three for lee.

Lee was excited for his birthday for at least six months before it happened. I made a little goal to do a bit more to make him feel special and celebrated on his special day. I haven't been great at birthday celebrations in the past and I knew that he was old enough to be very excited about every little detail.  And boy, was he ever, it about killed him to wait ALL DAY to eat his choo choo birthday cake.

I asked Lee what kind of birthday he wanted and he said, "choo choo trains" so, that's what I based everything on.  I had some church obligations and other responsibilities so I knew I would still want to keep things simple for his birthday but it was admittedly fun to take some time to do a bit more to celebrate.

I made my first ever real layer cake which was both fun and a bit tense (especially when the first two layers got stuck in the pans at about 11 at night...) It was far far from perfectly executed but it was fun to try something new and the recipes I used were quite delicious too.

We had a great time celebrating our favorite first born and I loved his pure excitement about every little thing throughout the day.

We love you our sweet 3 year old boy!

we've got another one year old: b-day celebrations for drew boy.

Can't really believe how quickly this first year of Drew's life has gone by.  He has grown up so fast, as everyone says kids tend to do.  :)

We had a very chill birthday celebration, we love being able to celebrate with family. My brother and sister-in-law and their kids came over during Drew's birthday weekend and we had pizza and cupcakes. It was really fun, our kids are getting so spoiled with their cousin time these past few months. We've got to try and get as much in as we can before they move again in a few more months.

Drew's reaction to being handed a whole cupcake was much less timid than Lee's. (who wouldn't even touch it, and finally, on the verge of tears finally took a piece from my mom...) Though he didn't seem to love the sprinkles.

 Lee and the cousins had the most fun opening Drew's gifts, though Drew loves his new things too. :)

Happy birthday to our sweet Drew boy!

our lee boy turned two.

We celebrated our Lee boy's birthday the end of April. Officially have a two year old be-bopping' around, and I love it, it is so much more fun than I anticipated.

On the day of Lee's birthday, we went out to a creek sort of near our house and played in the perfect temperature water and in the soft sand.  Lee and Drew both loved it, and I tried to imagine the water wasn't such a weird color.  I'm still not used to rivers and streams down South. 

We had friends over for a BBQ that weekend to celebrate and have cake.  Lee loved the balloons the most.  I loved the chocolate cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting the most. :)

Happy birthday to our LEE BOY!!!! We are ca-razy about you.

farm adventures, egg hunt and the likes: our trip to utah.

Well, back in the day (late March and early April) I flew out to visit my family with the boys and Kevin joined us for the last weekend. (hoping not to have to repeat the solo flying with the kiddos anytime soon)
Though it was ages ago now that we were there, we had SUCH a good time.  And in typical Tanner family fashion, we loaded about a hundred activities into the one day that everyone could be there together.

farm: animals and animals smells.
We made our first ever visit to Thanksgiving Point (I know, I know, I grew up in Utah...) and visited the farm.  Drew was happy as long as he was held by some relative and Lee was in crazy animal heaven. He even loved the horse ride from the first moment, which thoroughly surprised the parents of an often timid and cautious boy. We followed the farm up with a trip to the park and pizza, though Lee couldn't be bothered with food with a park RIGHT THERE. (a bit obsessed)

egg hunts, cousins and candy.
Lee participated in his first ever egg hunt (a week early) with his cousins at my parent's house.  He did not want to get more than his first egg after he found out what was inside...but uncle Matty convinced him to find the rest of his eggs. (oh that we were all so easily contented) We had a BBQ on the back patio (my favorite) and an early birthday celebration for Lee boy complete with a made-from-scratch Easter bunny cake from his talented aunt Alexis. (which I somehow didn't get any pictures of)

We always have such a good, and a bit insane time when we all get together.  Excited to have some more family time when Auntie Annie gets home from serving a mission at the end of the summer!