Four and a Half

Parker,

You turn four and a half today! All I can say is- what a difference six months makes! You are a completely different child from just six months ago. You have matured so much and are growing into such a wonderful little boy! I enjoy spending my days with you and can not imagine what it will be like without you next year when you go to kindergarten. Here are some of the things I want to remember about you at this age:

-You are still strong willed (some things will never change!) but you can now reason enough to not throw temper tantrums when you get upset. You still cry when things don't go your way, but your fits usually don't last long at all. You still like to test the limits but not nearly as often because you have learned that what mommy and daddy say is what we mean. I am so proud of how much you have matured since your birthday! Being your mommy has become so much more fun since I don't feel like I spend all my time disciplining you day in and day out. Our days are not perfect, but they are much easier than they were this time last year.

-You are such a boy! You can make a gun out of anything (blocks, sticks, food) and you love to "shoot the big guys". You love to run, chase, and be rough. I am always reminding you that you have to be gentle with Eden and Lily. You are so impulsive with your playing and we are really working on thinking about what you are doing before you actually do it. This seems to be the most frequent reason that gets you in trouble these days! (That and talking back. We are really working on learning that you do not always get to have the last word in a disagreement!)

-You love to reenact things. For example, you tripped and stumped your toe at Granna's a few days ago. You showed me at least 10 times how you fell by falling on the floor and rolling around. Your reenactments are always complete with sound effects too!

-You are still one of the biggest kids in your class. Last month at preschool you weighed 46 pounds and were 44 inches tall. You are wearing size 5-6 clothes and size 12 shoe.

-You have reached several big milestones recently. You have almost completely stopped sucking your thumb and you no longer wear a diaper at night. You were so proud when you decided that you wanted to wear underwear at night. You have done a great job and have not had any accidents.

-You LOVE sports! Baseball, basketball, football, golf... pretty much anything with a ball! You love to watch sports with your daddy and get so excited when he lets you stay up past your bedtime to watch the Rangers with him. You are getting good at throwing and catching the baseball with daddy and you love hitting the ball with Granna in the mornings when you play outside.

-You love to be outside, but you also love to be inside playing video games. You play games on the computer, Playstation, big screen (iPad) or iPhone. We still have to monitor how much you play everyday or you would never stop playing.

-You love to draw and color and have gotten much better at coloring within the lines. You sometimes spend an hour coloring and working on your pictures. You can now write your first name in lowercase letters and you are working on learning how to write you middle and last names.

-You love going to school and seem to pick up on concepts quickly. You know all of your letters/sounds but are not reading yet. I think reading will come easy to you once you learn how to put everything together. You also enjoy working with numbers. You can add numbers together and have shown a lot of interest in telling time.

-You are not the best eater but you do eat a lot of things that you do like. You're always so proud when you clean your plate. If there is something new on your plate, you will usually at least try one bite and see if you like it. I hope that one day you will branch out and try new foods. You still tend to prefer salty snacks over sweets, just like your mommy.

-You are rough and tough, but you also have a sweet, sensitive side to you. You love your sisters and cousins and are very loving when you want to be. I often catch you giving Lily hugs and kisses when you are playing with her, which melts my heart! I pray that you will always have a special place in your heart for your sisters.

I love you, Parker, and I am so proud of the little boy that you are becoming. It has been a long road and some days have been very hard, but you are worth every moment! I can not wait to see what the next 6 months brings for you.

I love you to the moon and back, Mommy

Guess Who...

discovered the Halloween candy bowl?

Just in case you were wondering...Lily was NOT happy when I took that sucker away from her!

Mr. Smiles

Look who's started smiling!!!!

I realized after my last post that this picture of my nephew Ryan got left out. It is just too sweet not to share so I decided to give Mr. Ryan his own special post.

Ryan is such an easy going, content, and smiley baby. He is such a blessing to our family! Although we are all smitten with him, I think Parker is the most excited in our family about the addition of another boy cousin. He is always in his face giving him hugs and kisses and I'm sure if Ryan could talk, he'd tell him, "Buddy, have you ever heard of a little thing called personal space?!?!"

I have enjoyed watching my kids as their relationships with their cousins have developed and look forward to seeing how Ryan is going to fit into this wonderful but crazy mix of kids!

Lily's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Lily's birthday with a small party at our house with a few family and friends. I ordered Lily a special birthday outfit complete with a tutu, but did not realize when I ordered it just how big the tutu was. She HATED it!! I could only get her to wear it for a few minutes before she started tugging at it and crying. Luckily I got a few cute pictures of her in it before we took it off.

After a few pictures, we traded it for a softer, less full tutu that Eden wore on her first birthday and Lily was happier and much more comfortable!

The kids jumped in the bounce house while we tried to get a few pictures of Lily and then we all gathered around to sing to Lily and have cake and ice cream. Lily's cake was the traditional #1 cake that all of the kids have had on their first birthdays. (I'm a little sad that this is the last time we will get to have this cake at our parties. Now, on to bigger and better things!)

Lily got her own "smash cake" too! (It looked a lot cuter before Eden stuck her fingers in it!)

Lots of pink! Lily was not sure what to think about the cake at first, which surprised me a little bit. Usually she becomes a little bird when she realizes that sweets are nearby!

Eden finally stepped in to help show her what to do! She finally figured it out, but was very careful with it and actually stayed pretty clean. I didn't even have to give her a bath after she was done.
The big kids enjoyed their cake and ice cream too! Next I helped Lily open her presents. She got some fun new toys that all 3 kids have enjoyed playing with today. Parker showed Ryan how to work the new jack-in-the-box. I think Ryan was quite impressed!
After presents, all the kids headed back outside to spend some more time jumping in the bounce house. Before I knew it, Lily had crawled outside and climbed up into the bounce house without any help at all. She was so proud of herself and she had the best time jumping with the big kids. It was the most I'd seen her smile all day!
We had a great time celebrating our sweet Lily and are so thankful to all of our family and friends that came over to help her celebrate her special day!

One Year Old

Lily-

You turn one year old today! This time last year you came into this world and completed our family. You have been such a wonderful baby and I have had so much fun watching you grow and change over the past 12 months. While I am sad that this year is over, I am excited to watch as you turn into a toddler. Here are some things I want to remember about you as we celebrate your birthday today.
-You are still a big girl! You are wearing 18 month clothes and size 5 diapers. I think you weigh about 23 pounds and am anxious to see your stats at your checkup in a couple of weeks.
-You still have 6 teeth- 4 on top and 2 on bottom.
-You can say one word- "uh-oh". You say it anytime you drop something on the floor.
-You are still not walking and are showing few signs that you will be walking soon. You are perfectly happy to crawl wherever you need to go.
-You have become quite the climber this past month. You love to climb up on the fireplace, into your coupe car, and today at your birthday party, you climbed into the bounce house all on your own. You have no fear at this point in your life and I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing!
-You are very sensitive and get your feelings hurt very easily. Anytime you are upset, you lay flat on the floor and cry huge tears. You are going to have to toughen up if you are going to keep up with your brother and sister!
-You love to eat! I always love this stage of eating because you will pretty much eat anything I give you. You still like to be independent when you eat and are happy as long as I am not trying to feed you. You have learned to drink from a straw and one of your new favorites is drinkable yogurt. Now that you are one, I am anxious to see if you like eggs. Hopefully, you will continue to be a good eater as you get bigger.
- You adore your siblings and they adore you! You are happiest when you are playing with Parker and Eden. One of your favorite things to do right now is go with me to wake them up in the morning. You start smiling, waving, and "talking" as soon as I start opening their doors. My prayer is that you will always have a close relationship with them throughout your life.
-Your favorite toy right now is the coupe car. You can climb into it on your own but can only "drive" it backwards. You also love for Parker to take you on rides all around the house.
-You have learned how to take you diaper off by yourself which makes changing you diaper a challenge. By the time I reach for your pants, you have it off! This means that you must be wearing either pants or bloomers at all times!
-You are such a momma's girl right now. Although it can be a pain, I know it won't last forever so I am trying to enjoy it as much as possible. You love to give me hugs and kisses and one is never enough. When you give me a kiss, it's always followed by another. And another. And another!
-You love to be outside but don't like to crawl in the grass. You have a modified crawl that looks like a bear crawl that you use anytime you are outside.
You are so precious and I am constantly thanking God for your sweet, happy, easy-going personality. You have brought me so much joy this year and I feel so blessed to be your mommy. I pray that the upcoming year will be filled with many more wonderful milestones and memories.

I love you to the moon and back, Mommy

Happy 1st Birthday, Lily!!

Happy Birthday to our precious Lily!

What a wonderful year it has been!

You have been such a blessing to our family and we can't imagine life without you!

We hope you feel very special today!

Gerard Fall Festival

Tonight we went to the annual Gerard Fall Festival and were excited when Addison and Aubrey came into town and got to come with us. It was pretty crowded so we didn't spend a long time there, but the kids did enjoy getting to play some of the games. A few of the favorites were the duck pond, getting Halloween tattoos, and the soda pop walk, which Parker actually won!

Eden did not want to participate in most of the games and chose to watch instead. Lily was big enough this year to get to play a few of the games, like the pumpkin grab. We had a good night and made some fun memories as a family!