Happy 14th Birthday, Cole!

Cole is one more year closer to getting a driver's license, turning 14 yesterday. :shock: He got all sorts of great birthday wishes from what we heard, with a singing voice mail from Grandma Pat and phone calls from (among others, I'm sure) Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Dan, Grandpa Bob, and of course us.  Zach and Alex even sang "Happy Birthday" to their big brother, which made Cole giggle.  Cole's got a pretty fun weekend lined up to celebrate, with a birthday party with his friends on Friday night and a party with our side of the family on Sunday.

The Terrific Twosome turned three!

Alex, Cole & Zach at the concert

Zach and Alex turned 3 on January 29th, so we all helped them celebrate the big day.  The Sunday before their birthday, Grandma Pat, Papa Bob, Debbie and her boyfriend, Ben, came over for a little party.  The boys had a ton of fun opening their presents, although they were a little confused as to why no one else had presents like at Christmas.  They got a bunch of great games, cars and other toys and even got a set of their very own tractors! After opening the presents, the boys went downstairs to try out the tractors and some of the games. To cap off the day, we had a chocolate chip cake with chocolate frosting that was decorated with Star Wars figures, which they thought was pretty darn cool.

Their checkup was on the 28th, and they are doing great, although they are of course still skinny.  Zach measured in at 25 lb 15 oz (under 5th percentile) and 36.75 inches tall (30th percentile).  Alex was 26 lb 8 oz (under 5th percentile) and 37 inches tall (30th percentile).  Both of those marks are pretty consistent for them so far.  They are doing great in development too - they exceeded most of the development marks expected at their age, esp with speech and reading, and the only thing on the list they couldn't do yet was pedal a trike, which they are close to doing.

On the day of their birthday, Debbie surprised them with a breakfast treat of donuts and then Joe took them to the Children's Museum.  They wore little "Birthday Boy" buttons that they had picked out at the store - they were SOOOO excited to wear them (their "ties" as they called them).  They've been working really hard at holding up just three fingers and telling people how old they are.

We of course have a ton of pictures that we took, and they've all been posted in the Zach and Alex's 3rd Birthday album.  There are also a number of pictures in the new Jan - Feb 2009 album, including photos from Cole's recent band concert.  Cole's band did a fantastic job - we were all so proud of him!

Also, I never posted the link to it, so if you're interested, you can check out the Christmas 2008 album to get a peek at our celebration.