Bucket Head, Bucket Head, We Love Our Little Bucket Head

Connor's a funny kid; a widely-proclaimed class clown who will do about anything for a laugh.   I think we have another young budding yuckster in the making.

With all of the fun toys and books that Ramsey has, one of his favorite toys is this old ice cream pail that's sutured back together with duct tape.  Go figure!

The boys have a lot of fun together.    What a couple of sweeties.  :-)

We Have a Walker! Ramsey's First ("Big") Steps

Ramsey is now officially a toddler, taking his first "big steps" last night!  It was so exciting!!

Back in September, he took a few steps to Eric from the couch (of course, no video - argh!), but last night, he took the plunge and excitedly walked to Eric numerous times.  He was already all jacked up from listening to his favorite music on You Tube, so Eric took that opportunity to try to get him to go for it.

He'd been "on the verge" of walking for quite a while, but I knew he'd be walking this week.  He had his 12 month check-up (and shots) in the afternoon and his doctor laughed (while Ramsey was tooling all over the office) that it'd be "any day now" too.

Whoah Boy... We Have a Teenager in the House!

Happy 13th Birthday Connor!!

 From this sweet little chubby-cheeked baby....

to this little spunky toddler...

to our bright-eyed charming 6-year-old.... (Below is right after I met Connor in 2008!)

to our happy fisherman....

to our smart and sweet TEENAGER:

Oh, how time flies!

On Saturday, Connor was at his Mom's.  She had a swimming party for him and a handful of his friends at a local hotel.   They had fun pigging out on pizza and donuts, playing ping pong too.  Eric, Ramsey, and I stopped in for a little while to say howdy and have some fun.

When we had Connor on Monday night, we too celebrated with him.  We chowed down on burgers and malts, sang Happy Birthday, and gave him his presents.

We love you sweetie!

Spelling Bee Whiz - Off to Regionals!

Master Speller Connor took first place at Holgate's spelling bee recently.   Competing for top honors were all students from the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades; around 450 students.   WAY TO GO BUDDY!!
Here he is featured in the school's newsletter.

He'll be going to the regional competition on February 7th.  If he places there, he'll go on to state.
We're studying like mad with him in the interim.  A lot of his study guide words are insanely difficult to spell (and some even to pronounce!).   Being the spelling nerd, I LOVE that.  There are some really great words.

Good luck Connor!

Ramsey's First Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAMSEY KENT!

January 24th, 2015... Ramsey is ONE year old now! It is amazing how time flies.
Everyone says that, but as I reflect on the year that has gone by, I truly am in awe how quickly it has passed!

Last year at this time, we were leaving the hospital a day early (to avoid the blizzard) and bringing home our new tiny bundle of joy.  (And he is absolutely that... pure joy.)

This year, we're celebrating our high-energy, loving, happy, awesome little Doodlebug as he transitions from "baby" to toddler.   (He'll ALWAYS be my little baby though!)  :-)

The weather was poor, so our party was even smaller than anticipated; just Ramsey the Birthday Boy, Eric, Connor, Nana Karen, and me. And.... Connor's Mom Kristi and 4-year-old brother Bridger came for the day!   We really had a fun happy time!

Ramsey got his own double-decker cake (one blue cake layer and one red layer on the inside) covered in buttercream frosting.  It turned out quite well, but I think I need to work on my piping skills a little bit!

Thinking that Ramsey could make too much of a mess of this cake for anyone else to want to eat it, I also made red velvet cupcakes with marshmallow centers and buttercream frosting.

Ramsey before he dove into his cake:

Eric and I made a bet whether or not Ramsey would go ballistic on his cake.  Eric thought he would, I didn't think he would so much.  Here's what happened:

Needless to say, there was plenty of cake that went unharmed and could be devoured by the rest of us.
Ramsey was a good little eater and picked away at his birthday cake.

He wanted to feed some to Daddy too!

Awww..... 

Then it was time to open presents!

I was inspired to design a "chalkboard" of "Ramsey Facts".  Easy as pie with Photoshop and Illustrator!

We gave him a customized plate and bowl set with a little blonde boy in an airplane.  It is so precious!

He was trying to tell us something here.... um....???!!!

 He had fun scavenging through his boxes and then putting things back in them.  He's wearing his "first Notre Dame Cap" here and biting on his police officer rubber duckie.

 Baby smart phone... tasty.

 ...Looking for more things to pound with his new musical hammer!!

 He was loving the bows!

Nana Karen gave him a Giddy Up 'N Go horsie named Thunder.  He'll be growing into this toy, but for now, he loves to give him kisses!  Of course, I can't seem to catch the kiss-giving on film.  Arrgh!  :-)

I also thought it would be a fun gift to put together a time capsule.  This way, everyone could put their little notes and wishes for him inside of it, along with any current items for him to look at when he's older.  I think he'll get a kick out of the magazines, newspapers, and tchotchkes from the time when he was just a little scrapper.

Ramsey received many nice gifts to play with and lovely cards.
Moreover, he has many special friends and a wonderful family to treasure the rest of his life.

Happy Birthday Lil' Mouse.  We love you SOOOO MUCH!!!

Playful Yearlings Via Video

For those of you who don't get to see these two little Muxhouses, here's a couple of videos of them playing together on the floor.   The videos aren't roller-coaster-ride-thrilling, but just day-to-day stuff and sort of cute.  :-) 
MAN, they grow fast!


What is a Muxhouse you ask? No idea. :-) Grandpa Russell used to call me that when I was a little girl, after I'd "beat him" at a game of Old Maid, sitting on the arm of his broken-in leather chair.

A Blast to Christmas Past...

When I was posting the pictures from Christmas this year, I kept thinking how much the kids have grown and how we've all changed over the years.  So, I decided to post some pictures to show the evolution.  I think Ramsey and Connor will find this amusing when it's time to print this out for their keepsake books!

2008

NOTHING for 2009.  Strange!!

2010

2011

2012

2013 (Ramsey is just about "done cooking" here!)

2014