Happy Bday Addie!

Today is my baby girl's 3rd birthday. She always reminds me that she's not a baby and I always tell her that she will always be my baby! Addie has been denying all day that it's her birthday because she hasn't had her tea party birthday yet. She is very emphatic about it too!

Adam wrote on his FB today that Addie has a lot of spunk and that is for sure! I went to find a picture for this post and all I could find were pictures that showed her spunkyness. Deep inside her is this little lady like character who loves shoes and baby dolls and everything girlie. But on the outside is one rough and tough girl. She's always messy and her hair is almost always dishevelled.

This girl is determined to do anything her brothers are doing, usually with a baby doll tucked under her arm. I need to take pictures to document her day as she drags baby dolls around the house (with quite a mess that goes along with it!) and will change outfits at least 3 times a day.

And a very cool fact about Addie's bday is that she shares this birthday with one of the most amazing women that I know! Miss Jackie!!

Happy Bday to Miss Jackie too! We love you and are so thankful your in our lives!!

Tanyon's Bday Outing

I snagged a great coupon for a local pottery place a while back and had been saving it for Tanyon's bday. He really enjoys to do crafty stuff so I thought he would enjoy this. Mommy left Addie with Daddy because I didn't think that I could manage all 3 kiddos and I didn't think that Daddy would really enjoy going along for this a whole lot. I honestly thought the whole process would be rather simple, let the kids slap some paint on something and we'd be on our way. Boy was I wrong. The lovely lady that worked there asked the boys what they wanted to paint. Both said super heroes. I quickly said that will be too hard to do. Well, she so nicely said that she would find them pictures on the computer and print them out for us. But she didn't just look for the superhero logo, she printed the actual super hero. I then knew this was going to take way longer then I anticipated. :) Tanyon then preceded to start painting before I got back to the table and was very upset that his didn't look like Green Lantern. So Mommy had to try and resurrected the green blob that was on his plate to look like Green Lantern. In the end it all worked out, this probably would have been better to be an one-on-one project but Mommy survived. Not to say that I wasn't a little frazzled and VERY thankful that I didn't bring Addie!


Tanyon waiting to start painting.


Mommy might have a been a little mean. I made the boys pick plates to decorate, because I figured we could actually use them. They both wanted to paint banks, but I knew we didn't need any more banks. I think they will like having their own individual plates at supper time though!


Here's Bryson's finished plate. I traced the logo for him and he painted it, not too bad! (I refused to let Bryson paint Superman at Tanyon's mishap.) I must admit that I did do a little touch up once he lost interested. He was all into it and then bam he made up his mind he was done and there was no going back to finish it.


And here is the Green Lantern Plate. We were able to take that green blob and turn it into something that kind of resembled a super hero (He's lucky his Mommy has a little bit of artistic ability). I had to really use self control with Tanyon's plate and let him just decorate his plate. I had provided several suggestions, but he had his own masterpiece in mind.


Once we got there, I felt really bad that I didn't bring Addie so I painted her a plate so she would have her own plate too. This was not done a throughly as I would have liked to but I painted in the spare moments that the boys didn't need me and then quickly after the boys lost interested. I'm really curious to see how they look after being fired in the kiln! The colors looked totally different painted then what the finished color was supposed to be.

All in all, I think this turned out to be a fun adventure! Not sure that I would do it without the coupon though.

I Love This Boy!

I keep asking myself how did he grow up so quickly? Today this tough guy got 4 shots without even a whimper!! (We did have some complaints tonight of sore legs, which I can only imagine) I was so amazed by how mature he acted at the Dr.'s office. This is 2 times in 2 weeks where I've had to ask myself if that was really my child. Maybe there is hope for him at school. :)

Curious George???

Adam and I had the great opportunity to enjoy a weekend without the kids. We've started the tradition of "getting rid" of the kids for the 1st weekend of March Madness. Basically our weekend boils down to rest, relaxation, tons of basketball, and eating lots of yummy food! For many women, they would be saying "Are you kidding me?", but I think this is the absolute best! So after a great weekend, I was quickly thrown back into the fire of reality this morning. Instead of sharing the story through my writing I'm going to allow my husband to make his 1st guest post on this blog. I actually copied it from his FB status, but he spent so much time creatively writing it that I couldn't top it! So without further addo (sp?) . . .

Relaxing weekend is over. Back to waking up early and going to work, and being a parent. It didn't take Tanyon too long to strike this morning. If you substitute Tan's name for Curious George the story goes like this:
Curious George gets gifts for his bday. Most gifts get opened, but one stays taped shut. Curious George thought about how he could open this gift. Curious George (CG)looked in the closet, CG looked in the bathroom, CG looked in the kitchen (gasp!). "A knife might work to open the present, CG thought! CG thought it had to be long and sharp, with teeth on it to cut through the thick tape. Finally CG found a knife that would work. CG took the knife and began cutting at the thick tape. CG slipped though and cut his hand instead. CG could have told the man in the yellow hat but instead he tried to use several band aides to cover it up! In the end CG wasn't hurt too bad and the cut on his hand will heal, but CG is still in a lot of trouble!

Happy Bday Tanyon!

Happy Birthday Tanyon! I can't believe that you are 5 years old today!

You have brought so much excitement to our family. :) Your Daddy and I are so blown away with how compassionate and caring you are for others, especially for your brother and sister. We love you so very much and will enjoy watching you grow this upcoming year! Thank you Jesus for Tanyon!

It's Official

Tanyon is officially enrolled for kindergarten next fall!
It is so hard to believe that I will have 2 kiddos in school next fall. It seems just like yesterday that my days were full of bottles and diapers and feeling like I was never going to make it to the boys next naptime! Boy how the times are changing!!

Tanyon did great at registration. I almost felt like I wasn't sitting beside my own child. :) He was so calm (yes, I said calm) and quiet. There had been some talk of Tanyon attending extended day kindergarten due to his speech issues, but Bryson's teacher told me Tanyon did awesome on his screening and they don't feel at this time that there will be a need for extended day.

Tanyon was so excited to go. I think in some ways it's hard for him to grasp that next year it will be his school too. He has spent the past year looking through the windows when we go to pick up Bryson.

Enjoying the Sunshine!!!!

We have been lovin' the warmth and sunshine of the past few days. Wednesday we went out to eat with Uncle Craig for lunch and I realized as we were walking to the car that there was no way that we could pass up the park with as beautiful as it was outside. I don't know about anyone else, but feeling the sun hit my face and a nice breeze through my hair just puts me in good spirits. The kids loved their time at the park too. Bryson thanked me at least 3 times at supper for taking them to the park. :)

Here's the smiles to prove it!









Uncle Craig even joined in on the action!

Now I have a mental picture for you. I wish I had a camera with me this afternoon, it was priceless! We still have a couple of fair sized snow piles left on our driveway. Today, Tanyon decided that he was going to dig in the snow pile. He decided to dig a "fort" in the snow. I look up from vacuuming the car and their sits Tanyon sitting on a kiddie lawn chair in the middle of his "fort" (more like a hole in the snow) with his feet propped up on the snow. He looked so cute sitting there but it was even more ironic to me to see him sitting in snow with no coat on and then knowing he was sitting in snow when it was 60 degrees out!

Addie's sleeping habits

Addie is doing amazingly well with her big girl bed. Way better then her brothers ever did with this transition. She stays in her bed at night no problem and even still calls for me in the morning when she wakes up. Amazing! At nap time she doesn't go to sleep as quickly, but she stays in her room and eventually falls asleep. This post is about some of the unique ways we have found her sleeping recently. :)


Maybe she was saying her prayers when she fell asleep?? :)


Her legs were inside her pillowcase here!


Probably the least unusual.

And the best for last in my opinion! Note, she must have been reading a book and she also changed her socks. But I really wonder how she fell asleep like this!

This Conversation Warmed My Heart

This morning while getting Bryson ready for school, he saw my finger that I had cut yesterday. He then goes on this little tangent about how he knows knifes are dangerous and he will not use a knife, even when he gets older! He then tells me, "the girl I marry one day will have to do all the cutting with knifes!" (This made me chuckle!) This comment then springboarded into the discussion I wanted to share.

Bryson said "Mom, when I get big, I want to be a pastor like Mr. Dave so I can tell people about Jesus!" I said "that's really neat! What would you tell people?" Bryson replied "I would tell them that God's with them always and . . . I don't know what else I would tell them." :) This gave me a nice little segway to talk about study God's word so he can share it with others!

Along the same lines, Bryson said he had to do a journal entry at school the other day where they had to say what they would do if they were given a $100. His answer- "I would buy a 100 Bibles!"

I just love how excited this little boy is for Jesus. I immediately started praying this morning that he will always keep this passion for Jesus alive even as he grows! His childlike faith is amazing to me! Bryson is such an auditory learner. It seems like everything he hears he remembers word for word- except when I ask him to do something for me. :) I have really been challenged lately to make sure I'm filling that sponge like brain of his with God's word!