2 Years Old!

Where do I even begin? The twins turned two years old on Sunday and I am as proud as a father could be at how awesome they are already. I posted a similar shot in my last blog post as this next picture. The major improvement over that one is Layla without her pacifier. She has such a pretty smile I hate to see it hidden behind her paci.


They were running up and down the halls of the house each holding a balloon in hand. For whatever reason they chose to carry balloons with them during the nightly "Chicken Dance" marathon.

We threw the longest 2-year-old birthday party in the history of the world. Some one call the folks at the Guinness Book of World Records. The party started at 3:00 PM and ended at 9:00 PM. The 6 hour party happened to include the Super Bowl on the big screen, but there's no need to bring details into it. We had a few friends over to enjoy BBQ ribs for dinner, mountains of cake, presents, and the big game.

Kendra made each of the twins a cake and added two cupcakes to make it look like Mickey Mouse. Layla dug right in and I was surprised at how much cake she put away considering her normal eating habits.

Easton looks like an Italian Mafia guy with the chocolate moustache and grimace on his face. Are YOU talking to ME?


He turned back into his normal happy (non-mafia) self when we opened presents. He was so excited about the big fire truck he threw out his "jazz hands".


OK, maybe it was less intentional than the picture indicates, but that's the beauty of photography and candid shots.

Layla received a princess fairy outfit complete with wings. As you can tell by the picture she loves them! I foresee her tutu and this outfit becoming a daily dress-up routine.


Kendra gave Layla a dolly set complete with a crib that rocks, a stroller, and a high chair. Layla wanted to push her new baby to the mailbox this afternoon so I obliged. I didn't expect her to literally run the entire way there and back. She spent most of trip yelling, "come on Easton! come on!" telling him to hurry up as casually walked along side me.


The gift which received the most playing time on the day after the birthday was:

(drum roll please)

The balloons.


Easton is in awe of flight and space. As he attempts to count down and say "3-2-1 blast-off" he says, "1-2 blast-off!" and then throws the balloon into the air. The helium is all but gone from the balloon, but it had just enough to float back down ever so slowly making it easy for him to catch it between his hands with ease.

We bid farewell to my Mom today as she flew back home to Missouri, the frozen tundra. Her plane was diverted to Wichita because of the snow storm, so I hope she makes it home safely. We spent more time together over the past 7 days than in the past 7 years combined. Normally our whole family is around and interacting, which is great, but different than being able to talk one on one without distractions. It meant so much for me to share our lives with her and have many conversations about the past as well as each other's current stage of life. There's nothing quite like the love of a mother and I appreciate who she is and who I turned out to be because of her dedication to us kids. Easton and Layla understood Nana was going to get on an airplane and leave, but it didn't make her departure any less disappointing for all of us. Layla will continue to sing her special song from Nana.


I have a few more pictures and several humorous stories from the past few days, but unfortunately I ran out of time tonight. Kendra played soccer this evening so I need to go massage her shoulders so she can hit the ground running tomorrow... without the help of Nana. :(

See you soon!