Happy Birthday Party!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WALKER LEIGH!!

We finally celebrated Walker's birthday today...just 1 week late:) and it was a BLAST! We were missing both sets of grandparents, but all of our friends made up for it and we had an extra special visit from Aunt Patsy, Cody and Tina!! Walker's theme this year was dump trucks/construction. As most of you know Walker is totally obsessed with dump trucks and tractors. He truly loved every minute of this afternoon.

He was eagerly waiting the arrival of all of his friends. The look on his face says, "I'm cool, I'm officially a 2 year old and I'm finally having my party!!"

This year I had so much fun ordering all of his goodies on my favorite website "etsy". Most everything matched his birthday invitations. Moppy helped me organize the goody tins when she was here: a door hanger with truck stickers, dump truck cookie cutter, candy and a hard hat.

Everyone had a personalized hard hat. The kids were so cute walking around wearing them.

Walker has been wearing his hard hat all week and finally he was able to wear it with all of his friends. Walker, JD and Peyton were snacking on popcorn and cheetos waiting for their pizza, probably discussing their next move:)

Thanks to Conner, JD, Peyton, Pearson, Annika for celebrating Walker's birthday. This will definitely be a birthday we will always remember forever. They were all waiting to catch the butterflies coming out of the elephants trunk.

Walker absolutely LOVED his dump truck dirt cake. I had so much fun making it too. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but he was absolutely amazed that there was cake in his dump truck. I used a beach shovel to serve the cake and I had 2 construction cones for candles. The dirt cake was a huge hit with the kiddos:)

We took the party outside once it cooled off a little. How adorable are these best buddies. We missed JD's party last weekend and we are so glad we were able to celebrate together today. Walker, Peyton and JD are truly so much fun to watch. Three peas in a pod:) Conner gave him a really really cool excavator and dump truck. He was dragging the excavator all over the yard. Conner told Walker that if he didn't like his present that he would take it back to his house:) LOL!

We had such a wonderful time at the party. Thank you to all of our friends for coming!! We are so lucky to have great friends who care so much about Walker!!

Back in Action....

We are finally back in action and thank goodness!! It's been very difficult to keep a toddler inside since last Saturday. It's only been 155 degrees here with 100% humidity, almost unbearable to go outside, but Walker doesn't seem to mind. He is finally feeling so much better. Moppy stayed until late yesterday afternoon, which allowed me to only miss one day of work. Thank goodness for Moppy!! Walker can go back to school tomorrow and the birthday PARTY is on for Saturday....Yippeeee!!

We had our 2 yr check up today. Over the weekend we thought he had hand, foot and mouth disease, because of blisters/ulcers in his mouth. Our pediatrician said that normally with HFM he would have blisters on his hands, feet and butt. She diagnosed him with "herpangina" just another form of a viral infection. She said the virus had been going around and very contagious. The blisters/ulcers only lasted about 2 days in his mouth. Anyhoo, he's almost like brand new running wild and crazy again:) At his well check up visit today he weighed 31 lbs (75 percentile), he's 36 inches tall (75 percentile) and his head measured 19 1/4 (50 percentile). We talked a lot about potty training and giving up his "nee nee" (pacifier). Lot's of changes are coming our way and not too sure if Mommy is ready:) Doesn't look like I'm going to have much choice.

A few Sundays ago we celebrated our super cute little friend, Christians birthday (in the pink). We had so much fun swimming with Christian, Carlin, McKenzie, Holly, Jim, Alicia and Scott:) I decided I wouldn't post any of the adults in their bathing suits...LOL! We love you guys and thank you so much for including us in such a fun birthday celebration!!

Poor Ribbie girl. This actually was Ribbie's pool before Walker came along...LOL! You should have seen her face when Walker hopped in. She thought we got it out for her to cool off in. Well as you can see it didn't stop her from getting in with Walker. A little sibling LOVE:)

We also had fun playing with Moppy at the beach. Walker loved Moppy covering his feet up in the sand. He also showed her how to jump the waves:) We had so much fun Moppy!

This is one of the fun things about living at the beach. We get to see all of our family who come here on vacation. Uncle Denny and Aunt Jan Ransdell stopped over tonight for a short visit. Walker enjoyed showing them his lawn mowers and kicking the soccer ball with Uncle Denny. Thank you so much for Walker's really cool book, bubbles and backpack. We are looking forward to seeing you guys again soon.

Didn't know turning 2 would be so hard......

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby boy! It's so hard to believe that 2 years ago today, Walker Leigh was born. I've been looking forward to celebrating his 2nd birthday since he blew out his candles on his 1st birthday:).

I didn't know turning 2 would be so hard. Why, you ask? I thought last night his cheeks felt warm, but I was in total denial just looking forward to the birthday festivities that were to come. Walker had a few other plans for us this morning when he woke us up at 5am with a 102.5 temperature. I couldn't believe this morning that we were on our way to the pediatrician's office on his 2nd birthday. I did say to him in the car that one day when he understands I'm going to tell him what great timing/luck we had on his 2nd birthday:) When I turned 2 I had just gotten home from having my tonsils removed.

Walker has a viral infection that is very very contagious. After the diagnosis I looked at the doctor and said, "Does this mean no party today (as my voice started to quiver) he says, "Mom, No Party"....trying so hard to keep it together in the office...I completely lost it in the car. I began to call all of his friends to let them know about the change of events. All of our friends were so understanding and so caring. Made me feel so lucky to have friends that care so much about Walker. I was also disappointed to not attend his best buddy JD's 2nd birthday party. We have "postponed" the birthday party until next weekend. Mom and I tried to freeze most of the food that was already prepared and the rest we have snacked on throughout the day. Both of us were complaining earlier of stomach aches...wonder why??

We had our own little party today once Daddy got home from the Super Regional baseball game. We opened a few presents and watched A LOT of Nemo. Thank goodness Moppy has been here all week. I truly don't know what I would have done without her this week and especially today. We did a lot of cuddling today with the birthday boy. Moppy we love you and thank you so much for taking care of us this week!!

It's always fun to get presents in the mail and he's received some really cool things. Walker is totally obsessed with Nemo. Uncle Matt Matt and Sandra sent him a stuffed Nemo, baseball glove and 2 balls. If you can see the birthday card..yes it's an almost naked girl standing under a shower. Inside the card Uncle Matt Matt said, "I'm going to teach him early about girls." He's so clever:) Thanks you two for sending such cool gifts for Walkman.

Walker loved his truck and tractor books and his new enormous dump truck. I will post more birthday pictures after the party. We are truly so lucky to have such a wonderful little boy. Walker your smile will brighten up a room, your laugh is so contagious, your voice melts our hearts and most importantly Mommy and Daddy love you with all of our hearts. Happy Birthday to our SWEET SWEET baby boy!!

Family, Friends & WKU

Two weeks ago we visited Jules and Pops in Kentucky. We haven't been back since Thanksgiving, so it well overdue visit. We always love going back because we also get to visit campus and see the beautiful landscaping and new buildings. Pops continues to amaze me with his dedication to make WKU a leading university and what a job he is doing to accomplish his goals. WKU is such a special place for us with such wonderful memories. Patrick and I are so proud of WKU and we all are enjoying sharing the tradition with Walker.

We had a very special visit with Moke and Beck, Walker's great grandparents. They drove down to have lunch with us and to play with Walker. Beck had fun learning how to share with Walker. Walker's very good at saying, "Mine, Mine" and Beck fit right in with saying, "Mine, Mine"....she forgot how to share too. Walker thought it was so funny:) Thank you two for coming down to see us. We love you both so much!!

Walker enjoyed feeding the fish in the pond. He wanted to feed the fish a lot more than the fish needed to be fed. I would say the few days Walker was there the fish gained some extra weight. He also was able to see the turtle in the pond. I was very surprised he didn't try to swim with the fish:)

We always love to take a walk on campus. It was so much fun to watch Walker explore around. He loved roaming around down the middle of campus. Patrick and I walked behind him most of the time and it was so rewarding to see him have so much fun. Maybe one day he will walk the same steps as his grandparents, parents and uncle and be a Hilltopper:)

Walker had so much fun rolling around on the South Lawn and listening to the Gutherie Tower Bells.

The second half of our trip was all about FRIENDS and what wonderful friends we have in our life. One of my college roommates and best friend, Emily came over to have lunch with us. Walker flirted with Emily big time and he thought she was so funny. Yea, he talked a big game, but when it was time to get close to take a picture he was so shy:)

We also finally got to meet John Ingle. John Ingle celebrated the BIG 1st Birthday yesterday:) Rachel and I were freshman roommates and still remain great friends. We don't get to see each other as much as we would like too. It was so fun catching up and seeing the boys play together. Walker enjoyed sharing his powder sugar doughnuts with John Ingle:)

Walker taught Pops all about trucks. Walker's favorite book right now is all about antique trucks around the world. Pops and Jules also took Walker on a couple field trips while he was there. They went to the fire station, road the BIG BUS around campus twice and went to the train museum. When I get the pictures from Jules I will post them.

We have looked forward to seeing our college friends and most of us had not seen each other in over a year. Patrick organized a weekend that we would all come back to spend the weekend together and watch some college baseball. All four of these guys played baseball at WKU and were roommates. They have such a close bond and can pick up where they left off so quickly. It's always so much fun to listen to their stories and to hear them make fun of each other. We watched a lot of baseball, laid by the pool and reminisced about the "good ole days".

Walker enjoying Jerry and Katie:)

Walker enjoying Brian and Mary:)

The boys, aren't they so handsome!

We had such a great time and it was so hard to come back home. We are looking forward to seeing our family again next weekend for the BIG 2nd Birthday.