My Jake is 2!

Some of what we love about Jake at 2 years old!-

Cuddly and sweet
A great head of hair!
Obedient about going to time out when told
Great eater - love this guy's appetite!
So handsome in his Sunday clothes :)
Has a love of Buzz Lightyear, Mickey Mouse, and trains
Unpredictable and often hilarious
A fun and energetic little brother - the girls love him!
Loves music to dance and sing to
Reminds us to pray at meal times if we forget
Has an infectious smile :)

Jake's birthday was really great! It was made especially fun since Ben took vacation time this week. :) And it was nice to have the extra help to make Jake's day more special. For birthday breakfast, we had cinnamon french toast (with powdered sugar and maple butter!), strawberries, and chocolate milk.


And afterwards, Jake got a bubble bath in the big tub! :)


After lunch (we had grilled hot dogs, chips, and apples... we called the hot dogs "Jake dogs" in honor of the birthday boy), we did cake and presents. Ben spent a chunk of the morning making Jake's birthday cake from scratch! He's so awesome! Ben's been trying to get into baking lately - he's always been a great cook, but not so much a baker... but turns out he really is a great baker, he just didn't know it. :) So, Ben successfully made Alton Brown's Devil's Food Cake and it looked exactly like Mr. Brown's, and tasted absolutely amazing! :) Truth be told, Jake probably wouldn't have cared or noticed if it was a box mix or a made from scratch cake.... but the rest of us ate cake too, and it was fun to have a delicious cake to enjoy.


Jake got lots of great gifts on his birthday to open... Ben and I gave him a big truck (which he rides around on all the time!!), a Thomas the train magnadoodle, a new lamp for the cute star shade his Grandma Dangerfield gave him a while back (we had an old lamp base we were using a while ago, but it broke), and a new swim suit (just in time for swim lessons that start on Monday!). Grandma and Grandpa Szymanski sent Jake a cute birthday card and some money, so we used the money beforehand to get him a Buzz Lightyear slip and slide (the kids LOVED it... I'll be putting up a post later about that), a big blue ball, and a bubble wand. Emma and Becca both picked out little gifts for him as well - some crayons, and a squishy ball. :) Jake was a spoiled boy, and we loved watching him open his gifts... he was pretty good at ripping off that wrapping paper... I doubt he even noticed the paper had cute robots on it ;)


Then we dived into the cake - Jake pretty much did that literally. The second extra messy picture is him enjoying his SECOND piece of cake. I mentioned earlier that we love Jake's big appetite, but I neglected to mention that Jake is NOT tidy about it. :)




To finish off Jake's fun day, we headed across town to Makutu's Island. It had been at least a couple years since we'd been and we thought that Jake would be just old enough to really enjoy it - and he definitely ended up loving it! We picked up cousin Adam and took him over to play too - and Grandma Dangerfield and Uncle Peter showed up soon after we arrived to play with the kids as well. It was so fun! Even though I have a big, big belly, I carefully went down a couple of the slides. The big yellow slide is crazy! Every time I go, I forget how fast that thing is! Ben and Peter were awesome at climbing up to the very tops of the climbing structures over and over again with the kids - I mostly hung out with Ben's mom at the bottom and took pictures and watched kids (and adults) pop out of the slides everywhere. It was great!


























Happy Birthday to my awesome Jake man! I love that you are finally TWO! :)

Flowers, forts, and fun birthdays!

Here's some random stuff from the past couple weeks...

We've been making LOTS of trips to the library lately... I'm not sure why we've started going so much in the past few months, but if you start checking stuff out, then you eventually have to go back to return it all, and then you end up checking more stuff out and the cycle continues. :) Well, the last couple library trips we've spent a bit of time in their little garden area in the back - the flowers were too inviting to ignore! I've been desperately trying to get a culture pass to the Desert Botanical Gardens, but no luck lately... spring time is the best time to go see the beautiful desert flowers...

I noticed in this picture that Jake is missing a flip flop... that seems to happen much too often

The kids had been begging to make a big fort for the past while, so this past Friday night, we helped them to construct one in the loft. They were so excited to sleep in it! I thought we might have scared little girls in our bed during the night, but they both slept well and enjoyed their night in the fort. And the next morning, godzilla Jake came and destroyed most of it. :) Maybe when the kids get older they will be able to create even bigger and more elaborate forts... like the amazing blanket fort on Community!




I've decided to sign the girls up for spring swim lessons which start at the beginning of April... so we picked out some new swim suits for them to use this summer. They were anxious to use them, so when we got home we hooked up the sprinkler and they had a wonderful time! This picture embarrasses me because of the dead and weedy grass, but the girls are too cute not to post it. :)


So, Jake is turning TWO in less than 2 weeks! I'm excited! This past Sunday, we did an early birthday celebration with Ben's family at their place. Ben's dad also has a birthday in March, and the bestest news of all is now there is a THIRD family member with a birthday in March, and she was just born! I'm giddy about it... Ben's sister and their cute family have been trying to adopt for many years and finally they were able to adopt a sweet baby girl, born on March 8th! They named her Caroline... isn't that such a sweet name? So, Caroline was just brought home from the hospital the day before and was a preemie, so they left her at home with daddy - but we still sang Happy Birthday to her and to Clyde, and Jake. Emily made a very yummy pistachio shamrock cake! mmm. Even Emma ate it, and that says something... because she's adamant to only like chocolate. Jake got lots of great new clothes, including lots of shorts which he's desperately needed with the warming temperatures. He also got a little doctor kit and some toy trucks. In addition to birthday fun, Ben's parents made an Irish corned beef and cabbage dinner for everyone. I actually liked it!






I just can't believe my little Jake is almost 2! And in a couple months he's going to be a big brother! That's just nuts.

Jammies and Cupcakes

Last week we did a little friend birthday party for our now 6 year old Emma. :) Since we did a big sweet shop party for her last year, I wanted to keep it small and simple this year - we decided to simplify with FREE games that I wouldn't have to buy stuff for, and invite just a few friends... so she decided to invite the girls from her CTR 5 primary class. A while back, Emma and I thought it would be fun to do a pajama party - so we did a little 'night-time' theme with it and Emma really seemed to be pleased with it....






We had pizza and fruit for dinner when the girls arrived and then we played musical pillows (instead of musical chairs) - each of the girls conveniently took turns winning and everyone won glow bracelets. :) Afterwards, we ate cupcakes and opened presents. Then we made muddy buddies for a movie snack. Mmmm. That stuff is so delicious! All the girls then got comfy in the living room and watched Cinderella with their treat they helped make and some popcorn....






Our after-movie entertainment included making toilet paper "dresses" (but looked more like mummies), and then a quick round of princess memory. All the games were a hit and I didn't even have to prepare anything. :) The best part of the party was that Emma has the sweetest little friends - they are all so fun and polite - it was a treat to have some of them join in on Emma's birthday celebration.


On Saturday morning, we were thankful to get to go the temple again while the Lee's watched our little ones; afterwards we all met up to eat at Firehouse Subs. This was my first time there, and I really loved it... if you're looking for a new place to try out - there are bunch of locations in Utah too, for those of you in that neck of the woods. :) The girls were then super excited to get to have their cousin Adam come home with us to play and spend the night. They all kept busy playing together... including some Kinect... and playdoh....




And here's a random picture from this afternoon. It's not really 'Popsicle weather' yet, but in Arizona you can get away with backyard Popsicle parties pretty much all year round... Jake couldn't smile I guess, because his mouth was rather full :)

Valentines Weekend

I'm kind of sad that Valentines is over, because it's really one of my favorites... but I'm also starting to get my fill of hearts and pink and candy. Well, maybe not the candy part...haha. Becca and Jake went to Bellair playgroup for their Valentines party - they exchanged some valentines and colored and decorated yummy cupcakes - and ate them of course. They also had a darling little red frame and some props for taking some Valentines pictures outside - we gave it a try and they are pretty cute considering I'm not a photographer and I don't have a fancy camera (anyone want to buy me a fancy camera?... ben?!)




On Friday, Ben and I celebrated Valentines together - he made dinner reservations and I got a sitter... those are usually our assumed tasks when it comes to dates. We ate at Tutti Santi, a place we've dined at before, but many years ago - Ben enjoyed lobster ravioli and I loved my homemade gnocchi. I love Italian food! Ben spoiled me with 2 dozen lovely roses and some fancy chocolate truffles. They were all gone within 24 hours, enjoyed by yours truly. One of the many reasons I love Valentines. :) Well, I mostly love it because of Ben... he is wonderful.


On Saturday, we didn't do any Valentines activities, but it was very busy with family fun. The kids spent a small portion of the morning finishing up their weekly chores so that they'd be ready for Family Movie Night. Our current chore system continues to be successful, but it's definitely just as much my responsibility to remind the girls continually of the jobs they need to do, as it is theirs to actually get the chores completed. A lot of it is teaching them how to even do the chores and what the expectations are for it to be considered complete. Emma found that sweeping the back patio is much more fun while wearing roller skates. :) And Becca discovered that the vacuum is much bigger than her.




After chores, we packed up a lunch and headed to the Anthem outlets to play and shop around a bit for Emma birthday gifts and Ben clothes - Ben is all of a sudden skinny and nothing in his closet fits... it's been a constant process to try to restock his closet with new smaller clothes... probably not the worst problem to have however - haha.






When we finished up shopping, we headed straight to the movie theater... we decided that instead of watching a movie at home, we'd go see Gnomio and Juliet for our Family Movie Night. It was a cute movie! And we love when kids movies are just as entertaining for the adults. :)

On Sunday evening we had a Valentines/birthday celebration at Ben's parents home. Emma and Peter share a birthday (Feb 16th), which Emma loves! So, we were spoiled with Valentine gifts and a delicious red and pink dinner, and then Emma and Peter got to open some great birthday gifts and blow out the candles on a delicious chocolate cake made my Aunt Emily. Emma got some darling dresses, books, and doll house accessories from Grandma and Grandpa Dangerfield - the Lee's got Emma a new Fancy Nancy book and cute pj's. Oh, and Grandma and Grandpa Szymanski got Emma a Connect 4 game for her b-day while they were up visiting. She LOVES to play it! Emma has the greatest aunts, uncles, and grandparents... what a lucky girl!






On Monday (Valentines Day!), I got out the heart cookie cutter and made some heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. It's amazing to see how much more excited the kids are when the pancakes are shaped like something other than a circle. :) The girls then headed off to their Valentine parties at their school classes. Since I got to go to Becca's Christmas party, I decided that it was Emma's turn for me to visit her. I brought Jake along, which I thought might be a recipe for an early exit, but he did well and even got to decorate and eat his own Valentine cookie. He loved that! I love how excited Emma gets when I come to her classroom. She's such a cutie!


I checked Emma out of school about 20 minutes early so that she could just come with me to pick up Becca from preschool instead of having to take the bus home. As I pulled up to the home that Becca does preschool at, Emma and I both quickly laughed at the line-up of minivans waiting for their little ones. As a mom (especially a Mormon mom), this is the world I live in now... minivans everywhere! haha.


When we got home from school pick up, we did the same valentines lunch we had last year - heart shaped pb sandwiches, strawberry smoothies, and a handful of m&m's (for good measure). The kids were quick to dump out all their valentine loot from school and pass around their cards and treats... Jake collected a large amount of suckers from the girls and he sometimes would have 2 in his mouth at once. I dare to say that Jake loves Valentines day. ;) We also finished up our Valentine collage on the fridge from all the mailbox exchanging this month....


The girls helped me make sugar cookies (that we later decorated that night for FHE) - Emma was excited to wear her new apron set she got from Grandma Dangerfield for her birthday! When daddy came home he brought the girls their traditional valentine gifts of balloons and chocolate - can you tell they were excited?! We had a lot of cookies leftover too, so I packaged up some extras to take to friends. Oh, and the REALLY big balloon that Becca is holding in one of the pics, was given to her free from the Fry's play area... since it was the day after Valentines, I'm guessing they were trying to get rid of them. You should have seen her face when I picked her up after grocery shopping! That balloon is bigger than her!