Happy 3rd Birthday Addison!

Yesterday we celebrated Addison's 3rd birthday! It's hard to believe she is already turning 3. It seems like just yesterday that we were welcoming her into our family. She is turning into such a beautiful young lady and I hope she knows how much we love her!

The birthday girl!

Addison had her birthday party at one of the local churches in Mansfield. The church has a neat play structure where the kids can run, climb, and slide in an air conditioned, enclosed area. The area is open to the public during the week and they rent it our for birthday parties on the weekends. There is also a kitchen area with lots of tables and chairs for guests to have cake and open presents. It's a perfect place to have a birthday party!
We started the party by letting the kids play on the playscape. After the kids played for a while, it was time for snacks and cake. Addison's birthday party theme was zoo animals, and my sister made her two really cute cakes- a giraffe and a tiger.

Blowing out her candlesParker was so attached to Addison during the entire party. He wanted to sit next to her, play with her, and even got upset when she wanted to play with someone else.

After cake, Addison opened her presents. She got so excited every time she opened something. It was like she had never opened something so wonderful!

We had such a great time celebrating with you, Addison! We love you and hope the upcoming year has wonderful things in store for you!

Eden's New Nickname

Eden is the queen of nicknames: EE, Miss Priss, and The Ninja are just a few of the things you will hear us calling her around our house.

This week she has earned a new and well deserved nickname- "Our Little Goat".

Last week we were playing at my sister's house when we caught her chewing the top corner off of a business card. My sister made the comment, " She is like a little goat!". (After we left that day, my sister also found a notepad and puzzle piece that she had chewed the corners off of.) As I looked around our house, I also found several books where she has chewed the corners off. Here are just a few pictures of some of the things she has enjoyed chewing on without us knowing about it!

Books

Business Cards

NotepadsThe final incident happened this week while we were playing in the playroom. I looked over and she had taken a box of Kleenexes and was eating them in strips just like a goat would eat/chew on straw or grass.
This picture was taken after she finished eating her tissue. (Don't worry...I took it out of her mouth before she could swallow it.) Look at her face. It's like she's thinking, "What? What did I do? Why are you laughing at me, mom?"
After the Kleenex incident, I decided that she had officially earned her new nickname, "Our Little Goat."

Eden is constantly making us laugh with her funny, yet subtle, personality. She has no idea how funny she is! What joy and laughter she brings to our family! I'm anxious to see what new nickname we come up with for her next!

I've Got It!

Eden has always surprised me with how independent she is. Unlike her brother, she would much rather do something on her own than have me try and help her with it.

For example, just the other day she decided that she wanted to snack on a few grapes. Rather than asking me to get them for her, she took matters into her own hands and got them herself.

I can't decide if all of this independence is a good thing or a bad thing!

Parker's First Day of Preschool

Today was Parker's first day of Sunshine Preschool. He had to miss the first real day of school last week (see previous post), but, fortunately, he did not realize that and was very excited about starting school when I woke him up this morning.

I tried to get a few pictures before we left for school, but he wanted nothing to do with that. I don't know if that's a "boy" thing or a "Parker" thing, but these are the best I could get.

When we dropped him off this morning, he shed a few tears, but told me when I picked him up that he stopped crying after I left. His teacher said he had a good day and he told me he played outside and ate fish and bears for snack.

He will attend preschool on Tuesday and Thursday from 9-12. His new teacher's name is Miss Tammy and we are really looking forward to a fun year with her and his new classmates.

The Rash

Last week, Eden woke up from her nap with a funny rash on her cheeks and back. It looked like little red pin points all over her. By the end of the day it was covering her entire body. She did not run any fever, wasn't fussy, ate and played well, and had no other symptoms. My pediatrician's office didn't want me to bring her in and said that as long as she wasn't running fever, she probably wasn't contagious.

Boy, were they WRONG!!!

On Wednesday, Parker and both of my nieces (who we had been with over the weekend) woke up with full body rashes. Parker and Addison's were pretty mild, but poor Aubrey got it the worst of all of the kids.

Unfortunately for Parker, the rash lasted several days, which meant he had to miss his first day of preschool last Thursday. Thank goodness he is still too young to understand and I didn't have to break his heart by telling him he couldn't go to school.

I am happy to report that all 4 kids are finally rash free! We are finally able to get around other kids without worrying about passing along our mysterious rash.

If you look closely, you can see all of the bumps on Parker's cheeks.

It Was Bound to Happen

Parker is surrounded by little girls- a sister, another one on the way, and two girl cousins. Many of our friends have little girls too.

He loves to play with balls and cars but when we go to visit and play at Addison and Aubrey's house, there are not a lot of those to be found.

Today we spent the afternoon playing at their house and Addison decided that she wanted to play dress up. She got out her tub of princess dresses, high heels, and tutus and before I knew it, Parker said, "I want to be a princess."

I tried to show him the cool fire fighter costume but he insisted that he wanted to be a princess.

Before I knew it, this is what he looked like:
I know that Cory is cringing as he looks at these pictures and Parker is probably going to hate me when he is a teenager and discovers these pictures, but with all of these girls around, this was just bound to happen!

Even dressed as a princess, Parker's boyish nature came through..it wasn't long before he was using the princess wand as a golf club and hitting every ball in sight!

The Gingerbread Man

Every time I think about Labor Day, the first thing that comes to mind is making a gingerbread man. Okay, so maybe it's not the first thing that comes to mind, but it is one of the things that we did yesterday as we enjoyed our Labor Day holiday!

My mom had a gingerbread mix that she had bought this summer on vacation and she thought Parker and Addison would enjoy making a "fall" gingerbread man. She got M&M's in fall colors and let them decorate it for our dessert last night.

My mom helped with the icing and Parker and Addison helped put the M&M's on the gingerbread man. We tried to overlook the constant licking of fingers and the occasional coughs/sneezes that occurred during the decorating process and focus on the fact that they were having a great time!

After they finished the decorating, everyone got to taste a little piece of Parker and Addison's masterpiece. As you can see by their chocolate smiles, they all thought it was very yummy!

BEFORE

AFTER
YUMMY!!!!

Thanks again Granna for such a fun treat!