Christopher's Birthday Party

 Christopher's birthday celebration went off without a hitch.  We had the family over for Monday-Night-Dinner (an offshoot of Monday Night Football, of course) and had cake, ice cream, and presents afterwards.  Dinner was baked potato, steamed corn, and brown-sugar glazed grilled pork chops...followed by the gala that is Christopher's birthday.  Unfortunately, there were so many people around and I was very busy with the facilitating of the night that I didn't get many pictures.  Here are the I was able to get that turned out.  I can't believe I actually have a 3-year old. I suppose his adulthood will seem as if its just around the corner.

Christopher's 3rd Birthday Prep

 Yes, it's that time of year -- time for the annual Christopher M. Kane birthday cake-making extravaganza.  This year, we tried to keep it relatively simple.  We went with a smaller cake and a much simpler concept to pull off.  Well, quite honestly, our hands were forced by certain circumstances (money, of course, combined with the fact that the cake pan we wanted to buy (an 8" X 16" large pan in the shape of the number 3) to get this cake rolling was almost impossible to get.  Stores in our area were all out of them and they were nowhere to be found on any online source we could find.

 The original idea was to make a big cake in the shape of a "3", with railroad tracks made of black and chocolate licorice along the contours. Then we were going to make little train cakes and have them along the tracks.  It would have been tons upon tons of work to accomplish.  Not to mention that we could only find one cake pan that would work for this idea on Ebay, and we kept getting outbid to the point where buying it would have just been ridiculous.  So, the concept was nixed for this one...a much smaller three atop a sheet cake with a train made of cookies and M&M's.  I was in charge of the cookies, sadly enough...so I apologize for how they turned out (a hot mess), but they got done.  And, for some strange reason no one in our area carries black rope licorice (as Colleen discovered after running around all over the Levittown area to find the "black gold"), so Colleen had to go buy decorating tips and pipe the outer track.  We used a mixture of silver and black cake glitter for the gravel.  Christopher was beside himself with excitement this morning when he saw the cake...asking Colleen over-and-over again to open the 'fridge so she could see the cake.  So, as tedious as this whole process tends to be, his excitement always makes up for it a million times over.

 Then, to top it off, we took a couple of cute photos of Matthew.

Bath-time: The Duo-Show

Sunday 

bath-time is a very exciting time in the Kane house.  We usually bathe the boys separately as Christopher, who is a complete maniac most of the time, is ten-times worse in the bathtub.  He's notorious for throwing water out of the tub all over the bathroom floor in a matter of only 2 - 3 minutes if given the opportunity, and his impersonation of the ominous Nile Crocodile's death-roll.  He also tries to drink the water, splashes like he's in an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and attempts to stand up and jump around like a nut.  So tonight, I was admittedly more than skeptic about Colleen's motion to bathe the boys together.  Being the risk-taker I am, I thought, the worst thing that could happen is Matthew could get really drenched and/or potentially kicked or punched in the face or arms or something, but I'm right there so nothing terrible will happen...hopefully.    I have to admit, Colleen was onto something here.  Christopher not only acted a lot less crazy...but he actually tried to "help" from time to time (although his "helping" was less than helpful, Matthew didn't seem to mind too much). Gotta love it....

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Today was the Falls Township St. Patrick's Day Parade...literally about 2 blocks from my front door -- it was a lovely walk. Above are pictures of some of the festivities.  Matthew slept during the whole thing, while Christopher seemed to have a great time just sitting and taking it all in...well, after his time out for running all over the place and not listening...after that, he was golden.  He got some candy, a green Celtic Philadelphia Phillies baseball cap, and sat in complete and utter amazement during the whole thing.  

Christopher nabbed Daddy's sluggo, and rocked it harder than Randy Jackson did with Journey.  Before we left, he had to get his jacket on and prepare for the festivities to come as it was quite chilly and very windy today.  Note: The hat didn't make it 3 houses after we left before it was back on Daddy's head.

Matthew, as one could imagine, was less than interested in any of the festivities, as he woke up for a brief moment, then nodded off just as quickly back into his deep slumber.  He has been fighting feeling a bit under the weather for some time now, hence the very warm car seat cover, and he's teething on top of that.  He has no time for this shilelagh-toting business.  This is a great picture of his very blue eyes though.

We also met up with Colleen's brother, mother, Aunt Bet and her children and their children.  Ben and Christopher were both glued to the goings on of the parade, while Cameron, Benjamin's baby sister, went the way of Rip Van Winkle along with Matthew.

It was a fun time.  Now me and the boys are home....they're both in bed (where I plan to be once this is posted).  Colleen is out with her family at what is called a Hooli (I have no idea how to spell it, but I'm sure that I just completely destroyed it) and maybe some drinking later on this evening.  We all had, and are having in our own little ways I suppose, a wonderful day.  I hope everyone out there is being safe this holiday.

Finally!

FINALLY! Matthew has some time alone with Mommy and Daddy without any interruptions from Yahoo Serious Kane (a.k.a., Christopher) who infiltrates and disrupts most, if not all, attempts to have any 1:1 time with Matthew...at least any prolonged time with him. We completely took advantage of the situation...what a great morning for Matthew-Boy. Above is a collage of some of the good smiling, raspberries, and shoving his fingers/hand/arm in his mouth...good times.

BUT DON'T YOU WORRY!

There is NO WAY Christopher was going to stay asleep too long and miss all the fun!  My little attention-grabber woke right up, ran out, and instantly began trying to take the spotlight...gotta love him -- even when its so very hard to do so!





Now off to the St. Patrick's Day Parade for the Kanes!

Welcome to My Life...

This is what I live with...nonstop action...

Sleepover

Christopher wanted Mommy and Matthew to have a sleepover on the floor of our living room and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...what parent could resist the endearing young charms of their child/children?  Well, Colleen apparently could not....

So lies Christopher with Mommy's Notre Dame Snuggie-thing, which Christopher has adopted as his own blanket, Matthew, who appears to either have socked his mother in the face or is stretching his obliques a la Jack LaLanne (may he R.I.P.), and Mommy...quite content with her little men.