That was a lot of walking for a two year old!


Checking out the loot at the end of the night!