Arlen's Choo Choo Party

Arlen is SO choo choo crazy!  He sees them everywhere (seriously, he will take a bite out of his cheese and think it looks like a choo choo... crazy!).  ;)

So, the obviously choice for his birthday party was trains. 

 My mom and I spent hours and hours on his cake...

We were pleased with the result (and I think Arlen was too!)

All of his favorite people came to celebrate with him.  He was pretty much in heaven with all the attention!

My best friend came with her baby, Brooks.  They will be best buds one day! (When Arlen gets over his extreme jealous, spoiled, and un-sharing ways... maybe a sibling would help with that??)  ;)

Arlen got a ton of great gifts!  And he definitely knew what to do with them this year!

Of course, Arlen's day is not complete without this... it's his party and he will cry if he wants to!  =)

(Please excuse me back there, apparently that's my "grin and bear it" face...)

Family picture.  =)

This is while everyone was singing Happy Birthday... I think he liked it!

 

Such a big boy, blowing out his candle!  (We practice almost every day blowing on his mac and cheese.)  ;)

He just loves "ca-cake"!

He even got to play outside for a bit with his cousins!

I tried to get a good 4 generation picture... this is the best!

 

Arlen had a great birthday, we are so blessed to have awesome family and friends that truly love us.  Everybody that came just made it special and perfect and it wouldn't have been the same without them!


Home birthday parties are fun, but can be pretty stressful.  I'm thinking his next birthday will probably be somewhere out of the house!  ;)

(I love the scream at the end)  ;)

My baby is 2!!

Arlen turning two was bittersweet for me.  I would leave his room crying after I put him to bed the whole week before his birthday.  I always rock him for a minute or so before he gets in bed, and lately he just doesn't want to be held or snuggle.  I feel like the baby in him is slowly leaving.
BUT, I love how he is growing and learning and getting bigger every day.  He is getting to be such a big boy, and he truly amazes me.  As much as I want him to stay little, I also want him to grow and experience new things.  =)

We didn't have anything planned to do on the day of his birthday, Jan 14th, (his party is the 16th), but I tried to make is special for him.

 His birthday breakfast was cinnamon toast cut into his favorite shapes!

He loved it! (Except he played with them more than ate them..) 

Every time he took a bite he'd say "uh oh!" and point to his mouth!  =)

It was even nice enough to play outside (for a little bit)

 

 

 (note to self: save a lot of money on presents- just buy balloons!)

 Arlen's birthday loot

 Opening his gifts from Aunt Lindsay and family

 "Cars!"

 Get em!

 Team Delo got to be a part of his birthday from all the way in Alaska!

Love Skype!

 Playing with his new cars and rug with daddy!  =)

Pizza for his birthday dinner!

 Cupcake!

I think he liked it!  ;)

I know this year Arlen will change so much, but right now he:

• LOVES choo choos, Cars, and trucks
• "talks" like crazy
• sleeps 12 hours at night and takes at least a 2 hour nap during the day
• goes to mother's day out twice a week and does great!
• weighs 24 pounds
• is in size 3 diapers and size 24 months/2t clothes
• still has about 4 teeth that haven't come in...
• is a very picky eater
• laughs all the time
• is still crazy jealous when I hold other kids or babies (or dogs)...
• loves bath time (especially with bubbles!)
• has started time outs  =(
• likes to scream and be loud
• loves to read books and watch movies and play outside

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARLEN!!

From Nemo to New Years

Well, I guess one of my New Year's resolutions will be to be a better blogger!  I started this blog to record "important" type events in my life, like holidays and things...  well a lot of holidays have happened in the past few months!  I need to stay on top of it, or it's not going to happen.

We pretty much had a Halloween "season" instead of just a one night thing.  We took Arlen (Nemo) to Lake Arcadia for their Storybook Forest Trick or Treat Trail a few days before Halloween.

 Waiting to go in!  My parent's came with us, which helped a lot.

                                                    

Walking into the trail... which turned out to be a disaster.

That's a fit, and yes I took a picture of it...

He wanted to run around (and into the "forest) instead of staying with me and the trail.  He wasn't very happy with that.

He sure is a cutie though!  ;)

Since we were so close, we decided to eat at Pops. First time!

Our next fall adventure was the Orr Family Farm.  We were privileged to have Dallas' grandparents come with us.  =)

Arlen just loves his Papa and Grandma!

 He loved the train ride!  =)

There was so much to do, he had a blast!

Rode a horse for the first time!

Petting zoo.

Making memories...  =)

Arlen loved finding a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.  I was amazed he knew what to do!  He is such a big boy.

Hay ride was fun, I love my family!

The next day was our church's Trunk or Treat...

Lots of fun,

and games,

and CANDY!

We went back home and passed out candy, which Arlen LOVED.

He'd say bye bye to all the trick or treaters!

The next day (the actual Halloween day), we went to Dallas' Aunt Sheila's church.  They had a huge Trunk or Treat with lots of games, and fun, and of course, candy.

Playing games with daddy.

Papa Arlen came too!

Thanks Aunt Sheila for inviting us, we love you!

I love this picture.  He has pretty great (great) grandparents!  ;)

Whew!  Halloween is OVER.  (Too bad the 50 pounds of candy we accumulated is STILL around...)  

Next: Thanksgiving with a Christmas twist.

My sister and her family came to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving and got to stay about a week, before they moved to Alaska. =(  And Dallas' sister and family were also coming from Illinois.  Since we wouldn't see any of them at Christmas, we just celebrated it at Thanksgiving.  

Arlen had a blast with his cousins!

Opening Christmas presents.

Oden family.  =)

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Papa and Grandma's house.

It's always fun with Papa!

That weekend we left for Arkansas to visit Dallas' mom.  I can't believe we hadn't seen her in a year!

We had a great time!

Dallas got to go hunting,

and Arlen got to play with his cousin.  =)

This Thanksgiving I was truly grateful for my wonderful family and friends, but most importantly my merciful Savior.  Without Him, nothing would matter.  His blood washed my sins away, and that is something to be thankful for!  I love my God!

CHRISTMAS!  (The real one)

With most presents and cooking and Christmas "stuff" taken care of at Thanksgiving, this Christmas was a wonderfully relaxing and (mostly) stress free time.

Cookies for Arlen's MDO class.  (I had to take a picture, since this consumed 18 hours of my life...)

 Arlen "helping"  =)

Having fun at the Tennyson family Christmas

 Always the entertainer!

 This year he figured out how to open presents!

He became an expert at present opening, but we learned we had to space out his presents because he would open one and want to play with it forever!

We got to hang out with Oma and Opa all Christmas weekend!

He loves his Oma!

I love playing games!

Arlen and his choo choo on Christmas morning.

 Christmas morning breakfast at IHOP.  I love my parents, so glad we got to spend so much time with them!

 We visited Grandma Oden in her new home.

And Grandpa Ike came to visit us!

Ending Christmas Day with a fun bubble bath!

(Oh yeah, we also saw Santa again...)  =P

New Year's Eve we went out to eat with our friends Ashlee and Chad, then hung out downtown OKC for a while.  We were home by 10:00 pm... party animals!  ;)

Me and my best friend Ashlee

 The enormous chocolate cake that looked better than it tasted...

New Years Day, Papa and Grandma came to visit.  We didn't get to see them at Christmas because they were sick.  So Arlen was very excited they came!

Happy New Year to everybody!  And if you made it through this humongous post, God bless you!  =)