Birthday Boys

I was going to get some numeral candles, a 1, 3, and 4, but then I thought it would just look like I couldn't count.

We're still trying to sort out this whole sharing a birthday thing. I didn't know whether to do one cake or two cakes, if we should celebrate two different nights, or what. I think we'll figure it out more and more each year. This year we did not have enough people around to justify two cakes. I guess I should be more sentimental, but this time of year, I don't know that we can take all the extra treats. Sorry, guys. 

This has been quite the year for both Brady and Charlie. Brady's first year as a psychology professor, Charlie's first year as a person. Brady has lost about 15 pounds (just being more active, I guess, nothing deliberate, which is impressive), Charlie has gained almost 15 pounds (just shy of 24 pounds now!). Brady has developed a new line of research and expertise in ecopsychology (which he recently presented a paper for at a big interdisciplinary conference), and Charlie has developed his interpersonal skills of peekaboo and social greetings (saying and sometimes waving "hi"). These guys have so much in common.

Okay, time for Brady's prediction to come true and Charlie to completely upstage him now (which he's totally cool with having a grown-up birthday, meaning he still had to go to work and help put the kids to bed, but I did do all the cooking that day). I mean, 34 is a pretty big milestone, but . . . I didn't get a sign made for Brady, and as you can see, my toner wasn't doing great. Maybe next year.

As you can see, Charlie is starting toddlerhood off with all the right forehead bruises.

He hasn't  started walking yet beyond what he can do holding onto furniture or walls. He is a super fast crawler, so doesn't seem too motivated to find another means of getting around.

 This is what Charlie got from my parents. I had to open this one early for him because Ellie could see what it was on the box it arrived in and she was too excited. She was really good about waiting until he woke up from his nap and letting him have the first turn. Here is a video of them playing with it that I promised to post. Might be on the long side for anyone besides grandmas.

 

So after a dinner of creamy tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (Charlie liked the first, Ellie liked the second), we blew out candles and opened presents.

I love how Charlie looks so ready to dive into the cake in this picture. Turns out he wasn't. Too much excitement. He was so ready to hit it and didn't make it to cake and ice cream.

Brady got this great cast iron combo cooker for making some amazing bread (which he's already used), along with some other cooking gadgets and books, and some gear for his bike (he usually rides his bike to work, and it's getting darker and colder for his mile commute). Charlie also got some books, cars, wall decals (he loves the ones in Ellie's room), and a mat to drive his cars on.

Here is a picture of some of the decals and the car mat/rug. Ellie loves this present too. She loves most of Charlie's presents, but has been really good about letting them be his, for the most part. She really wanted a present and to blow out candles. It was pretty confusing being so close to her birthday and there were so many presents on the table since we were celebrating two birthdays. Luckily I had a pair of Christmas socks for her that I had been saving, so I just wrapped those and let her open them. Might have to have that be a new tradition for the kids. 

So then we planned to do cake and ice cream the next day, but this is how we spent most of the next day:

Poor baby. Turns out the little cold I thought Ellie had the day before (hence the pajamas in all the pictures) was a bit more. We went in for the kids' well-check appointment and found out that Ellie had her first ear infection. Charlie had to get a bunch of shots and just wanted to sleep and be held all day. And Brady and I were both under-the-weather too. Blah. 

Charlie rebounded and we had another party on Saturday. So here are the obligatory first year messy cake pics.

And here's video because I have it and this post just isn't getting long enough, right? I think he looks kind of muppety here with the bib rolled up. This is pretty much how mealtime with Charlie goes. A bite here and there, punctuated with clapping, his "go nuts" trick (shake his head back and forth real fast), or saying "hi."

Anywho, strung out over three days, we did get a pretty good celebration in. Charlie returned to the usually, happy-go-lucky, playful boy we adore; we marvel every day at what a blessing he is to our family. And he learned how much he loves cream cheese frosting. To quote Ellie, "it's delectable."

Look who's . . . turtle(?!) years old . . .

Ellie's third birthday came with great fanfare. We had decorations, balloons, the works. (Okay, so a few streamers and a tablecloth from the dollar store, but when she saw it after she woke up in the morning, she was super excited: "Wee-hee, wa-hoo, it's my birthday!"). Some of her cousins called mid-morning to wish her a happy birthday. She was a good little parrot and told them just about everything I told her to say: "It's my birthday . . . I got presents . . . I have a balloon . . ." When I told her to say, "I'm three," Ellie protested and said, "No, I'm not being numbers! [then back to the phone] I'm a turtle!" So I guess she has a little different reckoning of aging than the rest of us.

Ellie opened presents over a lunch of chicken nuggets (her favorite). She got Tangled, some great books, a puzzle, a color pad, Hooper Humperdink and a purse and mirror from my parents (she used to always play with the hand mirror in my mom's room, so now she has her own and sleeps with it most nights). And then there was the football from Charlie. I took the kids to the dollar store to pick out presents for each other, and Ellie insisted that Charlie wanted to giver her a football. She also got They Might Be Giants DVD Here Comes the ABCs. That one was supposed to be for Christmas, but Brady couldn't wait. She looooves it.

Ellie and I had an impromptu playdate at the park with Ellie's best friend from the ward, Danni (Danielle). Her birthday is the day before Ellie's (she is one year and one day older), so we took her a balloon on our way to the park and she joined us. Ellie had to bring her purse and football and is showing Danni the family picture inside.

Climbing on the stagecoach.

Magic wands and climbing in the trees.

Ellie wanted a cousin party for her birthday. We were worried about that since we moved away from all the cousins (she was used to going to cousins' birthday parties). But then we remembered we do have cousins right here (my cousin Brad and family). So Ellie had a second-cousin party. The night before she was running around in circles telling Charlie, "the cousins and coming, the cousins are coming!" Of course, just before they got here she woke up from a late nap (which she rarely takes anymore) super cranky and not the greatest hostess. But she perked up for the cake (every time I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she answered, "chocolate frosting"--good girl). By the end she was running around with Brad's girls and playing with the balloons (and all of this I of course failed to get a picture of). Those girls were pretty good sports to come to a three-year-old's birthday party. Ellie has adopted a few families of cousins since we moved here, but these we could prevail upon since they are actually relatives, right? Plus, we fed them dinner and Brady cooked.

So we had a pretty successful day and a pretty happy three-year-old. We're glad to have her in our family!

A couple of trickers

Ellie was pretty excited about Halloween this year. A couple months ago she started piling blankets into a box, telling me she was packing all her clothes up (playing "moving" I guess). The she told me she needed to put a star on top for a "decorape." Once she pronounced it complete, she exclaimed, "Happy Halloween!" She has a funny concept of holidays, but it motivates her. Even today I was able to get her to finish all her "pumpkin" peanut butter triangles and "turkey" applesauce (gross, I know, but it works). She was so ready to "go to Halloween" about three weeks ago. 

Last weekend we got to go back for a quick, whirlwind trip to see family and take Ellie to the temple open house. So we had a cousin costume party. Ellie was done with the hat by the time we gathered everyone for the picture.

So we tried it on Charlie. He doesn't love hats either.

Halloween day was pretty good. We actually had great weather (a week ago we had a pile of snow, so not bad!) it was around 60 degrees when we left for trick-or-treating. Didn't even have to cover up the costumes with coats! 

Charlie was tired and clingy all day and wouldn't let me draw the Charlie Brown curl on his forehead again. But he was a pretty good sport.

Ellie was pretty happy with her costume. When I went to get her from her little preschool party, she was barefoot (in her "feet shoes," as she would say) sans hat and chaps. The moms in charge told me it all gradually came off one piece at a time throughout playtime. Guess Ellie has a thing or two to learn about being a cowgirl. When she saw Charlie's costume she thought she was going to be Linus (she's a huge Peanuts fan, both of the food and the cartoon). It took some bribing to get her to wear this costume the first time. Next year, I think I'm not going to get so invested in costumes. Something that just goes on, zips up, has a hood, that I don't have to make. Done.

 Ellie showed Charlie on her dollhouse how to ring the doorbell and say "trick-or-treat." It was pretty cute.

So excited to get out there.

Probably the best shot I got of Charlie's costume. This kid does not hold still, so everything is always a blur.

Also, note for next year: probably do a costume that is a little more generic. Sure, she looked just like Jesse from Toy Story, but all the really old people in our neighborhood (and we have a number of old timers) had no idea who that is. Plus, if the braid was behind Ellie's head, they couldn't tell she was a girl. Do you know how many, "Oh, a cowboy!" comments we got? Finally, my little girl has hair and she's still getting called a boy!

But look who we did run into while trick-or-treating. Ellie was really excited to see Buzz and Woody (no idea who they really are). She cried when they left.

She actually cried more than once last night (she wanted Daddy to carry her, she wanted to ring the doorbell, no one was home at that house, time to go home for Charlie's bedtime, etc.) It was kind of a rough, emotional, but so fun at times night. Once she got home and settled, she was happy again and loved opening the door for the kids coming to our house. She wouldn't give them the candy, but she would listen and open the door sometimes before they had a chance to knock, saying, "Another tricker! Look! More trickers came!" She was just telling me about the trickers coming to her house. So all in all, a pretty successful (but glad it's over) Halloween. On to birthday season.