Cy-ca-cle

Andrew received his very first tricycle from Bac Khanh for his birthday.  We finally took pictures of him "riding" it this week.  His legs need to be like 1 inch longer in order to reach both pedals, so for now, he just scoots around on his tippy toes.  He loves his tricycle and even calls it is "cy-ca-cle."

He loves ringing his bell to let you know he's coming.

But he seems to really enjoy pushing his bike up and down the drive way.

Little dare devil

Apparently, bike riding did not fulfill his list of activities to accomplish by nap time, so he spied his wagon in the garage and promptly climbed inside indicating that someone should take him on a wagon ride.

Ready to go!

Cheesecake

Jess was kind enough to send me pictures of Dustin's birthday cheesecake.  I was obviously too impatient because I was ready to eat it and neglected to take a picture of it.  :)  I finally had time to upload them and share.  Thanks again to Erik for making this delicious confection for me.

Birthday and Presents, Pt. 2

Andrew's train set finally came in and luckily, Dustin had the time during Andrew's nap to put it together.  Choosing one of the many designs, Dustin went to work and here's what he came up with.

Once again, when Andrew woke up, we told him there was a surprise waiting for him and he ran over to the table to see what was there.  Suffice it to say, he was so excited to see his new train set.  His expression says "awesome!"

And again, "Tray!"

Andrew loved the little signs and trees.  He would hold them up to show me.

We eventually had to put the trains down to have dinner with our friends and to eat birthday cheesecake!  

Now, we did not practice with Andrew on how to blow out his candles.  We thought we'd just see what would happen.  My biggest fear was that Andrew would put his fingers in the flame, but he surprised me by keeping his hands to himself.

Daddy told him to blow on it and Andrew was able to blow out his own birthday candle.

I guess it wasn't as exciting for him as it was for us.

He may not have gotten a kick out of blowing out his birthday candle, but he gave his approval on the cheesecake.  He ate about 2/3 of his slice before throwing in the towel.  Such a big boy!  Wishing both my boys a happy birthday and more to come!

Birthday and Presents, Pt. 1

Andrew and Dustin have their birthdays one week apart, so I wanted to have a joint birthday party for them.  This year, our good friend Erik graciously came over to make Dustin's birthday cheesecake.  Since he has perfected his cheesecake recipe, I thought that it was easier to have him come over and show me how he does it.  

He put me to work, but Erik did all of the hard work.

I wish I could show you the finished product, but I guess we were all too hungry to actually take a picture of it.

And while that was going on, part 1 of Andrew's birthday gift arrived in the mail.  Recently, he has shown major interest in trains (rather than his cars) and we thought that getting him a train table and set would be a great idea.  Unfortunately, they did not come in at the same time.  We received the table first and Dustin put it together during Andrew's nap.  When he woke up, we told him we had a surprise for him.  He rounded the couch and this was his expression.

"Tray!"

The train set wouldn't come in until tomorrow, so we had to use the simple one he already had.  They also sent us a train engineer's hat and Andrew loved it!  He would make his Papa and Great Papa happy!

Happy birthday boy!

Gangsta Engineer

And there's nothing like having Erik sneak up behind you to scare the jeepers out of you!

Happy Birthday, Buddha Baby!

I can't believe it's been TWO years since Andrew came into this world.  I can't believe how much he's changed and grown.  It seems like one minute he was this tiny little human being...

...and now he's this big, little man. (Well, it doesn't look like much has changed in these two pictures, huh?)

He knows how to cheese it for the camera and he is looking more and more like his daddy.

On Andrew's birthday, his friend Cole came over for dinner and play time.  Is this what they mean by "kissing cousins?"

Andrew's chocolate dirt birthday cupcakes!  He devoured them!

Andrew - you were the best thing to happen to us.  We love you so much and wish you many more birthdays! ~ Mommy and Daddy