Celebrating Spirit

Surely this little one is not celebrating 

his brother being away from home all day?!

Day 2:  Already showing school spirit!

First Day of Kindergarten

{Love that he was not embarrassed of us yet!}

Boys... You've Got Mail

Ashley and I heard/read about this idea somewhere and I had to share.  Setup an email account for your child (when you find out your pregnant, when they are born, when they are 5, 10, whatever)... just setup an email account and don't tell them.  Then proceed to send emails to them throughout the years with thoughts, memories, pictures and anything you want to share with them.  The idea is to not tell them about it until they graduate High School (or some other date when they are older).  They will have years and years worth of memories to go back through and read.

We setup accounts for both boys months ago when we first heard about this and it has been fun emailing them both (or individually) from time to time.  If you know and love our boys and want to share something then feel free... we created gmail accounts with their full names (ie. firstlast@gmail.com).

Now we'll just have to try and remember the password years from now. :)

Anderson's Birthday Party

In the middle of July, 

in the middle of Charlotte, 

in the middle of two CONCACAF Gold-Cup soccer games, 

among 60,000 soccer fans, 

we celebrated Anderson's second birthday with some of our favorites.  

They battled the crowds and the heat, 

drove around for 30 minutes looking for a parking spot 

and came to eat cupcakes and hatch dinosaur eggs with us.  

We were so blessed by their presence. 

Anderson had no clue that the party was all about him.  

He was content to survey the scene with Goldfish and grapes 

while big friends and 'baby' friends played around him.  

He did love the cupcakes and enjoyed hearing and singing 

his favorite song, "Happy Birt-day!" 

And hopefully he felt celebrated and loved.

 His safe, happy place.

Waiting for his dinosaur egg to hatch.  

There were 32 of these ice eggs! 

They were a big hit, but the big kids were not patient enough 

to let the heat or water melt them to reveal the dinosaurs 

and took to smashing them on the ground.

 Birthday Boy surrounded by friends

Thoroughly enjoying his cupcake

 The perfect present from the Millers

Sweetness

Anderson's Birthday Morning

Anderson slept in on his birthday,

so Alekzander blew up mini-balloons 

while we waited impatiently

to start the birthday celebrations.

Alekzander was so excited for Anderson to open his presents,

but once the birthday boy finally woke up,

the only thing he was interested in was the balloons.

He had no idea that today was his big day.

He caught on quickly and eventually tore into his presents 

like a seasoned birthday professional.

{Opening his present from Alekzander :: Vtech Go Go Smart Animals}

{Opening his monogrammed hooded dino towel 

and dinosaur Camelbak water bottle from mommy & daddy} 

 {Aunt Tessa Bug's dino themed present!}

No Secret

It's no secret,

Anderson is almost two!!

And he is acting like a big boy.

After watching his big brother swim for 8 days straight at swim lessons,

he finally got over his fear and decided to embrace the water.

He is like a fish now and will lay back, kick his feet,  

jump in holding hands,

and reach for the wall to pull himself up.

And on his own, he changed up his bedtime routine.

No more mutton, just "rock a minute" and read books.

He puts together proper sentences like,

"Get me out please, mama."

Or "Rock this way now."

"Read panda book, please."

So big. So loved.

5 Before 2