So I finally got a nice camera.  I could not be happier with it.  Now to figure out how to use it.  I need classes I think.  For now, you can enjoy my practicing!  Here is a mix of pictures lately from it and from my iPhone.  Both are my favorite accessories these days.  Now to get a nice computer so I can more easily do posts on this website.  For now I am using my 5 year old little pink laptop I bought before our wedding.  It does the job but is hard to type on sometimes since it is a small.  I'm saving my pennies for a Mac.  I can't decide between a desktop or laptop.  I have plenty of time to decide though.  Haha

 We have to use the nice days to our advantage.  It as still very cold, though, so this outdoor play was short lived.

My beautiful Valentine's Day tulips.  

Hi

Busted.  Told you he likes to climb.

His 12 month picture.

Where's Taedon?  Kyan loves peekabo and Taedon loves to hide.  Taedon doesn't understand that walking over to someone, dropping to the floor under the blanket and asking "where's Taedon" then giggling is not really hiding.

Taedon was asleep or else this would never have happened.  He's protective over his trains.

He loves this helicopter.  He will sit and spin the propeller (I think that is what it is called on a heli).

Taking the wagon out for our first walk with it. They love this thing.

Taedon has so many books we had to overhaul his shelves.  Here is before.

And after.

He closes his eyes and believes that he is really hidden.  It's funny to watch.

Helping out.

Peekaboo!

Climbing yet again. 

Selfie!

Fun at the mall.

Skeeball.  Mom's favorite game and his too.

Shhh, I'm hiding!

Niko is crazy.  He would rather lay in the sun then eat his milk bone.  It stayed on the floor for almost two hours before he finally ate it.

There are no flowers but he found this and was intrigued.

Hopefully this video works.  I've been having issues uploading videos from my phone which is why there haven't been many on the blog lately.

We have been working on sharing.  Not an easy concept with everything is "mine" around here.

Well Dontae is 33.  He is catching me.  Sort of.  Taedon is loving all of the birthdays so far this year.  He has talked about birthday parties ever since Kyan's.  We have Kyan in January, Dontae in February, Taedon in April and Niko and I are in May.  He will be sad come June.  We may have to celebrate half birthdays!

So this is 2013  I thought it would be fun to see how the boys have changed in the past year.

And here is this year's birthday picture.  

Please ignore Kyan's shirt.  There is no hidden message there.  Had I been paying attention, I would have changed him prior to pictures!  haha  Gotta love hand me downs.  Sorry kid.

Since Taedon doesn't care for chocolate, but has discovered that he loves marshmallows, I decided to use them on the cake this year.  He was so happy to enjoy some marshmallows and ice cream.  How does my child not like chocolate or cake????

To say that this winter has been a true winter is an understatement.  We have had so many rounds of snow I can't recall the exact number.  The last snowfall (but it is snowing again as I post this) was pretty epic.  As in I haven't seen that much snow since I was very young.  Weeks later it has snowed a little a few more times and then, like I said, today we are getting a good round again.  So much that there as been snow on the ground in places pretty solid for about the past month.

This was about the average around the yard.

BUT, in front of our garage where it had drifted, it was deep!  It was fun to dig that out.  So much fun that for several days, we only used my car since we had only cleared one side of the driveway.  Thankfully when we were working on Dontae's side, our neighbor came home and offered us his snow blower.  We are so getting on of those before next year.  Of course, if we do, it will never snow again.  Ever.

Kyan is one.  How did that happen so quickly?  I thought Taedon's first year flew by but I think Kyan's went twice as fast.  Probably because we were twice as busy with both boys.

He has been such a joy.  It's funny how two kids with the same genetics and home environment can be completely different, though.  I'm noticing already that if Taedon likes something, Kyan won't.  Right now he will eat just about anything which makes it easy to feed him.  I can tell already that he prefers sweets over fruit (Taedon is the opposite which includes hating chocolate), loves meat and veggies are hit and miss.  I finally got him to eat blueberries but the texture of a banana doesn't thrill him.

For his birthday we had a big party which was a lot of fun.  It's funny how parenthood is a learning experience.  For Taedon's party I made all of the food, cupcakes, decorations, etc.  It was a long week of preparation and I was tired by the time the actual party arrived.  For Kyan's we ordered pizza.  Best decision EVER.  I still did the rest but I was able to enjoy the process so much more since there was less to do.  He loved his cupcake and ate the entire thing.  I'm not surprised though.  The few times he has had sweets he enjoyed it.

He currently has 8 teeth (working on 4 molars).
He isn't walking unassisted yet but pulls himself up, walks along the couches and wall, and uses his toy walker to get places.
He has mastered crawling.  Like really mastered.  He loves to go backwards and crawl on his hands and feet.  The funniest, though, is when he crawls sideways like a crab and closes his eyes.  He usually giggles as he does it.
He has learned that if he cries when Taedon is near, Taedon will get blamed for something he probably didn't do.
He climbs.  On EVERYTHING.  He finds ways onto the table all the time.  I even caught him on the counter top one day.  I'm sure by the end of the year, he will have gotten out of his crib.

His 12 month doctor appointment stats were weight:  28.3 lbs  height:  34 inches.  Off the charts for both.

For his birthday party, we went with a Hungry Caterpillar theme. I think it turned out pretty cute.  It amazes me how expensive things can be.  So rather than buy things, I made everything myself.  Thanks Pinterest and Fabric.com.

The favors.  For the "big kids" we gave away containers of "caterpillar food" aka m&m's and for the actual kids, play-doh with either a butterfly or caterpillar cookie cutter.

He loves to chew on his long sleeves.

Mmmm pizza.

He didn't like having to wait to dive into his cupcake while we sang to him.

Delish!

He was blessed with a lot of great gifts.  Thank you to everyone that helped make his big day extra special!