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I can’t believe I’ve been away from blogging so long that I actually missed Sylvie’s 2nd birthday. This year her birthday fell on a Wednesday which meant it was a Grammie day. My mom made cupcakes for Sylvia which Nicholas helped decorate. Sylvia loved them!
When Daddy got home from work we opened presents. She got a shopping cart from us along with a few other toys.
I don’t know if its because of the balloons, the birthday sundaes or that is is just plain loud in there, but we always seem to end up at Red Robin for the kids’ birthdays.
Then on Friday we went to TGI Fridays to celebrate with Scott’s family.
Sylvia enjoyed another sundae there , but decided it was easier to lap it up like a dog instead of using her spoon. 
Sylvia had one more party at my mom’s house a couple of weeks later. This time she shared the spotlight with several of her cousins, and I’m pretty sure she enjoyed these cupcakes too!
I say the same thing every year, but I can’t believe my oldest baby is this old already!
His favorite things right now (or should I say the only thing he cares about at all) are trains. He has quite an imagination too. He can make anything into a train – a toy snake, plates, straws, cars, remote controls, boxes. If an object can’t be a train in his mind, it will always still have something to do with trains – it will be something to fix a train or for a train driver to use, etc. Its seriously all he thinks about!
To celebrate, first we opened presents. We didn’t get him any trains, so he wasn’t too enthused. He was pretty excited about the new bike he picked out, but claims that it wasn’t a birthday present since it wasn’t wrapped up. 
I beg to differ. We had dinner at Red Robin and then took him to a different toy store to let him get something with the money he got from his great grandma. You guessed it – he bought a train.
This face is what he does now when I ask him to smile for me:
Last Sunday we had his birthday dinner at my mom’s, so thought I would add a couple of those pics as well.
And I can’t leave this rascal out either She loves pushing the buttons on my camera which is the only way I can get a pic out of her.
I really can’t believe I haven’t posted my photos yet. Well here they are almost a month late. Nicholas wanted to be Star Wars this year, so we found him a Clone Trooper costume with a “Life Saver”.
Pretty scary huh? He wanted to wear his mask on his belly.
And Sylvia – she was a dahlia fairy. She wasn’t too thrilled with getting dressed, but after we filled her pumpkin with candy she happily posed for a few pictures
And she was also willing to show me how much she could fit in her mouth
We took the kids to Halloween Hullabaloo at church where they played games and got candy. Nicholas even got to pick a goldfish.
Sylvia helped herself to some candy.
Sadly, Goldfish (Nicholas picked the name) only lasted a week. Here he is with a ‘couple’ flakes of food
Nicholas and his friend Kyle enjoyed a night of fishing in the church pond tonight. The outdoor club had it stocked with fish and invited the kids to come and fish. It was freezing but they had a good time.
Kyle caught the first one…
Kyle’s huge fish …
Right after that Nicholas got a bite…
Nicholas’ Fish…
Even though I begged him not to (and yes – he lied straight to my face), Scott threw me a wonderful surprise 30th birthday party last weekend. He knows all too well how nosy I am – he planned it almost a month early so that I wouldn’t be suspicious at all. Well it worked. We went out for dinner and then to my mom’s for what was supposed to be a family bonfire. I was completely shocked to see a bunch of my friends and family there too. My sister Betsy and her boyfriend Nick flew in from DC with my niece Stella. It was so wonderful to see them, even though we missed my other sister, Amy. And I really couldn’t believe my good friend Heather came all the way from Seattle. I hadn’t seen her for over 7 years! We had a great weekend catching up.
I actually went the entire weekend without taking a single picture, but Scott snapped this one of Heather and me in front of the house we used to live in: 
And another snap of Nicholas and Stella saying goodbye at the airport – before all the tears started flowing!
