Happy Birthday, Michael!

I've got a whole lot to catch up on because I'm a slacker, but I have to get this post up tonight, because we're leaving tomorrow for a week-long road trip that I'm going to have to post about when I get back!  So, before I get too far behind in our lives, here's a catch up since Easter:

I'm trying to do more slightly educational things with Michael, like playing with play-doh to work on dexterity and problem solving and whatnot (and have fun, of course).  I made some play-doh and let Michael do as he would with it.  He mostly wanted to stab it with a fork and knife, so I had fun with the cookie cutters so he could stab my creations:

 Michael also got another haircut.  His seventh real haircut, actually.  This kid's hair grows like a weed.  He'll thank us eventually, even if he despises the hair clippers.  Here's the beloved "before" picture where I tried to distract him with the Wii:

And here's the "after," where he is now more than willing to play with the wii-mote and eat his lollipop (which he refused during the haircut but remembered to ask for as soon as he was done screaming):

 Michael had his first (and hopefully last) hour-long tantrum.  I had a hard time not laughing at him as he kicked and threw things to try to get a reaction out of me.  Instead, I grabbed the camera!:

This probably isn't worth posting about because it isn't about Michael, but I got into a fender-bender:

I was making a left turn out of a parking lot and the people going past me got a red light.  A nice, red truck gave me room to make my turn and waved me on (in what I now know insurance claims refer to as "the wave of death"- delightful) and I made my left while watching the right to make sure no one was coming.  Another truck was driving up on the other side of the red truck, intending to make a left at the light and we didn't see each other in time to avoid a collision.  Thankfully, we were both going very slowly and the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Also, Michael barely blinked at the crash and was just ecstatic we were parked next to a truck for so long while we waited for the police to arrive ("Truck! Truck! Truck!").  No one was hurt, but it did make me a bit skiddish for a while.  I've never hit another car before this.  The crunching sound is absolutely awful!

Here's a picture of the truck we hit.  It's pretty perfect because the glare blocks the license plate:

Of course, the big news for this post is that Michael turned TWO!!!  Happy (late) Birthday, Michael!:

He is such a big boy, but it's so hard to believe that I've been a mom for over two years now.
Grandma Veronin was in town for Women's Conference and was able to celebrate with us a day early and help Jeff put together Michael's new tricycle:

On the 29th, Michael's actual birthday and Derek's farewell, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Day's where Michael wasted no time turning two.  He slipped while climbing the metal ladder of the swing set and smacked his face into one of the bars, giving himself an impressive black eye and bruised cheek.  It doesn't look so bad here, since you can't really see the swelling:

 The next day, though, the bruise started to show:

It looked really bad before it started to noticeably fade:

It didn't seem to bother him at all after the first day, but it looked so terrible.  Thankfully, most of the people who commented on it also asked, "He's two, right?"  

There was no damage to his eye, cheekbone, or teeth, and I haven't noticed anything different brain-wise, so I'm hopeful.  I'm really grateful it wasn't worse.  

I'm really excited for our road trip tomorrow, but Michael and I are going to miss Derek going into the MTC (he's going to Sweden, by the way).  I'm really glad we got to see him this last weekend, though, so I could get a picture of him and Michael before he left.  We won't see him again for another two years!  

Good luck, Derek!  We love you and hope everything goes well for you in Sweden!