A tribute to our TWO year old

From this...

To This...

To This...

Dexter is amazing! We cant believe our little man is TWO. Have we really been parents for 2 whole years? He cracks us up everyday. Dex truly has the most tender heart and has the sweetest smile and man those baby blues.... He for sure has a stubborn streak, big time. But we love him and at the same time it is frustrating, I am so glad that he is forming his own opinions.
His stats right now: 36 inches tall and 31 pounds.
Dex is quite the talker. He still mostly says the first syllables of words but he is saying sentences and it is so darling to hear him expressing his thoughts. And the things that occupy those thoughts these days.. there are basically 4 things he thinks about ALLl day long; "Out side" (Basically the first thing he says when we go get him our of his crib.), "Throw rocks", "Color", and "Hit the ball." We hear those 4 phrases all day long!
Some of his other fave phrases, "Put right here." "I hold." IF you say no to him he immediately signs and says "please" in hopes for a different answer. Any talk of bed time results in, "Just one show." "Just 2 books." love this kid!
There are a few things that we are working on like, only throwing balls not other objects (we will work on the details of ball throwing after we get that down.) Thanks to Buzz Light Year, Dex will get up on things, throw his arms out at say "Fly" then jump at you, if you are ready or not. So we are working on making sure the other person is ready before jumping. Awesome. And watching out for Quade, like if Quade is in the way, we dont just step on him to get around, and watching out for his fingers.
He is a sweet older brother! Dex gets so excited when he hears or sees Quade and helps alot, he really like to feed him. They are so funny when they are together. My big phrase these days is "Brothers dont fight. " So far it is working, we will see about the future. I just feel like, what ever crazyness they get into, as long as its together and in friendship, I can probably handle it. (knock on wood)
Dex is amazing at a lot of things but he is really great at being a dare devil, he is not scared of anything. Which totally scares me, especially hearing the stupid things that Matt did growing up. I dont know how they get the ideas to try the stuff they did. Dex also likes to try new things, which we love!
Dexter is the love of my life. Well, actually all 3 of my boys are... I just cant explain the joy, excitement, frustration, laughter, adventures, exhaustion, and happiness, that these 2 little guys bring to our life. We cant wait to watch them grow!
And Dexter, the boy who made me a mother, made us parents, is a fearless and compassionate child with a serious joy for life and we love him so much, We cant believe he is ours!

Here are a few of our favorite picture from the past 2 years.
Well from this computer anyways, I will add to the highlight reel when I get to my computer.

I love fall!

Not only is fall the time of year where it finally starts to cool of around here but it also means HOLIDAYS! Which is always fun and as the kids get bigger and start to understand more they are even more magical.

Halloween was a blast this year! This is the first holiday that Dexter really grasped the concept. How hard is this, I say a phrase and get candy! Once he got that, we were on our way, and when we would try to stop he would look at us and say "more candy." We were really surprised with his stamina, our kids are in bed by about 630pm, so i was a little worried about a melt down along the way from someone, but they did great and were full of energy, it was the crazy tired energy but they were so much fun!  

Trunk or Treat was so much fun! Dex was a little grump and didnt really want to wear his costume but we did get him in it for a little bit. Everyone had fun! 

Well Dex had blood around his mouth like a shark bite, but then it just looked like he ate red candy...

This was right before our little shark and bat headed out to trick or treat. It is so funny how the kid just comes out in you sometimes, Matt and I found ourselves needing to hit every house, it was pretty funny.

The best part was when Dex decided he needed to have a pit stop and after retrieving the candy from this house he just sat right down and started digging in his bag. I guess he needed a little pick me up.

This guy was basically along for the ride and to look cute. Quade had fun experiencing it all and we even took him up to a couple houses, which made us feel silly because it was kinda like we were trick or treating, but Quade sure is a stud! 

And we were done! We did like 3 streets and it was a good thing we brought their ride because they we tuckered out

Then everyone reconvened at Grandma and Grandpa's to check out the loot. Maddison and James were so stinken adorable! Grandma gave toys this year instead of candy to the kids, they were both a hit!

Here are all our trick or treaters! They are all SO cute!

Quade got his first sucker! LOVED it, of course and when we took it away to see what he would do, he looked at us like "Why would you do that?" and then screamed. It was so funny to watch him devour that thing.

So we actually carved a pumpkin this year! Actually it was the first time that we have done this in our marriage, it is just such an awful mess! But with that aside, everyone had a blast! Dex was not into touching the goo and slime, me either, but he had lots of fun!

The best part about the pumpkin carving was the end product, Jack-o-Lantern with fire. The fire was a major hit.

Poor Quade got stuck inside, too cute.

Here are just a few pictures of us playing around town. 

Best part about Grandma and Grandpa's: Feeding the birds and going outside!  That is all we hear about ALL day long!

Where's Dexter?