Ronan l Two Years

Our sweet, fun, spunky, crazy Ronan is two. Ok, so he's been two for a couple weeks now. :) Two. TWO! I'm glad Ronan is two because it's one of his favorite words. :)

Little Man, you are a true blessing. You keep our lives full of laughter and joy. You love life and you love people. You care about other people when they are hurting and are quick to give a kiss to make them feel better. Right now, you're favorite bible story is the good Samaritan because in the picture he is hurt and needs help. You try to help him by giving him a kiss. I pray God continues to give you a softened heart for people and for serving them.

You are the sweetest big brother any sister could hope for. You have always been incredibly gentle with Aislinn. She is lucky to have you and we pray you two will always remain close.

Your love for people extends to social settings. You light up around people. Dancing, jumping, shouting, laughing. You cannot contain your excitement. You are such an entertainer!

Airplanes, cars, trains, bicycles, motorcycles, tractors, buses, boats. Anyone of these will get you excitedly naming them as we drive down the road. And you love to share the things you love, so if we don't acknowledge you, you just get louder. :)

You love to explore new things, especially outside. And you are constantly on the go. We wouldn't expect anything less from a two year old boy and we love it. It is so much fun to show you the world. Every cool and exciting thing, we get to show you, and it helps us to see the world new again. Like the mud puddles in our alley. I never think about them, but you love them. So we gear up and get muddy. :) You tend to be very serious and contemplative the first time you try anything. This usually surprises us, due to your normal level of exuberance. 

You are mastering the art of throwing a tantrum. You are getting so good at them that you have different ones for different types of tantrums. I haven't decoded them yet, but my favorite one is one I'll call "The Galloping Pony." It seems to have evolved out of one of your new dance moves. Sometimes you take it up a notch to "The Side-Step Galloping Pony." Yes, even in your tantrums you can still make us laugh.

Your language skills are bursting each day. At least 5 times a day you whip out a new word I haven't heard you say yet. One of your latest favorite game is "What Does _____ Say? Family Edition". What does Daddy say? "Hey bud!" (you always follow up with a giggle). What does Mommy say? "I wuv you" (in the sweetest voice ever. What does Aislinn say? "Aaaaagh!" (accompanied with flailing arms-not sure where you came up with that one). Luckily for me, Roney (your name for yourself) says the same thing as Mommy. Melts my heart every.single.time.

Your favorite partners in crime are your thumb and your blankie. Someday you won't need them, but for now they help you cope with frustrating or upsetting situations. And we're ok with that. It's better than turning to chocolate like mommy does. :)

You are very much a daddy's boy and would spend every waking second with him if you could. You picked a good role model for sure.  You have learned many things from daddy already, including fixing things. Now much of our house has been fixed, multiple times. :)

You have the facial expression vocabulary of your father. Just another facet of your ability to entertain. (Though not fully captured in these photos because you were so tired)

We love every ounce of you and thank God every day that He has blessed our lives with yours! Love, Mommy and Daddy

Snow Day!

Holy cow, I can't believe I was doing yard work two days ago in 50+ degree weather and now we have snow! Ronan was so excited last night as it was was falling. He kept saying "fall down!".  I was excited it stuck around through the night. I think Ro was too. He babbled on and on this morning about the "tone" (snow) falling from the "ty" (sky). I love how excited he was! I declared it a snow day, so we hung out in our pj's all morning, played outside while Aislinn was sleeping and then had graham crackers and milk when we came in. :) Love love love these fun days!

Aislinn loves her Minnie Mouse that Hammie brought back from Disneyland. Minnie has a perfect nose for gnawing on. :)

Back to the snow...

Playing in a leaf pile I raked up Wednesday (the green can is full!)

He made a slide out of our chairs and had GREAT fun!

Oh hi little sis! You just mastered rolling from your tummy to your back today. And then back to your tummy. And you're trying to scootch a bit. Perhaps it's time to re-evaluate our baby-proofing techniques? You're going to be on the move in no time!

Toes

I love chubby 2-year-old feet. They are just as sweet as baby feet to me. So I thought I better take a picture of them while we were snuggling on the bed. I also love the way he rubs his blankie tag between his toes. :)

Aislinn l 5 months

Our sweet Aislinn is 5 months old! This month she is full of smiles and squeals and bounces. Like big brother, she likes being in the bouncer (though her time is limited due to repeated bouncer-related blow-outs).  My favorite parts of the day is when she suddenly sees me or recognizes me and just absolutely lights up. She does this for her daddy too and I know he likes it just as much.  She just started noticing her tongue and how much fun it is to stick it out. So cute.  She is also grabbing at her feet and playing with them a lot. I think that is my all-time favorite baby pose! Aislinn is kind-of-sort-of-not-really sitting up at this point. She topples over and seems much happier on her back.

Aislinn has gotten back to sleeping through the night! Yay! She is slowly extending her sleeping time by about 30 minutes each day (last night was 11:00pm to 7:30am). With all of this changing plus daylight savings, I haven't quite figured out what her sleep pattern is. I think she'll settle on one soon though. She seems to like a solid morning nap, sometimes even right after her morning feeding. She takes a good early afternoon nap with Ronan and then late afternoon/early evening is sometimes up in the air. I can usually stretch her awake time a bit so that she goes to bed with Ronan around 7:30. I love when days go that well! Having two babies sleeping in one room is kind of like gambling...sometimes you have to fold...sometimes you hit the jackpot!

We are so blessed each day with Aislinn's sweet presence. I know I say that a lot, but it's just so true. I can't wait to see what the next few months bring as each one seems to bring so much sparkle and joy.

Park

Did you know the forecast in Spokane is 60 degrees today? I'm not sure if we'll hit it, but it's pretty nice out.  I needed to get some 2-year pictures of Ronan, and had a willing helper in Auntie Jaci, so we headed to the park! Aislinn came along for the ride and some snuggles with Auntie.  After we got a few shots of Ro, we rewarded him with some time on the toys (he didn't know they were there!) and ran into a friend! Ronan played on these toys about a month ago and I was amazed by how much more he could do this time around. A little scary, but amazing. :)

um, when did you learn to climb those mister?

sooo tired