Harper's 2nd Birthday

Harper turned two this past Sunday.  He ended up having two parties -- one when we were in Kansas and then one on the day of.   In Kansas, we had just family (& Tracee!) over to a park building for cake and hot dogs.  Then this past weekend we celebrated with a trip to the pool on Saturday and some fun backyard times and cupcakes on Sunday. 

Harper requested a 'fishy cake' from grandma Teresa.  So cute!

Cute & egg-less. ;)

Harper & Papa Larry

He wasn't so sure about all of the attention.

Opening presents with lots of 'help'.

Cool tractor from Ellie & Kane.

Tracee (one of my college roomates) and her sons Theo (here) & Anderson made the trek from Lawrence to stop by!

Birthday party kids: Helena, Kane, Theo, Anderson, Harper & Ellie

Somehow this birthday turned into Christmas up in here present-wise. Harper made out with a new workshop toy, car racer and a train table & train set that mom & dad scored for super cheap (used). ;)

Train table & track that Ash is more stoked about than the kids. :)

 I asked him what he wanted on his cupcakes and he said "sprinkles!" And then I asked him what he wanted for birthday breakfast and he said "sprinkles!" (We had bacon & pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes.)

He waited patiently for the cupcakes until about 4:00 when I caught him sneaking some fingers of frosting.... (Oh, and is sporting a new buzz cut).

Attempting to lick off the remnants.

Happy Birthday little buddy!  We love you!

- Emily :)

P.S. - Here's a fun look at Helena's 2nd birthday party.  She's so little!!!

P.P.S - I found a cake mix that is egg/nut/gluten free (you didn't even have to mix in any eggs or egg substitute) to use for the birthday cupcakes and it tasted great!  Yay, Cherrybrook Kitchen products!

Sing Songy

Since I started working so early in the morning, Ash has had the job of waking Harper up.  Poor Harper, he likes to wake up on his own...he'll even say "Mom, I still sleeping!" or "Mom, I want sleep more!" just like a teenager in the mornings.  :)

Anyway, Ash sings various songs to him to wake him up.  (Fun Ash fact:  He's very 'singy' in the morning.  And he's very good at making up songs).  His old preschool songs are usually the go-to ones.  Harper knows about five songs and has started getting better at singing recently.  (Currently he can sing the ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Up on the Housetop (yes, the Christmas one), and Itsy Bitsy Spider).  Here's he & Helena singing the "Good Morning to You" song at dinner time.

Lyrics: Good morning to you!  Good morning to you!  We're all in our places with sun shining faces....good morning to you!

I love Harper's inflection on the "you!".  He sounds like he's trying to increase his range. Ha!  Helena did a great job keeping him going, too!

Another song Ash sings that cracks me up is this one:

We live in Kansas.  Our home is Kansas.
It's the state in the west where the people are the best.
We live in Kansas.  Our home is Kansas. 
I'm a Jayhawker through and through.

I don't remember this from my Kansas preschool / elementary school days.  Does anyone else?  Just curious....  Ash went to montessori school in Lawrence before he moved to Detroit when he was 5, so I think the Jayhawk-ish songs were maybe more popular there?!? :)

Small sidenote:  Helena finished up her 'school year' and we got her 'portfolio' from her teacher.  In it was a list of her favorite this and that.  In the map unit ,she drew a picture and put that her favorite country is.....Kansas.

-Emily :)

Helena's Tap Recital

Helena had a tap dance recital right before we left on vacation.  Here's a snippet of her dance.

She did so awesome and we were so proud of her.  She did tell Ash not to come because she said he makes her nervous.  His feelings were hurt, but he obliged. :)

They did the dance twice and when the teacher asked them if they wanted to do it a second time Helena yelled 'NO!' the loudest.  Needless to say, we're still battling some shyness from time to time.  Which is also why you can tell the video is shot from the 2nd (back) row...less chance of her bolting & crying if I'm not RIGHT THERE.

Next up this summer...swimming lessons.  Then back to dance in the fall most likely. :)  Pretty sure we're not going to torture ourselves with tee ball this fall again. Ha!

-Emily :)

Costa Rica

Hey everyone....(**crickets**)....I know.  I suck a blogging lately.  I have good intentions. But, yeah...life and two year olds, etc., etc., etc., get in the way. 

But, we've successfully been to Costa Rica and back.  The grandparents in Kansas survived taking care of the kids.  Ash & I had our own little 'survival issues' while traveling.

I got stung by this:

Yeah, I'm not kidding.  It was about 4 inches long.  In my bed at the resort.  There was mucho hysterics, but two anti-venom shots later and I wasn't dead!  Yay for living!

Ash fell down a flight of stairs at the resort the day before I got stung and banged himself up pretty good, too.  (Two sore knees, an almost broken wrist, torn rib cartilage, cut on his chin).  This was at the beginning of our trip -- you know, before the zip lining, white water rafting and waterfall diving....so, we were pretty sure we were sitting ducks.  But, all was well.

We had a really great time lots of beach, sun, pool, drinks, buffets, good sister / brother-in-law time, good time making new friends. :) 

Ash in his 'vacation hat' (lol) and me on the beach by our resort.

Jess & Justin getting ready to go on our horseback riding / waterfall diving/ zip lining/ hot springs / mud bath / white water rafting adventure. :)

Hidden waterfall....

Jess & Lauren taking the plunge.  The water was COLD.  But it was fun.

Lauren thinking her hubby has had too much whiskey.  You maybe had to be there... :)

 A silly game we played: we told the waiters almost every night that it was someone's birthday. :)  We always got sung to and an extra cake. :)

After our steak dinner evening....

Me demonstrating that I was taller than my little sister for this one night.  Thanks wedges!!

Chris & Ashley

Us on the last day of our trip.  Sunburn much?  Or as Ash says..."Base tan!"

 So the resort had some lame-o Vegas/Costa Rican hybrid entertainment every night.  The last night we were there we decided to make our own dance party....thanks to one of our travel mates' ipod boom box he packed in his little suitcase.  It ROCKED and we were most definitely the 'people to watch' at the resort that night.  Some might say spectacle.  But it was fun and hilarious.  Anyway, these pics are from our mobile dance party. We definitely livened up the place that night.

Ash & Justin.....

Dance party making its way through the resort from the buffet to the bar. :)

INTO it. (Kristen, Lauren & Bailey)

Here's to hoping it's not another 3 years before we get to take another adults only vacation!  Thanks for all the fun guys!!

-Emily :)