Happy 2nd Birthday!

Ansel's an official two year old.. yikes! We had two little parties for him.. one up in Springfield the weekend before (Roya and the girls were down too) and then Grandma and Grandpa Sneddon and Aunt Rachel came over to our place to sing to him on his birthday! By the second time around he was REALLY having fun with the unwrapping part and kept asking for more.. (and wanted to unwrap everything under the tree!) He also liked his cake He kept saying, "I love cake" and "My big cake". (he says "I like...." and "I love.." everything right now!)

Time to unwrap presents!

Ansel knows what "hot" means, and got a little worried that the "hot" candle was so close to him!


He had a lot of fun playing.. driving the cars throught the ice cream and cake!
All done!!!


Time for clean-up!
The cake I made for the first party (we went simple with the second one and just made cupcakes!)
Anxious to dig in!!



Make a wish!



Testing out the presents!

Belated Thanksgiving pictures

We had a very fun Thanksgiving! Cousins Evan and Camille got to come this year! They live in Idaho, so we were very excited to get to see them.


We even got an updated cousins picture, although it will soon be outdated! (Cody's sister Kim is due in February!) Kim and her family got to come up too!
This is always such a busy time of year! Between holidays, there is also our anniversary(third this year) and Ansel's birthday!


Ansel wasn't real happy through all the pictures!

Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandkids! The kids have grown just a little from the last time they were all together for a picture!

We went to Springfield to see my family the day afterThanksgiving.. these picture aren't really Thanksgiving related.. but they were cute... Every time Grandma would come out with her walker, Ansel would run over, grab on to it, and start walking with her. (Although he tried to "pull" her along a little too fast sometimes!

Ansel also go to "ride" Grandma's reindeer outside.

Aunt Amanda had some fun with the reindeer as well!

Little Bob

I figured I better get some Halloween pics on here before it was too far past Halloween!! Ansel of course as his favorite person.. Bob the Builder. He got to go trick or treating at Daddy's work, around the neighborhood with friends, and at the church party...so he did quite well this year!
Ansel got the "cutest" kid award at the ward halloween party.. surprise surprise :)

Developmental Checkup

Sorry it's been so long!! Well, Ansel had his developmental checkup with his NICU doctor recently (he has them about every 6 months until he's 3 years old. ) He's doing great! They said he's really on target with language, fine motors skills and pretty much everything except size. Also his walking is more in the 15-18 month range (getting closer to running, but not quite there yet). Yeah, he was only 19 lbs. 12ounces... (they weighed without clothes) so he really is almost 20lbs.... and he was a little over 31", so he gained another inch atleast. His head growth has always been good (and is even above the 10th percentile on the 2 year old growth chart) so that's good considering his size. They said to try and keep him on about 24 ounces of Pedisure a day until he's two (adjusted... so next March). His doctor said he's thrilled with his progress considering his start. His hearing and vision are great too, and he really hasn't had to have any speech or physical therapy. His doctor's ordered synagis shots again (RSV protection). . . just as doctor appointments were becoming easier, he's going to start getting a shot once a month again!!! (After shots last seaon, any time he'd get stuck on a scale he'd scream like crazy because he assumed a shot or two would follow. If he could make the association last year, I'm sure he'll really know what's going on this year!)

***Oh yes, I have a little story to add too. My child has begun making fun of people. (Well, he was probably just imitating... but it was pretty funny) I took my little sister to the Veteran's hospital in Kansas City the other day, and this guy who was wearing sagging pants and had a little bit of a strut walked past Ansel. Just then Ansel sunk down a little and started walking really funny (I've never seen him do this "walk"before) and then he started pointing at the guy! Luckily the guy was walking away from us so he didn't see it!

Enjoying the Outdoors

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Yesterday was Cody's birthday. After church we had dinner and enjoyed the beautiful weather over at Grandma and Grandpa's. Ansel loves being outside and really had fun exploring the yard with Jewell!

Snuggling up with Great Grandma

Ready for bed. . .

Ansel got these p.j.'s from Korea.. one of my students sent them shortly after he was born (along with several other cute pairs) and he finally fits them!

Fun things to do at Grandma and Grandpa's house

There's always fun things to do....

like "fixing" the vacuum. . .

or helping out with dusting. .

snuggling up with Aunt Rachel. . .

and attacking her with the duster!

There are also fun things to find in the playroom. . .

like shiny purple beads. . .

or a drawer full of barbies. . .

or getting dressed up to go horse back riding!

Finally 20 lbs!!!!

Well, Ansel FINALLY hit 20 lbs at his doctor appointment the other day!!! (They weighed him clothes and all, but still, we'll take it!!) He's been hanging out in the 19 lbs range forever, so it was exciting that he finally hit 20. (and finally hit 30" long as well) The past couple of weeks we started him on Pediasure (which we've given to him here and there, but now that's his main source of milk, and it seems to be helping out more than just adding more calories to the formula.

Catching a "dog"

We caught a big grasshopper in Ansel's room the other day. He was pretty excited about it.

He kept saying and signing "dog" (well he altered the sign a little and pats his chest instead of his leg) Quite a few animals are "dogs" right now. He knows duck, cow,and cat (with their correct sounds) but many other animals are dogs that make a monkey sound! He'll get it all figured out one of these days!
When we let it go... he caught it in his hand right as it started to fly away!

Fun at the park