It's Friday!

I am not sure what Tucker would do without Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It is his only TV request and knows most of the catch phrases. His favorites are "Oh Toooootles!" and "Mishca moushca, Mickey Mouse!" He is awfully cute when he gets in his Mickey Mouse zone. Most times Caroline is agreeable and will watch Mickey Mouse with him. I managed to get a few pictures of them on the couch together.

Today was finally a warmish day. We went to the park with our friends and all the kids had a great time and loved finally getting a chance to play outside without freezing. Tucker quickly found the muddy spot on the playground and was very tempted to walk through it. While he did get mud on his shoes, it could have been a lot worse! The kids had a picnic lunch (thank goodness for Happy Meals) and played and played until they willingly admitted it was time to go home and rest. Caroline and Tucker walked to the car without any resistance...they were tired!

Wrong Place at the Wrong Time!

Just thought I'd share my most recent status update on Facebook.

Mary Lewis Krouse just had the following conversation with Caroline: "Caroline did you hit Tucker?" She replies, "Yes I hit him with the bottle." I said, "Why did you hit him?" She said, "because I just found it and he was there." Sibling rivalry, here we come!

Sledding

Caroline and Mommy sledding behind COTA.

Tucker loved sledding on his own!

Caroline had a good time, too!

Yeah, she liked it!

Daddy and Tuck slide down the hill!

Happy Birthday to Tuck!

Dearest Tucker,

How is it possible that you are already two years old?!?! I can't believe how quickly you have grown. You were the sweetest little baby boy and now you are still the sweetest little boy around. I love that you let me hold you and snuggle with you before you go to bed. (We really, really appreciate the fact that you are a good sleeper, too!!! Thanks, Tuck!) Your head on my shoulder and arms around my neck is possibly the best thing ever.

You love your sister and just adore your Daddy. "Carwine" is so much fun for you and you try so hard to please her...good luck with that! I love watching you and Caroline play together and making each other laugh. For better or worse, you are learning so much from her. I can see you watching her every move and trying to be like her. For the record, she thinks you are pretty awesome! As for Daddy, you always have to know where he is and what he is doing and this usually involves updates every 5 minutes, even if nothing has changed. I love what a caring little boy you have become.

You are curious, energetic and just genuinely fun! I am certain that you are 100% boy and I love you just the way you are. Tuck, you bring much joy to our lives and we love you! You will always be my favorite little boy...

Love,

Mommy, Daddy and Caroline

**Just so you can see Daddy and Tuck in their matching clothes...cuties!

Tucker Turns Two

At about 7:30 this morning, I heard the sweetest little voice say "Mom-may. I neeeeed you." A few minutes later we heard "Dad-day. I neeeeed you." He went back and forth between mommy and daddy for about 15 minutes until we got up. Tucker never fussed or cried, just continued with the "I neeeeed you." I went in his room and got him out of his crib and told him Happy Birthday and then started to sing Happy Birthday. Tucker quickly said "No Mommy. No sing it." Why won't my kids let me sing Happy Birthday to them?!?!

Tucker and Caroline made breakfast with Daddy and then Tucker opened presents. We gave him a truck movie, a set of plates with trucks, planes, trains, etc. on them, a truck book and a set of puzzles with trucks, trains, buses and boats. He was in heaven. He snuggled with Mommy on the couch and we watched the truck movie. This was a very exciting Saturday morning for one special birthday boy. His next favorite thing was the new football. He did not put it down and even insisted that he take it with him when we went out to run errands today.

All four of us went to Winchester and had lunch at the Mexican restaurant and then on to a few more places. Caroline wanted to get him a balloon. She picked out a very bright and colorful Happy Birthday balloon and a blue star balloon. They were both pretty excited with the balloons! After a short nap we went over to school to do some sledding. It was 17 degrees so we did not stay long. We each made a couple trips down the hill and that was enough. Tucker kept saying "I cold Mommy" and of course Miss Drama wasn't just cold but "freezing!"

I do not have any pictures of Tucker eating the cake because that hasn't happened yet. After sledding we went to our friends house for dinner and forgot the cake. And, I wasn't about to give him the cake with tons of icing when we got home just before bedtime. However, he did have a taste of the cake earlier this morning. He would sneak into the kitchen, pull up a chair and swipe the side of the cake to get some icing. Shortly after that, he got brave enough to take off a wheel (oreo) and eat that. He was so kind as to bring one for his sister. I think he just did this so if he got in trouble, then she would too...such a smart little boy! So, we will do the fire truck cake tomorrow and take pictures then.

Fire Truck Cake

So it may not be contest worthy, but I think Tuck will love it! He is napping now and has not seen the cake yet. I must say, this was more work that I expected and icing is not my favorite medium. Now if I can just keep Chad from stealing the Oreos until Tucker officially blows out the candles tomorrow!

Caroline is on the left (note the bow) and Tucker is in the driver's seat.

The number "2" engine for obvious reasons.

Here is the side view on the rosy red fire truck cake.

The back of the cake, with Tucker's initials at the bottom.

Sure hope he likes it because it may be a while before I attempt something like this again!

Cake Prep

Tomorrow, Tucker will be 2 years old! Caroline and I decided that he would like a special fire truck cake for his birthday. I looked at some cakes online to get an idea of how to make this fire truck cake. Most of the ones I saw were very detailed and made by professionals. So, I stopped trying to find one to replicate as I was quickly talking myself out of attempting a fire truck cake.

This morning the kids and I started making the cake batter from scratch. This is something that I have never done before because the box mix is just so easy. However, due to the snow and cold temperatures (9 degrees to be exact), I did not want to go to the store and have to get the kids out in the cold more than necessary. The vanilla cake mix turned out pretty well (there were some extra ends that I tested to make sure it was OK).

Caroline and Tucker loved helping me mix the batter and add all the ingredients. Caroline dubbed herself "egg girl" and Tucker liked to turn the mixer on and off. Once I got the batter in the pans they sat at the oven to watch cake bake. They were really cute sitting side by side in their matching chairs in front of the oven and amazingly well behaved...maybe we'll make a cake everyday!

"Oh Crap"

A couple nights ago I put Caroline in bed hoping she would stay and there would be no resistance. Sure enough, she was quiet and did not fight it. As I sat in the living room watching TV I thought about how proud I was of her staying in her bed and going to sleep. I got up to get something in the kitchen and noticed a little girl sitting (hiding, rather) under the dining room table in a perfect spot to see the television. I could not believe she was there as it had been about 30 minutes since I put her to bed. I looked at her and in the sternest voice I had, said "Caroline, what are you doing?" Her response (as she hid her head in her arms), "Oh crap." Honestly, I wanted to laugh because it was quite funny. However, I had to continue the mean mommy voice and tell her to get back in bed and that the word "crap" was not allowed. As I left her room, I giggled to myself and then reminded myself in the mean mommy voice that I need to watch my mouth as well.

Spiderman

Other than ambulances, dump trucks, fire trucks, big trucks, buses and motorcycles, Tucker is really into Spiderman, aka "Spy-man." He put this grocery basket on his head and he came running to me and said, "Mommy, I spyman." He would not take it off and continued to play for quite a while with the basket on his head. I tried to get a picture of him looking at me, but there was no time for that. I said "Tucker, look at Mommy and say 'Spiderman.'" No luck. Instead, Caroline looked at me and said "princess!!!"

Singing

It is no secret that Caroline thinks she is Taylor Swift. So, for Christmas Nan got Caroline a "stereo" with an attached microphone. It looks just like the one Taylor uses so she loves it! Tucker wanted to be a part of the action so he got the fake microphone and was happy as could be. Grandaddy made Caroline a CD of lots of her favorite songs including Taylor Swift and Sugarland. We have listed to this a thousand times! There is also once of Tucker's favorite songs on there..."Chicken Nugget Friday Night." Actually, it is "Chicken Fried" by The Zac Brown Band. The lyrics are something along the lines of " You know I like my chicken fried/Cold beer on a friday night..." Tucker heard the word chicken and immediately assumed they were talking about chicken nuggets.