The BIG 2 and Music Monday

Well it's official: Matty is 2!

The big day was on Saturday and we started Matty's birthday off by introducing him to his Thomas big boy bed. He loved the Thomas face, but was not impressed when Dada started assembling the rest of the pieces to it. I think he thought he was just gonna have a gigantic Thomas head to carry around. He did get used to the idea and even slept in it all night, but only after a lot of carrying on. We tried the bed: he wanted to play.  We tried the crib: he wanted to climb out.  So we resorted to leaving him in his bedroom, closing the door and putting up a gate. This resulted in a screaming toddler.  Eventually he found his way to the bed and when we checked in on him a little while later, he was all cozy in it. I was not quite prepared for Matty to reject his crib so quickly after getting the bed. Another one of those bittersweet moments, but I'm really happy he likes it!

UPDATE: I've been working on this post for a few days and Matty has slept in his bed since Saturday night, including naps, but tonight for whatever reason, he wanted his crib, so that's where he is.  Guess we'll be leaving it in his room a little bit longer.  Yes, the part of me that wants to keep the "baby" in my baby is happy about this!

After showing Matty his bed, we came downstairs to the living room where Matty found a Thomas train table; needless to say, this pretty much occupied the rest of his morning.  This first pic pretty much sums up Matty's feelings about it:

{hooray!}

 {peek-a-boo}

{which of my boys loves it more?!}

Now with all of this train talk, you would think that would be the natural theme choice for Matty's party. Nope. Matty's first love used to be Curious George, but now George has taken a backseat to Thomas. That's not to say that Matty doesn't still love George. So mama made an executive decision and decided to have a Curious George themed banana split party. I figure the train stage will last a lot longer, so there will be plenty of opportunity for a Thomas and Friends party in the years to come.

We woke Matty up extra early so that he would nap early and be ready to party at 2 p.m. Our master plan failed and Matty went napless.  {He was a trooper, but eventually it did catch up with him...}

Gift opening began as soon as guests started to arrive. Try and tell a two-year-old that he has to wait!

The banana splits were fun, but we have way too much leftover, so if you're in the mood for one, you know where to come! We ordered the cake from Wegmans and as usual, it was excellent!  If you have a Wegmans in your area, I highly recommend their cake.  Ours was half vanilla cake, half chocolate with chocolate pudding filling throughout and whipped cream icing. Scrumptious!  And it looked awesome too!

When we began to sing "Happy Birthday," Matty got shy for a second.  He stuck his fingers in his mouth and buried his head in my shoulder.  It was such an "awwwww" moment!

It was a fun, happy time.  Matty had a blast and we are so thankful to our family and friends for making it a spectacular day. We look forward to what year number 3 will bring for our family!

In sticking with the "Curious George" theme from Matty's party, I chose yet another song off of the soundtrack {can you tell I love me some Jack Johnson?!}  It's a beautiful song, that to me, shows us that our curiosity just may lead us right back to where we were. Where we were always supposed to be.

Music Monday

"Without you I was broken, but I'd rather be broke down with you by my side."

The lyrics above are from tonight's song, Jack Johnson's "Broken."  It's from the Curious George soundtrack and is on my mind after watching the movie this evening.  It's a mellow, happy song as is most of Jack's music and it makes me think of my Matty. And hubby too, of course!  

Curious George is such a fun, touching movie, full of great tunes.  George and  Matty are a lot a like: little explorers that often get in trouble, but their cuteness usually prevails ;)

Enjoy!

Trees, Trains and Doorge

Yesterday, we went to the Christmas tree farm. It was so exciting because we haven't cut down a tree in forever and it is our first time cutting one down with Matty. We took a hayride out to the fields and roamed rows upon rows in search of the ONE.  Matty loves the outdoors and had fun making his way through the maze of beautiful trees despite the cold. I swear, he was happy! I think he was just unable to form a smile because his facial muscles were too cold ;-)

We ended up bringing home a Concolor, which has longer, fatter needles and a bluish tint...I love it! We decked it out last night, including setting up a train to go around it.  Speaking of trains, they are one of Matty's fav toys at the moment...he loves to say choo train {almost as much as we love hearing him say choo train.}


One of my favorite parts of decorating the tree is looking at all of the ornaments I have acquired over the years; I adore Hallmark ornaments and couldn't resist adding this one to the collection for Matty:

 Source

Matty loves Curious George {or Doorge as he says}. Multiple times a day, Matty can be heard saying "Doorge, Doorge" and that is our cue to put on Jack Johnson's Upside Down vid featuring none other than Curious Doorge. I have been playing this video for Matty, here and there, for the past few months.  I would say just in the past month though, he has become completely enamored with it.  We watch it at least 10 times a day!  This video habit has also made Matty love the guitar even more.  We have two around the house because I have always wanted to learn, but haven't yet...maybe Matty will be teaching me one day! The past few months, he has taken an interest, but even more so now.   He stands with the guitar, plucking the strings and dancing to the vid...it is the cutest thing. Ever. Seriously.

A little elf {not THE Elf on a Shelf because I'm still a little creeped out by him and do not think that Matty would understand the concept yet anyway} told me that Santa is bringing Matty a "Matty size" guitar, as well as the Curious George movie, which includes the Jack Johnson vid...hoping to get some cute video footage of Matty rockin out on his guitar to the vid so I can share the adorableness with you all.

Happy Sunday.  I'm not sure what the weather is like where you are, but if it's anything like it is here in NE PA, I'm sending warm snuggie filled wishes your way....brr!

Ring Around A Rosie

The smell of Friday...gotta love it! Friday evening seems like the perfect time to reflect on my favorite memories of the week. Maybe I'll make this a new weekly post. I don't want to commit though. It's too much pressure!

A few weeks ago, I taught Matty Ring Around a Rosie and he loved it. We do it daily, and just this week, he decided he wanted his "friends" to participate. Him and I were ringing around a rosie right before bedtime. We got halfway through and he stopped, dropped my hands and ran over to his rocking chair. He proceeded to pick up a stuffed animal that was on the chair and he brought him into the circle! It was too precious. I wanted to laugh and cry! We began again, with the little red and white doggie that we gave Matty for V-day, and yet again, we get halfway through and Matty stops. He runs back over to the rocking chair and grabs Curious George {this was my Curious George as a child..aw!}. And don't ya know it, Matty brings George into the circle and now that everyone is included, we can finish the song :)

Then, last night, Matty, Matt and I were in the playroom and Matty motioned to me that he wanted to do Ring Around a Rosie. We started, got a few seconds in, and Matty stopped, said dada, and ran over to Matt to pull him up off the couch. The three of us did Ring Around a Rosie a few times...it was my favorite memory this week!

What else? Well, this week, those apples I was bragging about turned into a not so cool game...Matty decided that once he gets bored with the apple, it is fun to spit out the pieces and stomp on them. 

Also this week, we bought concert tickets for The Avett Brothers on NYE in Asheville, NC!  Take some time to check them out and watch this video; it's one of my favs.
We'll be meeting friends that we adore and are so so excited!   It will be a nice little getaway and a fun start to the New Year, but we'll surely miss our lil monkey.

Today, I had the day off which meant extra Matty and Mama time! After breakfast, which included apples of course, we decided to venture outside to play with the dogs, despite the chilly temp.  Mama was cold, but Matty and the pups didn't seem to notice.

In the afternoon, we went to the park with Nana, Papa and Juliana. Besides snack time, Matty's favorite part was the swings:

Matty and his Papa

It was a great week, if you don't count the Miami Dolphins loss last night...boy oh boy, did I have an unhappy hubby on my hands.

Next week will be fun.  On Sunday, our KC family invades {and I mean that in the most loving way possible} for the holiday and it is always a blast.  Speaking of the holiday, if anyone has any fab Thanksgiving dishes, I'd love if you would share them!

Happy weekending all!

Hear the Beat

Music is a huge part of who I am and it has played a big part in Matty's life thus far too. At the faintest sound of music, Matty starts swaying and clapping. Like most moms, I assume, I have been singing to Matty since the day we brought him home. Although most people would NOT want to hear me sing, my precious baby boy loves my voice!

Now, not that I don't enjoy The Fresh Beat Band.."we had a great day, it was a super way...", but they wouldn't have been on my playlist a year and a half ago. When I discovered these videos by two of my favorite musicians, I was ecstatic to be able to share music I would choose, with my son, in a format that would appeal to him.

Here are two videos that Matty and I adore: