Happy Birthday Brock!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to do a quick post of a few pictures of the birthday boy! We are so excited that we made it through the first year! I'm telling you, those first few months were pretty rough and some days felt like they would never come to an end! But I'm proud to say that we made it! That first year made me the most nervous since that's where my child-rearing experience was seriously lacking. But I had a great teammate (Chad), a fabulous assistant (Ella), and a very forgiving victim (Brock).

We had a good birthday for Brock, although we didn't do too much yet since his party is not till next weekend. I let him have a cupcake after his lunch and he certianly was not shy about eating that! Today, I let him have another one, and after I got him down, I went to wipe up all of the crumbs off of his seat. He saw what I was doing, came back over, stood up against the legs of his high chair, and began grabbing what crumbs he could from his seat and shoved them in his mouth as quickly as possible. I think he likes cupcakes! Of course, he was totally clueless to the fact that it was his birthday, but Ella was excited for him. We kept singing "Happy Brithday" to him throughout the day, and every time we did, he would smile at us (or maybe it was more of a, "you guys are nuts" face...I don't know).

Now, for those of you that are perhaps overly conscious about gender-appropriate toys (uncles and grandpas), and are troubled by the picture of Brock sitting in his sister's princess chair, not to worry. There is a very large box sitting in our entry way right now that contains a red, Lightening McQueen chair so that he doesn't have to use his sister's anymore! Maybe we'll let him open in tomorrow on Chad's day off. The rest of his presents, he will get to open at his birthday party, which is on Halloween. Don't worry, I will be sure to post pictures of the birthday party as well as the Halloween parties that the kids get to go to!

Of course, Ella is greatly anticipating several things over the next week. This week is red-ribbon week at school which includes many things! Funny Sock Day on Monday, Funny Hat Day on Tuesday, Backwards Clothes Day on Wendesday (as well as trick-or-treating at the library), Red Shirt Day on Thursday, and Career Costume Day on Friday. For Career Costume Day, she is going to go as an artist! Friday, she also has a Halloween party at school and some greatly anticipated guests will arrive (Grandma and Grandma Wyckhuyse, Aunt Brittany, Alexis, and Spencer)! They will then stay for Brock's birthday on Saturday. And of course, after the party, there will be another Halloween Party to attend, at church. Whew! I didn't see till now what a marathon week this week will be! I'll be sure to get lots of pictures and post them as soon as possible!

But for the time being, I think Ella and Brock will keep themselves (and me!) busy playing, having more stuffed animal parties and building fort after fort! I sure do love those silly kids! Be sure to check out the new cartoon, "Ella-isms", and poll for now! As you can see, we're having a tough time deciding on a name when there are so many, um, interresting onces out there!