Look at me-I'm 3!

I can hardly believe it, but Roland turned 3 on January 19. He still has some remnants of those terrible 2s, but overall he has really stepped up his game. He is an awesome helper around the house (thanks to several obsessive compulsive issues that he gets from me) and is even helping take care of Duncan. The big wammy is that he decided, by his own free will, that he wants to sleep in his toddler bed, and has done so ever since. I joke about Roland all the time because when he finally decides on something, he really jumps in head first. When he began walking, he had 2 days that he took just a few steps and then he just walked. The same is true for all his "big" events. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the same is true for potty training.

To celebrate, we had a party at his school on the 18th. We had an really cool Spiderman cake that all the kids liked. Little people are great because they are so easy to impress. On the 19th, we had some snow, which is neat because it snowed when Roland was born. We went to Albemarle for the weekend hoping to play with cousin Jesse in the snow, but that just wasn't happening. But all was not lost, because we had another Spiderman cake at Grammy and PawPaw's house. Roland REALLY likes icing.

Well, here's to you Roland-Happy Birthday!

Chuck E. Cheese Hell

Here it is-me and the boys lived through our first Chuck E. Cheese family trip. Unfortunately, Shane went to the NC State basketball game and he did not get to enjoy this wonderful experience. For those of you who have never done this, you have not lived. Chuck E. Cheese is as close to insanity as you can get and NOT be institutionalized!

Check out that look! I love it. Poor Duncan. He gets left in the crook of the couch a lot. I don't think he cares for the negligence.

Rock-n-roland? This is Roland's favorite new "thing." You put the hat on sideways or backwards and say "rock-n-roll!" The blue thing to the left is actually one of those things you punch and it falls down and comes back up. Thanks to Cynthia, Dale and Jesse there is some place for all that pent up aggression to go. He beats the crap out of that thing.

Speaking of negligence...

And this one I just liked. Duncan can be a real cutie (I am a little biased). I think that he is contemplating the universe-or just eating his hand.

And that's a rap

Finally, I think that Duncan has met everyone in the family. We have had a busy holiday season, and frankly I am glad to be living at a slower pace. We got a visit from Uncle John, Grandma Avis, Uncle Ani, Auntie Pournima, cousin Riya and baby boy Singh (who is still in the making-due for his debut in February) just before Christmas. For those of you who don't know, Shane has a little brother who is an AWESOME piano player. Here he is gracing us with "The Entertainer." This is Grandma Avis on her first visit with Duncan. I can not believe it, but it looks as if John has outgrown his mom!

We started off before Christmas on our way to Albemarle. I caught Roland in a rare moment of road trip contentment. Seriously, considering we went 1500 miles over the course of the week, both the boys did a great job. What would the world be without the portable DVD player?

This would have been a picture of four generations, but you have to imagine that the picture taker was in the picture too. We joke that Duncan looks just like Grandma Flo because she likes to give mean looks too. At least he gets it honestly. She wasn't giving any mean looks this day because she loves her some visits from the grand babies.

And this my friends, is the illusive PawPaw Freddie. Everyone says he has no Christmas spirit, but I am pretty sure his Solo cup contains some. Ha! I just had to pick on him. I have to thank MawMaw Pam and PawPaw Freddie for coming all the way to Albemarle so we could spend the holiday together. Too bad I didn't get a picture of their rock star tour bus. I also want to give thanks to Grammy for all the back-patting with Duncan. This colic thing can drive you CRAZY.

After Albemarle, we were off to southern Georgia where Shane's family had their reunion. Duncan says dad must have "One mill-ion cousins." I am not even joking because there are a ton of them.
This is Roland and some of the little cousins. He really had a great time even though he was exhausted from lots of play and too little sleep. The highlight of his trip was playing in the quail pen. He shut himself in with 50 birds and chased them until they almost had heart failure. When I took him out (for the sake of the birds), he said he wanted to go back in the "jungle." It was hilarious! There was about 300 acres of land with hunting, fishing and tractors so Roland and Shane both had a blast being manly.

And this is Roland with cousin Kym. She is the greatest and she has two fabulous boys that I wanted to kidnap and bring home with me. They were really good with Duncan and Roland. Thanks to Aunt Barbara for hosting all of us and to MaMaw Sherry for entertaining us every evening with her beautiful voice.

Last but not least, I had to show off my first baby. Everyone, meet "Birdie." Thanks to dad and Dale and Shane for all the work they are putting in to get her up and running again. Roland calls the car "wu-pow", because of how it sounds when it runs. I think he definitely got the Smith love of cars. Until next time...