2nd Birthday wrap up

 Here are a few photos from last week's 2nd birthday festivities.  We had a small party at our house on Saturday and celebrated H&J's actual birthday on Sunday just the four of us with a special breakfast out and a very relaxing day at home!

I decided to be slightly Betty Crocker this year and made cupcakes and a cake for the party.  I found this image on pintrest months ago and was inspired.  While mine did not come out as good as my inspiration, I was quite pleased with the results and Jack definitely thought they were Elmo so that's all that matters.                   

 

 

I was even happier with how Hope's cake turned out.  I hope you can tell what I was going for below modeled after one of my baby girl's favorite foods!  I didn't photograph the inside but it was four layers of alternating pink and purple cake which I carved into said shape!  Way too many episodes of Ace of Cakes and Ultimate Cake Off were watched while I was on bed rest.  :-)  The hardest part of all of this was finding the best frosting recipe.  I would like to call myself a connoisseur of butter cream and hold L&M (Delran, NJ) and Dinkles (Chicago, IL) in high esteem.  Why make cakes when you can eat one from one of these establishments?  Sigh . . . if only I lived closer.  Anyway, I made two different frostings as I wasn't happy with my first batch and highly recommend frosting #2. Note, if you don't plan to make frosting ever and want to enjoy any future cake I make, it is probably in your best interest to not inspect the butter content of said recipe.  :-)

Hope was pretty excited her Grandmom came to her party!  But she holds a special place in her heart for Daddy.

I think Jake was having a good time and just didn't want a picture taken.  A boy wants to ride a dinosaur in peace.

Jack and all his cousin playmates retrieving the wiffle ball from over the fence for the 100th time.  Since the party, ALL he wants to do is go play outside. 

Here I am helping Jack blow out his candles.  At the end of the song, he pointed to the cupcake and said Elmo.  He then looked at me and asked for an Ernie cupcake next.  Seriously?

Hopie was more excited for the all the singing and to get her picture taken than she was for the arriving piece of cake.  But then she had a bite . . .  she definitely got my sweet tooth!

 

Nate = Marshmallow /Icing coma . . .

Jack inspecting one of his new Elmo story books . . . Thanks Cousin Kate!

 

Birthday Breakfast!  Jack was entertained the entire breakfast by two straws and one cup of ice water.  It's the simple things in life like a peaceful breakfast out that I am so thankful!  :-)

April already?

As is my style, I will start this update with my usual paragraph listing all my excuses for why I've been lax with putting up my new post.  Perhaps its laziness or exhaustion --- Perhaps it's because my little babies are growing up so fast and I don't want to believe they will be TWO in less than two weeks  -- Perhaps its because after Kevin's long and intense basketball season, I was just happy to have a little bit more time to stay later at work and run a few more errands.  Who knows!  But I have plenty of new photos and lots of stories, so here goes!

First off, a shout out to Kevin and the LM 2012 Aces who made it all the way to the state championship game.  Kevin predicted in mid January that this team had a chance and at that point, I couldn't imagine a basketball season that would go all the way to March 24.  But he was right and it did . . . and being a superfan wife, I was there complete with the 4 hour bus ride each way on the "adult" fan bus.  A big thanks to Kevin's parents, Aunt Mary and Cousin Kate for watching the twins so I could catch a few of the playoff games and to my dad for coming along to a few of the game and helping to entertain the kids at them.  In the end, his team lost a tough game to Chester High School who is currently ranked as one of the top 5 basketball teams in the county.  Here are a couple photos of Kevin from the season:

celebrating a big win . . .

Drawing up a winning play . . .

Now back to H&J:

 I love this photo of Hope.  She looks like the sweetie she is . . . usually!

 As if anyone is surprised that Jack has a basketball hoop as a tub toy!  He is really into balls of all types right now and likes to tell you what they all are -- football, soccer ball, baseball, basketball, orange ball, blue ball, etc.

 Before taking this picture, Jack handed me my cell phone and said "cheese."  He looks so grown up!

 So happy we can get outside . . .

 Lovin' her new wheels!

 You caught me Mommy!

 Jack and his buddy Declan at the Philly Zoo

 Trying out the rocking horse at Granddad's (made by my Uncle Lew for Ben when we were kids)

 Peek a boo, Mommy!  I see you!

 Kevin captured this hair pulling moment.  Hope has quite the grip when she wants to and Jack got caught in the shuffle!  Hope thinks this is so much fun . . . Jack and I, not so much!

We finally turned around the car seats and both kids are loving their new view and extended leg room.  Jack loves the proximity to mom and dad and the opportunities for non-stop conversation.  Hopie is a big fan of the new kicking possibilities.

 Here's Jack finishing my pizza the other night.  He doesn't like cut up pieces of pizza but if he's given the option of eating my piece, he's all set.  I think Kevin and Jack will soon be competing for my crusts.

 Silly with sunglasses

This weekend I am off to a girls weekend in NYC with my Colby friends to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of Hillary.  I couldn't be more excited.  In honor of the festivities, here's a photo from one of our most memorable get-togethers (2005?) complete with a "group hug" and the best mini van driver ever (Kevin)!  Hill and Erin arrived early last night to get in a little bonding time with the twins and I cannot wait for all of us to be together in the Big Apple!

I  

I will be posting again soon after next weekend's big birthday and with more information on the upcoming ASF walk (May 19th).  If you want to join our team as a walker or virtual team member, you can at http://secure.angelman.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&eventID=527&teamID=5099  We are raising money to donate to ASF's support of research and appreciate any donations!  Every little bits helps!  Thanks!!!!

It's official - we've been invaded!

 Christmas has come and past.  Even though we've packed away many old toys, our living room still feels overwhelming with all the toys.  Perhaps it's that as the twins get bigger so do the toys.  I'm trying to spread things out to the green room as well, but it's winter and that room is not on the main heat so that strategy has not worked yet.

By far, Jack's favorites are our friends below.  He likes to line them up on the radiators like so and holds each one up announcing its name.  This past weekend, he took Elmo and Big Bird up for his nap and screamed when they'd fallen out of the crib down the side by the wall.  When I walked in, he looked at me and said "elmo, big bird, where did it go?" 

Playing together - luckily Hope does not mind when Jack sits down almost on top of her.  :-)

Big boy on the steps.  :-)

 Practicing saying "cheese" during dinner!

 I think he wants to climb in the TV to get to Elmo.  I swear I do not normally let him watch the TV this close, but this moment had to be captured!  I love how tightly he's clutching the TV stand.

Activity time at the table - Jack is a HUGE fan of his sesame street song book -- thanks AB!

Another new addition to our house -- a play tunnel.  I am proud to say Hope was the first twin to crawl through it, but they both love it. 

Overall, things are going well for us.  We haven't taken a lot of pictures this past month which I think is a reflection of how busy we all are.  Hope is up to 4 different therapies a week, but luckily some come when the nanny is here.  I really like all of them and we are so thrilled with the little strides she continues to make.  Jack is busy active little man who spends most of his time impressing us with ridiculous number of words and phrases he knows.  The Aces are having a phenomenal season this year so Kevin has me prepared for a long playoff run well into March.  Sadly we aren't able to get to many games as they don't start until 7:30pm and I just haven't figured out how to manage them both in the stands on my own.  But I am sure come playoffs we'll make more appearances and I might even get a babysitter or two so I can see the Coach in his element.  Things for my job are going fine as well.  They seem to like me there and there is talk of extending my contract so I am excited.

A couple things on the Angelman front that I'd like to share.  The date for the ASF national walk is May 19th.  Team Hope will be walking again here at the Philly walk and I hope we have a strong group again this year.  Also I encourage you to check out the recent research that has been published about AS and possible treatments.  We are so thankful that there are talented scientists who have chosen to focus their research on this rare syndrome. 

http://www.angelman.org/research/research-reveals-possible-treatment-for-as/

Christmas Highlights

Here are few photos from the whirlwind which was the last few days.  We started on Christmas Eve with brunch with the Pogzanos and didn't stop moving until getting home last night from 3 days in Massachusetts with my cousins.  There were many stops in between and some great moments captured in photo below.  I am exhausted and really happy to still have a few days off for some quiet relaxing time.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning at our house - inside and out

Tied the bows myself!

Ready for Mimosas!

The popovers fresh from the oven!

My favorite Christmas tradition -- mimosas and popovers!

Are all of these really for me, Mom??

Elmo . . . Abby . . . Cookie . . . Grover

Monogrammed star wars aprons . . . Jack got one too, but his nap was more important than the photo.

Dressed for Christmas dinner at Grandmom's and playing nicely together with one of their new toys

Cousins!

Elmo was more exciting to Jack than the family photo by the tree at Kevin's parents.

Mom -- can I open these presents now??

Jack's new lawn mower!

Sock monkey hat!

Another tradition -- the annual photo with Santa

My co-pilot/#1 assistant for the Massachusetts trip!