Little Blake's Pirate Bash!

What a better way to start a new year than to have a pirate party? That was the theme for lil b's 2nd birthday...and as expected, I went a little over the top :) I just can't help myself sometimes....!

Lil B did not like his pirate hats....

Cheese!

Sneaking a cupcake before everyone arrived :) He's the captain!

Homemade Cupcake Toppers



It's funny to me how I will never learn my lesson about throwing a toddler a birthday party... I work so hard and plan months in advance about what we are going to do for the theme and then the big day arrives.... and lil b could care less! I guess these are just my practice parties until he is ready to go all out :) I can't wait for those birthdays!!! Anyways, we had a good amount of adults and an awesome spread of food. We had kalua pulled pork, southwestern potato salad, black bean and corn salsa, tuna poke (big blake's specialty), seaweed salad, slaw, and lots of other munchies. Lil b's chocolate cupcakes were made from scratch with delicious homeade buttercream frosting- topped with custom cupcake toppers! For an activity, we made Momma Pyle's Sugar Cookies for the kids to decorate and then lead them to the playground so they could run off some energy. Lil b was not interested in presents- especially after receiving a custom Thomas the Train stroller from Rachel & Izzy and train tracks from Quinn. His Uncle Luke gave him a mini lacrosse stick that he laced with bright colors which was a big hit at the playground.

Auntie Lang giving lil b a lift

Captain Jack Sparrow- these were the custom pirate hats

Sugar Rush!



Not interested in pictures or presents!

Crashing in his Buzz Lightyear Pjs

We had too much excitement at his bday party so we decided to give him amma's present this morning...and it was a hit! Thanks Pyle Family!!! This was a pretty funny experience- lil b doesn't grasp the concept of steering and driving at the same time so Katie and I were chasing him around steering for him so he didn't run into trees, cars, etc. You can even check him out trying to drive with his feet!

Happy boy with cupcake...

Sugar meltdown..after he chucked his cupcake off the deck...



It was a busy but fun filled weekend... have to give a big shout out to Christy and Katie for helping me set up and cook everything for the party!!! I love you girls and thanks!! I would not have been able to pull this off without you!!!

Christy, Jack and Mike Post <3

Oh, Hello October- Where Did September Go?

Um....sorry! It looks like I missed September! It was definitely one of those months that flew by right before our eyes. As usual we were jam packed with activities all month- but the funny thing is, I don't have a lot of pictures to show for it...kind of a bummer! 

We spent Labor Day in Annapolis at Uncle Rob's and Aunt Joyce's awesome house. They have a super neat backyard equipped with a pool, garden, swings, and corn hole! We are never bored when we go there and lil b always has a great time exploring their yard.

The second weekend was our 1st wedding anniversary, but don't get too excited or sentimental about it! We spent the day staining the deck (which we didn't finish until yesterday, 10/02!) It was pretty funny telling people that it was our anniversary and them asking "awww congrats! what are you doing?? oh I bet you are doing something romantic and awesome!" Um, no, actually we are staining our deck. "Haha, no really, what are you guys doing?!" Seriously, we are staining our deck. **insert pitful, I'm sorry look** The thing is, Blake and I really don't need alot of frill, we had a blast being sans kid and just being Blake and Krystal for a few hours. I think it's really important to schedule that time alone, even if it is a household chore or labor...Labor of love right? In case you were wondering, the deck looks great! Bonus of the weekend: Uncle Ricky was in town and we had a great weekend with the Tarletons.

Squrting Tobi with the water gun!

Third weekend was consumed by a golf tournament Blake played in with his dad @ Holly Hills Country Club. And being the studly duo that they are, they were first place in their flight (out of 5 or 6 groups) and then they choked during the shoot out. It was still fun to brag about them though :) We went to a formal dinner with them for the tournament and had a blast. I know I say it all the time, but I really lucked out with my in-laws!! Lil b was lucky enough to stay at Chris and Claire's house for the evening (Dolore's brother and family)...They have 5 girls total...so it was refreshing to have a little boy in the house...plus he got tons of attention, which we know he doesn't mind that one bit. I think this was the weekend he got another haircut from Ms. Amanda... okay, so maybe I let his hair grow out too long this time, but if you had to take him to get his haircut, you would understand! Lucky for us, Ms. Amanda is super patient and Quin is a great entertainer while lil b tolerates his trim.

Before...

After!



Holly Hills CC Member-Guest Tournament

Katie and b

Ahhh, finally, the fourth weekend....Big Blake went to Charlotte for a fraternity event and lil b and I had some quality time :) We went to the Frederick County fair, relaxed around the house, went yard sale-ing around the neighborhood, made pumpkin muffins, snuggled, and went to church on Sunday in a barn. Perfect.

Frosting Quality Control

Sharing shaved ice with the cows



sharing a moment with poppy



What's new with lil b you ask? Well he is a sassy little thing let me tell you. He is talking alot and has says key phrases. It's so much fun trying to communicate with a toddler and you just wonder what they are really saying or thinking in that little mind of theirs. When he wants a bite or sip of something that anyone is consuming, he will walk up to you and say "Want some?" I guess we are always asking him if he wants some and this is the product. It's so cute, because he is saying it perfectly. He loves to talk on the phone, especially to his amma in Hawaii, not to mention skype! His new thing is scaring amma over skype...very funny. Some other phrases are; "C'mon!", "Where'd it go?" "What's that?" "Listen..." "No (of course)" "Sure!" "Please/Thank you" "Sorry" (and he does this hand motion where he gently swipes the side of his head...very random). He can answer questions with either words or actions and it's just amazing to watch him develop...and sad...I can't believe he turned two on Sept. 30!!! Wow, where does the time go? I tried to get him to hold up his "2"...but we can all see how that worked out ;)





Blake is 2!!!



Um, Hello September? What Happened to August?!

Wow... I still can't believe that it's September already.... 2 years ago we were blessed with little blake's arrival and 1 year ago I married my best friend....needless to say, I LOVE SEPTEMBER! Although, August was a whirlwind month for us, it was a fun one!

The Blakes were able to spend a lot of quality time together because I was busy with MOH duties in Poquoson, VA and Ocean City, MD. I (along with my fellow bridesmaids) threw a great "Kentucky Derby" themed bridal shower for my cousin Vy followed by a fun weekend on the Eastern Shore of MD with 7 girls. Who said mom's can't have some fun? That consumed the first and third weekend of the month. While I was keeping busy, the boys went to the train museum in Charles Town and went shoe shopping for lil b. Big Blake even had lil b's foot measured to make sure they got the right size- and would you believe that lil b is a size 7.5 already?! Such a awesome dad.

Mint Julep Cupcakes!

The second weekend was a mom and dad getaway for us! We were lucky enough to snag a weekend at Kent Island with some great friends.We find it really important for us to spend some alone time together (and/or with other adults)- otherwise we get wrapped up in our work lives, housekeeping, parenting, and other everyday tasks that keep us from being attentive to eachother. Balance is a hard thing to find, but I think we are doing a pretty good so far :) We celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary on the 13th!!!

The girls @ Red Eyes

The Boys at Big Owls

Ahhh...finally, the fourth weekend of August.... we didn't have to do anything or go anywhere! These are our favorite kinds of weekends. We did a little landscaping in our front yard and just lounged around. We made it out to the Jefferson County Fair on that Friday- which was quite the experience! Little Blake wanted to ride the carousel (twice!) but both times he refused to sit on the horses. He loved watching all the lights and rides...but I'd say his favorite things were fishing for sharks and fried oreos (um, delicious by the way)!

Attempt #1

Attempt #2...not amused.

fishing for sharks!

double fisting fried oreos...yum!

Okay okay, enough about Blake and Krystal...get on to lil b already!! Lil b looks super tall to us- we can tell by all of his shorts. What once were below the knee are well above the knee now! And he is skkkkkinnnnyyyy despite grazing all day. He has been slacking on his vegetables lately but loves fruit. This kid ate 7 slices of watermelon the other day for breakfast....I'm not complaining though...because I read that watermelon has tons of lycopene in it ( so it's like eating a tomato!). Pudding has been another fun addition to his diet as well as chocolate milk. Lil b often helps himself to the refrigerator and gets his sippy cup out or kindly asks me to pour him more milk by grabbing the carton out and bringing it to me. He does not like spaghetti like he used too but digs grilled cheese. And he loves spoonfuls of peanut butter just like his dad.

He has to get every last drop....

His vocabulary is increasing rapidly. It seems like everyday he comes out with a new word or phrase...lately it's been "I'll get it" after dropping something, "It's stuck" when he can't pull up the plug in the bath, "Ein" or "Einsteins" when he wants to watch his favorite show, "Made a Mess" followed by jibberish (probably imitating blake or me complaining about the mess), "All Done", "Popcorn", "Pop" i.e. popsicle, and he is even singing a little bit...he loves the intro to Little Einsteins. I've been trying to capture this on video, so stay tuned. He says a ton of other things too, but I will leave at that.

This kid loves some popcorn!

Oh, another thing he loves to do is Skyping with my parents and sister in Hawaii!! It's usually lunch time here and 6 a.m there, but Amma still eats a popsicle with the lil man :) He gives them bites of his meal too...how generous!

Skyping with Amma!

Until next time..............

OBX 2010

We have finally settled back into our routine somewhat after a great vacation in the Outer Banks for a week with the Legnards. It doesn't really feel good to be home, but it does feel good to be back into the swing of things. Our bags are still semi-packed (hey! we didn't pack our work clothes to go to the beach!) but we are still phasing back into reality :)

We started off with a quick trip to the 4 wheel drive area in Corova- it's kind of a tradition of ours to go there with just the fam. Blake and I used to go up there for day dates when we lived in the OBX in 2007...we loved to go "ultimate tubing"...oh the good ol days :) Going to the beach now with a toddler in tow is a whole different story...

The Outer Banks vacay of 2010 was HOT! With temps above 100 degrees for 5 out of the 7 days- it was a true scorcher. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining- I'm just stating the facts. Lucky for us, the water temperature for most of the week ran around the 65ish mark (well, maybe we were a bit unlucky) which is really cold. For those of you who have not gone swimming in 60ish degree water, it was freezing! I'm talking make your feet curl and leg cramp cold. The kind of cold that when you get out of the water you literally feel your body thawing... Later in the week around Thursday, the water was gorgeous and perfect. Temps near 75 degrees :) I love swimming in the ocean more than I love sitting on the beach watching the waves crash and reading a book...I would rather be chilling in the ocean all week then anything- so you can imagine my heart break at the water temps. Of course we made the best of it! Especially the warm water day...Blake treated me with the one request I had the week before...Paddleboarding!

I got the craving to try this sport out after I saw a couple pictures of friends doing it in Wilmington, NC over 4th of July. It's not too tough to grasp, but don't underestimate the monotonous motions...it's quite the workout! We chose to bring the board to the ocean versus the sound (against our better judgement) and had a blast! All of Blake's cousins were around to witness and the try the sport out as well. Blake and I did really well on it, although I think was more graceful about it ;) I'm sure my parents would take credit for teaching me how to surf when I was little in Hawaii (Aloha Mutti and Dad! I miss you guys! Sienna too!)

Blake and I were able to sneak out for a night and got to venture out to some of our favorite spots: Awful Arthurs, Tortuga's Lie, Ocean Blvd, etc. Another bonus was playing cornhole at a new spot with Amy and Lissa at MexiCali Brewz...the atmosphere is low key and good fun (good beer too).

Alright, now to the part that everyone wants to read about....How did lil b do at the beach? Well.... he hated the sand. This was heart breaking for Big B and I! How did we know he hated the sand you ask? Everytime he stepped on a patch of sand he would sit down and wipe it off of his foot (or attempt to). Did we try to put shoes on him? Of course we did! His caretaker, Rachel, was so thoughtful to let us have a pair of water shoes her daughter grew out of, and then of course we had his crocs. No dice. As soon as he stepped on his 3rd pile of sand, he would sit down and proceed to take off his shoes and shake them out :( The only time we got him to run around on the sand solo was when we distracted him with Baked Cheetos to throw at the seagulls. He LOVED chasing the birds and trying to scare them....until he realized he was standing in sand.

Lil b was fine in the water as long as we held him or had him on our shoulders- although we did not get to explore this avenue too much due to the water temps. He really enjoyed the pool- so at least he wasn't a complete party pooper! I haven't convinced him that he needs some kind of flotation device to aid him in his pool adventures, but that is a priority on my list. He shows no fear about the pool and it scares me! He would feel comfortable jumping or walking straight into the pool...guess we need to start working on that asap!

Alright, enough chit chat. Here are some pics of the week! Sorry for the long post, it was a long week!

Lil b shaking out his shoe

Quick pic after a family walk on the beach

Lil b's first time at the Pier House Restaurant (he liked it!)

a failed attempt to capture a family pic...at least it's natural!

:)

We are that family in the khakis...haha!

Sampling of the cousins

Fam pic in Nags Head

giiirrlllsss

<3

The fam in khakis...don't judge! We look good! ;)

Paddleboarding in the big blue

Noshing on his first DQ cone... kudos to Aunt Carol!

My studly Ray Ban baby!

There are plenty more pics, but I will save them for a rainy day! Hope the Summer is awesome for everyone!