Miles is Two!

Our sweet Miles is two years old.  I just can't believe it.  He is such a joy (most of the time).  Two is always tough.  He gets frustrated easily and has quite a scream on him.  He can be just as stubborn as he can be sweet.  He loves his big brother and tries to do everything he does.  He is independent, talkative, animated, and a mama's boy.

He is still off the charts in height at 40 inches and 97% in weight at 35 lbs. 7oz.  He also wears a size 10 shoe.  Jud still thinks he will be 6'7".

Two years.

 One year.

Six Weeks.

 We love you sweet baby Miles!

The Race Care Birthday Party

We had a combined birthday party for the boys this year.  Their birthdays are about six weeks apart and this may be the only year we are able to get away with doing it together.  I had to come up with a theme and a place that would work for both a five and two year party.  First, I decided on having it at the Dairy Ashford Roller Rink.  This is the same roller rink that I went to when I was young and it has hardly changed a bit.  It still has the same smell too.  We rented out the whole place (only justifiable because the party was for both boys).  We also had our guests bring push/riding toys to make it more age appropriate.

Then I decided on a race car theme since all the kids would be racing around the roller rink.  I got the invitations on The Trendy Butterfly on etsy.  I love how they turned out and she was super great to work with.  I'll for sure order from her again.  How cute is that picture on there?

I found my race car inspiration from the invitations, a friends party, pinterest, Etsy and blogs.  Basically just got ideas from all over.  Here is the food table.  Everything had a name: Silverware-tools, strawberries-spark plugs, cheese cubes-engine blocks, twizzlers-dip sticks, chocolate mini donuts-tires, popcorn-nuts & bolts and drinks-fuel.  I ordered the table tents from The Trendy Butterfly too.

I decided to do fondant toppers on the cupcakes.  My friend Erica did it at her daughters party last year and I just loved it.  I ordered mine from Top It Cupcakes on Etsy.  They turned out so cute and they tasted yummy too.  I just bought plain cupcakes from HEB.

 I decided to do something simple with the table that the kids would be eating on.  I found the plastic roadway at Arnie's and just got matchbox cars so the kiddos could play before and after they ate.  The cars were part of their party favors along with key chain flashlights and race car lollipops.

 Love this family picture (especially the carpeted walls of the roller rink).  The Trendy Butterfly also did the boys t-shirts. 

  Here's the scene from the rink...

 Miller basically stayed on his wiggle racer the whole time.

 GraMary helping Miles ride a scooter.

  Happy birthday to Miller and Miles...

 Loving the cupcakes.

 My sweet boys.  I can't believe they are five and two.  They are getting so big.

Lincoln and Miles' Birthday

We went to Lincoln for one last hurrah before Jud's parents move to Texas this fall.  Jud played with his dad in the Hilcrest Member Guest Golf Tournament.  Miles turned two while we were there so we did lots of celebrating.  It was so much fun because he really understood that it was his birthday.  He pretty much had a birthday week and a half since the boys combined birthday party was after we got back the following weekend.

The night we got in GraMary cooked a great dinner at home and made triffle for Miles for his birthday.  Can you tell he's loving every minute of it.

The boys love to wrestle with Daddy on the carpet (we don't have carpet in our house).

No trip to Lincoln is complete without a visit to Val's.  Miles even had a birthday cupcake there.  He looks so big in this picture.  

The morning of his birthday, Miles woke to balloons and donuts.  Does he look excited?

 He loves singing Happy Birthday and still asks for it at bedtime some nights.

GraMary and I took the boys to the Lincoln Zoo for Miles' birthday while Jud and Grandpa Max played their first round in the tournament. 

I love this picture!  Miles usually won't hold Miller's hand and he just reached out and grabbed it.

 Choo Choo!

Posing on the front step in the almost matching cowboy shirts GraMary and Grandpa gave them.

  The theme of the member guest this year was going back to high school.  Each night they had a dinner for the golfers and spouses.  Some people dresses the part and wore things they would have worn while they were in high school.  Here is a picture of us on the second night.  Jud wore his high school basketball practice jersey and a lovely pair of jorts (jean shorts).

 Jud and Max were paired with a buddy of Jud's from grade school and his dad.  Jud hadn't seen Rob in almost 20 years.  Here we are with Rob and his wife Ally.  We had so much fun with them!

The last night was "Prom Night".  There were so many fun dresses (think lots of big poofy sleeves and taffeta).  I found a lovely sequin dress with shoulder pads at a thrift store.  Well worth the $20.

 Jud and Max played really well.  They won their flight and came in second overall in the entire tournament.  Way to go guys!  Here they are with their trophy's.

 Here's the six of us before we left Lincoln. We had such a good time.  Thanks Grandpa and GraMary!

We flew out of Kansas City since it was way cheaper and so we could visit with our friends Ricky, Shae and Amelia.  We met them at an indoor play place and then went to lunch.  Shae managed to snap a pretty good picture of the three kiddos playing.  We don't get to see them enough and miss them so much.  I can't believe sweet Amelia is already one.

July 4th at the Lake

We went up to the lake for five days the week of the fourth.  It was so nice to actually spend more than just a weekend up there.  My parents were there with us and Evan and Blake were there for a few days too.  

Miles had a weekend of firsts.  He enjoyed his first fireworks and sparklers.

He also enjoyed his first time tubing with daddy and his first wave-runner ride.  

  Miller had fun tubing also and loved swimming and finding clams in the lake.

 My three boys on the wave-runner.

 It's not the 4th of July without watermelon!!!

 I love how Miles is looking at Miller in this picture.  He looks up to him so much and wants to do everything he does!

Galveston

I'm way behind on posting.  I'll just blame it on a crazy busy summer.  We are currently in Durango for almost a month and I finally found some computer time.  We are having a great trip and the weather is fabulous (minus a few needed afternoon rain showers).  

In mid June we were invited to a friends (Gabe) birthday party in Galveston.  We decided this was a great opportunity to make the hour drive to the beach.  The party was at Gabe's grandparents house on the bay side.  Of course it was a pirate theme and the boys loved every minute.  Party highlights included: baby pool, blow-up pirate ship pool, slip-n-sliding, finding a baby frog and playing with him in the baby pool and a water balloon fight.

Miles pretty much stayed in the pool the whole time we were there.

 

 Miller's first water balloon fight.  They found a company that filed and delivered the balloons.  I'm pretty sure they had over 500 balloons.

Miller nailing Jud with a balloon.

 They set up a tent at the beach (3 min away) for anyone that wanted to head over.   We went over there for about an hour and a half after the party.  The boys absolutely loved it and didn't want to get out of the ocean.   

We really should take advantage of being so close to the beach.  It may not be the prettiest beach, but the boys loved it and it's only an hour away.  Maybe next summer we can rent a beach house for a long weekend.