It must have been the overalls

Hamming It Up

Ansel dug out a hat from his winter clothes bin and when I went to take a picture of him, both kids started posing and making funny faces!

Macuum

Ansel loves to macuum aka vacuum. He cruises all over the house, even making vacuum sounds! 

 

I don't know where Ansel's come from. I don't know what Ansel's eat. All I know is Ansel's love to clean!

Not Yet

The other night I asked Ansel if he was done eating. He said, "Not yet. Ansel still eating. Nummy pizza!"

It was strange to have a whole conversation with him! I guess he is growing up!!

Terrific Two's

Ansel is officially a toddler.  No more measuring his age in months.  He's two.  He's a big boy.  Not a baby any longer.

We created a photo montage to watch of the year that has passed (as we do for every birthday) and it was amazing to see what a difference one year makes.  If you'll recall, at Ansel's 12-month checkup, he had a missed developmental milestone around movement.  He wasn't scooting, crawling, standing, rolling, or anything else resembling moving.  We got to take a trip to Children's Hospital to get him checked out.  The recommendation: wait and see.

Waiting was a little hard... but it was worth the wait.  He's gone from scooting and crawling to walking and now running.  And he really didn't start walking until August, so for us, it's been like 0 to 60 in 3 months!  His doctor checkup on Friday confirmed what we already knew... he's healthy and growing just like he should be.  We won't be back for a well visit for a year!  What a blessing!!

Here's Daddy and Amita holding Ansel's cake.  The birthday boy was in a mood because he couldn't hold it by himself!

Here's our little guy looking so stylish modeling his new backpack.

But a new race car was definitely the biggest hit!

An Elmo cake to celebrate!

Ansel loved eating cake.  After this piece was finished, he said, "More cake please!"

But the party wasn't all the fun.  On the day of his birthday, he got a few gifts.  A new train set.

A balloon...

And then the big gift...

A car ramp to race!  Although it wasn't Amita's birthday, she sure enjoyed playing with whatever toys Ansel wasn't using!

And what big moment would be complete without a celebratory hot dog dinner to mark the occasion?

Halloween

Here's our two trick-or-treaters all dressed up for Halloween.  Given the gorgeous weather (sunny and 60's), it worked out perfectly for them to be able to wear their Woody and Buzz Lightyear costumes.  After making the rounds, we spent the rest of the night at a party with several families with kids around the same ages.  The kids raced around while the adults relaxed and everyone had a fantastic Halloween!

Ansel loved decorating a pumpkin with crayons and stickers.

Here's my little superman showing it off.

The kids helped Daddy carve pumpkins for about 5 minutes before they decided that was better work for Daddy while they played.

But they were really excited about the final results!

Here's Woody dressed up and waiting for Buzz to wake up from his nap so they can make the candy rounds.

While she waited, Amita handed out candy to all the neighborhood kids that stopped by.

We got in the Halloween spirit and made some festive snacks to bring to a friend's party.  Deviled eggs (half spooky eyeballs, half spiders).

And cheese and pretzel broomsticks.

Stay-cation

Aaron and I had a stay-cation for our anniversary this year.  The kids spent a week having fun with my parents while we spent a week sleeping in, talking uninterrupted, and eating out without a babysitter required!

We were able to do some hiking, see the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra with my great uncle, and relax.  It was a fabulous time!!

Here we are at Rib Mountain.  The fall weather was a little more brisk than we anticipated, but that kept us moving at a pretty fast pace to stay warm!

Aaron next to the Rib Mountain state park sign.

We also took advantage of our kid-free time to do some chores around the house, including working on some landscaping.  The first step was to power wash a literal ton of stone and brick so that we can use those in projects next year.