The Greatest Show on Earth: Chase and Brice's Birthday Party

In addition to having built-in best friends, another benefit of having two little boys only 2 years and 5 days apart is the joint birthday party. This year, despite having  the party at the choo-choo park, the theme was "circus" because how else do you sum up the first year with two kids?

Nonnie and Pop and Grammy and Grampy came to help us out with the party and enjoy the fun. So in addition to the party, the boys were so excited to spend time wiht their grandparents.

Enough words, here are the pictures!

Nica the Clown did a magic show. She recruited some volunteers to assist her.

Mr. Chris helps out

Delaney helps out with a trick

Aidan helps with a trick


After the magic show, everyone went on a ride on the choo-choo around the park.

When the train returned, it was time for pizza and cupcakes!

Bricey wasn't too sure what to make of his first birthday cupcake...or the candle!

After cupcakes, some of the kiddos went outside to play king of the stump.

Because we only had the room for two hours, it was a whirlwind! But there was a lot of smiles and everyone had fun. And it was definitely a memorable party! Happy Birthday, boys!

Brice at 1 year!

At 1 year, Brice is:

 

-Walking! Not all of the time, but he can walk across the room and does so regularly. He's a great (and fast) crawler, so that is still his preference. We encourage him to walk as much as possible!

-Eating everything-- He even tried sushi on Mother's Day/Chase's birthday, and loved it. Brice only has 8 teeth (all in the front) so he has a tough time gnawing on food and often he winds up spitting it back out, but he is getting better. Brice is not longer interested in pureed baby food-- he'd rather feed himself solids.

 

 

-Drinking cow's milk. It was an easy transition for him. And this mama was happy to put away the pump at 1 year post-partum.

 

-Talking up a storm! Brice makes all kinds of sounds that sound like a conversation. He says dada (for daddy and mommy) and sometime mama, Ba (ball), Bad (bird), something like "Aaaace" (Chase), baba (for bottle and cup and something that sounds like Hi when someone comes in and Bye when they leave. Once in a while he'll say "Bye Dada" or "Hi Dada" and I'd say it's a fluke but it's happened multiple times now. Regardless of whether he is making real words or not, Brice is doing a good job communicating what he needs or wants- he points and makes sounds to indicate his displeasure (or happiness).

-Blowing kisses, waving, and giving kisses.

-A silly, sweet boy

 Brice's birthday was a special day for our family. Stephen and I took off work. Chase's class had "Family Day" with a performance and a picnic (post coming), which we all enjoyed. We had a low-key lunch at home and then Chase napped while we played with Brice.

 

 

 

When Chase woke up, we went to the park and the bookstore, and had dinner out before a cupcake celebration.

 

We love you, sweet Bricey. You are adorable and funny. You are so sweet to your Mommy and Daddy, and love to play with your big brother. You have made our hearts grow even bigger than we had ever imagined. Happy Birthday!

Florida!

(a few weeks overdue...)

In April we went to Florida to celebrate Grammy and Grampy's 40th wedding anniversary.

Our adventure began in the airport very early in the morning, but the boys were great. They were excited to see airplanes and ready for our big trip.

They did pretty well on the airplane. Chase loved his toddler headphones on the iPad and happily watched Super Why for most of the trip. Brice was a little more difficult and was moving all over the place, but luckily he has a beautiful smile and made lots of friends.

A few hours later, and a few messed up naps later, we arrived. Brice was ready to party!

By early evening, the boys were back to normal and ready to explore the beach.

The next morning, it was off to the pool.

Then some quality time with Grammy...

 

And shortly thereafter, Owen and Amelia (and Uncle Geoff and Aunt Carrie) arrived. Chase had so.much.fun with his cousins. They had so much fun together. Chase and Owen played superheroes and cars, and Amelia organized games of kittens and mother cat.

 

Chase had no fear jumping into the big pool. He spent hours saying, "Back up, back up, just a little bit, a little bit more....one, two, three, JUMP!" I foresee lots of summer fun in our pool....

 

The event of the weekend was Grammy and Grampy's anniversary party. We got all dolled up.

 

We had another day of fun before we had to head home. Chase and Owen wore their fancy hats...

 

Sadly, this is where the pictures end. Luckily, we brought another camera. So stay tuned for more pictures from this fabulous trip!