Happy Birthday, Bubba!

Yesterday was William's 2nd birthday. We took him to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate where he got to eat pizza and ride on whatever rides he chose.

He chose this cake and frosting from the store, and he and his sister helped decorate the top.

This is the present he got for his birthday. Our neighbors put up a basketball hoop down the street, and he likes to walk down to their house and try to throw his ball into it. So we got him his own hoop.


Here are some fun facts about William:

• He has really started talking lately. He copies almost everything we say.



• He is really soft spoken, and it is so sweet.



• He has started hitting and kicking us when we make him feel embarrassed. I know these are not good things to do, and we are working on getting him to stop doing these things, but it is so funny to watch him take a swipe or kick one of us in the shins, maybe because it doesn't really fit his sweet nature. We have to hide that we are laughing when he does them.



• He has insisted on feeding himself at the table since he turned one. It drove me nuts at first because he was an absolute mess after every meal. But after a year of practice, he is pretty good at feeding himself now, although the table and the floor where he eats is still the messiest part of the dining room.



• He calls me "Mom". That's what Rebecca calls me, so he copies her. He'll come up to me and say, "Mom", and I'll say, "What, Bubba?", and he'll just keep looking at me and saying "Mom". He does this to Kevin too except with "Dad". I think he is excited to be able to communicate, and I also think he likes to let us know that he is around.



• We're pretty sure that he will pass up Rebecca in size one day. Last we checked, he weighed 26 pounds and she weighed 29 pounds - they are 2 1/2 years apart. It looks as though his feet are the first thing to catch up to her. We just bought him some blue shoes just like her pink shoes, and they both wear the same size.



• He does this face that we call "the cheeser". He's been doing it for a while, and it is so funny.

• He is the originator of the "Happy Food Dance" in our house. When he really likes something he is eating or he sees something that looks fun to eat, he will shake his head and shoulders from side to side. I'll have to try to get it on video.
  

I love you, Bub! I hope you had a fun birthday.

Also, this is our 100th post. To celebrate, I am going to start on my blog book. (If I say I will do it on here, then I am more likely to do it.)

Disneyland May 2009

We went to Disneyland this past week, and here are some of the highlights of our trip:

*Friends

This year we went with our friends Ryan and Amy and Ryan's mom Pat and his sister Monica and her friend Alisa. They helped us out a ton. (Three little kids at Disneyland was kind of crazy.) And William, Addison, Kailey, Rebecca, and Natalie had a great time together.

*Favorite Rides

My kids love the carousel, Dumbo, and Small World. They've changed Small World since we rode it last time. They put movie character dolls in the regions they are from (i.e. Alice in Wonderland in England, Jasmine and Aladdin in the Middle East, and so on). I loved it.

On our way to the Haunted Mansion, I decided to run back to the stroller to get the baby carrier. Kevin waited for me, but everyone else went on to get in line, and they took Rebecca with them. In line before we got back Ryan's sister Monica asked Rebecca if she liked ghosts, and Rebecca said, "I like the Holy Ghost."

We really thought Rebecca would be tall enough to ride the big rides this time because her friend Kailey who is about nine months younger than her is tall enough to ride them. We even bought her some taller shoes, and she was still too little. My poor shorty is going to be the oldest in her class AND the shortest.

*Matching Incredibles

Kevin loves to wear this shirt whenever we go to Disneyland. He happened to still be wearing it when I put William in his pajamas, so I got a picture.

*Minnie Mouse

We got to see Minnie twice during this trip.

*Babies

We took Rebecca to Disneyland at four months old, William at one and two months, and Braden at two months. The babies are the easiest ones. They just sleep most of the time.

We had a great time. I always love Disneyland. I can't wait to go again!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

1. I changed the title of our blog. After we had Braden, I've felt like "Little" doesn't really describe our family anymore. The church put out some commercials a few years ago that had this phrase at the end. I miss those commercials. They were pretty corny, but they spread a great message.

2. I changed my hair.

I cut off ten inches.

Kevin calls this the "MySpace shot". He says that most single young ladies on MySpace have a picture like this on their profile pages.

It feels nice to have short hair again, especially since it is falling out like crazy. My long hairs were getting all over everything. The short fallen-out hairs are a little harder to notice. And since I cut off ten inches, I was able to donate my ponytail to Locks of Love.

3. We've changed our house around a little.

This is what our front room downstairs used to look like most of the time. That mess would spread to the walkway in front of the front door, and it was the first thing our guests would see when they stopped by our house.

And this is what it looks like now. (cute new furniture courtesy of our neighbors the Carruths)

Kevin painted this room for me upstairs so that we could make it our new playroom. Now the toy mess stays upstairs, for the most part.

4. These are my friends from childhood, minus Julie. (We missed you Julie. I hope you are feeling better.) Believe it or not, the girls on both ends are sisters. About 20 years and 12 kids later we have all been through a lot of changes, but we got together today, and we still have a great time just like we did in the old days.

Thanks for getting this together, Rachel. It was so nice to see you guys.

Two Months Old Today

And so handsome,

and so happy!

Braden was an early smiler, and he is always smiling, especially at his sister and brother. He has been a good baby so far. He eats every three hours, he sleeps good, and he hasn't been colicky. I don't have his two-month height and weight stats yet (William turns two on May 14, so I will post those after I take them to the doctor together.), but he is already in size two diapers, so I'm thinking he's at least 11 or 12 pounds.

When I was trying to get a good picture of Braden, Rebecca asked me to take a picture of her outfit.

And this in unrelated, but the other day William found one of Rebecca's pencils, and he was going around the house doing this:

Cinderella is one of our favorite movies to watch around here.

Here's The Video

This is the video of my brother on Cops. Kevin showed me how to post the link from Hulu.

Enjoy!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/69891/cops-police-pullovers-5

Bad Boys, Bad Boys

Officer Bret Ficklin of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department stops a vehicle that is driving erratically, including crossing two lanes a traffic sharply and zig-zagging.

This picture is from the cops.com website. Tonight I watched an episode of Cops featuring my brother Bret who is an officer for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. He pulled over the guy under the car for a traffic violation, and as he asked the man to step in front of the police vehicle, the guy took off running. My brother found him under this car. The man had drugs in his possession and a gun in his car, and that's why he ran from my brother.

I'm so proud of Bret and all he does to protect our city. It was so fun to see him in action at work.

Happy Birthday, Jessica!

I hope you have a good birthday. Makes sure to take a break from studying today.