Simon is 4 years old!

I can not believe our little boy is four!  Simon had a very eventful 4th birthday week and day.  The lucky boy had many celebrations and on his actual birthday we spent the morning at the beach and the afternoon at Maifest.

 These kids can hear the popsicle man ringing his bell from a mile away even though they can't hear us calling them half the time.

We were so happy to be able to have the cousins here for all of our celebrations, but Daddy was probably the most excited to have all of the boys together for Maifest.

All of these boys in their costumes got us a lot of attention at the festival.  Who can blame them with these handsome faces?

 We were lucky enough to finish off the day with cupcakes including Will, Stefan and Jennifer.  What a day!

Happy Birthday, my love!

Our boys

Love these little faces!

1st Birthday Party

Dylan's first birthday party was a fun barbecue at our house with family and friends.  For such a good eater, he wasn't that interested in cake, but he had a blast and loved the attention!

 One of the highlights of the party was when I heard a lot of noise in the backyard and went out to find a bunch of the kids in the baby pool chanting "Underwear! Underwear!"  It was so hilarious!

Birthday Boys!

Today we celebrated the boy's birthdays with a party at Pump it Up.  We've come a long way from Simon breaking his leg in a bounce house two years ago!  We were so lucky that our cousin, Suzie, got married on the same day so all of our family was in town to celebrate and got to come to the party.  While it was "technically" Simon's party, since their birthdays are only three days apart we essentially had a whole week long celebration.  Of course, the boys LOVED every minute of it.  Dylan really loved being around the bigger kids too.  The boys were in matching "Simonsaurus" and "Dylansaurus" t-shirts.
I know a time will come where they will resist having joint birthday parties, but for now it is great!

Lil Slugger

Simon has been going to Lil Sluggers at Coonley Park.  It is a wonderful baseball program organized by former Cubs players.  They do a great job teaching the kids and he seems to love it so far.  Grandma and Grandpa came to town to celebrate the boys birthday and they were able to watch his class.

Happy Mother's Day

We had a lovely brunch celebration at Bistro Campagne (we try to go every year).  Nonna was with us and we were lucky to celebrate with her too.  The boys looked adorable in their matching shirts (I can't help myself).  Thanks to Daddy and the boys for a special day.

Switch and Go Dinos

Simon has become obsessed with a line of toys called "Switch and Go Dinos".  They transform from vehicles to dinosaurs and are very simple for little hands.  We have more of these things then I care to admit, but he loves them so much!  There is currently a series of pictures of them on our door that he wants for his birthday.  In general they are pretty small, but he recently got "Jagger the T Rex" which was huge!  Putting the dinos in a line is one of his favorite activities these days.

Lovies

Our boys love their "lovies".  Simon, of course, has Monka the monkey and Dylan has Gigi the giraffe.

Monka got his name because when Simon was a baby he could not say "monkey" so he came out with Monka.  Gigi was named by Simon for Dylan and we think it sounds great.

These little creatures give the boys comfort when they are sleeping or feeling sad.  Monka (there are actually four Monka's in case one gets lost) has made it all over the country from Chicago to California and Florida to Hawaii.  Gigi hasn't been quite as many places yet, but she has been to California (twice) and Colorado and Wisconsin.  I'm sure she will see her fair share of trips as time goes by.

Such cute and cuddly creatures!