Happy Birthday Drew! From baby to Toddler

Do we really have to start the Toddler years.  The desire to communicate but the inability to know how.  The frustration when the lines don't meet in the middle.  Truth be told, Drew is a fabulous only child.  I love his Doe Eyes and Blondish hair.  His efforts to cheesy smile is hysterical and his desire to keep up with or play with his brothers.

He turns 1 on Sunday, but since mother nature planned to rain on our parade, we moved Dinosaur land to Saturday.  It was a beautiful morning to drive towards the Shenandoah.  I loved how quaint everything felt.  The leaves were just beautiful as well.

Small simple towns driving through and i couldn't resist a photo

The Church too

And than we arrived.  Chris giggled as we pulled up.  It was EXACTLY as anticipated.  Dinosaur land was dreamed up in the 1960s....  hm....  executed in the 1970s.... hmmm.  Am I painting the right picture.  best part about it, the boys LOVED it!

After walking through a dinosaur belly and posing in a Shark mouth we headed in under an octopus tentacle.

Yes, that is a VERY big dinosaur!

I might be at a dinosaur park with my 4 boys, but I am still leaf peeping!

My favorite kind of tree.

That is one bloody dinosaur - scary face nick

Happy birthday Drew

Funny that my kids asked, why id there a gorilla at the dinosaur park.  Great question kids - our response was dismal but the photo op better

Looks like godzilla is taking us away right?

odd looking grizzly bear?

photo op

love these boys

the most beautiful leaf out there

in case you were wondering - this house started Dinosaur land   It now has the ticket counter, birthday party room, gift shop and antique room.  I could not resist this photo as i feel it explains a lot.  Now - I will be returning to Dinosaur land.  not sure when, but it was a success!

Tis the season!

Happy birthday to our little triceratops

the speedy velocoraptor

and of cource my T-Rex

We had a pub style lunch in Front royal before heading home for some more birthday activities

Truth be told - this was all Drew wanted to do today - climb the stairs, again and again

Happy birthday sweet boy

Thanks for knowing that our family is now complete with you.

Diane - thank you for knowing his birthday would be complete - with this shirt.  we love your thoughtfulness.

Yes, when he woke up this morning - i did tell him his birthday story as I hope to for the next....  several years!

the day after birthday's brings many things and for drew - its a sippy cup!  Your a natural.

Brambleton falcons homecoming

High school homecoming in brambleton - of course we will go to the parade!

This is the cutest line up i think I have ever seen - these little ones did a great job of grabbing the candy! 

Great afternoon for a neighborhood parade! 

it was fun being apart of a simple community afternoon - we may not have kids in high school (thankfully not) but its the community feel I enjoyed.  

Oh the boys

With the new computer set up (not computer - just set up) i'm not sure why this published, but because it did, I will write....  

So I took these photos on Monday (after drew's birthday)  I considered today the dry run on the winter gear department.  I LOVED getting the winter stuff out - I only wish the screaming, jumping, and crying the background wasn't so loud.  I was thankful to find all the jackets that I loved last year on new boys =)

Happy frying pan park playground day.

Nick's jacket is one that I bought last minute at KIK in Germany and so happy I did.  I'm not sure why, but i just loved their jackets and now I am loving the nostalgia I feel when i see them all

Ride'em tractor

You all know that I have been losing my mind lately with these 3 - as i have said many times before - they are wonderful boys - but there are so many of them.  I miss the focused time where i can go over nick's homework (yes, kindi homework) without drew eating it - or work with Shane on a puzzle or just let Drew crawl all over me.  If you can imagine - these 3 things cannot happen all at once - but all the boys wish they could =)

And now he is 3!

The making of a special day.....

Lets wake up to balloons - it was so much fun putting this together.

Can you see the sleeping Shane?

 

He came into our room at 6 am carrying one of his animals and he said - the balloons are beautiful!  Mark my words - he will be a ladies man =)  Straight to my heart - yes please cuddle in! 

Hey there cutie =)  These balloons proved to be the perfect play toy for the next hour or so...(farrah, I know you are cringing out there, but I disposed of them before they popped, promise!) 

Shane had a great day, breakfast tacos, mac&cheese, fun noodles - you name it, his choice - the icing on the cake was ninjago! 

Cheers to Grandma and Grandpa for being able to share this festive day with us.  They took Shane to our favorite toy store as part of his birthday celebration - his decision process is still a work in progress....  Now, lets dive in 

This hat makes me crave winter! 

I am thinking Shane has the same appreciation of socks that I do! 

This Critter clinic is just too cute - my folks loved it!!  Well purchased - lets see how my little care taker does

One of my favorite shots....  we moved our tool bench to make room for the wall track - later, I noticed the natural lite can of beer on the bench and thought.... it may be a kids bench.... but how fitting =)  Wyland - be proud, it was your mom's! 

The chaos after the gift opening  - cheers to Aunt stosh for the hockey set - I see many winter afternoons in the garage with this!

We all went to bed after a truly wonderful day - if only someone had told me I could stop there....  But no, his party was - 

At Pump it up!  A play place in Leesburg and tons of fun.  I stumbled on a groupon months ago and planned the date with 8 of his buddies.  It actually worked out perfectly as we had the place to ourselves which was fabulous for the littler guys.

This slide even makes me jump! (no, thats not me - its the birthday boy!)

Love this Luca shot 

Who can climb this wall the highest? 

These boys loved every second 

I love how 'smile ready' Aidan is 

Teresa spent some time with Drew who was totally overwhelmed with the entire operation

Evan is our most recent 2 year old.  He came down the slide totally terrified - but since everyone was doing it again, so would he.  By the end, he loved it! 

The next room had a bounce house with the bubble at the top.  Shane asked me to hoist him up there.  I wondered how long he would last....  Impressive! 

And than it was quite.... 

Even Drew loosened up a bit 

With a little help from his brothers of course. 

Here is the super fun crew.

I love these boys - we had such a great party and they were all fabulous!  We are so fortunate to have such a great group of kids in the lives of my boys!

Once pizza time rolled around they were all hungry and thirsty! 

Here was the king for the day 

A few more gifts to open 

And there it is, the motorcycle racer - a highly anticipated gift for Shane (and Nick) 

The builder in my was very excited about this one too.  I love new toys purchased by these smart moms =)  we were racing Monster trucks earlier and Teresa has me excited about the possibility of a Monster truck show (seriously, 10 years ago you could've knocked me over with a feather if I thought I would be excited by that!)

It was a fast and fun party and the boys were just wonderful 

But even with 8 wonderful boys - at the end of the party I felt like doing this.... 

This is my first photo of sweet Janik Maximillian Cavallo.  He was born September 24 and is a wonderful addition to their family.  He is catching up on his sleep, eating on schedule and perfectly content in just being included.  Welcome to the world sweet little one!

Happy Birthday Mr. Shane - may you always give that shy smile when the center of attention - I hope you always express your thoughts so eloquently and may you continue to give hugs so freely - we love you.