Walk Like an Egyptian

You've waited a week, and here it is! Noah decided the perfect day to walk would be, of course, his birthday. You know he loves holidays. I bought the boys some bouncy balls for the big day, and he was pushing one along. It rolled too far away, and he walked over to get it, as if he had always been walking. We think it's the observer in him, he watched, studied, and now knows how to do it.

There has been no slowing him down. He wants to walk everywhere. He wants to stand up and dance, and he wants to carry heavy objects from point A to point B. No small toys for him. No. Just big awkward ones.

The funny thing is, Avery is now acting like he can walk. He wall walks down the hall instead of crawling. He also stands against things holding on with one hand, and then lets go and takes a step. He falls, of course, but he tries. I tell him he needs to practice standing on his own first. You know what he says? Yes, "Gaah?"

It's Noah Dancing, Yeah! (think BeeGees)

This is the best video! Grandma Jerry bought the boys musical books as their 'birthday cards'. They love them! Noah has discovered a tune he likes and dances to it. So funny! Enjoy. Coming soon, video of Noah walking.

First Birthday in the third....

Ah, the actual party finally arrived! We had it at the church, because of the room. It just seemed much more family friendly than the house. We invited friends young and old and had a great time. Here Noah and Avery (behind the pie) are playing with their girlfriend Megan and her mom Lisa.

Miss Isabelle loved the boys' four wheeler. She is a twin, but I don't think I got a picture of her twin, Graham. They are some of our Double Cuddles buddies. We brought the four wheelers and bouncy balls for entertainment. We started the party with lots of great food and just hung out and talked for awhile, then it was time to get things hopping!

We brought a pinata, the kind with the ribbons you pull, not the bat. It was great because all the kids could participate. They loved it when it popped and filled up their goodie bags. From the bottom we have Nathan Crocker, Rachel and Megan Miller, Bryan Lark, Andrew Harmon, and Elena Crocker. The big legs are Rich, ha ha!

Watching the pinata we have Carla Lark, maker of the cake, her daughter Chelsea with Noah, Cierra, and Krista Miller with Avery.

And Janice Crocker, my little bug, with her little bug Elena. Of course our theme was St. Patrick's day! There are more pics to follow, so keep reading below!

Carla made the cakes for the party (I can't get the pic to turn, sorry). These were the cutest little cakes, maybe four inches across, with whip cream frosting. PERFECT for little ones.

And here is the main cake, continuing the tradition of AWESOME cakes! What am I going to do next year??? It was five six-inch cakes, two chocolate, 3 white, just the perfect amount.

The happy, lucky family. Noah is far more concerned with the cracker on his tray then in the camera.

Another slow start....

But just you wait!

Ahh, there we go. Rich actually cut a small slice to get them finally started on the cake and not just the frosting. Noah dug right in (duh) and Avery took a bit longer.

He really likes to fill up his hand and then just suck all the goodness off. I guess it saves energy?

We're gonna start him shaving next week. This was right before he tried to start flinging it. When Rich cleaned him up and set him back on the ground he cried. I think he wanted more cake. :)

And here is the after shot. Noah's is the top cake, Avery's the bottom. We had a great time, the boys got some really great gifts, they absolutely loved the balloons (there were four, and that is another blog) We had to pry Avery's out of his hand when we got home to lay him down for a nap. They both crashed, such tired little boys.

First birthday in the second....

So here we are on Monday, playing with the wrapping from Grammy Lynn and Grandpa Bob's presents. Who needs the actual present?

Happy Birthday Boys! (and Happy St. Patrick's Day, too)

We received Grandma Jerry and Grandpa Curtis's package that day. More ribbons, more paper, more boxes! The boys and I went to Double Cuddles and ate cupcakes, all of us decked out in our green attire :)

This is a pretty common pose for them. They either sit nested like this, or one will back up to the other and they sit back to back. It's pretty darn cute.

Around 7 pm they were playing with some big balls I'd gotten for their birthday. Noah was standing against his and it rolled out of reach, so he WALKED over to get it. Just like he's done it all his life! That's my little holiday lover. Of course, a video will follow. Next blog, Saturday's Party!

First birthday in the first...

Last Sunday kicked off the birthday festivities! We had a friend from church make a cake for the monthly pot luck, and boy, did she go all out! It was essentially 4 & 1/4 cakes! That's alot of cake. Out of that, the boys shared a piece about the size of my palm. Ha!

You can see that they didn't mind, and that it went over very well!

I can't win

Yes, I'm reaching back in the archive here, but you are not supposed to look at the babies. Do not look at the little bald babies! I'm showing you what my changing table used to look like. Diaper stacker on the left, baskets full of diapers on the bottom shelf. It worked so well until the boys started cruising. Then they became helpful and began to unload all of that for me. Everyday.

So Rich installed my lovely storage shelf. It's up high, they can't reach it. They can't unload all my diapers for me. I enjoy it.

But now they can do this. It started with Noah. He would sit there by himself. But now little brother has joined him. As you can see, Noah doesn't enjoy it quite so much.

See. I just can't win.

Snow Babies!

I've been a little panicky lately, convinced that all the snow was going to suddenly melt overnight before I could take pictures of the boys out in it. Luckily, it is still here. We bundled them up for their outing in some very cobbled together 2nd hand snowsuits (but who needs new ones this year? Not us!)

Of course Noah was the trailblazer, he was the firs on the snow, first to find the steps/shovel/deep snow/ Dad's car. He was actually much happier than the pictures show. We just never got one of him smiling. Maybe on the video....

Avery, in his usual form, took a little longer to decide if he liked it, but he seems to.

No, we do not let them play in the road, they are on our very long driveway.

And they crawl off in to the Alaskan wild. Actually, Noah crawled to the yard and began pushing through the 8 inches of snow, until it went down his suit at the collar and made him cry. The fun was over then. The funny thing is, we were outside for just about as long as it took us to get them into and out of the suits!

Hmmmm.....

Anyone else see a problem?

Anyone?

Bonus- If you click on the pic to enlarge it, you can see the two new teeth!

Rub-a-dub-dub, two babies in a tub...

They had so much fun with this! Noah was in the tub, and Avery and I shook it. Then Avery was in the tub, and then we couldn't keep either one out. Again, why do I buy toys?

C is for cookie...

This is Noah rolling around with the Cookie Monster chatter doll that Aunt Becky and Uncle Ryan bought him. It was pretty cute (of course the part before I began taping was even cuter, but isn't is always?)

Theme and Repeat

I know this post is going to sound very similar to my other recent posts, but right now our lives are all about exploring, and being helpful. Avery loves to look into things, and under things. I frequently find him laying on his belly looking under a door. You never know what's in there if you don't look, right?

Noah gets baby stress attacks about the dishwasher. He is convinced that it cannot be done without him. IT'S HIS JOB, MAN! He really does get upset if we try to keep him out of the kitchen when he has heard it open. I just keep the silverware basket in the sink now to avoid problems there. We had a slipcover made for our couch, and he even helped the seamstress out. Very helpful that Noah.

Did you know that the breakfast table has an underside?

And so does the highchair. He's done this a few times now, and each time I have to fish him out. It makes my life very fun (and tiring) now. I can't wait for this summer when we can explore outside and burn some of this energy off out there!