Zak's Second Birthday

As of February 28, 2011, our little dude is officially no longer a baby, although he really hasn't been for a while now. But his second birthday made that official. We decided to celebrate up in Cleveland so we could also meet our new nephew, Kortland. We were going to take Zak and his cousins to Chuck E Cheese but unfortunately, everyone within a 50 mile radius seemed to have the same idea. The place was so full they weren't letting anyone else inside. We then had the awesome job of telling 4 children that no, they were NOT going to go to Chuck E Cheese that night. Crying ensued.

We managed to cheer everyone up by going out for pizza, and then back to Oma and Opa's house for general mischief. Zak liked opening presents...


...but didn't quite grasp the concept of blowing out the candles.


He tried to touch the fire instead. Crying ensued.

The cake and ice cream cheered him up!

Four Names

Isabel was asking me why people with the same name spell it differently. I told her there are all kinds of ways to spell names. As an example, I said I could think of 4 ways to spell my name. She asked, "Jacqui, Jacquelyn, Mama, and what else?" I've had many nicknames over the years but Mama is my favorite!

March

It's high time for a March update! First up, Miss Isabel. She's quite the little social butterfly with birthday parties scheduled out the ying yang. But she's oh so much more... like a smarty pants! She's learning sight words at school and loves writing down words that she knows or asking me to spell words so she can write them. A few weeks ago she read Green Eggs and Ham to her class; she's a little show-off, just like her mama!

As for Mr. Zachary, he has taken turning two in stride. It seems like suddenly he is saying many more words, and saying them all more clearly. He's a charming, funny little man who is prone to sudden tantrums where he beats his heels on the ground and screams bloody murder. Luckily they're short. He's getting too tall/heavy for me to carry easily; I'm going to have to start hitting the gym even harder to keep up with him!