Party Time

On Saturday we were glad to have the opportunity to celebrate Aiden's second birthday with our parents, grandparents, and siblings. Things can get a little cozy at our house when we have big gatherings, but everyone had fun time and (as usual) Aiden enjoyed being the center of attention.

Although we tried to keep things a little more low-key then his birthday party last year, Jen did make the house look festive for the occasion. True to from, Aiden especially enjoyed the numerous balloons.

When it came to gifts everyone exercised some (much appreciated) restraint. Aiden still has Christmas presents that have hardly seen the light of day, so it was a relief not to be inundated with a new wave toys and gifts. He did, of course, enjoy opening the gifts that he did get, and he put on quite a show of tearing into each new gift wrapping with reckless abandon.

Birthday cake (in this case cupcakes) of course made an appearance at the party. Decorated by Jen, they fit right in to the loose "letters" theme of the party.

Aiden kept his cool during the singing of Happy Birthday (a change from last year's party if you recall) and managed to blow out his candles. When it came to eating his cupcake he seemed to relish the chance to plunge his face into the copious amounts of sugary frosting, and he took to the rare opportunity with great gusto.

While all the cupcakes were safely digesting Aiden spent some time playing with his new toys, and having fun with his aunts and uncles.

Thanks to everyone who braved the cold to come and enjoy Aiden's birthday with us. We had a great time, and we know that Aiden loved having everyone there to celebrate with.

Also, thanks to everyone who has wished him happy birthday on this blog during these last few days. It has been two years (and exactly 300 posts) since we started this blog, and although we created it primarily to share pictures and stories about our son it has given us the unique opportunity to connect and reconnect with some great people. We love being able to sit down at our computer and share whats going on here with loved ones in California, and Arizona, and Massachusetts, and Virginia, and Maryland and all over Pennsylvania, and even UGANDA! And on top of that we love being able to read about all of you too.

So lets keep it up!

Here's to another two years and beyond!

Aiden 2.0

At 8:30(ish) this morning Aiden turned two years old.

To say that the last two years have flown by seems a bit of an understatement. A whole lot has happened in the last two years, but looking back now it mostly seems like one lightning-fast, Aiden-themed blur. Times like these make this blog seem pretty worthwhile as it allows us to go back and "ooh" and "ahh" over every little moment from Aiden's babyhood till now. We have a weekend ahead of us to celebrate Aiden's birthday with family and friends, so I'm sure I'll have more opportunites to wax poetic about how precious our son is to us. But for now let me just take a step back and share some pictures with you from Aiden's birthday morning.

This morning we went upstairs to get him from his crib, and at first he seemed a little puzzled about having both parents (plus a camera) present for his morning wakeup. He warmed up slightly however after repeated parental declarations of "Its your birthday!!" and "You're TWO years old!!!" He seemed to pick up pretty quickly that this day was all about him as he repeatedly began exclaiming "Happy Birthday Aiden!"

When he came downstairs he found, much to his delight, a smattering of balloons on the floor for his early-morning enjoyment.

After he was done playing with balloons he enjoyed some birthday pancakes.

And finally he opened up his birthday present...

Turtle slippers!

Taking the turtle slippers for a test drive.

Balloons+ new slippers+ Elmo= one extremely happy birthday boy.

(Really) Snowed In

I know its only February, but I was kind of hoping that we were out of the woods with this whole "snow storm" thing.

Hmm...

Well that, obviously, was not the case as winter showed us during these last few days that it wants to smack us around just a little bit longer. We got at least 20 inches, which is supposed to be the biggest storm since 1990-something. So yeah, it was a doozy. Luckily we we're all able to hunker down in the house during the worst of it, and today (with the weather taking a turn for the better) we ventured out to see what fun could be had...

Phone Fun

After a recent cell-phone upgrade I have been having (maybe a little too much) fun playing with a camera function that is vastly improved over my old flip phone. It certainly doesn't replace a good quality stand alone camera, but you sure can't beat it for convenience. Having a camera phone always tucked away in your pocket can certainly make it easy to snap a picture at a moments notice, and since its a new toy to play with I've been snapping away pretty steadily over the last few weeks.

So anyway, here are some moments that have been recently captured using the new phone. I'm not sure why they are all different sizes... still figuring that part out.

Playing:

Shopping:

Serious breakfast face:

Silly breakfast face:

Looking out the window with puppy:

With Dad:

Waking up: