Happy Birthday to our Sweet Vance!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our monkey Vance!!! Yesterday was our Vance's birthday and it was so fun. These last two years have been the best of our lives and we have cherished every moment with him. If you ask Vance how old he is he will probably tell you he is three which is hilarious because I don't know why he skipped two but he is determined that he is three now. We are still in shock that it has been two years but even though the time has flown it has been amazing. I remember the first time I got to hold him in the hospital. What a joy it was to have him finally here and it has been a joy ever since. He is really an amazing little boy. He has a love for life like no one I have ever known. I learn so much from him everyday. My favorite times are when he decides he just wants to come and give me hugs and kisses. He is always so sweet. It is so funny how quickly they get into the "I can do it all myself stage" and that has literally been an overnight thing. He of course had things that he liked to do by himself but now it is everything by himself. One of my favorite memories was probably the first time that he saw the Mickey Mouse clubhouse. He just got up and started dancing and turning all around the room. It was one of the funnest times. One of Curtis' favorite things about Vance is how quickly he learns things. He is like a sponge just ready to take in the whole world if you would let him. We have been so blessed to have this little boy in our lives and we are truly looking forward to the rest of our lives to see what he will do. We know that he is going to do great things and we are just grateful that we get to be a part of his life. WE LOVE YOU VANCE!!!!!!

So since Vance's first word was ball we decided that this birthday would be a sports theme. This is a picture of the beginning stages of his cake.

Here is the finished product. Turned out pretty good. Thanks mom!!

We took Vance to Chucky Cheese for his birthday party and he couldn't wait to play the games. This is the game he got to play before we got our food.
So excited that he got orange soda and pizza. What a cutie.
I'm a big boy now and I don't need my pizza cut. I cut him up a piece of pizza and he just reached over the plate and grabbed himself a big piece to eat. He did really well with chewing it up.
Big Bite!!!
Vance looking longingly at the games in the other room but he waited until he was done eating.
He was a little skeptical about Chucky but he enjoyed the ride once it started going.
This was his favorite thing to do. We spent half of our time here at the horse ride. He loved it!!!
His cowboy yell "Yee-Haw!"
Knock those eggs off Vance!
He wanted nothing to do with Chucky in real life.
Daddy helping him get balls of honey for his pot. I am not sure if he could see anything inside this game but he had a ball none the less.
Any game will balls was a winner.
He was very enthusiastic about the Skee ball game. It took everything I had for him to not take the balls from the kids playing around us.
He wanted to play air hockey so we did. Once he figured out the paddle hit the ball across the table he did a great job.
You have to play with daddy to.
Vance on the Roller Coaster ride. What a silly guy.
His surprise cake and party stuff.
He didn't want to stop playing to take this picture so it is not a very happy face. He just started making this face this weekend. We don't know where it came from.
Him running around with his balloons.
Vance with his football glasses.
Blowing out the candle on his cake. We sat there for probably five minutes lighting the candle over and over so he could blow out the candle. He just kept saying "Gain, Gain" which is again. It was so funny. He did great with blowing out the candles.
He ripped right into his presents with no hesitation. He loved is baseball bat from Mimi and Papa.
Getting ready to grip and swing away.
Swinging at his fuzzy ball.
What is in this one?
A ball of course.
He decided to do the golf swing with it instead of hitting it in the air.
He got some sports pj's
And then he got his glove.

He was the batter, pitcher, baseman, and outfielder all in one.
So cute.
The big surprise was his little jeep that we bought him. Curtis painted it for him and he loved it.
I could barely get this picture before he hopped in to take off.
What a doll. Great paint job daddy!!
Doesn't he look so grown up.
Mimi trying to lead him away from the trees.

Look at that face.
A picture with Daddy!!
We had to light the candle again when it was time for him to eat his cake. Here is the wind up breath.
And that candle is out.
Hurray I did it.
He wouldn't dig into it without a fork. How proper.

I got some on my fingers.
But he it isn't a bad thing after all.
Good bite.
MMMMMMMM!!!!!
These are his presents on his real birthday.
A fireman hat which he found before but he was still happy to unwrap it.
He would only wear it backwards too. So cute.
His light-saber. Why that came with his Knights costume stuff I will never know but it did.

Here is all his knights stuff.
My knight is shining armor. What a sweet boy.
He thought his shield was a hat but once I should him what to do with it he loved it.
Look at that smile. What an angel.

His first sword fight with daddy.
Curtis was trying to record while having a sword fight.
The rest of his little gifts.

A pack of Lightning Mcqueen pencils.
And some glow in the dark braclets. A fun family past time.
Opening his card from Grandma and Grandpa Birdno.
He said "book" when he first opened it.
He had to have some of the glow in the dark braclets before we went to dinner. So proud.
Silly boys!!! Aren't they so cute!
Of course we had to get him a basketball hoop. He wouldn't try to shoot it without us lifting him up to dunk it.
Showing off his muscles in his whole outfit complete with glow in the dark braclets.
We went to Chili's for dinner and he was so excited when he got his birthday Sundae. He loved it.
His attempt at a smile when I took him away from his sundae for a picture. What a sweetheart. HAPPY BIRTHDAY VANCE!!!!

Vance the Knight/blindfolded drummer and Aunt Nana comes to town

So Vance found some of his birthday presents and I figured he will be just as happy to get them again so I decided to take some pictures of him. This was when he woke up from a nap with me and I saw him leaving the room and when I came out this is what he looked like. What a cute boy.

Vance has rediscovered a little hat that he got for his birthday last year and he loves to put it on backwards. Well on this particular day he found out that he could put it over his eyes and he couldn't see. We think he could see but he still pretended like he couldn't see. So he was playing his drumsticks on whatever he could find to bang. It was pretty funny.



My sister Breann aka Aunt Nana came into town and we went down to Nauvoo to see my mom and her youth group and here are some pictures from that. Vance kept saying "Oh Baby!!" and giving the statue hugs and kisses. The kids all thought it was so cute.

Here he is showing us his muscle pose. Papa would be so proud.
It had rained just before we got there and this is a picture I took of some of the flowers in the Women's garden. I thought they were beautiful.
Breann in front of the Nauvoo temple.
Aunt Nana was brave enough to let Vance play with her camera and he did pretty good with it. Our future photographer.
My mom and sister playing the stick pull game. I will let them tell you all who won. It was so funny.
On our way home we stopped in Swedesburg a little Swedish-American town and took some pictures. This little goat had one horn pointing up and one pointing down. It was so funny.
Breann by a corn field in Iowa.
The little Hay statue in front of the Swedesburg museum.
Breann in front of the town sign but I don't know if you can see it really well. The sun was just in the wrong place. We had a ball taking these pictures. I left out the ones where Breann almost fell in a ditch trying to get by the corn field. So much fun.

4th of July to present

Vance riding his Giraffe George around the kitchen. He wanted me to ride his dinosaur so that is what I am holding.
He had started out with both of them but left the dinosaur and kept riding George.
This is one of the buildings on the strip in Coralville that was hit by the flood. You can see the water line on the building now. It is crazy how high it was.
We decided to go have lunch with daddy while he was studying and this is how Vance wanted to  eat his corn dog.  Silly boy.
Vance trying to play with the sparklers. He loved the fireworks, except for the fact that they were really loud.
Coming down the slide.
We looked over and this is what Vance was doing. Can you believe it?
Showing us his candy that he went get during the parade.
So much candy.  he loved it.
He also went and got a water bottle. So cute.
Just a cute kid.
Clapping to the one man band.
Our friends Tyler, Elsha, and Ian with Vance before the parade started.
Our little family waiting for the parade. Vance was so excited.
These dogs were such a great distraction while we were waiting, however, they are HUGE!! That dogs face is bigger than my whole head I am not joking.  I can't believe Vance would even go close to those things but he loved them. They were super slobbery too.