the birthday man

When we woke up today I saw Paxton first. I asked how my big 4 year old was doing, he responded by telling me "no mom, today is not my birthday, this is Gauge's day"

He was right, it was Gauge's turn and Paxton had no intention of letting anyone forget it. Birthday present number one, a really good big brother. Can you believe he is two?
For Gauge's birthday it took me most of the day to make and create his cake. This worked out okay because Ryan had homework and Paxton had school. Gauge helped me all morning and played with balloons. He played in the leaves and with Paxton's new toys, then he hung out like usual waiting for tonight, when we would finally go to Chuck E Cheese. The boys have been wanting to go here for MONTHS!
Last time we were here, Gauge was in a car seat

Gauge figured out pretty quickly that he didn't like the rides that moved. Here he starts to panic so he grabbed the wheel and started climbing over Paxton to get out of the bronco
So we tried the little trolley. He sat on the floor. When we put him up on the seat he actually jumped out of the moving vehicle.

This ride will be perfect, its tame right?!

Oh crap!

Here he found a safe one
he sat on the middle of the ride, off of the seat to ensure his safety...smart kid I'd say!
Paxton on the other hand, had a great time

Gauge did like the smart car

this smart car by the way, is actual size...

later we hit the games

Ryan taught the boys how to play

they climbed the jungle gym

and last but not least, they used the shot gun to kill the animals. Seriously, this child's game had the animals fall over and die when they were shot. We were a little taken back by that. You can barely tell but Ryan is there teaching Paxton how to shoot a rifle...left handed The boys tuckered out pretty fast so we headed home for cake and presents.

In this picture if you look closely you can see Gauge's hand on the chair as he gets down and runs away while I am cheering for him and we are singing happy birthday

uhhh...this is awkward...

We finally got him to come check out his cake and he tried to blow out the candles

I think this balloon was his favorite present. It was tied to our door when we got home from dinner.

Presents. Thank goodness for hand me downs!

Paxton was just as excited for the presents

the boys playing together with their new toys

We are so in love with you Gauge. Your Dad and I cannot get enough kisses, whether you want them or not and you love, love to get tickled. You are starting to talk. You say cute little phrases like "here you go" "there they are" you say Bye bye, wow, I love you, go Diego go and blast off for Little Einsteins. Still no "Mommy", we're working on that.

You could spend the whole day by yourself. You don't need anyone else to entertain you. You climb and play with your toys like they are going out of style. You love to be outside, your out there any chance that you get and your favorite thing to do outside is to jump with Paxton and Daddy. You all stand together, Paxton in front of Daddy and your in front of Paxton and you all hold hands and jump at the same time. You can get on and off the trampoline by yourself too, those little tummy muscles are amazing!

You also love motorcycles, especially the red Honda in the back. You sit on both motorcycles every chance that you get.

You always try to get us to laugh. Today I was watching TV and when I looked at you, you were peeking at me around Paxton. I smiled and you said, Peek a boo and started to laugh. You have such a good sense of humor.

You love to run. You hate wearing your shoes. Whenever we get into the car, by the time we reach our destination both shoes and socks are off of your feet.

If there is anything that we don't want you to get into, you find a way into it. We locked the cupboards so now you scale your way up them and onto the counter...you can open door knobs now which has turned into a big problem for us...

When we call your name, you immediately take off in a full sprint the opposite direction laughing the whole time. Daddy loves it, I loved it until I got to be pregnant.

You carry Woody and his hat EVERYWHERE. You love little Einsteins and Toy Story, you could watch them both all day long. Every one of the little hot wheel cars that we own have had tires removed and I am pretty sure you ate them.

You love your big brother Paxton. Whenever you can get away with it you climb up to his bed and sleep with him at night. You are starting to mimic things that he does and you love it when he plays with you, especially in the tub. Which by the way, you think its funny to turn on the shower and get the whole bathroom wet...its not funny!

You go a hundred miles a minute but when we can get you to slow down for a minute you are the best cuddler in the world. Sometimes when I am sleeping from working the night before I will wake up to you bringing fish crackers into the room with you, you crawl up into bed with me and hand me the clicker so you can watch TV and lay down with me. I love it!

We are so proud of you little Gauger and can't wait to see what you come up with next. We are so happy that you are part of this family.

We love you little man! Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday me

Happy Birthday Paxton

This kid knew that today was his birthday. He asked me right away to make sure that he was four and that's what his birthday meant. I was called into work last night so I couldn't finish his birthday cake. Instead I had to finish it on his big day. I ran out and got the boys some balloons, Paxton turned into Batman and the day began.
These boys LOVE balloons

The big project. Pax wanted a batman cake this year.The finished product...what do you think?!

Paxton loved it. He would walk by it all day and start to giggle. Sometimes he would stand and just stare at it. He couldn't wait to have his cake.

Ryan had a huge test today, which he did well on I might add...and then it was time to party. We headed to Cornbelly's to have some fun

This is a motorcycle tire swing, pretty cool. Especially when ridden correctly, thanks for showing us how Ry

They had everything there. Trains

slides, hayrides, obstacle courses and a maze

this shot really isn't fair, Gauge had a head start

my favorite picture

A cool pumpkin pyramid. Probably really cool at night We went through a big dark dinosaur maze. This picture was taken in pitch black

the birthday boy

After we did everything there was to do at Cornbelly's, we headed over to the farm at Thanksgiving point

We haven't been here since it was the middle of winter and Gauge was still in a car seat

little Gauger, he had a blast

proof that mom was there

Gauge was a little hesitant at some of the animals. Kind of surprising since he doesn't seem to be afraid of anything these days. He warmed up later

Can you tell which animal we're at by looking at Paxton? Then notice Gauge, I didn't realize until later he was licking the pig pen...great!

Pony rides, something that Pax wanted for his birthday. Gauge started out pretty brave

Paxton started out with a smaller pony

Gauge started getting concerned and eventually evacuated the pony

Paxton's a natural, of course, he's done this before

I think the best part for these kids was climbing the fence. We realized after some time of climbing that there are signs everywhere that say not to climb up the fences. Then we realized we are one of those people...who let their kids climb anyway..whoops

Pint and half pint

Gauge didn't mind being behind bars. He even grabbed both Ryan and me and took us in

Paxton had one last pony ride before we headed home. This time he chose the biggest horse

We stopped off for a pizza and headed for home. Paxton kept asking about his cake so we decided it was time Happy Birthday buddy!

Gauge was a big fan of the icing

We opened presents. Yes, that is Christmas wrapping paper...what?! Something nice about this time of year is that for their birthdays I can get them all of their winter gear

Now we're ready for snow Paxton-I hope that you know how much we love you. Right now you are such a good boy and the best big brother we could ask for. You attend to Gauge and always help us if we need it. You love to help Daddy in the yard. Lately you are learning how to work. You found a catalog with toys in it and are starting to understand that you need to earn money to get these toys. While we tried to explain this to you, you out smarted us and told us that Mommy could just go to work and get money for you...good plan.

You are always thinking. You ask us about everything. You listen to everything we say. In fact while we waited for Daddy to grab dinner tonight you had been listening to our conversation. I don't remember what we were talking about but you started trying to tell me something that I wasn't understanding. After trying for some time you said to me "Your tripping me out mom, holy crap" then a little pause and you finished with a "frick" under your breath. I started laughing so hard you thought it was okay to talk like this...but you also know what your not supposed to say and right now you even pick random words and tell us all that "we don't say that mom" while getting away with saying the word again.

You are trying to figure out how to read. You look at books for long periods of time and sound out the letters. You love Sydney at school but you don't tell her, you always tell mommy because we don't say stuff like that at school. Although kid, I caught you telling Heather at school that you loved Sydney and then you came home and advised me that Heather loved you...you are going to be such a heartbreaker. Still being a good boy and listening to mom, you found a clever way of getting the word out.

You love Batman right now, I think you have about three of them and you have been dressed up as batman all month. You dress up as a wrestler whenever you think of it and have Daddy show you knew moves. You still love riding your motorcycle and your getting really good at it. You wear your cowboy boots every day. You are very particular about what you wear. You say whatever you can to make us laugh. Lately its jokes like "why did the wall cross the road, to get to the mirror" and then you laugh!

You are very tender hearted. You are always concerned if Gauge is in trouble and in time out, and you always try to stand up for him. You are very giving with your hugs and kisses, especially with Gauge and Shelby (you kiss my tummy every day). Your teacher pulled me aside yesterday and made sure that I knew how much they adore Paxton. When I said thank you she said, no, we really adore him around here! We know this is true because whenever we pick you up from school all of the other teachers stop us and try to squeeze your cheecks or get you to show them your muscles. Which leads me to my last thing. Lately you tell me that you are stronger than Daddy. Its really cute especially because I don't think you have ever said this in front of Daddy. You always say it when he has left the room. You are very strong kid and very smart. We are so proud of you.

We love you Paxton!! Happy Birthday!