The "Happy Birthday" Song.....

So....other than a few "pitch problems" I think that we did pretty good! :)

Two Years Ago Today.....

....we were at Methodist Hospital working hard to welcome our new daughter into the world!

Even though I was induced again, my labor and delivery was much easier the second time around. I was admitted in the morning on February 20th, and after Pitocin, lots of walking, one failed epidural, one successful epidural, and a mild shoulder dystocia on the last push--Erica Rae entered the world at 6:07 pm.

She weighed 8 lb 6oz, was 21 inches long, and was absolutely gorgeous.
We fell in love with her instantly.

Happy 2nd Birthday, E.Rae--we have enjoyed every minute of your precious life. You are a beautiful, joyful, sweet girl who we see limitless potential in. We hope and pray that you are as resilient and strong for the rest of your life as you have been for the first two years. You will be a force to be reckoned with!!

A Snow Fort, Snow Balls, & A Little More Sledding Action....

I never knew the true meaning of "Cabin Fever" until I became a parent.
We are truly running out of creative things to do in the house, and I am
tired of the kids wanting to watch tv and movies all day. So here we are out
playing in the front yard on a beautiful, sunny, mild winter day.

After doing snow removal on the driveway and sidewalks, Jon got the bright idea to dig the kids their first snow fort. You gotta give it to the guy--he is always thinkin'! So here are H & E helping to dig the snow fort out, and just chillin' in their new digs!

I call this the snow ball competition--and it appears that Hayden has Erica beat by a long shot.

Finally some good old "make daddy sweat" kind of fun! Thank goodness for good neighbors around us, because as you can see we are sort of limited on yard space--so our sledding track was through our yard and each adjoining neighbors yard. Jonathan shoveled down the embankments like ramps, and we really got truckin. Hayden and Erica would've gone forever, unfortunately their mommy and daddy are really out of shape, and couldn't quite keep up with their demands! :)

French Braided Faucet Fun

Erica's new favorite past time is playing with the "wa-wa" in the sink. It drove me crazy for a while because I would have to hang out in the bathroom with her for long periods of time while she played to make sure she didn't flood my bathroom, or cause some small catastrophe (as kids tend to do). Finally, I got the bright idea to start doing her hair while she plays--BRILLIANT, I must say, because now she is so distracted she doesn't even notice I am there. Prior to this, combing her hair, putting in pony tails, barrettes, etc--was always kind of a low-grade battle--so I was happy to have found a way to win this battle (this time)! I actually gave her a little hair cut the other day using this same distraction tool--nice... :)

Above you can see my first attempt at a french braid since middle school--I was actually pretty impressed I could remember how to do it! She looks like such a big girl with her hair all pulled back, and her little purse slung around her.

Here she is scrubbing up with soap. I have to take the soap away usually because she would use the entire container just making bubbles (aka.."bubb-o's") if you let her!

Winter Camping

A few weeks back, when the weather was in the 30's and mother nature gave us a short reprieve from the super low temps, we decided to have a campfire in the back yard. Hayden was super excited, as some of his favorite summer memories are having fires in the back yard, which he refers to as "going camping." So when we suggested having a fire and playing in the snow, he decided to call it "going winter camping." The nice thing about this sort of camping--is that you still get to sleep in your own bed!!

The kids wore themselves out on the slide.......

.........and I stayed as close to the heat source as I could!

(notice that dear old dad even got the Tiki torches going--What a guy!!)

For the Love of Hats....

Trying on a few new Christmas hats....

Erica's obsession with hat's continues! This girl is destined to be a fashionista, I swear it!!
She also really loves shoes, and putting on "chap-tic" (aka..chapstick). Her aunt Kathryn brought her a little purse back from Mexico a few years back, and Erica loves to put her chapstick in it, and carry it around with her.

I'm not sure if it's just a girl thing, but I do know that it was a fight trying to get Hayden to keep a hat on his head! Even in the frigid cold, he'd be ripping his hat and mittens off!

Erica picked this little cap out at Old Navy off the clearance rack--much
to my liking it rang up at $1.49! That's my little bargain hunter!!

...and finally Erica trying on one of mom's hat's.
Ok, fine--maybe the obsession is genetic, or a
learned behavior! :)

Sledding ROCKS!

We finally made it out for some winter sledding, and let me tell you-- it was more fun than
we had remembered. However, it was also more tiring than we had remembered. Part of that was probably due to having to either carry or pull Erica back up the hill each time!

The kids both loved the whole experience. No complaints from either about the cold, as a matter of fact I think the complaints only started when we had to go.

It was so fun to ride down with both of them--I could hear them giggling and squealing like little piglets! It was great fun, and took us right back to childhood. It brought back a lot of memories for Jonathan because we went sledding behind his old Elementary School, where he grew up sledding every winter.

Ahhhh....thank god for 40 degree days in the middle of winter!

We needed it BIG TIME--can you say c-a-b-i-n--f-e-v-e-r?