Frankie on the Double!

We can't believe our little monkey is two!  The past few years have flown by, and it's so much seeing this little person become who he is.

So, who is Frankie?  He's crazy!  He's talkative, ornery, spunky, sweet, fiesty, smart, coordinated, loving and so much fun!  Frankie definitely looks up to his big brother.  He is always doing everything TJ does, and the two are quite a pair!  He's talking up a storm... having conversations, and using three word sentences.  His new favorite word is "why," so, of course we're loving that.  He loves to eat pancakes, pizza, and pretzels.  Frankie loves to dance -- he is always singing to "Uptown Funk," "Happy," and "Shake it Off."  He loves watching "Paw Patrol," and "Super Wings," and he's really into dragons after seeing "How to Train Your Dragon."

Since he's such a Paw Patrol fan, we decided to throw him a birthday party with his favorite rescue pups.  The perfect place, of course, was Chuck E. Cheese's!  He had a great time with Grandma, Pa, Aunt G and all our friends.  Frankie even met his new friend Roman, and they hit it off! 

Mommy was able to take Frankie's actual birthday off, and we had a fun-packed day walking to the park, playing outside, going to our favorite Italian restaurant for dinner (he had pizza), and then we topped it off with ice cream! 

We are so lucky to have this little tornado in our lives, and we've had the best two years watching him grow and become the best of friends with his big brother!

High FIVE!

We don't know how it happened... it felt like overnight, but somehow, in the past five years, our sweet little boy grew up and turned FIVE!  He's turned into a wonderful, sweet, thoughtful, smart, funny, silly, charming boy.  He has such a wonderful fun-loving personality, and he is an amazing big brother, teaching Frankie all sorts of words, colors, shapes, and of course, superheroes.

He's probably the only five-year-old we know who doesn't like pizza.  But he makes up for it with his love of ice cream.  He loves turkey & cheese sandwiches, and he still loves M&Ms (Grandpa would send them to San Francisco, and TJ would eat M&Ms with Pa on Skype).  His favorite food of all-time -- Mac & Cheese.

He's a total Grandma's boy, but he spreads his love with Pa & Aunt G, too.  His best buddies at school are Caleb P., Caleb G. & Braden, and he still loves Jack & Asher.  He'll attend Global Village Academy with Caleb P. in the fall, and the two are starting on the same soccer team in a few weeks.

TJ can read... he's mastered sight words and beyond.  His favorite book this week is "Big Hero 6." He loves to draw, do math at school and he can tell time.  He loves superheroes, Batman is his favorite, and he enjoys playing with his matchbox cars and Legos.  He continues to do gymnastics, and he plays basketball.  Recently, he's taken an interest in martial arts, and he keeps asking to take a karate class.

TJ fell in love with karate after winning two free classes and a birthday party during Parker's Trick-or-Treat on Main Street.  It was the perfect way to celebrate TJ's birthday.  Pa, Grandma and Aunt G joined all of TJ's friends to party at Competitive Edge Mixed Martial Arts in Highlands Ranch.  The instructor was great, taking the 12 kiddos through all sorts of fun drills... kicking, punching, running and jumping.

 

The two highlights:  TJ got to cut his cake with a real Samurai sword!!!  And he was able to break a board with his knee in front of all of his friends.  It took a lot of tries, but TJ never gave up, and his determination was rewarded with loud cheers from his buddies.

Nana flew in after the party and helped celebrate the rest of the weekend.  On TJ's birthday, we walked to the park and had a McDonald's picnic there.  Then, on the way home, we enjoyed ice cream before going back to play with all his new toys.  It was quiet, relaxing and perfect!

Holiday Roundup

Wow!  One minute we're wrapping up Annie Jr., and the next, we've blown by Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's!  How'd that happen?  Well, here's how:

THANKSGIVING
Mommy had to work Thanksgiving day, so we postponed the turkey feast until the weekend.  The boys spent the day playing and watching football, and when work was done, Mommy & TJ started a new tradition -- a Thanksgiving night movie.  We went and saw Big Hero 6 and had a great time.  Friday morning, we headed to Buena Vista to celebrate the holiday-after-the-holiday.  That evening, we headed to Salida for the annual lighting of Christmas Mountain U.S.A.  This was a holiday favorite of Mommy's growing up, and it was so special to be able to share it with the boys.  Before the lighting, the boys enjoyed the parade of lights -- getting into the holiday spirit!  It was perfect weather, too.  We bundled up in our coats and hats, but hardly needed them!

CHRISTMAS PREPS
As soon as Thanksgiving was over, we were in full-on Christmasmode!  TJ was all about Christmas this year... he started planning his list way before Thanksgiving, and his excitement really reminded us of the magic of the holiday.  While Li'l Frankie wasn't too sure of what all the hoopla was all about, he sure did get a kick out of HoHo!  (That's the name he has given Santa).

TJ is all about the small Christmas trees.  This tradition started in San Francisco, when he was worried a big tree wouldn't fit in our small home.  But this year, he took that to the extreme, picking one of the tiniest trees on the lot!  We tried to convince him otherwise, even the men working at the tree lot, tried to sway him towards another tree, but TJ would have none of it!  He had his heart set on the little guy, and that was that.  Worried we didn't have enough tree for the ornaments, we bought another tiny tree to put up in the boys' room.  The guys at the lot were awesome... even tying the tree on top of the car, despite the fact that it could fit in the back just fine!

We were so busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas, we were running out of time to visit Ol' Saint Nick.  Mommy managed to squeeze in a trip one morning before work.  Both boys were pretty hyped up on the way to "Santaville."  Even Frankie was excited as we walked up to see Santa.  Then, boom, here came the tears.  While TJ sat so sweet and innocent (clearly trying to prove what Santa already knew -- that he was good all year), Frankie was having a freakout.  We managed to get a photo off, and as soon as Frankie was back in Mommy's arms, he gave Santa a high five, a smile and a big wave "bye!"  What a stinker!

CHRISTMAS
We spent Christmas as a family in Buena Vista, and it was so wonderful to not have to worry about packing up our suitcases and hoping we can get everything on the plane to head home... we were HOME! It's a good thing, too, the boys were spoiled beyond belief!

We celebrated Christmas Eve with our traditional seafood & pasta dinner and opening gifts with Uncle Carl & Aunt Jane.  After opening gifts Christmas morning, Daddy, Pa, Uncle Carl and cousin Matt headed to the lake for some ice fishing.  Daddy had a great time... reeling in 16 fish from the frozen pond!

The next day, a fresh layer of snow called our names... so, we bundled up and headed to our favorite sledding hill.  The boys had a great time the first few runs, then TJ, Frankie & Daddy caught some major powder, so it took a little more convincing and extra courage to get them back on the sled.  When they did, though, it was back to fun -- Grandpa even got in on a run, which had everyone at the bottom of the hill holding their breath!

After a few more days at Grandpa & Grandma's, it was time to head back home and begin the long process of finding room for all the toys!  It literally looked like a tornado ripped through a toy store, and it took us an entire Sunday to sort through all the new toys and existing toys to organize and figure out what was going to stay and what was going to be donated.

It was a whirlwind of a season, but it was an amazing time for our family -- sharing cherished memories and melding new and old traditions to continue throughout the years.