Wizard of Oz friends

These are Princess Sparkley and Boy's good friends. We went to Topeka the other day, to Gage Park and next to the carousel were these cut outs. Very fun since Princess Sparkley has been obsessed with Dorothy since we moved to Kansas, has read The Wizard of Oz (with Daddy) and seen the movie, and requested and received a Dorothy costume from Grandma M for Christmas.

L as Dorothy.

Princess Sparkley as Dorothy.

A as the Tin Man.

I as the Cowardly Lion.

Boy as the Scarecrow.

Atlas

Atlas
B carved this statue for a contest he created at work for the best GIS analyst. A guy named Jack won it. Pretty good statue for someone who has never done anything like this before.

For Grandpa's bday

My dad is a huge Boston Red Sox fan. For his birthday, Cinco de Mayo, I took the kid's pictures in their Red Sox apparel and framed it and mailed it to Grandpa. Here are some of the fun pictures.

Baby Plants

I have a super cute picture from this time last year at a different plant nursery that I'll have to post with this. Boy is holding a baby cucumber plant. Princess Sparkley has impatients.

Princess Sparkley's Preschool Graduation

This is Princess Sparkley's preschool graduation party at the park.
L -> R are: A, L, E, J, Princess Sparkley and M.

Here is their silly pose. Notice the little brothers and sister in the background.



J's little sister, E. Boy. And L's little brother, I.


Princess Sparkley accepting her diploma.

Riding Lawn Mower

Here's the whole family trying out Grandma and Grandpa's new ride on lawn mower in St. Louis. Still Boys' bday weekend.

Cake: Part Two

We had the leftover cake with dinner. More candles, of course. And not so many people so he wasn't as shy and actually enjoyed getting to blow the candles out.

The Presents

Birthday Present Loot.

Opening presents.

Thomas Bridge from G and G in California.

The Mack truck he's wanted since Christmas.

All his new train stuff.

St. Louis Zoo

We sort of decided that the zoo would be a fun place to go for Boy's birthday. The closer we got to the day, the more we realized it might just be us who wanted to go to the zoo. But he enjoyed it, and was excited when we got there.

The family, resting. Much to B's brother's amusement, you'll notice that aside from me, we're all wearing baseball caps from different teams. Princess Sparkley is a Dodgers fan since she was born in the LA area. B is a Pittsburgh fan, being born in Pittsburge. Boy is a Red Sox fan. Officially, according to Princess Sparkley, he's supposed to be an Angels fan since he was born in the LA area too. And our next kid is supposed to be a Kansas City Royals fan. Boy was a Red Sox player for Halloween, and the hat is part of his costume. I'm a Red Sox fan, born to a Red Sox loving Dad.

Princess Sparkley is big into silly pictures lately. We can't get her to keep her fingers out of her mouth for normal ones without promising a silly picture next. And even then... who knows.

Boy, Princess Sparkley, and Uncle Br.

First and Second Birthdays Remembered

Here's Boy on his first birthday in California. The funny thing about his birthdays is that I always have good intentions of making him a fancy cake and it never really works. I can make some pretty good desserts, but I do a horrible HORRIBLE job frosting cakes. So Boy's first birthday cake I found in a magazine and was supposed to be a stack of baby blocks with his name and the number one on them. Not so. Here is the carrot cake he ended up with. (Which I don't think he ate since he isn't really a dessert person, even at one.)

Happy First Birthday Baby Boy!


Not having much fun blowing out candles, is he?


My brother has a little boy, M, two days younger than Boy. This is them celebrating their first birthday together. (Boy is signing "all done," still wanting nothing to do with desserts or birthdays.)
This is Boy's second birthday. I attemped a Thomas Cake. Had a mishap with the frosting (of course) but luckily had some Cool Whip in the freezer that saved it... sort of.

Boy on his second birthday.

Birthday Boy

Boy was born on our anniversary. So our official anniversary celebration this year will take place in May. We figure our kid will always come first because that would be pretty crappy as a kid to have your birthday not be your special day. So this year we went to St. Louis to spend it with grandparents, etc.

Boy did not want a birthday party. I think because he saw me buy one of his presents and figured if he didn't have a birthday, he could just get the present now. Not so. He finally agreed to a Surprise Dinner involving fish sticks which evolved into a Surprise Birthday Dinner. Plus we were lucky enough to have five cousins and an aunt and uncle in town for the cake part since they were in St. Louis with grandma and grandpa for a temple trip.

This is Boy's Lightening McQueen birthday cookie cake... Thanks Grandma.

Clouds

I'm a bit obsessed with how massive and fluffy and beautiful the storm clouds here are. This is taken off of I-70, while B drove us to St. Louis last weekend.

Not Morning Birds

On Tuesdays and Thursdays B has class at 8AM and to avoid leaving for school an hour early and transferring buses, etc. we drive him. This is what our kids look like after we wake them, carry them downstairs and dump them on the couch while we put on shoes, etc.

Easter Egg Hunt Loot

Easter 2007: Happy

They look sort of like Ragamuffins, as my mom would say. We forgot to take their pictures before church... or more likely, we were running late and didn't have time. So this is after three hours of church.

Easter 2007: Grumpy

Does this look at all familiar? Easter 2005 revisited.

Easter 2007

Does this look at all familiar? Easter 2005 revisited.

Easter 2005

These are pictures from Easter of 2005 when Boy was approaching one and Princess Sparkley was two and a half. These pictures still crack me up.