Happy 4th Birthday to Nolan and Happy 1st Birthday to Allie

We celebrated Nolan's 4th Birthday and Allie's 1st Birthday together because their birthday is a week apart. Nolan asked for a Max and Ruby birthday theme. Grammy flew in from Florida for the celebration and helped me make the cakes. Kevin stayed up all night decorating the cake.

The party ended up a big success. We invited mostly family and a few friends from the neighborhood. We played a Max and Ruby bug egg hunt which the kids loved! Allie had her own birthday cake. She didn't quite know what to do with it a first, but once she figured it out you couldn't stop her from eating it. She loved it! Both Nolan and Allie had a great birthday!

Each year I try to come up with a list of the kids accomplishments and likes/dislikes during their past year of life. Here is my list for Nolan and Allie...

Nolan William
 - can count to 30
- knows his phonics (A says ahh, B says baa...). At one point he was obsessed with carrying around his flash cards of phonics and would say them 20 time a day. It was cute!
- loves Max and Ruby
- disliked pre-school, although didn't complain about going, but when asked if he liked it he always said "No'
- likes to swing outside
- favorite food is fettuccine alfredo and spaghetti and meatballs; refuses to eat anything green
- loves Allie and Ethan
- has at least 2 temper tantrums each day; usually because I take away his game time (DS)
- very self sufficient; wants to get himself dressed, brush his own teeth, etc
- he is a momma's boy and will not allow anybody but mom to put him to bed

Allie Jennifer
- from birth to 1 is a big list of accomplishments including the obvious rolled over, sat up, crawled, cruising on furniture, and finally starting to walk a few steps before she throws herself down.
- absolutely refuses to drink milk out of a bottle or sippy cup; only wants breast milk
- sleeps good at night; from the day we brought her home from the hospital she pretty much slept through the night
- does not sleep good during the day; her naps are around 1 hour only after taking 1/2 hour to get her to bed
- she loves being outside on the swing or in her car and loves the water (pool or bathtub)
- favorite foods are blueberries, strawberries, pasta, watermelon, chicken
- loves Tyra, Ethan, and Nolan (in that order) and gives them hugs and kisses all day
- likes babies and baby dolls; any time she sees a baby she says "baa baa baa" and sees a dog says "daa daa daa"
- She says Mama, Dada, daa daa (dog), and we swear she says Tyra