Xander's 2nd Birthday!

June 5th, 2013

On Xander's Second Birthday, Mama made him a peanut butter sandwich cake!  Happy Birthday to YOU!

After Dada got home and nap time was over, it was time for Xander to open his Birthday presents from Mama and Dada.  He started out pretty cranky from his nap, so it took him a while to warm up to the idea of getting new toys, poor kid (#sarcasm).  Here is his first look at what would become one of his favorite toys of all time.  His orange Vtech cell phone.  He loves it so much he brought it down the aisle with him the following month as the ring bearer at Jeremy and Samara's wedding.

Xander got a bunch of books this year.  He loves to read with Mama and Dada and whoever else will read to him.  Fast forward to September and October and he simply can't get enough books and book time during the day.  They are some of his favorite toys!

Xander also got a cool sushi set from his Auntie Lynnette and friend Remi.  This is also one of his favorites from his birthday.  He took to it immediately.

He loves the chopsticks and once Mama showed him how to pick up the sushi pieces, he tried to eat it...

Then he tried to feed the Mama...

Xander got a Mr. Potato Head set - this one was already set up (by Mama) for a birthday party!

Best part of Mr. Potato Head?  The glasses, duh!  Xander tried to put them on his own head... not so successful there...

Then Xander and Dada worked on their own Mr. Potato Head - I think this one has an ear for eyes... and glasses too of course...

Muters wanted in on the action, so she took over the tissue paper on the floor... you can see Sark watching in the distance - you can't see his face, but we'll let you in on a little secret - he was hella jealous!

Then Xander wanted to show his birthday love for Muters and the tissue paper...

After which Mama and Xander thought the glasses were a perfect fit for the Muters and gave it a try... APPROVED!

Xander had never had a doodle board before, so he got one of those and took to it immediately with the pen in his left hand...

And once he sat down, he started in with his right hand... hmmmm, he keeps us guessing...

Mama thought it would be a fun idea to put Xander in the gift bag because it was so big... little tip?  It wasn't a fun idea...

Then Mama thought it could be fun to be the Bag Monster...

Zoom in... another little tip... Bag Monster is not fun for Xander either...

What could save the day?  What could make Xander stop crying on his own birthday?  The broom of course!  Dada sweeps the floor when he cleans the kitty box, and Xander likes to try and help sweep the floor.  He loves that, and he loves his cups... he just got a floor full of new toys and all he wants his is a cheap paper cup and Dada's broom...

Here's the toys - lots of good stuff.  He actually loves all of it and the only things he doesn't play with much are the Mr. Potato head and the bath toys (since he spends so much time bathing in the shower with Dada instead of in the tub).

He really liked the If You Give A Cat A Cupcake book - especially the part where he could pick up the book and kiss the kitty on the front cover...

And of course his real kitty got in on the action and moved in on the gift items...

Then Dada was taking out the trash and they both watched, fascinated... why is Dada leaving the house?

Later that week, we had a birthday party for Xander.  He had many friends and family members in attendance and look at all the loot he made off with!  Some of these items were sent from people out of town, and customer's of Anthony's.  What a generous group of people we know, right?  Thanks everyone, for making Xander's birthday so awesome for him (and us too)!

People who used to blog...

Ok, so we realize we stink at blogging.  And when we say "we', we mean "Mama" because she's done the lion's share of the blogging for many years now.  No good excuses really - we had a lot going on, but not enough that we couldn't blog.  The reality is that Mama is pretty OCD, so in order to blog she has to take photos, then save the photos to her computer.  Then she sorts the photos.  Then she has to back up the photos.  Then she has to sort the photos even further - it's really too much to get into and you'll think she's even crazier than you already think she is... so let's just leave it at this...

If Mama took the time to stay caught up a little bit at a time each time photos were taken, she'd be in a place where she could blog on the regular.  But because she doesn't take the time, she ends up doing what she did today...

Mama got a new phone.  It's been almost 4 years since she had one and her current phone was working so slowly that she had begun to resort to purposefully dropping the phone on the floor to see if it would somehow "shake" something "loose" and unfreeze the phone... but this wasn't working.  When she started trying to break the phone over her knee like some sort of kung fu movie, Dada broke down and convinced Mama to break down and order another phone.

When Mama's phone arrived, she had to back up the old phone to get the new one working right... and in order to do that she needed some amount of free space on her computer... how much?  The computer wouldn't tell her.  Machines can be so vague.  The computer kept telling her she just didn't have enough space.  So she moved some movies, then she moved some movie projects... then she had JUST enough memory to get by.  So while things downloaded and phones activated, she began to blog!  Wouldn't you know it, she did almost nothing else for 12 hours (besides taking care of a child and making dinner) and wound up with all her photos (those that are off the camera that is... yikes) filed away where they need to be and 24 blog posts ready to go!  She thought about waiting until December and celebrating 25 Days of Christmas with a new post each day, but she decided that in the spirit of the holidays, she'd just start posting them now!  So, starting tomorrow at 3am (which is probably today and already posted by the time you read this) get ready for some serious blogging!

Don't get greedy here, people.  Some of these posts are gonna be mostly photos.  But you'll be fine.  And don't forget, you can double click on photos to see them better.  Don't zoom in on Mama's zits or anything, just make sure you get Xander's facial expressions because A) he's handsome, B) he's the cutest thing ever and 3) it's worth it!  He's just so damn cute!

And you know what, if I miss a day... that was on purpose.  I'm keeping you on your toes.  Stay thirsty, my friends...