Wordless Wednesday!!

Valentine's Photo Shoot

The hubs and I recently took the kids to Melbourne, Fl while we were staying in Orlando for a few days.  We headed to a local park and had a wonderful friend/photographer take some pictures for Valentine's Day. This is the 2nd time she has taken our pictures, if you got our Christmas card the family picture was taken by her a few months ago. She and her family created this beautiful Kissing Booth and decorated it beautifully for her Valentine's Mini sessions.  She was gracious enough to fit us in during a day not scheduled for her mini sessions. 
The day wasn't the best of days and it was a bit windy and chilly, but she got some great shots of my boy by themselves and together.  Here are a few from the shoot.

Pictures Taken by: Nicole Cangiano
Website: http://nicolecangiano.com/

Our Elf on The Shelf

Kalen and Lucas finally got to meet Our Elf.  He has been patiently waiting for about two years to come visit.  I wanted to wait till at least Kalen would understand him and actually look for him each day.  He showed up a few days before Thanksgiving, because he knew we wouldn't be home. Clever little Elf.  He showed up during nap time and brought with him marshmallows and a box of rice krispies so we could make Rice Krispy treats.  Kalen was way more interested in the marshmallows at the time. 
After we made Rice Krispies we sat down and read the book that came with the Elf.  He still didn't exactly understand that the Elf would leave at night to go see Santa.  I think he kinda understands now.  We also watched the movie, The Elf on the Shelf, an Elf's story.  He loved the movie.
Our next task was to get our Elf a name.  This took a few days.  I thought for sure his name would be, Frank.  He calls a lot of things Frank right now.  Surprisingly that wasn't his name.  The hubs and I would point to the Elf at random times and ask who it was.  Kalen started responding with Santa. We think he was slightly confused because we keep telling him that he goes and sees Santa.  So one day when The hubs came home from work Kalen told us it was , Chris King.  We have no idea where he got this from and we thought it was funny he gave him a last name.  We think he was maybe trying to say Chris Kringle.  So we went with Chris although he still calls him Santa also. 
He loves Chris and freaks out when he finds him.  Lucas actually found him first one morning and was screaming at him. 
Since we can't touch him he has mostly come back to pretty high places.  I don't want to tempt the kids to play with him since he does look like a toy  (A slightly freaky looking toy).  The one day he was in arms length Kalen would run up to Lucas and tell him "No touch, Wiscus!"

Here are some pictures of where Chris/Santa has been so far

Waiting for the Boys to get up!!

Kalen found him, trying to get all the marshmallows without touching the Elf

Hanging upside down on the garland. This was the day Lucas spotted him

 

Chris hanging with the Snowman

Chris hanging out with some wedding pictures

Pretending to be an ornament

Sitting on top of the entertainment center

Monday morning he dyed our Milk green!!! Crazy little Elf.  I told him to keep his shenanigans to a minimum since he has to keep this gig for a while, he doesn't want to run out of them. 

Silly Chris.. dying our Milk Green!!!

When Kalen asked for Milk Monday morning I opened the fridge and he saw Chris attached to the Milk.  He first told me he was stuck.  Chris only used two tiny drops of Milk so our Milk isn't super green and you can't really notice till you get it out of the fridge.  Kalen was laughing and dancing.  He was so shocked Chris dyed our milk green.  When I went to pour the milk in the boys cups, he told me "Careful, No touch." Such a cutie.  He was also telling Lucas that the Elf was silly and so funny!! He has been back multiple times to the fridge to check on Chris. 







Thanksgiving Week

We sure had a busy couple of days!! We had a lot of fun though.  Our original plans for Thanksgiving were going to be just staying at our house and having a small dinner.  However the Hubs found out he also got off Wednesday so we decided to go to Orlando and spend the holiday with his family. 
We left after he got off work Tuesday and had plans to get up early Wednesday get breakfast with my "biggie" (sorority big sister) and then head to Islands of Adventure. 
Wednesday morning we had breakfast at the slowest Denny's on the planet, seriously I could not even imagine if they had more than 4 full tables.  After we were all full we headed over to Islands of Adventure, this was a pretty exciting trip because Kalen was actually Tall enough to ride the bigger kid coasters.  As soon as we got in we headed towards the Harry Potter part of the theme park and Kalen & I got in line for the Hippogriff Roller Coaster.  Our wait wasn't to bad and he did great in line.  Of course he collected a few leaves while we waited, and they made it all the way through the ride as well.  He has a new fascination with leaves that started at The Gator Game.  We got to the front of the line and climbed in to a cart.  The only thing that stinks about these rides is the fact there is one bar.  So the bar stops as soon as it hits my legs, leaving Kalen free to fly right out.  So I just turned and placed my leg over his and pulled him close.  I really had no idea how he would feel about the roller coaster, being that he has no control of his body which was moving around.  I had a pretty tight grip on him the whole time so he didn't move much.  I yelled "weeeee" the whole time so he would understand that roller coasters are not "scary" they are "fun." I put those in quotes cause I know riding a roller coaster is not fun for everyone.  He yelled "weeee" the whole time too, but I'm still not quite sure how he feels about them.


Waiting in line

Heading to the top!!

 After the ride we headed over to the Butterbeer cart and got a few and camped out in front of Honey Dukes, which is the candy shop in HP world.  We always get butterbeers and I fill up a candy bag full of Lemon drops and other yummy treats.  So while we were slurping down our drinks Kalen was watching the Chocolate Frog open and close in the window and he thought the Froggie was hilarious so we got him one of his own. 



Nom Nom Nom

Daddy getting some Chocolate Frog!!



He was making him Ribbit

We rode a few rides in Dr. Suess land and then headed home.  The nice thing about passes is we can go for a few hours and leave!!


Riding the Caro-Seuss-el

Thursday of course was Thanksgiving and the boys were going full blast at 9am.  They never left the porch all day!! They had so much fun playing with their aunts, uncles, and cousins. I really have no idea how they made it.  They did get a tad cranky around 6, but nothing a bowl of icecream wouldn't fix! haha I only got a few pictures of them because they were pretty much blurs all day. Daddy also sent Kalen and his cousin Blase on a flight while they were in Cozy coupes.

Flying!!!

Here is a video of what was happening!

 

Anytime the cars would touch the ground they both would start yelling "Fly!!!"

After dinner Mike's parents set up a few "Minute to Win It" Games and we got into couples and hashed it out.  We ended up tieing with Mike's Sister and her husband, but neither of us wanted to compete again so we ended in a tie.  The Games were so much fun and Kalen and his cousin Blase got in on a couple of games and I have a video of them shaking ping pong balls out of a tissue box!! They were too cute.

 

 

 

We ended up heading home after we did a little black Friday shopping so we could still have a little weekend!!

 



The Very Hungry Caterpillar Party!!

I pretty much knew not long after Lucas was born that his first birthday party would be The Very Hungry Caterpillar theme.  Even though I knew this I still pretty much waited till the last minute to plan his party! I love just love the book and so do the boys.  I had big plans, but big plans require lots of money.  So I did most everything myself, bringing out my inner sorority crafting skills.  I love to craft and get my creative juices flowing, so this party was a lot of fun for me.  I perused the Internet especially pinterest to get some ideas. 
The first thing I wanted to make were little goody bags for the guests.  I order super cute Hungry Caterpillar fabric.  As soon as it came in I started on the first one.  However I quickly got frustrated and the bags never got finished.  I made one and it took forever.  I am okay with a sewing machine, but I think I could be a lot better if I took a class and actually learned about sewing instead of just reading the manual.  The bag looked fine and I will use it, but I like my crafts to be worthy of giving to someone else not like I tried to make it is a quick as possible.  So I decided I would just skip the bags.  Maybe another party down the road. 
I moved on to ordering Lucas' pictures from his first year and made his picture hangings which can be seen here. This is my absolute favorite thing to make I just love looking back on the pictures.  I saw it in a Martha Stewart magazine a few years back, before I Kalen even turned one and I knew I would be making these every year.
Next I wanted to make a pretty big Caterpillar to hang over the food table.  I saw a bunch made out of balloons but they weren't all that appealing to me so I decided to use Chinese lanterns and then cut out the different features of the Caterpillar.  I loved how it turned out and it was super easy!

I also made another Caterpillar out of Tissue paper pom-poms and hung those up by the front door.

I have been looking through the Internet for some time before the party and I came across a blog that had a free printable of all the days and what the caterpillar ate.  I saved the image to my computer and now I cannot find the blog to give her the credit! I'm so sorry.  So I printed them out and glued them to card stock for a little extra excitement. For the Mon-Fri days I attached them to jars with the food inside.  For Everything he ate on Saturday I just taped those up in the guest bathroom, for everyone to read while washing their hands.

Caterpillar Growing into a Butterfly. I love the fat one!! haha

I make the kids Birthday Banners every year and hand them on the entertainment center.  Lucas' was fun to make since I got to make "Happy" into caterpillar.

Just a few other small details.  I wrapped the silverware with a little caterpillar wrap and I bought some cute cardboard straws for everyone to enjoy their drinks with.

Straws from Making Memories Fun

Wraps from Soiree Chic Shop

 




















On the front door hung Lucas' Birthday Wreath. Which is still there because I have yet to make a summer one.

Last but not least his yummy birthday cake.  I had the bakery that made our wedding cake make Lucas' Bday cake! The Bakery use to be called Sheila's but they changed it to Dessert First . They made him a vanilla cake with strawberry filling and delicious butter cream!!

Smash Cake

Lucas in his bday shirt from Munsker & Roo and his bday shades from my friend Ashley.



Enjoying his smash cake!! Yummy

Adorable Invite created by Park Side Prints.  Kelly Myers was great, she helps in any way possible









Lucas Is the Big ONE

So clearly I have been in La-la land!! Lucas turned one about a week a half ago,on May 24.  Just like every other parent out there you wonder where in the heck the year went.  You could have sworn you just brought your bundle of joy home a few weeks ago.  Now the little mister is walking and trying to make words with the sounds he can get out.  As I looked back on this past year I thought about how similar Lucas is to Kalen and then how completely different he is. 
For every birthday I print out pictures from the past year and arrange them in a number, for how ever old they are turning.  I love doing this and I'm sure one day the boys will be utterly embarrassed about it, but I don't care.  Its so fun to look back and see how much they have changed.  Obviously they change so much in the first year.  Lucas was completely dependent on his mom and dad.  He could really only squirm around and his only way to communicate was to cry.  Luckily Lucas was not much of a crier.  He is pretty much all smiles unless he is teething or hungry.  Now the little mister is walking wherever he wants to go, lifting his arms at you if he wants to be picked up, and feeding himself finger foods.  He also loves yelling out for his Da-da. 
Lucas loves to play with toys and can entertain himself just like his big bro Kalen. Which is nice for the rentals to get a break every now and then.  Just like his brother his happy place is in the Bath tub! No matter whats going on if you turn the bath tub on both kids come running at the bathroom like they are giving away puppies and lollipops in there. 
Lucas is so much like his father.  They are almost identical! Although when I took him for his one year check up the nurse said he looked just like me and I told her if she saw my husband she wouldn't think he looked anything like me.  As newborns both boys looked just like their father.  Kalen has changed a lot and I think he is starting to favor me a little more.  Lucas on the other hand still looks like his Pops.  They have the same skin coloring, which makes me extremely jealous, you can put sunscreen on both of them and they still tan up in a matter on minutes!! Just as when my hubs was a kid, Lucas has a darker, dirty blond coloring of his hair, but when he goes in the sun it turns this beautiful golden sunshine color.  His hair is also starting to curl a bit and its getting thicker by the day.  The hubs has wavy, thick hair as well. 
His personality is really starting to come out as well.  He is much more of a lover than Kalen was.  Lucas likes to be held sometimes and will come up to you and throw his arms up when he wants you.  he will also sit on your lap for a little while.  He is still super active though and doesn't like to stay in one place to long.  He loves to laugh and anything you do can pretty much trigger a fit of laughter.  He also loves anyone and everyone.  If you look at him he flashes you a huge grin and usually some laughs.  He is definitely more of a people person than Kalen is.  Kalen takes a little warming up but then he is usually good to go. 
This little guy has so much love.  He loves his Big Bro so much and makes me happy that they are so close.  He follow Kalen everywhere, plays with him, runs away laughing when Kalen chases him, and just loves to be around him.  Kalen loves him as well, yes he gets jealous of Lucas, and sometimes doesn't want to share with him, gives Lucas a good whack every now and then.  But he always says sorry and gives him a hug and a kiss.  Kalen doesn't quite understand how much smaller Lucas is because he often tackles him while giving hugs.  Kalen doesn't like when Lucas is upset, either.  Often times he runs up to him and says "sorry" even though Kalen isn't what made him cry.  He will bring him his juice and milk, bring him food, and "Lucas'" toys.  when Lucas wakes up from his nap Kalen usually runs to his room and starts yelling out his name and laughing and Lucas starts going nuts in his crib, laughing and smiling at his bro. 
Here are a few pictures of his bday night and then pictures of the 1s I made.  Its so fun to look and see how much he has changed in a year! Lucas has pretty much stayed the same in his face since birth, where Kalen looks nothing like he did when he was born.

Enjoying a slice of Cake on His Bday

All smiles after his cake

Pictures from his first year of life in the Shape of a 1 



Close up of the 1



2nd #1