Our first cousin's first birthday

Super Nico, Collin and Maya's only first cousin, celebrated his first birthday with a super hero party.  It was Maya's first time to meet some of the family, so she was busy visiting aunts, uncles and cousins, while Collin ran around like a super maniac hero!

Here are the super cousins, Collin and Nico.

Super Nico with Libero taking a flight around the room - 

And chasing Collin around the rug -

This is what happened to the birthday boy when his dad set him down -

Grandma Libia and Maya in matching turquoise -

Geared up in his custom Super Nico cape -

The family of three (for one more month, then we get another cousin!) - 

Nico had to wake up from his nap to attack the piñata and blow out his birthday candles, so he was a little sleepy for the second half of the party -

 

This was Collin's first piñata experience that he remembers, and when he heard it was filled with candy, he couldn't wait for the piñata breaking to begin!  He was as intense as could be with his powerful hits, but one of Nico's older cousins was the one to break it open.

The birthday boy got some help from his dad - 

Candy time - 

Our little hoarder -

Over-tired Nico was not amused as his pockets were stuffed with candy he can't yet eat -

Cas proudly displaying the spring he broke off the trampoline -

And one last shot of the birthday boy with Grandma Libia -

We had a great time celebrating Nico's first birthday and catching up with Cas' family!

Fourth of July

Collin came into our room on the fourth of July announcing that he saw a four on his clock.  No buddy, four is for naptime, seven or eight is for the morning!  So we drug him into bed with us and then noticed his pajamas were all wet, have leaked out his pull-up.  Lovely, no wonder he woke up in the middle of the night.  It seems like 5 minutes after we settled down, Maya was up a few minutes before 7am, so my day officially started. 

With both kids wide awake, I decided we were going to attend the parade a few minutes from our home.  Here's their picture along what I thought was the parade route.  It concerned me that we were the ONLY people there, but thankfully we were directed to the correct route a few minutes later and caught the beginning of the parade. 

By that time Maya was down for a snooze, which was interrupted by the fire trucks!

They handed out flags, which Collin would wave while shouting, "Happy 4th of July!"

But of course his favorite part was this parade threw out candy from the floats and cars.  Here he is with a mouthful of candy at 9:10am!

And as a result of the candy, the sleep deprivation, and general excitement of the day, he was a wild man at the parade in my grandmother's neighborhood, screaming "Attack!" with his flag to the surprised neighbors. In typical second child form, Maya slept through it all!

Watching the parade with my cousins Melissa and Kirk and Grandma Betty -

Another fire truck - you can almost see the excitement in this profile shot

He burned a lot of energy on the parade, running and jumping with each passing group -

After a nap to regain some more energy, I got a few shots in our red, white, and blue (Cas was wearing an orange shirt so he wasn't invited, plus I needed him as the photographer.)

 

Collin accommodated the photo session with the incentive of a swim at Aunt Debbie's.  I tried more photos in their swimsuits, but they turned out like this.  Clearly Collin is thrilled to be taking pictures rather than swimming, except not at all. 

Maya was big eyes and smiles in her adorable bathing suit

Super Collin coming in for a kiss - 

Maya sat on the steps with me for a few minutes, but decided she'd rather be high and dry.  Aunt Debbie took Maya so Cas and I could both swim with our son.

Like his mother at his age, Collin at three doesn't like to put his face in the water, but loves swimming with his puddle jumper!

After an early morning, two parades, and swimming in the evening, Collin crashed by 8:30 and missed the fireworks!

Soaking Super Collin

Maya was full of smiles and splashing when Grandma Libia and Collin gave her a bath.  Watching her grandma with a big smile as Collin gives her a kiss -

Maya had energetic reactions to Collin's kisses, stretching out to splash with her arms and legs - 

Which resulted in Collin laughing hysterically -

Over and over until Collin's clothes were soaked and her bath water turned cold.  The kids had such a good time, and we had a blast watching them -

Despite being soaking wet, he continued to shower her with kisses

Like Father Like Son, and Like Brother Like Sister

Saturday morning started with a father-son Denny's breakfast date in camo shorts. Cas knows only Collin will go out with him in his camo toe shoes in public!

And like her big brother, Maya is full of grins at 7 weeks, especially in the bathtub and changing table.

She is watching Collin more and more, often rewarding him with big grins and squeals of delight.

Having fun with big bows!

What a happy girl.  I told Cas last night the privilege of getting to say "my kids" is still something I am so grateful for, and the road to get here made Maya's arrival that much sweeter.  Hopefully I'll always feel this surge of joy in my heart when I talk about my children, thankful that God created these two miracles to be a part of our family!