Mr. B Turns Two

Well the little man turned two yesterday.  It's so cliche I realize, but they really do grow up so fast.  It seems like just yesterday we were staring over his bassinet.  Now we are lucky to catch a glimpse of his backside as he is running away from us.  I haven't taken him for his two year check up so I can't give you all of his boring stats, but I can tell you he is a total spitfire with the cutest personality ever.  One minute you want to squeeze his little cheeks, the next minute you want to beat his little behind.  He has me wrapped around his little finger quite frankly.  He loves to do anything his brother is doing and usually accomplishes this task by stealing whatever Nolan has at the time, running and then spiking said object on the floor when Nolan gets too close.  It's precious.  He loves to be outside and will kick and scream when you try and make him come in.  He's a total boy who loves bikes, trucks, balls, climbing, jumping, sliding and dancing.  He has an infectious smile that can turn any bad day instantly good again.  His newest trick is stalling bed time by insisting that everyone in the house needs a kiss "Nowen (Nolan) Kiss" "Daddy Kiss"  "Mommy Kiss", of course we oblige because this trick truly is precious and he successfully gains an extra 5 minutes of freedom.  In a nutshell Bennett brings more than his fair share of spunk to this family of four and we are ever so thankful.

So in true "second child" form, I was not prepared with birthday pictures.  The night before his birthday I realized I didn't even have a recent picture of just him really.  So at around 8pm I threw him out in the front yard and prayed for the best.  Not too shabby, but don't fret he will still be getting a formal 2 year session with me…new teepee as a prop and all.  I'm sure he'll just LOVE that!

Don't let his cuteness and dimples fool you, he's evil...

  

Making Progress

Nolan is a Daddy's boy.  I know what you are thinking…I don't get it either.  I feel like lately I have been gaining some ground though.  Tonight when I got home from running a bazillion errands he said and I quote "I was hoping I'd get to spend time with just you tonight".  Raise your hand if you think that kid got to stay up past his bed time.  Raise another hand if you think he also got to eat Oreos at 9:00pm.  Hopefully you are all raising a roof out there because those both happened, and he is currently coming down from his sugar high.  He's precious I tell you what.  Now we just need to work on that other brother.  I haven't really figured out what makes Bennett tick yet, I'm not above bribery when used in the proper situation.  Gaining the position as #1 parent is totally the proper situation, can I get an Amen?  Maybe he wants a pony?  He does have a birthday this week!

Unrelated note, I want to give photo credit for the picture below.  This picture was taken by 3 year old Owen Riffee.  I think he has a budding career as a photographer ahead of him.  I don't have many pictures of me and Nolan so thank you Owen…I owe you one.  Come on over and I'll feed you Oreos at 9:00pm too (unless your Dad gets to them first).

Violet Turns Two

Bennett's girlfriend Violet had a birthday recently.  That's right Bennett likes to date older women already!  Anyway, Violet turned two and you know what that means PARTY TIME!  Violet's party was a Painting Party.  Who throws a painting party for a bunch of two year olds?  Julia that's who.  Let me also tell you that they just moved into a brand new house approximately two months prior to this party.  She's crazy I tell ya, crazy.  She's fun, but she's crazy!

I knew the party was going to be good when this is how the Birthday Girl greeted me.  She loves me, obvi.

Now on to the festivities!  Painting Painting and more Painting!

Julia had canvases and aprons for every kid set up against the fence for them to show off their artistic abilities.  Some were better at that than others, but priceless paintings were produced by everyone nonetheless. 

Jessie was at a bridal shower, so Kevin was in charge of Connor and one of Connor's cousins Ethan.  Kevin said he now realized what it was like to have twins…I think he is thankful he doesn't have twins.

The Dad's having to get their hands dirty…literally.

Bubble painting...

Choices choices…

What party is complete without some cake...

And presents...

This picture is causing a lot of controversy right now.  I have had a couple of people ask me now if it would be weird if they printed this picture of Lori and Payton to display at their house.  Yes people, that's weird. Lori is the only person allowed to print this picture and display it at her house.  Oh and her mom that would be acceptable too.  Jessie and Amanda I'm watching you.

I can't get over how much these two look like brothers to me.  No shared genes at all, but they sure are cute.  They must get it from their moms.

Perhaps one of my favorite pictures of the day.  The kids all ganging up on Curtis, who was a good sport but not willing to put that beer down!

Trouble...

Who had fun at their birthday party?  This girl...

Random Happenings

We have been mighty busy around these parts, but I've been on a sabbatical from my camera it seems.  I'm in a creative rut so the best I can do is pics from my iphone.  So here is a glimpse of what we have been up to, Instagram style.  If you don't follow me on Instagram, you really should.  I post quite a few pictures on there, more than I'm posting here.  You surely wouldn't want to miss the picture of my bowl of Ramen Noodles would you?  Exciting stuff I tell you what!

I'll attempt to tell you what is going on in these pictures.  Here is what we have been up to:

1.  Showering a dear friend via Strawberry Insanity.

2.  Taking our girlfriend Violet for a spin around the pool.

3.  Going to the movies.

4.  Scouring the Flea Market for treasures.

5.  Having drinks with friends.

6.  Helping each other color.

7.  Harbouring fugitives in the firepit.

8.  Riding Bikes.

9.  Eating Ice Cream…as a reward for number 8 above.

10.  Using our firepit (for real, not just as a hiding place) for the first time.

11.  Cheating at games.

12.  Taking selfies.

The Finale

This is officially the last lake post, the finale if you will.  Well for this particular trip anyway.  Get excited, we are going back to the lake again soon so I'm sure there will be another 3 to 4 day post to follow ;)  Anyway, our last day at the lake was filled with more boating, jumping and swimming.  And some very happy boys.  The lake treated us well this year, as usual.

We started out on the boat and although I've already shared pictures of my little boater I wanted to also capture him in his brother's hat.  He just looked so darn cute.  We shall ignore the fact that my one year old is eating a Twizzler, perhaps we can pretend it's some sort of fruit straw instead.  

Then I attempted to get in a picture with the boys and decided to try and persuade them by making goofy faces.  Bennett missed the memo.

Then we headed back to the dock where Nolan proceeded to jump off the high dive approximately one million times.  I'm not sure if these pictures actually do the high dive justice.  It really is high and I really can't believe he jumped off by himself this year.  But he did and though my Mom might have lost 10 years off her life…we all survived, for now.

Proud Nolan...

And just because goggle pictures are ALWAYS funny...

After the first "episode" when Bennett jumped off the high dive I didn't let him go back.  So I took him up to man the water table with Baby Cy instead.  Good thing they had those life jackets on, that water table can get pretty deep! #safetyfirst

Baby Cy was getting attacked by a "fish" (Nolan) in the water and thought that was pretty entertaining.

 So there you have it, our trip to the lake.  Lots of fun in the sun and a perfect little family vacation.  Our next trip to the lake is with Chad's family, so probably a lot of the same pictures just with some different kids and perhaps a passed out Billy ninja.