Spring has Sprung

Not that we had much of a winter, but MAN are we enjoying the spring!  The boys' happiness is a direct function of how much time they get to spend outside, so we do our best to accommodate :)

With spring comes softball (more on that to come!), so the weeks leading up to the start of the season, we dusted off the winter cobwebs with some batting practice outside.  Now Joergen takes after his cousin Aidan, who as a little guy would carry sports balls around with him pretty much at all times.  That is definitely our Joergen!  If he is getting fussy, just give this guy a baseball or a basketball or a tennis ball (or a dog toy, as we recently discovered at our neighbor's house...), and he will spend all kinds of time throwing it, chasing it, and looking for a receptacle to put it in (more on this to come as well!). 

Swing batter, swing!

Joergen's fascination with hats is limited to those on others' heads-- he definitely draws the line at wearing one himself!  In search of one he will tolerate for the summer...

While Dad and Liam batted away, I had fun doing an impromptu photo shoot with one cute subject:

Although we're outside as much as possible, we're having some fun inside, too-- as is evidenced by this makeshift activity on a rainy morning.  Liam is quite the little cycling enthusiast these days.  He takes his trike with him wherever we will let him, and loves to have a little passenger on the back:

With Liam's rambunctious style, perhaps that helmet would be better placed on the passenger?  We'll have to get Joergen one of his own this summer I think.

Speaking of indoor games... has anyone seen Joergen?

Peekaboo!

And with all that fun both outside and in, sometimes we're just all tuckered out:

Easter 2012

Happy Easter, everyone!

I know, I know, I'm a couple of weeks late.  But it's at least still the Easter season, right?

We celebrated Easter this year in York with Nana and Grandpa.  I was back-and-forth between York and KoP with choir commitments, but come Easter morning, I was happily settled with my two favorite Easter bunnies:

We got to sleep in (a little) while Daddy, Nana, and Grandpa went to mass early in the morning.  By the time they got home, we were up and running, excited to see that the Easter Bunny had in fact known to visit us in York (with hidden eggs in the backyard even!).  The boys couldn't wait to find their Easter baskets and tear into the spoils... my goodness!

And then it was bloody marys all around!  Cheers!

After breakfast (as in, putting something in our system that wasn't sugar), we headed outside for our Easter egg hunt.  No Easter bonnets in this house, but how snazzy are these guys?!

Liam proved to be a skilled egg-hunter.  Joergen, on the other hand, was content to park himself in his own little spot on the lawn and snag whatever eggs were within reach.

"Look at MY basket, guys!"

"I got an egg!  I will spend the next 10 minutes trying to open it!"

Believe it or not, I bought Liam this shirt independently from Uncle Andrew and Aunt Beth bringing him the hat from Illinois.  The ensemble had Easter written all over it.

It was an unbelievably gorgeous day!  With all the eggs accounted for and a tootsie roll in hand, I had two happy little guys who let us snag some pictures:

Liam stayed outside and enjoyed the sunshine as much as he could.  He especially liked making giant bubbles on the deck:

Meanwhile, Joergen and his rosy cheeks got out of the sun and onto a riding toy.  He's getting to be such a big boy!

Big thanks to Nana, Grandpa, and GG for such a special Easter celebration!

Oh, and I almost forgot...

In the midst of all the festivities, I kinda forgot that I had a birthday in there too (selective memory, perhaps?  Not of the day, but of getting older!).  The men in my life went all out to make it a really special day with lots of fun and surprises.  Liam and Joergen got me a "SUPER" card and did an awesome job decorating and signing it:

I got phone calls from my family near and far, which especially made my day.  I even got to talk to Mary  while I opened her gift (which I am using pretty much daily-- thank you again!!).

I was especially intrigued by this giant gift bag from Liam and Joergen...

Best gift ever!

Just kidding... it was actually a whole new set of pots and pans!  Love, love, love.  I was totally suprised!!

Liam helped me blow out my candle on a pint of yummy sorbet:

Joergen was a big fan too:

It was an awesome day.  My family is such a blessing to me! 

Joergen's Birthday, Part 2

Joergen's actual birthday fell on a Monday, and since Mom and Dad were stuck at work, Joer got to party with his friends at Miss Doreen's all day.  In the evening when we were all finally together again, the celebration continued!  We saved the presents Joergen had gotten in the mail as well as the ones from us for that day.  Liam could not have been more eager to help his little brother with the task of opening those gifts, either.  This was pretty much how things went:

There was a package from Uncle Tim, Aunt Jackie, and Colin right on our doorstep when we got home that day, and Joergen couldn't wait to dive right in...

I was speechless when I opened it (and as you know, that really means something!).  Aunt Jackie had made all of our blog posts from 2011 into an actual hard-cover book, and it is just incredible.  We don't know how she does it, but we sure are grateful that she did!!  We've had so much fun looking through our adventures from over the past year.

Joergen really did receive some pretty awesome gifts from his aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  Check out his jersey from Uncle Andy and Aunt Beth!  He and Liam are now both officially ready for baseball season.

Early evening is not typically a stellar time at our house as we're all trying to wind down after a long day.  For example, what started as a quiet card-opening with Dad and Joergen...

...quicky devolved into this:

(which is really not atypical, to be honest... even when reading bedtime stories!)

Joergen was really excited to open his present from Aunt Vicki and Uncle Dick.  lights! sounds! moving things!  rapture!

Although he's still a little small for it, Joergen was also excited to get his very own superhero bath cape, just like Liam's.

The big finale was this awesome gift from Grandma and Papa!  Look out summer, here we come!!

Joergen is One!

Without a doubt the fastest year of our lives... how is it possible that baby Joergen is already one?! 

He had his 12-month checkup this morning-- even though it's already 2 weeks after the fact!-- and other than being slightly anemic (which a vitamin with iron should take care of), he is a growing and healthy boy.  He came in at 22 lbs 14 oz and 30 inches long, which puts him right smack in the middle of the chart. 

Joergen isn't walking yet, but he pulls himself up on absolutely everything-- his latest favorite spot being my pant leg as I'm trying to cook dinner!  He cruises around the furniture and is enjoying "walking" while holding onto our hands.  His crawl had evolved into this funny half-bear crawl, manuevering around on one knee and one foot.  He is still sucking his thumb, and as soon as that thumb goes into his mouth, he searches for the nearest piece of fabric to hold in his other hand.  Some recent choices that have made me laugh: his socks (yanked off his foot for this very purpose), my pant leg (see above), and my ponytail.  It's really cute!

Joergen has gotten pretty chatty over the past few weeks.  He says hi, bye, and "uh oh!" when he drops something-- which is frequently.  We have even heard him singing his own version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" while he plays.  He is all about pointing... which is actually pretty helpful, because he can now communicate what he wants when he wants it.  And believe me, he lets you know when he wants something!  He has a real thing for ceiling fans and will point them out to me with a big grin on his face whenever he sees one.

We celebrated Joergen's first birthday on Sunday the 25th and were excited to have Nana, Grandpa, GG, Aunt Jayne, Aunt Jackie, Colin, Uncle Andrew, and Aunt Beth all there to join in the festivities.  Aunt Jackie also brought her sister Jennifer, and Marc, Cathleen, and Julianne stopped by too!  In preparation for the big day, Liam and I made vegan chocolate cupcakes for Joergen's cake... and they were awesome.  They were a recipe from Cupcake Wars on the Food Network, and we could definitely see why they won!

Joergen just loves balloons, so that was the theme of his party. He had so much fun chasing them around the house!

Joergen especially loved playing catch with his cousin and buddy Colin.  They were surprisingly good at it! 

Joergen's "cake" was a bunch of balloons-- color coded so we knew which ones had the vegan frosting and which ones were good old buttercream :)

"Happy Birthday dear Joergen, Happy Birthday to you!!"

As soon as he made a wish and blew out his candle (with help from Liam of course), he dove right into that cupcake.

And before we knew it, in true Joergen fashion, he had created a total disaster zone!  There was chocolate cake everywhere.  And I do mean everywhere!

Liam dislikes his cupcake so much that he just had to have another one!

Dad and Aunt Beth looking rather festive:

GG brought Liam a pretty cool bubble machine to play with, so he and Grandpa had some fun chasing bubbles on the deck:

Inside, Joergen got all cleaned up and had some fun playing with his pal Julianne. 

And then it was present time!  Joergen got some great new clothes for spring, including a handsome Easter outfit from GG:

Ever Mr. Helpful, Liam was sure to lend a hand with opening presents (and playing with Joergen's new toys):

Joer loved his xylophone from Nana and Grandpa!

After presents, we wanted to get a shot of Liam, Joergen, and Julianne together.  Who knew this would be mission impossible?  This sequence of photos says it all...

*Finally* we have the three of them sitting still (for a split second anyway) and looking in the general direction of a camera.  It's not a great pic by any means, but it was clearly the best of the bunch!

Joergen's birthday celebration continued the next day, so more to follow!