Kevin's 1st Birthday

I have a lot of updating to do. We have been very busy since Dan's mom got into town last week. I will write about all of that soon, but I just wanted to take a quick minute and acknowledge how wonderful Kevin is and how glad we are that he is a part of our family.

• Kevin is now an accomplished walker.
• He calls everything "Da", but he says it with extra emphasis around Dan "Dada". :) He will emphatically point to a book, a picture of Elena, a toy car, and call them all "da."
  
• He loves hammers of all kinds.
• Sweet Boy cries when his father passes him to me even though I am definitely his second favorite person.
  
• He makes vroom sounds when he plays with cars.
• Handsome Boy loves to blow kisses, and he freely gives hugs, kisses, and bites to those he loves. He will happily bite you and thinks it is just as fun and loving as a kiss. He'll hopefully start to understand the difference soon because it hurts!
• He laughs and laughs when Elena sits or lies on him.
• We call him "Destructo" with good reason. :)
  
• Unless he's tired or unless you have just taken a cell phone from him - Kevin is all smiles.
• He loves reading with a partner and looking at books by himself.
• Cheque loves being in the water so much that he cries when I take him out of the bath.
• Every night and morning when he gets dressed is a wrestling match. So is each diaper change.
• Mr. Man is the messiest eater (and best eater) I have even seen. He eats large portions of whatever you give him, but part of it always end up on this arms, face, the floor, the bottom of the high chair tray, etc.
• Kevin is strong and sweet and we love him!

Here are some pictures of him at his party this morning and a video that was taken at the mall this afternoon:
The expression in the picture above is so funny to me. I have no idea why he made this face; he loves his new dinosaurs.

This video showcases his new skills at the mall play area:

Trips and Preschool Graduation

I took the kids with me to Virginia a few weeks ago because Erin and her husband Bami were in town. I've been so spoiled always having her across the street from me, and later, from my parents, that I was super excited to get to see her again after almost a year apart. She and Bami live in Florida now, but are in Norway (where he is from) for the summer. Awesome, huh? I can't to hear all about it.
Kevin is finally old enough to play with Elena. I love this picture! I took a video too, but it was so grainy that it's not worth posting. They were wrestling and Kevin was attacking her with kisses. It was absolutely adorable. They also play by knocking over block towers together and dancing. I love seeing them interact.
We are working on teaching Kevin to be gentle with his sister - he loves to pull hair and does not yet distinguish between patting someone's cheek and slapping them. Boys.
I love the beach!!! I want to be buried there someday. Is that allowed?
Kevin wasn't a big fan of the water yet, but it is pretty cold in mid-May. Bethany and I both referred to it as being as "cold as California water in August." My wonderful cousins are from the Bay Area and we would freeze our tails off in the water there. :)
I'm so glad that Bethany came with me so that someone could keep Kevin from rubbing sand in his eyes/mouth while someone else went back and forth to the water with Elena.
We were able to meet up with Elena's friend Linnea and her little brother and grandmother at the Virginia Aquarium. It was a great way to spend the morning.

Classic!

My sweet boy really liked watching the fish, but his favorite was watching the people in scuba gear clean the tank. That is what he is looking at in this photo.
When we returned back home, we met up with Dan at the hospital and taught the kids how to play foosball in the student lounge.
The last day of preschool we had a little party where we practiced good manners. They were so great: "Please pass the red sprinkles," etc. I will miss this group. I really liked doing the preschool class with my friends. That's lucky for me because E still has 2 more years before she can start kindergarten.
Our little graduate. Her favorite parts about graduation were the roll of giant Smarties inside her diploma and the fact that her dad was able to be there. He drove over from the hospital, stayed for about an hour, and then went back. :)
Luke has moved to Pennsylvania, but we were lucky enough to have him over before he left. He and Elena put together this puzzle and then all 3 kids had a dance party on top of it. Elena was running in circles, Luke was break dancing, and Kevin was having a blast.
Mike and Emily invited us to go to Blowing Rock with them a couple of weeks ago and we had a great time. There are some nice outlets there, so we enjoyed some fantastic deals and the weather was perfect. This is Sadie and Elena each holding their well-loved stuffed pigs.

Me and my girl (Kevin was asleep in his car seat both times that we stopped to check out the view.