Slim Jim

Ayden wanted some pants on, so he grabbed Ian's.
Our boys can already share their shorts!

Happy Birthday to Nana and Ian

The guests of honor

Ian showing early signs of pyromania

Now a lesson in 1st birthday cake eating,
demonstrated by our own birthday boy.
Step one: Clear the cake of icing.

Step two: Eat two fists full at a time.

Step three: Show your audience your accomplishment.
Look at Nana in the background.
She's impressed!

Step Four: Go after the bowl. In this case, it actually is edible.
Now Nana is concerned.

Here's Uncle Brent with the older kids. When Ayden saw this picture he said that he was Blue Spiderman, Laney was Pink Spiderman, and Kota was Green Spiderman, which tells me they were having a good time together!

Josh's Aunt Becki was hosting a party for Nana's birthday, so we asked if we could celebrate Ian's too. Of course she said that would be great, and it was! We had a nice time outdoors in Mandeville. The weather was cool, but not too cold. Poppy grilled burgers and hot dogs and we had lots of snack foods and side dishes. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Nana didn't want any gifts, but everyone got something for Ian. We really appreciate all of the gifts, y'all! Thank you, and we love you!!!

We Won the Lottery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

East Baton Rouge Parish Dufrocq Montessori Magnet three-year old Pre-K lottery that is (wow, that's a mouth full). We applied in October and just found out that we were in on February 1st. Our best option for our childrens' education here in BR without paying for private schools is the Magnet Program. We love the Montessori style of teaching, so we applied at Dufrocq. An added perk is that the school will be totally renovated during the summer of '09. We're all excited for the new chapter we'll be facing in the fall. Ayden has a late birthday, so he'll be in pre-K for 2 years before he's technically in kindergarten. I say technically because his class consists of three, four, and five-year-olds (part of the Montessori approach is to learn in a family-like setting, having the older kids mentor the younger).

Out With the Old And In With the New!

Click here to look at our new ride! (We got it in Slate Metallic.) We're loving it! I did some research with my parents while I was in Idaho, and narrowed my choices down to the Honda Pilot, Honda Odyssey, Toyota Highlander or Toyota Sienna. The Sienna won first place! I was NOT too thrilled about minivans until we drove this thing. It's AWESOME!!!! We just bought it yesterday and it only had 2 miles on it! We were planning on buying something in the near future, but our 1995 Ford Contour kept breaking down on Josh, which turned the future into PRONTO. When we traded it in, our dealer joked with us that we should be paying them to take it off of our hands. We got a whopping $500 for it! We're having fun cruising around with the boys (Ian is also facing forward in his car seat now). I'll take some pictures when I get a minute.

Ian's First Haircut!

Sporting a serious rat tail!

Clip, Clip!

Goodbye newborn hair.

Lookin' good.

Okay, I'm pretty darned superstitious. I don't know why, but if I hear about anything bringing bad luck, I avoid it. I don't kill spiders. If I spill salt I pour some in my hand and throw it over my shoulder. I will NOT walk under a ladder or open an umbrella indoors. I heard somewhere that it's bad luck to cut a baby's hair before their first birthday, so poor Ian had to sport the rat tail for a few months! Now he's looking classy. Our little grown up Ian is so sweet!

Thanks to Robin for the great pictures!

Happy 1st Birthday, Ian!

I'm so cool now that I'm not a baby anymore.
Sweet cowboy
Delicious Demolition

Well, the big day has passed. We had a great day today. We shopped around and ate some GOOD Mexican food for lunch, then Granny made Ian's birthday cake and made one for Ayden too. We called Josh so he could sing "Happy Birthday" with us. Now we're all packed and ready to fly home tomorrow. Our little tyke is ONE! I can't believe it. It went by so much faster than I expected. He's been such a bright ray of sunshine in our family. Ian, we love you! We're happy you got to have quality time with our western family link, and we can't wait to get back to daddy!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We miss you, Daddy.

We'll be home in 2 days!

Are you ready for some noise?!