Monster "Bash"...

Our little man, Blake, turned ONE on Saturday and we celebrated his birthday with family that evening. Mema and Bepa came into town for the festivities. We had a picnic dinner in the front yard with neighbors followed by presents and cake on the big day. Today, we had a great monster themed party with a monster sub, monster mash (ambrosia), and a great group of our friends. We had a fun time celebrating that our baby is now a real number, "1", and growing up so fast! We love you Blake...Happy Birthday!

Time for presents with Mema and Bepa on Blake's birthday...

Loving the cupcake!

He loved the sugary cupcake since it was the first one he had ever eaten. I'm sure he was thinking, "This is so much better than that pureed stuff Mom gives me!"

Peeking at Daddy while opening presents at his party. So cute!

Happy 1st Birthday Blake...Monster cake

Make a wish!

Yea! I am ONE!

So, where's my cake?

Happy boy making a big mess...

This is Blake after being wiped down once. He had so much fun with the frosting! So, when do I get to turn 2?

Doctor, Doctor Give Me the News...

So right before Tyler's third birthday, he fell off the couch in the living room and he hit his head on a trunk that we use as a coffee table. He had a gash in his head which surprisingly didn't bleed too much. We took him to urgent care because having a hole that size in your head is probably not a good thing. They closed it up with Derma Bond (a fancy and more expensive version of Super Glue). It is all better now.

Here is Tyler as he breaks out in song one night just randomly. I had to get him to repeat it so I could record it. Too cute!

Tyler Turns Three...

On April 13, Tyler turned three years old! We had a little family "party" at our house on his actual birthday and then that weekend we had a baseball themed birthday party with friends (more pics to come). We are so blessed to have Tyler in our lives. It has been a great 3 years!

Tyler's Stats:

Weight: 34 pounds (75th percentile)

Height: 38 1/2 inches ( 70th percentile)

Likes: playing outside, coloring, playing with cars, his brother, riding his scooter, baseball, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates

Dislikes: vegetables, most meat (hot dogs and burgers), and monsters

We celebrated with an ice cream cake...yummy!

Tyler loved opening the cards with music. He constantly plays with them and listens to the music even after his birthday. I think we still have cards from several years ago. He loves them!

An ambulance and a tractor from Mema and Bepa.

Happy birthday to you!

"I'm 3!"

Hanging Out With the Big Cheese...

Last week we traveled to Southern California to take a trip to Disneyland. It would be the boys' first trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. I grew up in Orange County and have been to Disneyland about a hundred times, but this would be the first to see it through the eyes of my children. It was fantastic to see their smiles, watch them become so excited to finally arrive in this magical place, and love Disneyland as much as I do. We were able to go on three different days in order to take it all in. We needed every moment and more as we didn't even get to do everything we had planned while we were there. The first morning we arrived at the park an hour early to attend a "Magic Morning" where you are able to enter Disneyland one hour before the general public arrives. This was great because there were no lines or rushes of crazy people trying to get from one end the other. Tyler and Blake took their first ride on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters with Mema and Bepa as Andy and I went to Space Mountain and took in our favorite. We were surprised at all of the rides that both boys could go on and we learned a lot about Tyler and his thrill seeking adventurous side. He didn't really like the rides about the storybook characters like Snow White or Pinocchio, but rather liked the roller coasters and fun rides like Mad Hatter's Tea Cups, The Matterhorn, and Autopia. We had so much fun on this trip to Disneyland. I have managed to narrow down the 586 pictures to the 30 some below. I hope you can see the fun we all had!

The Big Cheese himself, Mickey Mouse

Our early morning treat...to get into the park one hour early.

So excited to get started!

Tyler and I in front of Cinderella's castle...

Blake tuckered out on his first visit.

Andy and I on Main Street.

Blake and I on the carrosel.

Tyler and Bepa...

This was one of the favorites, Dumbo. Tyler wanted to go on it again and again.

Blake had a good time, too.

Taking a spin on the teacups...

We all had fun meeting the characters. Here is Tyler with Pluto...

Blake and T with Mickey at breakfast with the characters...

Being Goofy...

Some more "Goofy" guys at breakfast...

Flirting with Minnie...

Blake hanging with Minnie after eating her nose when she was face to face. All he wanted to do with the characters is eat their nose or beak or ears.

Daisy Duck and the boys. I think they thought she was Daisy Duke...different girl boys.

Handing out some hugs to Miss Daisy...

Blake was seriously thinking about pulling the eyelashes off this duck's face.

Eating breakfast with Stitch.

Back to Disneyland and a ride on Autopia with mom. I think we went on this ride 4 or 5 times.

T and Dad made it back safely.

One big surprise was meeting Mater and Lightning in Radiator Springs.

Aww shucks...

Giving the Fonzie to Lightning McQueen.

Hanging out at Mickey's house in Toon Town.

In Goofy's backyard chillin' on the bench watching the garden grow.

We were at Disneyland on St. Patrick's Day. Tyler's shirt says Lucky Me and has a picture of Mickey on the front. What a lucky day indeed!

Happy brothers in front of the castle.

St. Patty's Day family photo.

Bye-bye Disneyland. Until next time...we will miss you!

Blake Update...

Blake is 9 months old already. I cannot even believe how fast time flies when you have kids! It seems like you blink and all of a sudden they are so big. Well, Blake is at a very fun age right now where he is so curious, babbling, and just plain fun to be around. He also started "army crawling" recently and is able to get anywhere he wants.

Last Sunday, he was exploring at my in-laws house and fell down 13 stairs into their basement. Needless to say, we spend 5 1/2 hours in the ER and after a CT scan, the doctors determined that there was no bleeding in the brain, however there was a questionable spot behind his left ear possibly leading to some hearing loss. So we are dealing with figuring out whether this hearing loss is due to an infection that he may have had already or if it is related to the fall he took on Sunday. We will re-evaluate the situation and I will keep you all updated.

Here are the most recent stats...

Height: 28 inches

Weight: 22 lbs. 2 oz.

First word: Ma Ma (love it!)

Favorite Foods: Well at 22 lbs. 2 oz. I am sure you can tell that he likes about anything that comes his way. His favorite foods are applesauce and Cheerios. He will eat any and all varieties of Gerber veggies. We will be introducing yogurt, cheese, and other foods that we eat in mushed up form.

Activities: Crawling, sleeping, eating, playing with Tyler, watching Tyler play, getting his toys taken away by Tyler (he loves his brother anyway), trying to play/crawl on/grab/or pinch Lily who is a good sport and just looks at Blake with that "get away from me" kind of look.

Blake in the ER...

Best Buddies...

Blake and I at the Stock Show in Denver.

Amazing Similarities...

Although our two boys don't look that much alike right now, they certainly looked alike at the same age so far. In both pictures we were at Rustic Oven and I remembered we took the picture of Tyler in the same shirt with a napkin around his neck (I'm not sure how I remembered that), so I decided to take one of Blake while we were there to compare. Check out the pictures below...

Blake at 8 months.

Tyler at 7 1/2 months.