Nixon is TWO

The big excitement around here this week was our little guy's birthday.

He woke up to birthday pancakes

Nixon really wanted to blow out the candles and didn't understand why he had to wait until the end of the song

 Some stories with sister

 Not everyone gets roses for their birthday...just one of the perks of having your birthday just after your parents' anniversary!

He was pretty happy that his cupcakes had Oreos on them

 I came home from work a little bit early and we all played outside until dinner 

 Lyza monkeying around

Nixon loves using the swing on his tummy

 We had a really yummy dinner. Kim made corn dogs and we had jello and other snacky foods. I normally don't provide a menu of our meals, but it is good background information when you see the pictures of Nixon later with really red cheeks caused by the jello at dinner time

Nixon had a "fun" time opening presents, at least the first one...

 He got a car ramp that makes noise when you lift the platform at the top to make the cars run down.

 He loved this gift so much that he didn't want to open any of the others

We finally got him to work on some other gifts and this train from his grandma and grandpa Bullock filled the void in his life

 Both the kids really liked playing with it

 Nixon also got some new quiet book pages

 This set of large jungle animals was a nice surprise

 He instantly fell in love with the giraffe

This is a gift that both he and Lyza will enjoy

 Nixon was really excited for his cupcakes...or at least the candle. He loves to try and blow out candles. His cheeks are extra red from the jello at dinner time :)

 I love when the song is all over and he is doing a happy dance

Nixon's favorite part of the cupcakes was the icing. He licked it all off and didn't want to eat the cake. He gets away with things I can only dream of...

Lyza was a little more holistic in her approach to her cup cake but still didn't finish it. I think our kids are special?

Later on Lyza went into her room to play independently (which doesn't happen as often as we would like) and after a while we could hear some whining coming from her room. I went to investigate and discovered that she had both of her thumbs stuck in this toy, like a Chinese finger trap. The knuckles of her thumbs were really swollen and sore from trying to pull them out. We think that she had probably been stuck for a few minutes and trying to pull them out the whole time. Silly girl!

Nixon did some cute dancing for us too

We had a lot of fun on Nixon's birthday. He was extremely happy all day and you could just see how proud he was and happy that there was a whole day all about him. We love our little boy!

There is something so magical about these kids playing at the park

I have no idea where these glasses came from, but if anyone can pull them off it is Lyza

Our little birthday boy also got a haircut this week. So handsome! It also looks like he gained 10 pounds during the course of his haircut, but that must be some sort of camera angle trick. There is no way he ate 10 pounds of hair.

Friday I came home from work a little early to rake up our front lawn. Kim and the kids came out and we made it a family activity and the kids also rode their bikes on the sidewalk

On Saturday I got to spend some time outside in the afternoon working on a couple overgrown shrub areas next to our patio. Ir rained all morning so there were lots of earth worms and bugs near the surface of the dirt so Lyza came out and helped me find the worms and bugs some new homes.

Nixon made sure the puddles got some splashing

These two got a swing ride from their mamma while I cleaned up my mess

All done, someday I will redo the patio...but not for a while ;)

We hope you have a great week. Take care

Anniversary and craziness

Last Sunday Kim and Lyza went and visited a recently widowed woman in our ward. She was so excited to have company and asked Lyza if she could read her a book. She pulled out The Cat and the Hat Returns. The Cat in the Hat is pretty popular around here, but we don't have the second book, so Lyza really enjoyed it

We had a fun Valentine' s dinner and then fruit and two types of fruit dip for desert. Nixon was a little PIG! He just stuffed his face in the nutella dip and slurped it up

What a mess

Lyza learned about the letter W recently and made a windmill

Lyza also learned how to weave

Kim did a game with Lyza (and of course Nixon) where they went around the house and looked at different items and Lyza had to predict whether they would sink or float

Lyza did HORRIBLE! But Kim says it was really funny because each time Lyza got one wrong she would just laugh and say "oops, I got it wrong."

We celebrated our anniversary this week. We got to celebrate 8 years of marriage.

I brought home some roses and chocolate covered strawberries

Then we went out for a super yummy dinner. The lighting here is kind of weird because the restaurant has a lit ceiling that looks like the sky.

We had a really nice evening together

Miss Lyza has been waking up in the morning and wanting to snuggle with Kim in bed. It has gotten to the point that if Kim wakes up and gets out of bed before Lyza gets her snuggles she will have a melt down. This is very welcome (except the melt downs). Sometimes she even brings her sharp tooth into bed with them ;)

This is our little Evil Knievel. He does all kinds of tricks on this little car

This one was cool until he fell over

What a goof, nice boots?

What a smarty-pants

I got a bargain suit from an online clearance/sale before my birthday and justified it as a birthday present. I wore it for the first time this last week. Not too bad for $80

We got to do some yard work as a family yesterday. It is fun having the kids help, even if it means our raking piles get scattered around and they end up covered with grass and pine needles

Nixon wanted to wear a "suit" this morning to church just like his daddy. This is how he dressed himself. I wish that is the kind of suit we got to wear to church!

Have a great week and take care