Party Time!!

 Sunday night we had, I have to admit, a rip roaring party for our big 4 year old boy.

Andy was so excited to go pick out his own cake. He picked Dinosaur Train, which he loves.  Dinosaurs and trains. What is not to love??

Before the party, Andy got a few cuddles with his Memere. Didn't last long, since the bounce house had already arrived. In fact, it got here really early, which was wonderful because the kids bounced and bounced and I was able to get ready for the party!

The friends started to arrive and I wish I could have gotten a picture of every one!

The kids (and a few Uncles and Aunts) loved the bounce house. It had a slide in it. Enough said.

Julie....our party animal. She cracks me up!

The pinata was the most adorable little triceratops you have ever seen. I almost felt bad as the kids beat it with a bat. Every child had their own style of hitting the pinata each equally awesome but not super effective.

We asked Colby to go last, since he was the most proficient (studly) with the bat. He almost finished the pinata off.

In the end, John had to help them out. The kids were stoked. Andy was mostly excited about the noise maker.

We loved that Carter was able to come to the party! He is exactly one week old. Julie was one week old when she went to Anabelle's first birthday. Man, that seems like a long time ago. But we are touched that he came to our party and that his brave parents were up to it.

This year, Andy was obsessed with gifts. It's true. He blew out his candles before we even finished singing. I think he was hoping it would get him to presents a little faster.

 

Uncle Monster got this picture of our sweet man. Probably one of my all time favorites.

He didn't wait for us to finish singing, but at least he clapped for us when we were done!

And then it was time for presents.

He really liked Uncle Justin's wrapping job.

But he liked the tractor inside even more.

And a "Tiny" dinosaur. He was in heaven.

My helpers. Love these pretty girls.

Andy had lots of help opening his gifts. He didn't seem to mind in the least!

Andy was wiped out after the excitement of presents. After a few snuggles with Mom, however, he was back to bouncing.

 The girls on the other hand....they were party animals! As usual.

 
The big man had a great day and, after a huge wrestle fight in the bounce house, crashed out surrounded by gifts still in their boxes.  The back yard was pretty much cleaned up thanks to our wonderful family and friends. John and I went to bed early feeling grateful to be surrounded by so much love and generosity. 

Andy is 4?!?!?

How on earth is my big boy 4?? I just can't wrap my head around it! But alas, he is. So we have started the celebration!

He doesn't go to school on Wednesdays, so we brought cupcakes to his class on Tuesday instead.  John, the girls and I all got there right in time to hear his classmates sing to him. It was adorable and he loved it.

The cupcakes were pretty tasty too.  All the kids in his class are so sweet. Every single one of them said thank you to me for the cupcakes. My kids are surrounded by such great friends.

We couldn't let his birthday go by without a little something, since his big party is this weekend. After a small setback in the morning (think throw-up......all over the back seat of John's truck) we decided he was still up for company. So he asked if Memere and Grammy, Uncle Sean and Pop-pop could come over for pizza.  We had a great dinner and he got to open his gifts from his sisters, us and Memere.  He had already gotten awesome new cowboy boots from Grammy and Pop-pop.  Have to admit, seems like in this house, age 4 is when they really get into gifts. This year, he is diggin' the presents.

He thought the bubble blower Sadie picked out was pretty cool.

I love the way Julie is looking at him in this picture.

And he thought the Thomas Fish Market set that Julie got him was awesome.

He wasn't too interested in cake. He was so excited to go play with his new toys that he blew out his candles before we even finished singing and didn't even have a piece of cake!

He had a rough start, but I think this birthday boy had a pretty great day.  And we can't wait to party on Sunday!

10 Months

Our baby has hit double digits!!

I know, not really. But look how big she is getting!! One huge change this month is her eyes! They are definitely green now!!

Sadie is growing and changing so fast. She is still very smiley. She is pretty happy wherever we go, though she is getting less content with being held or contained and more anxious to be on the move exploring for herself.  She still thinks that her brother and sister hung the moon and wants to be into everything they are doing. Luckily they are amazing with her and rarely get frustrated when she knocks over their trains or drools all over their artwork.

She is a very good eater, preferring to feed herself. She is also a little silly at times. Hang loose!!

She has started throwing little tantrums when she doesn't get something she wants, or gets something taken away.  When you ask her a question, she will grunt like she is trying to answer you.

We took her for her 9 month well check last week (yes, we are running a little behind) and Dr Patterson was amazed by her.  He said her communication and reasoning was remarkable for her age, already hitting some 14 month milestones (Go Sadie!). She weighed in at 20 lbs (50th percentile) and 30 inches long (above the 97th percentile)

She is not quite walking yet, though, as I was taking pictures tonight, she acted like she was going to!!

I got her some shoes today, so whenever she is ready, so are we....well, at least in the footwear department.

You continue to amaze us and we love every second of you Sadie!!

Happy Birthday Carter Joseph!

This morning at 3 am, my little Geekboy became a Daddy.  Sarah gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Carter.

He weighed in at 10 lbs 3 ounces and measured 20 1/2 inches (same length as Julie, Andy and Lauren)!  

 He is a big, warm, content little babe. Maybe a bit like his Daddy. 

I am so happy for you Stephen and Sarah.  We are are so excited to be there as Carter grows his personality and you grow into parents.

On a Whim

With such crazy schedules lately (3 kids, 2 over 40 hour a week jobs, school, soccer, friends, family) things have to be pretty planned out.

So yesterday when John got off work early to go to Julie's soccer game and we ended up with no plans after 11:30 am, we couldn't resist packing up and heading to Santa Barbara Zoo for the afternoon  It was a great feeling to do something on a whim, and we had a blast.

Love this silly little family of mine!!


*edited to add that we saw Joe Rogan at the Zoo and Heidi and Spencer from "The Hills" on State Street! Celebrity spotting is fun!

Number Lover

And I am not talking about me!!

Julie has always been a number girl too. But the other night, on the walk home from Grandma Hazels we had this conversation:

Julie: When we get home can we read books?
Me: You and Andy can pick out 1 each.
Julie: Uhh, only 2 books??
Me: What if you picked out 2 each?
Julie: That would be 4.
Me: 3 Each?
Julie: 6 books

This continued all the way to 7 or 14 total.  Then, it went on to this:

Me: What if you and Andy picked out 2 and Sadie picked out 1.
Julie: 5 total
Me:  You and Andy picked out 3 each and Sadie picked out 1.
Julie: (without missing a beat) That would be very unfair. But 7.

Love my sassy number lover.

Andy Laughs

My big, almost 4 year old boy cracks me up on a regular basis.

The other day he was talking about a friend of ours and he was saying that "She is not a big kid, and not a grownup, so she is a mediumager. Right Mommy?"   Makes total sense to me!

Then, at the grocery store, we were walking down the aisle and he said, "Mommy, thank you for not naming me Crumb."  I laughed so hard. I have no idea where it came from. All I could say was, "You're welcome."

After getting some cinnamon swirl donuts at the store, I heard Julie and him having this conversation in the back seat:

Julie: Did you know Olivia from my school doesn't like cinnamon?
Andy: No way! Does she like babies?
Julie: Yeah.
Andy: Phew!

Like if you don't like cinnamon you don't have a soul?? He is so funny. I guess I shouldn't tell him I don't like cinnamon!!

Update

I feel like this has been a wonderful, tiring, and educational week.


Julie just had her first full week of kindergarten.  I still can't believe we have a kindergartner!!  She has been to school a total of 8 days, and she has already changed the "e" at the end of her name from an "E" to an "e" which may not seem like a big difference, but it only took 8 days for her to learn that the "J" should be capital but the rest lower case.

She is still very excited to go every day. Getting herself dressed, her hair brushed and her back pack packed.  It seems like she is learning a lot and making friends.  John and I went to back to school night on Thursday and learned more about her school routine.  There was already art up on the walls with Julie's name on it. That sealed the deal, we have a kid in school! Her work is right there on the wall!

Julie also started soccer last week. Andy doesn't start until the 19th (soccer on his birthday, yay!)

Andy is now in Pre-K at the preschool, pointing out whenever he can that he will be in Kindergarten next year. He only goes 2 days a week but is loving it. He is also still thriving in his one on one time, or time to be the big kid while Julie is at school.  He is also having lots of fun helping us plan his 4th birthday party! I can't believe our little boy will be 4!

This is pretty much Andy's life with his sisters. He wants affection, they want his stuff. In this case, his water bottle.

All 3 kids are eating like crazy right now. They must be growing! Sadie just got most of her 9 month clothes packed away and her 12 month put in her dresser.  She is crawling and climbing and very active. She has 3 teeth on the top now too, so it is a little easier giving her food, she just chomps it up with her front teeth.  She is still long and thin, being so active its not surprising.  She is has been cruising the couch for about a week, but now she is cruising on anything she can reach and even transferring from the couch, to the coffee table, to the dog....whatever is there, she uses it to walk.  Won't be long, I'm sure.

Here she is with 2 of her favorites on her face, avocado and black beans.

I am working a ton right now because it's that time of the year where we close the books from the previous fiscal year.  Makes such a busy week seem that much more busy. Even though I try not to work a lot extra when the kids would notice (like I go in at night, after they are in bed) it still takes its toll. Only a few more weeks and things will be mellowed out on the work front.

We just got home from playing with some great friends and it's time for a nap.  This week feels like an accomplishment. Looking forward to what next week has in store!