Happy Birthday, Tater Tot

I can't believe my little guy is already 2! Every day he is getting bigger, saying more things, trying to keep up with his beloved big sister. He is also learning how to throw a tantrum and fight back. He loves horses, the color orange, Rowan and being held. He loves to sing "Elmo's World" and put different characters in place of the word "Elmo" (Zoe's World, Rowan's World, etc.) He has the cutest raspy voice and laugh. He chose his own birthday dinner--pizza and carrots. He is very opinionated and will only wear an outfit if there is orange on it. He is full of love and is always saying "Love you so much, Mommy." He is very LOUD. Everything he says, he yells. It gets very noisy in our house.

Today he woke up, we sang him Happy Birthday and he insisted he is now 4. We took Rowan to school, went out to get a birthday balloon, went to the pet store to see the cats and fish, played in the snow. Tonight we ate his birthday dinner, had a giant horse cookie cake that was easier to make than I anticipated, and opened presents. He and Rowan then spent the rest of the night playing with new toys (and fighting over them). He had a great day. So did I.

I love you so much, my sweet little man. You have such a fun spirit and loving heart. A few days ago, when you woke up in the middle of the night, I went in to you, held you in my arms and you fell asleep. And though I really wanted to go back to bed, I wanted to just stay like that with you a little longer. One minute turned into ten, turned into twenty. Soon enough you'll be too old to fall asleep in my arms, you won't want me to hold you and I'll really, really miss that. I just looked at you and thought "Wow, even though the days can seem really long, the years seem really short." Was it really two years ago that the doctors lifted you out of me and your daddy said "It's a boy!" It's been a great ride, Bud. I can't wait to watch your grow up.

Rowan's Quote of the Day

Rowan: Mom, food is magic. Do you know why?
Me: Why?
Rowan: Because it turns into poo-poo and pee-pee.

Lovely.

Tate's Birthday Week

Since we're not really having a birthday party for Tate this year, we are just going to do a few fun things this week to make his birthday special. Today it was QDoba and bowling. Tate loves the black bean naked burrito with cheese and pico de gallo. And we took them bowling for the first time. They loved it. We loved watching them. Rowan loved her bowling shoes. Tate loved his orange ball! Rowan loved her hot pink ball! And they loved watching them come back "just like magic", according to Rowan. We did not, however, love the smoke smell that lingers and stripped in the mud room, depositing our clothes directly into the washer before heading up for bath time. Yuck!

A Beautiful Day

The past several days have been gorgeous. Still snowy, but sunny! Really sunny! And warm enough to go out and enjoy it. After a few weeks of staying inside, I almost had to force the children outside, but once they were out, the had fun. We made a snow fort (though it was more like a wall) and had snowball fights. We made 4 snowmen in the front yard. Tate still falls over and gets stuck in the snow. Rowan still gets too cold and begs for hot chocolate. But they can have fun (albiet forced) and so can I. Despite the winter storm that is supposed to overtake our state this next week, I actually think I'm going to make it through another winter!

Happy Valentine's Day

Somehow, despite the adorable clothes our children wore on Valentine's Day, the only pictures I took were of our very unhealthy dinner. We opted for a heart-theme for the day. Heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast, heart-shaped PB&J for lunch, heart-shaped pizza for dinner and heart-shaped jello (in orange and what I tried to pull off as hot pink) for dessert. The kids loved it.

Rowan also had a Valentine's day party at school. She was absolutely thrilled with her stash of candy that came home.

Lance and I got to go to a fun dinner at Marie Catrib's while Grandma Jackie babysat the night before. And Lance even picked out some very fun jewelry for me! A fun day overall.

Daddy Daughter Days

Rowan felt like the luckiest girl last weekend. It all started Thursday evening with the Daddy/Preschooler sports night at school. As you can see, Rowan and Lance sported matching soccer jerseys. Then THE VERY NEXT NIGHT was the Daddy/Daughter dinner at church. Rowan picked out a dress from the dress-up bin, Lance wore a pink tie just for the occasion. There was dinner (of which Rowan ate a roll and pudding) and dancing (she is still doing the chicken dance) and other (older!) girls and their daddies, so life was pretty great.

Tate and I had fun on our own. I took him to the mall to ride an orange horse on the carousel, we ate dessert, he had undivided attention. It was nice for all of us. And, a bonus for Lance, Rowan is starting to become a Daddy's girl. He has been waiting for this for a long, long time.

Sick Days

A few weeks ago, a flulike bug hit our house. Rowan got the worst of it. As you can see from the pictures. Poor, poor sweet Rowan. It was a very rough week at the Pellow home. No school, no playdates, no fun to be had.

As you can see, Tate didn't mind at all. Yes, he is wearing Halloween pajamas in February because there is ORANGE on them and he insists on wearing orange every single day. Makes for lots of outfit repeptition. He also insists on yelling "ORANGE" at the top of his lungs anytime he sees orange. He especially likes the Home Depot sign we see on the way to Rowan's school "ORANGE SIGN, MOMMY! ORANGE!!!!" The sunglasses I can't explain. He hasn't worn them before or since but absolutely had to wear them that particular morning.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Senior year of college, my housemates and I were up way too late the night of February 1st and were talking about how funny it is that everyone calls their friends, family, etc. on midnight New Year's Eve to wish them all a "Happy New Year". And we decided that this should certainly occur on other holidays. So, we tried to be the first to wish many of our friends "Happy Groundhog Day" since that was the random holiday that was Feb. 2. And that has kind of lived on. When teaching at Charlotte Jewish Day School, Groundhog Day was one of the few holidays I could share with my kids. And I continue to embrace this holiday for it's complete randomness.

So, today, the family celebrated. Each of the kids made a groundhog to take outside, pop out of it's hole and check for a shadow. No shadow! So, this very scientific process means spring is just around the corner! And I spent no less than 2 hours making these super-cute groundhog cupcakes (but they're really whole wheat banana muffins). Really, it might have been closer to 3 hours. Ridiculous, but the kids loved them. And at least they really did taste yummy! All in all, a fun day, hope for spring (though, clearly, the background in these pictures shows that it's full-on winter here) and some happy kids.