Birthdays and Belated Christmas

This past week was all about CELEBRATING!  I have a lot of pictures from two mini birthday celebrations and a very special, yet belated, Christmas celebration...

 

Thursday night we had a mini birthday celebration for the boys since we would be out of town on the day of their 2nd "Bert-day".  On Thursday night we had pizza and cake with my family.

Ashton got ready to Blow... On your mark...

Get set...

Blow!

Since Aiden was born three minutes after Ashton, he blew out his candles three minutes later.  *At one point I thought it may have been neat for one to be born before midnight and one to be after midnight so they each had their special days, but now it is just as good to have two special boys celebrate on the same day!  Aiden's turn to blow out his candle... Get ready...

Get Set...

Blow!

Time to dig in... 

Aiden's favorite part?  The frosting!

 



Daddy being silly.

The two S.P.O.I.L.E.D boys then opened their presents from Nana, and Elly and Price.  They were outfitted in full Batman and Superman gear.  Shoes, swim shirts, swim trunks and sweatshirts.  They ask to wear their new shoes everyday, but we need to grow just a bit more!  They are a bit big now, but will fit by summer for sure.

What do you get little boys who were just spoiled at Christmas and who knows the name of EVERY animal and has every animal?  Start them a Dinosaur collection, fruit snacks and get them Elmo hand soap ;) Thanks to Nana and Aunt Elly they will be very stylin' dudes for the next year too!

On Friday we packed up and headed East to Gramma and Grampa's house.  We were all looking forward to the visit and celebrate Christmas... with a Hawaiian twist.  It didn't take long for these two little boys to become infatuated with Grampa's train (it usually goes around the Christmas tree, but this year it was around the Palm tree).  Ashton and Aiden did a great job only letting Grampa "drive" the train and looking with their eyes.

You'll notice that it didn't take long for the animals to be set around the train...

They would have sat and watched the train for house, but the train needed to take a break and nap sometimes. ;)

Ashton found Elle's baby stroller and babies... all the animals got a ride too! *If you look close, he is pushing twins.

Aiden would be glued to Grampa the entire time, if it was possible.

Settling in for a movie on Friday night.  With popcorn of course!

Saturday morning, we had to kill some time before Uncle Dave, Aunt Missy, Elle and Elise came.  Once the boys found out they were coming, we were asked about it every five minutes.  Break out the iPad to waste some time...

Don't mind all the heads in the next picture.  The reason I L.O.V.E this next picture is the look on Aiden's face as he is adoring his cousin Elise.  They were not in the door but two minutes and he wanted to hold her. Awwwwww.



Ashton held her too.

All four grandchildren admiring Grampa's train.

Take a little time out for a quick "Dance Paaarty"...

What do you do when you are trying to get lunch ready and have the kiddos take a nap before presents?  Actually... we didn't even have to have them do anything.  I turned around all all three kiddos were playing in an iPad on the couch.  Elise will be sitting right along with them next year ;)

Cousins.  Nice smile Elle!

Let's try it again... SMILE Ashton.  Yep - that's his smile face. 

There's Elise!  Surprised one of the kiddos aren't wanting to hold her, or I'm not cuddling with her.

All settled in to watch Elle's new movie - Tangled.  Such a cute movie!  Bonus that it has a horse in it and not a scary shark like Nemo :)  Aiden doesn't like "scary parts" of movies...

Before presents, we wanted to get all four kids in a picture.  It worked to get them all to sit still for a couple minutes!

All those cute kids posing by the presents... Because Two People Fell In Love.  Gramma and Grampa!

And.... DIG IN!  Ashton is the present Terminator.  He will open for the sake of opening and will not give two looks at what he is opening.  Aiden enjoys opening, but he will open one present and play with it the rest of the time.  I was the guard of the presents, otherwise Ashton would have opened every single one in a matter of minutes!  "Nother One, Nother One, Nother One"

Yep, that is another forced smile face... "Just let me open presents mom.  Quit making me stop and smile!"

"Open. Open. Open."

What more could you ask for?  Blocks WITH Animals!

and TRUCKS!

Is that Grampa or Santa?  Hawaiian style Santa...

After all toys were cleaned up and paper in the trash bags, Ashton was tired and ready for a break.  Should we watch Tangled a-g-a-i-n?  Sure... Ashton is ready.

With so many people around, and the boys staying busy... I got my fix of baby snuggles, smiles, and stories from Elise.

Three Kids in a Tub.  Rub-a-dub-dub.

After bath time is bedtime.  The last bedtime putting these two one-year old boys to bed.  Where did my babies go?

Sunday the Boys turned T-W-O!  Aiden glued to Grampa and enjoying some birthday snuggles.  Are we watching Tangled? "Horsie Movie?"  Probably.

More presents?  Oh boy.  Again, Aiden opening a truck and wanting to play with it the rest of the time.  Ashton ripping through ALL the rest of the presents. 

 "More? More? More!"

 



Grampa and Gramma had cupcakes made for the boys... They were HUGE and YUMMY!

Second time around, they know exactly what to do!  Ready... Set...

Blow!

Ready...

Set...

Blow!

 



Elle showing us the color of her tongue... It's GREEN!

Yummmmm... Looking at this picture, I had flashbacks...

 Ha.  I knew the blue mouth looked familiar!

 Aiden taking a bit on his second birthday...

and on his first birthday.  Not really wanting to get "dirty" either days...

 Thanks so much for helping make their birthday a special day!  It was fun being able to share it with Gramma, Grampa, and The Ruebers!

After traveling home and unpacking, what is a better birthday supper than "Donald's?"  Yeah, we took the easy route and went to McDonald's and let them play for a bit.  Their other favorite person "Kae-da" met us there with Nana.  When we asked if they wanted Mikayla to join us they said, "Yeah... Kae-da dance too!"  To funny.

Where did the babies that were born two years ago go?  

Ashton = He is more quiet than Aiden right now.  While Aiden is talking just to hear himself talk, Ashton sits back and observes.  He knows as many words as Aiden, however only uses them when he needs to.  He wears his heart on his sleeve.  I say this as his feelings are hurt very easily, he shows when he is the slightest bit tired, and he will ask me to "snuggle" most days.  He loves his animals, trucks, and lining up all his cars and animals wherever they will stand.  He makes "a parade."  Don't let his blue eyes and fluffy blonde hair fool you, as he can hold his own against his brother.  He will hit at times, and he doesn't give in to what his brother wants all the time!

Aiden = He is a CHATTER BOX.  He amazes me each day with what he puts together, the number of words he puts together, how he corrects himself when misspeaks and his wheels are always turning trying to figure things out.  Aiden will push through as long as he stays busy.  You can tell he is tired when he is running up the walls and can not settle down.  These are the times he knows when he actually slows down or sits down, he will crash.  He loves to pretend play with his kitchen, house, and train table.  He is dad's side kick when something needs to be "fixed", vacuumed, swept, or shoveled.  He loves his "friends" (Scout, Tigger, Nemo, and Elmo) and his blankie.  He has a kind heart and will often share what he has when we ask him too, although he also tries to steal whatever his brother is playing with.  Don't let his big blue eyes fool you, as he sometimes bites and has extra energy that he sometimes can not get rid of! 

Happy 2nd Birthday to our Two Favorite Little Boys!  Love you to pieces.

Oh yeah, we're still building a house!  HOUSE UPDATE:  A lot.  Sheet rock is done.  Paint was done today.  The cabinets go in tomorrow, and the tile and wood floor will be in this week.  Our front door arrived finally from Utah, we had it stained at a stain shop, and it is ready to go in!  I LOVE it, and cannot wait to see it in!

Thanks for checking in!  We have the boys' two year doctor appointment tomorrow!  I am thinking Ashton is taller and heavier, but we shall see.

~The A Team