Birthday Boy!

On the day of Allan's actual birthday, we took him to dinner at Del Pueblo, our favorite mexican restaurant. We go there all the time (a little too much) so almost all of the waiters know Allan since birth. (That was the first restaurant we took him to after he was born.)

After dinner they came and sang happy birthday to him.

He thought it was cool...until they tried to put the sombrero on his head.
Once we got home, he had his own cupcake waiting for him.

Allan is definitely into blowing out the fire on candles.

(I can't help it if my kid doesn't like to be dirty...)

Look Who's Two...

...Allan!!!

It's hard to believe that it has already been two years since Allan was born. People were definitely right when they told me that once you have kids, time flies by really fast. Too fast for me. My little boy is no longer a baby. He's officially a toddler!

So happy birthday to you, Allan! You are the most precious gift that has ever been given to me. I've loved the last 2 years with you and look forward to many more years of watching you grow.

(just try not to do it too fast, OK)

Then...

...and now!

Allan around 1-2 months old.

Allan around 4 months old.

Allan now...

Happy Birthday my little Tooter!!!

Pumpkins!

My sister and I took the kids to see some pumpkins this weekend. We wanted to take them to a "pumpkin patch," but our schedules didn't end up working out since our kids decided to get sick on the planned day. Oh well, I don't think the kids minded too much...

Ryan and Allan were on a mission...

...to check out every pumpkin and try and pick it up.

Aimee and I tried and tried to get the kids to pose...

...but they kept running off to grab a pumpkin.

This has to be my most favorite picture of the day!

Aimee and I tried, once again, to get Allan to stay still and take a picture with me. All I wanted was just one!!

Do 2 year olds not like to listen and sit still when told?

Here we go again...

...trying to get a cute picture of the cousins...

Note: A 4, 2 and 1 year old do not pose together very well

Allan's had enough.

Locks of Love

I finally did it!!

I've been dying to chop off all my hair, but couldn't. When I was finally at the point where I was ready to cut it off, I realized that I was just a couple of inches away from being able to donate what I cut to Locks of Love. So then I had to wait and keep growing out the long hair that I hated. When Kirk measured my hair last week to see if I was at the minimum length needed to donate and told me it was 10 inches exactly I literately picked up the phone right then and called my hair dresser to make an appointment.

Locks of Love makes hair pieces only for kids 18 and under that are financially disadvantaged and suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

I hope that some kid, somewhere, finally gets a hair piece, with part of my hair in it, and it puts a smile on their face.

Of course Kirk had to play around with the hair.

(note to self: never let Kirk grow his hair out.)

Fire Fest 2009

Saturday the fire department had a "FireFest" not even a mile from the house. I've been pointing out fire trucks when we're in the car to Allan and he gets really excited. So when Kirk and I heard about this we knew we had to take him. When we drove up to the fire station and were trying to find a place to park, Allan got so excited. He was squealing at the top of his lungs with excitement. Every other word was "fire truck!!!" Kirk and I were cracking up at how he was freaking out.

He was giving a fire man's hat to take home. He thought that was the coolest thing ever. It's plastic and not very strong...today he finally tore the thing in half. I think I might have to find a fire man's hat in the Halloween costumes that's not plastic to buy for Allan. He loves that thing.

There was a line of kids waiting to have their picture taken with a real fireman. I kept telling Kirk, "come on, let's get Allan's picture taken" and he Kept telling me he'd rather Allan have his picture with Chuck, a long time friend of Kirk's who was supposed to be there. Then we realized as we got closer that Chuck was the one taking pictures with the kids. How perfect!
At first Allan wasn't too sure about getting up there, but once Daddy put him up there and walked away, he thought he was pretty cool standing with a real fireman.

Meet Aid'N a search and rescue dog. Aid'N rescues humans in any disasters anywhere. Aid'N can smell out the human scent and once finds that scent he stays put and barks until his trainer comes. Aid'N was a very sweet and calm doggie.

While all the other kids were petting Aid'N in the face area, our kid was more fascinated with his tail. I guess being around Boxers all the time, who have nubs, makes him more interested in long tails...

(That I did not get a picture of.)

Small kid next to that big fire truck.

Allan got to climb in one of the fire trucks. At first he was a little nervous about it, but once Daddy stuck him in there and told him to check it out he thought he was sooooo cool. He had this grin from ear to ear. It was really cute. The firemen standing outside the door were cracking up at Allan's reaction. It definitely took some convincing to get him out of there so other kids could get their turn.

I really wished we could have found a fire truck that said Engine 2. That would have been perfect since his second birthday is right around the corner.

They did a demonstration of what they would have to do to a car in the worst case scenario in order to get the people out of the car. Kirk and I were more interested in that, but we didn't get to watch the entire thing because Allan got bord with it. It was really cool watching them use the jaws of life and break out windows.

There were other things that we wanted to see, but didn't get a chance.

They set a car completely on fire and the put it out. Life Flight was supposed to come and the kids could check that out. And then they were going to show a demonstration of the search dogs doing a search and rescue, but we had to leave before those things because we had somewhere else to be. Looks like we will definitely be going back to FireFest 2010.