bathtub fun and goofy slippers...

hello again! i'm back so soon because i actually am trying to be better about updating the blog! and mom took some cute pictures to share, so here we go... i've been two for over a week now and feel pretty good about things, but mostly i've just been up to my usual stuff... momma has been letting me take baths in her big tub lately, which i really like, and i love to play with cups and empty containers while i'm in there - that keeps me busy the whole time (nevermind the totally cute playmobil boat set she got me for christmas!!). here are several pictures from last night...

and i also mentioned last time that i got a new bed! i've been sleeping in it for almost two weeks now and really enjoy it (and am excited about the new baby getting to sleep in my old bed). i have all white furniture now, and mom is still doing mom-stuff with the decorating, but the major stuff is done so i wanted to share...

check out my new comforter - there's a bus on it - yahoo!!

and daddy hung some really cool ledges for my books, so that i can see all of them at once and easily take them down and put them back up... there are two more of these shelves in the playroom too! (i will loan the bookshelf that grandpa built to the baby when he comes along, since it matches all of that furniture)...

getting used to these changes and playing with all my christmas and birthday toys has kept me pretty busy lately. it's also been warm here again the last week, so we've been able to play outside a lot, which i was very glad about! i went to the doctor for my two-year well-check, and he said i passed! i still have the heart murmur but it's pretty faint, so i guess that's good news. and i also went to the dentist on tuesday (totally uncool) and passed that exam as well! i have all my primary teeth now (including all 4 2-year molars - yahoo!) so i should be done slobbering - finally!! i like to talk, talk, talk and say lots of phrases - and i especially like to repeat things! momma tried to work with me on potty training some more, but i'm not really into that quite yet, so we'll try again later. i love to read books - mostly the same ones over and over and over for a few days... then i'll pick a new set that i like and we'll read those over and over and over... i love stickers and granola and chocolate chips and firetrucks and garbage trucks and still love buckles... i also like to wear the goofy slippers my mom bought me - here's me looking a little too much like napoleon dynamite...

and one of my most favorite things to do is run around - really fast - all over the place! i especially love ramps of any kind (indoors or out) and especially, especially love to run naked around the upstairs after my baths!! i have actually loved doing this for a really long time, and mom occasionally takes videos of me, to save for later and use to embarrass me in front of girlfriends, but here's a quick picture of me darting around, to close out... have a good weekend, and hopefully i'll report back again soon!

my second birthday...

so - - - i'm officially 2 years old now!! yahoo!!!! yesterday was a super day and i had a lot of fun celebrating with momma, daddy, and others. here's how it went down... this is what i looked like first thing in the morning (after waking up in my new, big bed, which i will write about next time!)...



daddy had a big meeting at work and promised to come home early, but i got to open a few presents from other people first thing in the morning with mom...

i got a cool monkey/tree/balancing game from aunt aimee, uncle greg, and gabrielle, and a fun car wash/gas station from beamee and grampee (since we both love car washes so much!). here i am sending my yellow camaro through the car wash (with my birthday hat on, which i wore on my own free will for most of the day, and the cool monkey tree in the side-view)...

i wanted to call beamee right away and talk to her on my birthday morning...

later on, momma took me to an indoor, inflatable play place - which was awesome!!! i had a blast and pretty much laughed and smiled the whole time! it was even cooler because aunt debbie came with us, and my friend madeleine and her mom, miss brenda, met us there! the pictures aren't great, but you can see what a fun time i had...

we went to get ice cream after that, which is what i requested for lunch (of course), and then i had a good long nap after all that exercise! daddy was home when i woke up, and we went to ride the city bus!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this was so cool, and it was the perfect day for it - sunny and in the 70's! here are some pictures of our trip...

this is a close-up of my eye stinger, which i got from bonking my head on my bed before nap-time (apparently i'm not quite used to it yet!)...

after that we had burgers and fries for dinner then returned home for a second helping of ice cream (which i again requested) and homemade chocolate chip cookies (i LOVE chocolate chips and helped mom make these cookies!). this was my official birthday "cake" so i blew out my candles (but still don't like the bday song and wouldn't let them sing it to me!)...

and then after my bath i finally got to open my present from mom and dad - well worth the wait! it's a wooden parking garage - complete with two ramps and an elevator (both of which i love in real life and now love playing with in mini versions)...

here i am with another matching playset i got from miss brenda and madeleine, which is a rescue center (ambulance and police station). i am having a ton of fun playing with these and enjoy role playing with all my vehicles and special buildings of my "city" - cool!

thank you to everyone for my birthday gifts (mom says i even have a few more in the mail - bonus!!). and thank you for all the birthday wishes. it was really a great day, and although i must say i don't feel all that different, i sure did enjoy the special treatment, the day of fun, and the two helpings of ice cream!! i think i'm going to like this two-years-old stuff and since i already have several tantrums under my belt, i'm already off to a head-start! i also know my colors, numbers (0-10), quite a few letters, most shapes, and how to say big words like: malachite, container, caterpillar, and mint chocolate chip. it should be smooth-sailing from here! :) but don't let this cute face fool you...

i'll be sure to show TWO who's boss!

happy birthday, ben!!!!

hello all - this is actually ben's mom writing in on his 2nd birthday!! of course it's hard to believe he's two years old, but at the same time, i love watching him grow up and do something new and exciting (and cute!) each day. we've been talking to ben this week about his special day, but i can tell he doesn't quite get it (he still keeps mentioning baby jesus's birthday!). but we are going to do some fun things to celebrate with him today and we'll try to report back in soon on all the fun!
here is a picture from this morning, and a few to look back on from his 1st birthday and his actual birth day, two years ago...

happy birthday to my favorite little man!! we love you so much!!!!!!!!!! (and i will try really, really hard to not cry too much today!) :)

today...

one year ago...

two years ago...

happy new year!!

hello everyone! well, i'm back from my christmas travels and have lots of fun to report, so let's get started. first off, we went to mimsie and grandpa's on christmas eve-eve to see them before our trip to IN. that was loads of fun, and i love to play with their beagle dog, maggie. i've always liked her (and other dogs) but am now really getting to have fun and play with her. we didn't officially celebrate christmas with them yet because aunt mandy wasn't with us, so we'll do that this weekend at our house and i'll post pictures next week. after our short trip there, we came back home to wake up here on christmas morning - yahoo!! i had been talking about baby jesus's birthday a lot leading up to the big day and was excited to see what was in store. one of my favorite parts was just having daddy home with me and momma, and we had an unusually sugary breakfast of cinnamon rolls and bacon - yum!! off to a great start! i got some fun toys in my stocking and tried out a new boat set in the bathtub (while also sporting sunglasses on a random whim)...

then later in the morning i got to open my special presents - a set of wooden construction trucks - yessss!! i really like these and am sure to have lots of fun playing with them for a long time...

after spending the morning at home, we were finally off to the airport to fly on a plane to indiana! i had also been looking forward to this for a long time and couldn't wait to arrive. here i am in the airport looking cute and not at all like the disaster i might have been on one of the two flights we took that day. sorry, fellow passengers!

but we arrived safely on christmas night and got started right away with having fun (and sleeping less!). i have to say i really like visiting my relatives in indiana, and i think they like having me there too - here i am with all the guys! there are lots of girls around up there, and they're super fun, but sometimes the guys just like to hang out together (now that there are enough of us to actually constitute "the guys")...

and here's a picture of beamee's christmas tree loaded up with presents - what's not to love about that?!?! i told you this place was fun...

here i am hauling around my "trunki" from selt - super cool! my very own suitcase!!

i received many other neat things too, and i'm so thankful to everyone for thinking of me. we had fun opening gifts on saturday and i took a really long nap to recover from my sleep deficit, and when i woke up, this is what had happened - AUGH!!!

it had been snowing gently ever since we arrived on friday, but it wasn't until sunday afternoon that it had accumulated to this, and mommy bundled me up to go play outside - yahoo! these are my first ever steps in actual snow...

here i am venturing out into it a little further, enjoying the crunch crunch under my non-snow-boot regular sneakers, which the melted snow ever so slowly penetrated...

and here i am putting my non-mitten-covered hands into the fluffy white stuff to discover what it's like...

and here i am immediately after that, coming over to mommy...

to wipe my frigid hands on her pants...

and to let her know how i really feel about this stuff!!

had this smart woman lost her mind? where had she taken me? where is the indiana i used to know and love, and what is this white stuff all over the grass? where is the sun? why am i covered in fleece from head to toe and still freezing my bohiny off? and why isn't beamee saving me?!?!?!

after being reassured by momma that this snow would not be the end of me and that it could actually be fun to play in, we borrowed some mittens from taylor (because why on earth would i own any?!) and decided to stick it out a little while longer... turns out i actually did like walking around in the snow, to see my tracks around the yard and just generally check out the white scenery...

i was a little bummed that the neighbor's playground was not as fun to play on when covered in cold snow, but i gave it a shot anyway...

and mostly just walked around with gabbee and taylor...

here are some more pictures of me outside. mom took a lot so that it looked like i was out here enjoying myself all day or something, but it was probably only about 15 minutes!

i guess all that snow wasn't the worst thing ever, but it definitely was not my favorite. i think i'll stick to texas for a while and just enjoy the view from inside beamee's house when we come to visit indiana in the winter. this face sums up my final opinion of my first real snow experience...

but rest assured that when i came back inside, i got a warm bath and some sympathy from everyone, and then grampee fed me one of my favorite treats - crushed ice. :)

i continued soaking up the sympathy from aunt elaina with some whip cream from her starbucks drink...

and here i am later eating up high on a special chair grampee rigged up for me... as you can see, no one goes hungry at beamee's house!! :)

the rest of the trip was full of fun hanging out together, playing games, and just enjoying the christmas season. somehow there is no group picture to post, or even one of all the kids - augh! it's just hard to keep up with the camera when there's so much fun to be had (and food to be eaten!). but i had such a wonderful time and miss everyone already. i guess the next time we'll be together again is in may to celebrate the arrival of my little brother!! i don't think i've mentioned on here that i'm having a little brother - but it's true - yahoo!!! we are so pumped. :) i'll close with a picture of my fun on the flight home, which mostly consisted of playing with the tray tables (and screaming some - sorry again!) and a picture of beamee and grampee (i miss you so much, thank you for all the fun at your house!). stay tuned next week for an update on the matthys christmas and more fun back at home... bye!