Happy Valentine's Day!



my little stud muffin's Valentine's Day outfit



happy guy eating his breakfast on Valentine's Day (with awesome bed head!)

Jake's Valentine's Day bento box lunch for preschool

conversation heart brownies for a Moms Club V-Day party

Jake's special after dinner Valentine's treat

yum!

my Valentine's Day baby bump (almost 20 weeks)

 We had a great Valentine's Day! Jake woke up in a good mood and was a happy camper eating his "raisin tote and baneena" (raisin toast and banana) for breakfast! I made him a special Valentine's Day bento box lunch for preschool, complete with hearts made of fruit leather. His Valentine's Day festivities actually started yesterday at our Moms Club Valentine's Day party for the kids. I made conversation heart brownies for the party, and Jake handed out (ok, I did it for him) and received tons of Valentine's from his play group friends. Today at preschool they celebrated Valentine's Day, and he came home with a bag full of Valentine's from his preschool friends! Such a popular kiddo already! :) Joe, Jake and I went out to dinner with my parents tonight, and we gave Jake a special heart shaped sucker after dinner. It was ginormous, and he loved it! Of course he didn't finish it, but it was a great distraction for him while the rest of the grown ups finished dinner. Jake also received a bunch of V-Day presents from my parents and a few from us too. It was a fun family Valentine's Day. Hopefully, Joe and I will get a date night sometime soon - we are long overdue!

This weekend we went to Kyra Tipper's 2nd birthday party!  The theme was Paul Frank monkeys, and Jakey fit right in with his Paul Frank rocker monkey t-shirt:

the birthday girl!

Jackie and her adorable 2-year-old!

checking out the par-tay

Jakey and mommy on the train

What monkey themed birthday party is complete without bananas?

Kyra's adorable birthday cupcakes!

Jake devouring a cupcake

Kyra and Jake waiting for the train

Jake had a great time at Kyra's birthday party! Kyra is such a sweetie, and it was so much fun to help her celebrate her 2nd birthday! The party was at a huge park with train rides and pony rides (which Jake didn't do this time). Jake loved the train so much that we went on it twice! He had a hard time waiting for the train though! It took about 10 minutes or so for the train to make its way back to the station and unload and reload. Those were 10 long minutes for our impatient little man! But he had so much fun on the train that it was worth tne wait! From the train we saw ponds with lots of ducks, and even a peacock, but Jake's favorite part was the dark tunnel we went through! I think I see Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in our future! He is such an adrenaline junky already that I'm sure he will love it! Not sure when we will take him to Disneyland for the first time, or when he will be tall enough to ride it, but it is definitely something to look forward to. That was my favorite Disneyland ride as a kid, and I can't wait to share it with Jake! Jake's other favorite part of Kyra's party was the food! He ate almost a whole slice of pizza, along with other snacks, and then asked for a banana (which was part of the party decor and helping hold down the tablecloths in the wind), which he proceeded to wolf down! And somehow, he still had room for an entire cupcake. There were some cupcakes with blue frosting, and some with red frosting to go along with the party theme. Jake asked for a blue one, and as soon as he was finished he said "I need a red one!" :) Only one cupcake per party, little dude! The bummer was that he refused to nap on the way home. The party was a good hour and 45 minutes away, so we didn't get home until 3:30 which is the time that Jake normally wakes up from his nap. In the car we told him to go "night night", and he kept saying "no, go upstairs" because he wanted to nap in his room at home. When we got home we put him down for a late nap, and after he finally fell asleep at 4:15, he slept for about 40 minutes before we woke him up. Better than nothing. I guess it's something to think about for future nap time car rides. The other bummer was that we missed Jake's "girlfriend" Avery's 3rd birthday party, which happened to be the same day as Kyra's party. Jake and Avery are good buddies, and they have so much fun playing together! We used to be in 2 playgroups with Avery, but since both kids recently started going to preschool, they only get to see each other at our Monday group, with an occasional play date thrown in there. Happy Birthday Kyra and Avery!
 
Jake and I have been taking a class through the Park & Rec on Monday mornings called "Wheels on the Bus." It is a transportation themed class, and each week we focus on a different type of transportation (planes, trains, boats, etc.) One week the focus was police cars, and they had a real police car come to class! Jake had so much fun sitting in the police car, and seeing the flashing lights. This week was all about buses, and Jake loved checking out the bus that visited the class. It was a school bus or "cool bus" as Jakey calls it.

checking out the bus at our class on Monday

And last, but not least, here is a photo from Jake's first time sitting in a booth (sans booster or high chair!) He insisted, and this place was casual enough, and the tables were low enough to actually give it a try. He did really good for his first time. We had to remind him a few times to turn around and face forward, but for the most part, he sat there and ate his lunch like a big boy!

Baby Boy Balice #2 update: I am 20 weeks tomorrow, and I can't believe I am already half-way done! BBB #2 has been kicking me like crazy lately (in fact, I'm feeling his jabs right now as I type this!) If he is already this active, something tells me he may have a personality similar to his older brother Jake! Guess we'll just have to wait and see...