A Gatti Land Birthday Dinner!

 For Carter's actual birthday on Monday, February 18th, we took him to dinner at one of his favorite places... GATTILAND!! He not only loves to eat the pasta, cheesesticks, and all the dessert pizzas but he REALLY loves playing games after he eats! Before we headed to dinner, we decided to give him one more little birthday present on his actual birthday... a new Jake and the Neverland Pirates blanket for his bed!

All smiles for our birthday boy!

Opening his last present for his birthday... finally!

Carter was so happy to have a new blanket!  He loves blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals lately!

Family picture time at Gatti's pizza!

Silly birthday faces with Grammy and Aunt Susie! 

Enjoying his favorite part of Gatti's... cherry pizza and cinnamon breadsticks!  YUMMY!

Game time!

Carter's favorite games include:  basketball, skee ball, and the roller coaster!

Our sweet babies... riding the "roller coaster" together!  Love them!

Present Time with our family!

After all the fun from Carter's Pirate Party, we decided to let things settle down a bit before he opened his presents from us that night.  He was so excited for his birthday presents! 

 The birthday boy!

 More Jake and the Neverland Pirates stuff! 

 He had been asking for Hook's Adventure Rock to go with his Jake stuff!

 He opened a new bike helmet... but wasn't really sure why... YET!

 Daddy came riding in on a new BIKE!  He was so, so excited!

 Taking a ride on the new bike (this picture is too bright but it still captures his excitement!)!

 It's time for The Hidden Cupcake!

Carter is getting good at finding this now!  Next year, we are really going to have to hide it in a hidden location!

Camden got Carter a Chuggington train that he had been wanting to go with his trian table.  He isn't real particular about the trains he plays with (thank goodness) but he loved that this train had a face on each end. 

Yo Ho Matteys Away... Carter's 4th Birthday is Today!

For Carter's 4th birthday, we weren't really planning on doing much.  We had decided to just have a cake at Family Dinner on Sunday until... Carter started telling our family, "I'm having a pirate party for my birthday and we are all going to dress up like pirates!".  So... we caved in and a pirate party was planned for our sweet little man!  He was so, so excited to help find pirate stuff for his party!  We let him pick out his cake (he requested his picture with Jake), the decorations, and even gave choices for pirate games! Our family came over along with our closest friends and MawMaw was able to come into town too!  Grammy and Susie won best costume (if we would have had awards!) and even had confetti guns they shot off the entire party... much to Joe's dislike!  The confetti was EVERYWHERE when they left!!  When the party was over, Carter came up to us and said, "Thank you so much Mommy and Daddy for my Pirate Party!  I loved it!".  That made it all worth it!     

 Our Pirate Family! 

 Carter was SO excited about his cake!

 Our little man is growing up so fast!

 Tick Tock Croc Ring Toss was a hit!

 Pirate Pinata!

 Camden was eager to try!

 Present time!

 Carter got more Jake and The Neverland Pirate things! 

 Courtney and Aunt Susie!

 Grammy and Susie went ALL OUT with the pirate theme!  They may have had more fun than anyone!

Carter with Grammy and MawMaw!

Valentine's Day Meltdown!

This year for Valentine's Day (Thursday, February 14th), Courtney decided to try something new for dinner... letting everyone make their own pizzas!  The "fun" that she had envisioned wasn't exactly all it was cracked up to be!  The kids were tired from daycare festivites (which equal grouchiness and meltdowns over little things), Grammy was sick so she couldn't come over for dinner, and the pizzas weren't edible!  We went with a different brand of crust than when we have made them once before and they were just yucky!  We ended up eating a hodge podge dinner before we gave the kiddos their Valentine treats!  They both loved getting a new book, some Valentine candies, a new outside ball, and a movie to share!  Happy Valentine's Day, sweet babies!  Although this wasn't the night Courtney had planned, at least we were all together!  Mommy and Daddy love you both more than ANYTHING in this world!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!   

 Camden was ready to get her treats!

 Carter was happy to get a new "Move it, Move it" movie (he calls all the Madagascar movies "Move it, Move it!").

 Camden LOVED her new outside ball!

 They both loved their new books!  Isn't this the cutest little picture?

The best picture I could get of these 2 tired babies!  Bedtime was FAST approaching!

Christmas in February!

The weekend of February 9th-10th, Grandaddy and Nanny were able to come into town to celebrate Christmas and also Carter's birthday (which is February 18th).  Carter was so excited about them coming for a visit...and for P.D. (their little dog) to visit!  We had a great time just hanging around the house!  Thanks for coming to visit us!  We love you, Grandaddy and Nanny!

 Merry Christmas, P.D. dog!

 This picture just doesn't do the excitement justice!

 Yo Ho... Carter got a Jake vid-eo!

 Camden's new princess ride!  The princesses twirl around and around (her favorite part!)!

 A silky dolly!

 Grandaddy is a "Sexy Old Bob"!  Haha!

 Nanny loves flamingos so we found her a set of UT flamingos!

 Carter and Camden love visiting with Grandaddy and Nanny!

 Too cute!

Nanny got some good loving from Camden!

Amherst Valentine Dance

Amherst Elementary School PTA held their annual Valentine Dance for the students and staff on Friday, February 8th.  They had pizza, desserts, and lots of WILD children dancing (RUNNING) around in the gym!  Our shy-in-public children clung onto Courtney's legs when we went to the gym to see what the "dance" was all about!  Needless to say, they wouldn't dance!  We decided to head to Courtney's room to let the kids play a little while before we headed home.  Carter and Camden always love going to Mommy's school and playing in her classroom!  Thanks Amherst for a fun family night!

 Carter loved eating in the cafeteria!

 Our little dessert monster found herself a yummy cupcake!

 Giggles in Mommy's room!

 Such a cutie!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Camden's first *little* trim!

Little Ms. Chubbalicious was starting to get a full on mullet! YIKES!  We decided that it was time for her to have her first little trim on Friday, January 25th.  She was such a good girl while Joe cut her hair! 

 She wasn't real sure what was going on!

 She love playing with her hairbrush and comb!

 Bye, bye mullet!

Our trimmed up cutie pie!