Happy fourth birthday Mary Alice!

Happy birthday to our lively Mary Alice!

 Today marks Mary Alice's fourth birthday.  And (unsuccessfully trying to not be too sappy) - what a wonderful four years they have been.  Mary Alice is a bright and inquisitive girl with a strong sense of justice and equally strong opinions.  When she was an infant, she possessed the sweetest, happiest, most contented disposition.  Over the years, she has morphed into an equally charming little girl, but with quite a bit more spit and fire than we anticipated during her baby years.  And we love it.

At age four, Mary Alice still loves animals more than anything in the world. Her favorites right now are cats and her pink toy frog.  When not playing with her kitty, she loves to do whatever Thomas is doing.  Even after four years, he is still her favorite person in the world - except for Spiderman, that is.

There is nothing Mary Alice likes more than being the "helper".  She will do chores all day long, as long as she is doing them with you.  She has a good eye for finding ways to help people and a truly compassionate heart.  She has really started to talk a lot (I mean A LOT) this last year.  She will chat about everything she sees and has the most extraordinary (and imaginative) ideas about what she observes.   I can't wait to see what this year brings for her.  Happy #4, kiddo!



Here's a look at how Mary Alice has grown over the years:

3 years old

2 years old

1 year old


Two months old.

The big 7

Seven is a magical number - especially if you are Thomas. Today, our oldest turns seven years old. And as it happens with all of these kinds of occasions, I can't help but wonder what happened to the years? How did seven years already pass by?

Seven years has seen the development of a bright young man who is inquisitive, thoughtful, and clever.  His teacher calls him her "little professor".   He amazes us every day with his wit and his incredible knack for negotiating.  Thomas is also a thoughtful boy with a kind heart and a desire for everyone to feel loved and appreciated (although his sister might sometimes have something different to say on that score).


At seven years old, Thomas's favorite things are pretty much all super-hero related: Super Mario Bros. and Ironman are his top two obsessions.  He spends quite a bit of time outside pretending to be Mario and fighting off Bowser and his evil cohorts.  But when not working on saving Princess Peach or the world, Thomas likes to invent things.  From different types of flying objects to hats that double as cups to handy strings of crayons hanging from the wall (for your "must-have-a-crayon-right-now" moments), he is always coming up with something new.  He uses more tape than most offices do in a year - but we wouldn't have it any other way.

This year, he flirted with the idea of being a dentist (because he spent a good bit of time in the dentist chair), a geologist, a scientist, and a teacher.  He can't quite decide what he would like to do and has settled for doing them all part time.

We are so excited for the future of our oldest little guy.  Happy birthday, Thomas, love!

6 years old

5 years old

4 years old


3 years old

2 years old



1 year old


3 months old


Happy birthday Thomas!

Henry's birthday parties

So, here is how Henry's birthday celebration went:

Since we were going to do his big celebration on Sunday with the family, we did our usual small birthday celebration with cupcakes.

He seemed to really like the flaming candle.

A bit too much, actually.  It proved more interesting than eating the cupcake or opening presents...  kinda made me a tad worried about where we kept the matches, actually...

Here are some snapshots of the kids awaiting the start of the birthday singing:

And Dad actually blows the candle out to prevent any ER trips for the night.

But at least the cupcake was fully appreciated.

And followed by some present opening.

For his official birthday party with the family we waited till Sunday:

Henry likes two things these days (besides making lots of trouble...) : Curious George and trains.  So, Thomas and I made him a cake with both. 

Which he seemed to enjoy...

And it didn't take him too long to get the hang of opening presents, either.

Then he got down to the serious business of playing with them all.  Right away!

Happy # 2!

Happy birthday to our two-year old Henry!!

This is how I always think of him - our baby boy.  Adorableness, itself.  Sometimes naughtiness, itself, too...  but mostly adorableness.

Henry is not only adorable, he is the happiest, most enthusiastic kid you will ever meet.  Every morning when he gets up, he throws his arms around you and gives you a big hug.  And randomly throughout the day, he will come charging at you with more enthusiastic embraces.  He is constantly on-the-go and races around the house, causing mayhem or giving hugs or tackling Thomas.  He is the joyful soul of our family.

.

It never ceases to amaze me what just ONE YEAR will change.

From these curls!!  (Oh, I loved them so...)  

To these smiles!

Happy birthday little Henry-man!

Birthdays

For the next installment of the mad-dash catch-up on all the Woolcott 2011 activities, here are Thomas' and Mary Alice's birthdays (and continuing on our weird tradition - we celebrated both events twice each...)

Thomas' 6th birthday celebrations - October 2011

Thomas on his 6th birthday - eagerly awaiting his presents.

Mary Alice delivering the presents.

Henry delivering the broom. It's his favorite toy, so it should make a great birthday gift, right?

Thomas and Dad opening up the light saber Thomas had been asking for.


Now for the big birthday party (with the aunts and uncles and grandparents!)

Here is Grandpa Bradshaw - kickin' back and watching the action. Why does he look so entertained?

Here's why... he gave Thomas a can of silly string. Thanks a lot, Grandpa...

Here's Aunt Becca, Uncle Tyler, and Henry watching the action.

Thomas opening up more cool presents.

Henry and Grandpa Bradshaw chillin' while we got the cake ready.

Mary Alice, Sue, and Tyler entertaining themselves, as well.

Tada! The triple level Mario cake that Thomas specifically requested.

Happy 6 year old.

Blowing out the candles. (Actually, we ended up having to relight the candle cause Mary Alice beat Thomas to it... she was THAT into it!)

Mary Alice's 3rd birthday celebrations - November and December 2011

Here is Mary Alice digging into the presents on her birthday.

This is the dress she got. She just had to put it on immediately - before she could even open up her other presents.

Enjoying the rest of her presents.

Dad singing a rousing round of Happy Birthday.

Mary Alice enjoyed that immensely.

Blowing out the candle.

About two weeks later, we got to do a big family party.

Thomas, Aunt Sue, and Mary Alice.

Henry servin' up some of his adorable cheese!

Present time! with Dad, Thomas, Sue, Mary Alice, Becca, Tyler, and Grandpa Bradshaw.

And the view from the other side - with Dad and Grandma Bradshaw.

Mary Alice opening the gumball machine from Grandma and Grandpa Bradshaw.

And attempting to open the nail polish from Aunt Teresa and Uncle Dave. (Mom put a stop to that one pretty quick...)

Thomas helping Mary Alice open presents.

And more presents...

And more presents...

Mary Alice ready for some cake!

Here it is - as requested. Spiderman chasing Green Goblin.

Mary Alice blowing out her candle.

And clapping after we sang Happy Birthday to her.

Playing with her Spiderman.

Aunt Becca and our cheesy Henry.

She enjoyed eating the cake, as well as playing on it.

Happy birthday, kiddos!