Happy 2nd Birthday, Lily!

I can't believe little Lily is 2 already. January 11th we took the kids out to celebrate. Lily said she wanted "macaroni cheese" for her special dinner, so we went to Red Robin.

They even brought her an ice cream sundae!

She was nice and shared with all of us.

Later that week, we drove up to Northern Virginia so we could have a little party with our families.

Amy as always was happy to help me make her cake. She is amazing!

Lily said she wanted a My Little Pony cake, so I poked around the internet for some ideas and finally settled on this cute cake that seemed doable. It took about three times longer than I had anticipated, but in the end, it turned out really cute.

Getting the details right...

Jude got a special surprise from Aunt Amy too! She got him this enormous chocolate coin as a late Birthday present. Guess who was the happiest kid?

Finished!

If you ever need to get M&M's in certain colors and don't have time to order them, Wegmans carries a store-brand variety in the bulk candy section of all sorts of colors. It was a lifesaver!

Party time! Lily was excited and had a hard time keeping her hands off the cake.

This little girl loves all things girly. Pink, purple, ponies, puppies, shoes, bows, dresses...

Waiting for the rest of the family to get here...

Still waiting...

Almost time!

Grandma!

George's mom went above and beyond and had a ton of delicious food for everyone. She is wonderful! (Of course, the kids all thought the extra M&M's were the best.)

It's time!!

Happy Birthday, Lily!!

Grandpa and Pop Pop

Lucky girl to get to celebrate with so many family members!

2 years old!

To top it off, later that night we had one of my favorite dinner ever: hot pot!

A few Lily updates:

She is tiny! At her 2-year check up, she's 2nd percentile for height and 7th for weight!! Totally different than her brothers who are consistently above the 50% mark for both height and weight. People are always amazed that this tiny person can talk so well, until we tell them she really is old enough, she's just teeny.

Even though she loves all things girly, she is very much a tom-boy, too. She climbs trees, digs in dirt, jumps on our trampoline, and can hold her own against any kid. Anything her brothers do, she's right there doing it with them.

She LOVES bugs! This girl is seriously in love with bugs. She thinks they're "cute" and wants to hold every single one she sees. (I made the mistake last fall of letting her hold an assassin bug, thinking it was a harmless beetle. Luckily, she must be a bug-whisperer because it didn't bite her, just sat on her fingers until I got too nervous and shoo-d it away.) Her favorite bugs are the proliferous stink bugs that show up in our house every day.

She is a firecracker! This little peanut is full of spit, fire, and grit. She's not afraid to fight for what she wants. She also has a hard time telling people she's "sorry". I'm not sure why all my kids have gone through this stage, but they all have. Lily will tell you your hair is pretty, she likes your shirt, or that you look nice, all in an attempt to not say the dreaded words "I'm sorry". 

Lily loves to read books. I keep several books in her crib and in the morning I'll come in to see her flipping through the pages looking at pictures or reciting the words she knows from rereading them again and again.

She loves to color and will sit at the table with Cole for an hour at a time just coloring. Her favorite things she asks me to draw for her? Her name and an egg. Yep, an egg. Not sure what her obsession is, but it's a favorite. She and Cole also love to play with play doh and I'm constantly having to restock their supply.

She talks. A lot. George and I are convinced that her ability to communicate rivals that of Cole's. She can carry on full, coherent conversations. I'm constantly amazed at what comes out of her mouth.

She's the only one of our kids that will willingly eat most vegetables and fruit. She LOVES tomatoes and we've successfully gotten her to eat almost every vegetable we've put in front of her.

Her favorite things to watch on TV are Wild Kratts, Phineas and Ferb, and anything Jude thinks is neat. She also likes Mary Poppins and we will sometimes catch her singing "Let's go fly a kite", and "Chim chim cher-ee".

Lily is such a little mommy, especially to Cole. If she's getting fruit snacks, Cole needs one too! If she has a piece of candy, she picks a special one out for Cole, usually blue if it's available because she knows that's his favorite color.

Cole and Lily have a special relationship. It's probably because they're together all day, every day now that Jude is in school. They play really well together and tend to enjoy the same things--Lily likes trying to play trains with Cole, and he'll sit and play with the doll house and the kitchen with Lily. It's really cute to see them play and laugh together.

She is a mommy's girl. I'm convinced that will change in the near future as she discovers how much fun Daddy is, but until then, only mommy will do.

Lily, we love you with all our hearts and can't imagine our lives without you! You bring such light and fun into our home! Thank you for being ours!

Happy 6th Birthday, Jude!

Jude turned 6 years old on January 2nd! We usually try to take the kids out to dinner on their Birthday and this year Jude chose Taco Bell.

Really?

I suggested some other places, like Red Robin, but he was adamant--Taco Bell was where he wanted to go.

To try and make it a little more special, we drove about 30 minutes to Ruckerville where they had a combined Taco Bell and KFC with a large indoor playground. It was a hit!

Lance was with his Dad this night and missed it. Love you, Lance!

Later that week, we brought cupcakes to Jude's class. George was home that day and got to come which made it that much more special.

Jude loved being the spotlight at lunch that day!

Entertaining the kids:

He even got a special surprise in the mail! His friends Cameron, Caroline, and Jake Vedomske all sent him sweet Birthday drawings. We miss our friends from Copeley!

This year, Jude decided he wanted a Skylanders Birthday Party, just like last year. We held it near the end of January, just to make it separate from Christmas (and to give me more time to plan!). Stay tuned!


Some Jude updates as a big 6-year-old:

He's a brick! This kid is about 50% for height on the growth chart and 95th for weight!! He is solid from head to toe and has been since he was born at a whopping 9 lbs, 1 oz.

He LOVES people. He is still the most social kid I know. He makes friends wherever he goes and is always surrounded by kids.

He never stops smiling.

Kindergarten is going well and Jude is picking up reading really fast. He read the whole book. I'm betting by the time summer rolls around, he'll be reading like a pro.

Just like his brother Lance, Jude's favorite past time (other than jumping on the trampoline) is watching videos on YouTube. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that, but it's true. It's the first thing he wants to do in the morning and we're constantly having to pry him away from his favorite channels. He loves watching FGTeeV, a family that plays Skylanders and other games together and reviews different toys and is convinced that when our baby is born we should name her "Lexi" just like the sister on this particular channel.

He has his first crush! He calls her his "first best friend" and talks about her constantly. This cute little girl named Sage is in his Kindergarten class and in our neighborhood, so he gets to see her a lot. She will come over to our house after school and the two of them will run around, jump together on the trampoline, laugh in his room while they play and generally just enjoy being together. It's cute.

Jude is super touchy-feely. He needs to be snuggled and tickled and in your personal space constantly. He just loves, loves, loves being with people. I hope that never changes.

He likes to dance. He and George will turn on iTunes and rock out to the music together. I love it.

Jude keeps us on our toes and makes us laugh every day. His smile is infectious, as is his love of life. He is almost always happy, a joy to be around.

Love you, Ju Ju! Thanks for being the sunshine in our home, the laughter, the energy, and the craziness. We love having you in our family!

Happy New Year!

New Years Eve found us up in Ashburn again!

The Allred family had chocolate fondu while we played games and hung out.

(Tyler's friend Brent was there, too) 

Jude loves YouTube, probably because Lance does. One day he was his favorite YouTuber family pull out this Pie Face game and he has been begging to play ever since. It's a popular game and had been sold out every time I checked the stores, but Grandma finally found it on the shelves over Christmas and got it for him. Of course we had to play!

Even the Aunts and Uncles joined in!

We all loved it, but I think Jude liked it the best. He giggled and laughed the entire time.

Later that evening, George and I ran over to his parent's house to say hi and eat some hot pot.  

Then it was back to the Allred's house for games before watching The Ball drop.

Celebratory apple cider! I still can't believe these three boys stayed up until midnight!

Happy New Year!!

The next morning while I was packing up, Grandma entertained the kids. Jude and Cole thought playing Christmas Memory was a blast. 

Good-bye 2015! You were a great year! I can't wait to see what 2016 has in store for us!