Don't Worry, Guys

Tukk's still got it. 

This much facial destruction from one s'more. 

It's Tukker's gift.

Homemade Spongebob

He got to bring a stuffed animal to school on Friday. He has a dozen to choose from, but he wanted to bring his homemade spongebob with the "hoody" he crafted for it. From a pair of his underwear. 

HIS UNDERWEAR. 

Boys. Sigh.

Love Day

I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day in general. I think it's weird. You just randomly pick one day a year to tell your swain-dog you love them? Weird. You should be telling your swain-dog that all the time. And your swain-dog shouldn't be questioning why you started calling him swain-dog in the first place. IT'S TOTALLY NORMAL AND ROMANTIC. And the thought of waiting in line for hours to go to dinner just because it's Valentine's Day is horrific to me. Do you know what happens when I get hungry? Bad things. Very unromantic bad things.

So instead of risking a homicide scene at an overpacked restaurant, we celebrate Valentine's Day as a family, and it is THE BEST.

It starts off very romantically with an annual, never-to-be-missed (except that one time when I had a baby in the NICU and thought I should spend the day with him) date with someone very special: my sister. There is also nothing weird about spending Valentine's Day with your sister. THESE ARE ALL NORMAL THINGS, PEOPLE. Please reinforce this idea with Rylee's husband whenever you get the chance. 

Anyway, we always get together and make dinner and magical treats together, and it is so fun. 

This year we did chocolate drizzled strawberry/banana/marshmallow/brownie skewers and homemade Italian sodas. I forgot to take a picture of the adorable skewers all lying festively together because I was too excited about eating them, so this is the best I've got:

The boys helped put their own skewers together. Well, Caulder and Tukk did, while Rand spent his time sneakily slobbering all over Tukk's while Tukk wasn't looking. 

Then we had a romantic, one-candle-light dinner of chicken alfredo. Remember that one time I actually decorated for the dinner and turned all the lights off and had the table looking all fancy? Yeah, well that dinner rapidly disintegrated into farting at the table and the boys all mooning each other on the trampoline, so I've given up on the table decorating. This is all they get. They don't notice the difference, anyway. 

The swain dog enjoyed it, even without fancy decorations.

And he gave me the greatest Valentine's Day gift of all: he helped Caulder make the dreaded Valentine's box while I was at work!

The boys loved dinner (especially the sodas), and Tukker summed up the day by telling Rylee "I ate 2 bags of fun dip, licked a sucker, ate an Oreo, a chocolate covered marshmallow, a brownie, a chocolate covered brownie, and sucked on a ring pop for a while. Oh! And drank some Gatorade!"

Total Valentine's Day success!

The Birthday Party

We celebrated the big man's birthday on Sunday with our family. He got spoiled rotten, of course. When you're the first baby in years, EVERYONE spoils you.

Because of his puppy obsession, we got him this cake. As in, we had someone with cake skills make this cake for him because of the ban my mom placed on ME making my children's cakes years ago. She's a smart woman. If I'd attempted it, it would've looked like a puppy who'd been hit by a car. The only problem with such an adorable custom puppy cake is that you feel a bit like a monster cutting into it to serve it up. But puppies taste delicious, so what are ya gonna do?

We also had a hot chocolate bar, WITH a sign that I printed off pinterest. I even wrapped the jars in baker's twine. What? That's right. I know what you're thinking: "Wow! She's really getting crafty!"

And then you see the party decorations, and you remember who I am.

Sharpie-face dog balloons (with crepe paper - give me some credit for the twisty crepe paper!):

Sad, lonely, earless (I got tired of cutting ears) pink dog hanging by itself on the (amazingly twisted crepe paper) window streamer.

Wiener dogs haphazardly taped to the light in the kitchen. But at least these ones all have ears!

It's fine. Rand needs to know what he's up against right from the start. I don't want to build his expectations in the first couple of years by actually putting a lot of work into his party decorations, only to fizzle out by year 4 and completely disappoint him.

It was okay, though, because the birthday boy LOVED the sad puppy balloons. I'm surprised he didn't pass out from all the puppy panting he had to do every time he saw one.

He sort of opened the presents by himself. He'd get off to a good start, but then Caulder and Tukker (and the rest of us, frankly) would get frustrated by the slow pace and "help" him by tearing the paper all the way off. We had a puppy to devour, people. There was no time for lengthy present opening.

He got lots of trucks, and he was super excited about them. He also got a race car track, a giant puppy from Grandma Sara, a sit-n-spin, a new bedding set, a fireman hat that makes siren noises, a Where the Wild Things Are book and toy set recycled from Tukk, and a bubble-blowing lawnmower that is basically the greatest thing that has ever happened to him. The dude goes insane over bubbles. He shrieks in such a high voice that only dogs can hear him whenever we blow bubbles for him, so being able to make his own bubbles WITH a power tool? Pure toddler magic.

He wasn't a fan of placing burning candles on a poor, helpless puppy, though. He was furious when we sang happy birthday to him with the candles lit. He kept glaring at me and trying to push the cake away.

That did not, however, stop him from eating said puppy. No one can resist chocolate puppy cake. And having Grandpa share with him helped him forgive the fire hat thievery. Looks like we need to get Grandpa Farney his own fireman hat.

But my very favorite thing about birthday parties is seeing all these people who love my kiddos. This is only about half of them. We're so lucky.

Tiny Two-Year-Old Jerks

Babies are just tiny jerks who grow up too fast and break your heart. On purpose. 

This tiny jerk is two today. I have no idea how that two years went so fast. Faster than with either of my other boys, for sure. 

In the last month or two, Rand has started talking up a storm. He's going to give Caulder a run for his money. There will be so. much. talking at my house.

Here are some of the words he says:

Daddy
Momma
Cauldee
Tu
Yaya
Bampa
Bamma
Joonie
Oonie (Winnie)
Ai (Klive)
Dacee (Jacee)
De (Jett)
Santa
Dee (deer)
Cookie
Soo (shoe)
Book
Elmo

 He says door and more like he's from Jersey: Mowa, Dowa.

His first three-word sentence was "Daddy. Poop. Potty." and then he laughed like crazy. Potty humor appreciation starts young around here.

Every morning he says "Hi Tu! Mowwwwwwneeeen." For Hi Tukk, good morning!

He is crazy about animals, especially dogs and horses. He pants whenever he sees a dog or hears  a dog or someone says "dog" or he thinks about dogs.

 

He knows a lot of body parts: head, tongue, teeth, mouth, nose, ear, cheek, chin, bum, belly, toes.

He loves to go for "yides" in the car. Sometimes out of the blue he'll just bring us his coat and shoes and demand, "Yide!"

He also loves to play outside. He'll say "Side? Yeah!!!" And he loves to look at the "no" outside on the ground and tell you "cold! Brr!"

We have definitely hit the terrible twos. Mostly he's sweet as can be, but he's got a temper and isn't afraid to show you. He's also been working on his pout. Seriously. He practices sticking his lip out, dropping his chin to his chest and glaring at you.

But half the time the practicing cracks him up and he forgets what he was working so hard to be mad about. 

His favorite foods are sausi (sausage), apples, nanas, and Cheerios. His favorite past time is watching movies of himself on my phone (he's very smitten with "baby"), and taking baths. He literally spent 2 hours in the sink one day. As long as you keep the "latter" trickling in he's happy as can be.

Whenever Caulder is home, we hear "Cauldee! Cauldee! Cauldee! Cauldee!" ALL THE TIME as he summons his big brother. He's realized that Cauldee is a total sucker and will pretty much obey his every whim. He's a tiny dictator, and Cauldee is his most loyal subject.  

Remember that one time when I spent a year arguing with God about how me getting pregnant again was the worst idea ever because that was too scary, thank you very much? 

Man, I'm dumb.

We're so lucky to have this little dude. We didn't even know how big the hole in our hearts was until he came and filled it. Happy birthday Rander mander!

South County Thug Life Yo