Dylan's 3rd Birthday

My baby had his 3rd birthday today.:):( Happy and sad.  I don't want him to grow up. But as I think back to three years ago when he was born, I consider myself very lucky to be his mom.  Since it is his birthday, I want to share some of the things I LOVE about this little guy.  He is such a good boy.  He definitely has his not-so-good moments, like every other kid, but overall, he is so easy.  He entertains himself well, loves to play with his brother and sister, and is the best little helper to mommy running errands and things.  As a baby, he hardly ever cried, unless he was hungry, and then only if mommy accidentally forgot about his eating schedule.:)  And just recently, during our Christmas vacation in CA, and in the middle of relocating across the country, he completely potty trained himself. Seriously. I can count on one hand how many accidents he has had since that first time going to the potty, even during the night. And this is all without mommy reminding him at all.  Scott and Madeline were in no way this easy to potty train.  I consider it a gift.:) And he can be a little cuddly boy.  I love it at night when we put him to bed, he always has to have a "hug, cuddle, and love", even though I still don't really know the difference between all three.  But he seems to, and it gives me an excuse to give him three hugs a night, instead of just one. Yes, this little boy kind of rules our house.:)

Well, enough bragging from me.:)

Can you believe it?! With how many stuffed animals Madeline has, this is our first stuffed elephant.:)  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Harker!

Cool Shades!

 

Mommy and Daddy's gift, a Cars Race Track; and as a bonus, it came with a Lightning McQueen! To go with the other 10 we already have...:)

Okay, don't let this picture fool you.  He really was excited about this coloring book.  But he was wiggling and jumping around so much it was hard for Mommy to get a picture (later realized our camera settings were off too).  So I told him to hold very still, and this is what he came up with.:)

Don't know who was more excited about this Race Track, Scott and Madeline or Dylan. (And yes, Madeline is having a little time out in the background. She wasn't sharing too well...)

My attempt at making a basketball cake.  It is supposed to be a basketball going into a hoop.  Unfortunately, it didn't turn out quite as I hoped (or the instructions said it would), but oh well.:)

Dylan kept trying to lick his cake, silly boy.  You're not turning 1!

Probably had a little too much sugar today....:)

And here's for Grandma Sue.  One of his cute little outfits you sent. I thought this shirt was fitting, as the captain is the ruler of the ship and Dylan is kind of the ruler of our home.:) Thank you Grandma's and Grandpa's and Aunt Kim for the presents!  Happy Birthday my Sweet Boy!!!

Chips are optional

Last night for dinner we had homemade Mexican food, including a homemade salsa I make.  Now, the last few times I have made the homemade salsa we noticed that Dylan would just scoop a ton of salsa onto his chip and just lick the salsa off, without eating the chip. We thought this was kind of humorous.  He always has been our salsa loving boy.  Then last night he started out using his chip to eat the salsa again, but I guess that got too tiresome.  He grabbed the spoon and ate almost the entire bowl of salsa. I had no idea salsa could be a main dish.:)

Snow day! (2nd attempt at posting...)

It snowed yesterday and last night, so we woke up to this today! And since it doesn't snow here that often, they canceled school today as well. Driving around here can be kind of scary, since they don't really plow or anything. That's a perfect reason to stay home for me.:) Good thing we still had all our snow clothes!

We went over to a friend's house to go sledding this morning. They live around the corner, on a cul-de-sac with a slight hill, so it was perfect for sledding down for all the kids.

Here is Madeline pulling her twin girls around. They are just a few months older then Dylan. Aren't twin girls just so cute!?

Scott gaining speed. None of my kids are nervous about going fast down the hills.:)

Dylan loved it too. Although, toward the end he wanted mommy to keep carrying him back up to the top...

Madeline on the inner tub.

We finished off our fun morning with some hot chocolate! I am glad we still get a few snow days this winter!:)

Politely Rejected

Dylan is a pretty good natured little guy, but that said, he is not afraid to speak his mind. One kind of humorous way he expresses his opinion is when he doesn't like something, or want you to do something. He is very polite about the whole thing. Almost every time I put him on the potty to do his business, he promptly tell me, "Mommy, please go." I guess I can't blame him for wanting privacy.:) And he did say Please.
This Christmas, when we were getting ready to leave after visiting my family, he gladly gave Grandma a hug, but just as promptly pushed her away and said "Please leave now." He really does love you Grandma! And he rejects me daily, if that is any consolation.

One recent example of this is during nap/sleep time. In the past he has always slept with his stuffed bear and his Winnie the Pooh. Lately, his feeling for them are a little fickle. Most of the time when I put them by him he says, "I don't want to sleep with them." And when I go to put them on the floor he says "No, please put them in the closet. And please shut the door." So, sorry for your exile to the dark closet stuffed bear and Winnie the Pooh! But he DID say please...:)

Museum of Flight

Today we headed over to the Museum of Flight near downtown Seattle, by Boeing Field.


Despite Scott's expression, he was excited to be there.:)

That's more like it! They loved getting into a cockpit of a plane and checking things out.

This was the highlight of the whole day, and it was a complete surprise. They were having NorthWest Scale Modelers Show there today, and a guy brought in R2D2. You can imagine the kids excitment when they saw him. He moved around and made noise and everything. Just like the real deal.

Madeline, our future astronaut!

Today

One goal I have right now is to update my blog more often, with pictures of our everyday activities. I love looking at my friends blogs who do this. It makes me get a closer look to how their everyday life is. So, let's see how long I can keep this up.:)


The kids have had no school yesterday, today and Monday for a mid winter break. Today I let them get into their swimsuits and all take a bath in mommy and daddy's bathroom. I put bubbles in the bath too, and they were in bath heaven. Isn't it amazing the little things kids get so excited about?!

Then we got dressed, and walked over to our neighborhood park to enjoy some sunshine and run around before lunch. I don't know if they are having more sunny days then normal lately in the Northeast, or if I have just experienced Ithaca absent-sun winters too much in the past, but you won't hear me complaining about the weather here right now. Also, I love that the kids can now enjoy the swings without my constantly pushing. When Madeline or Scott can't be swinging, they push Dylan now. I'll enjoy a reprieve while I can get it.:)

By the way, thanks to everyone who left me some more websites I can check out. I have really liked looking at them and getting new ideas for things! Any other good ones you run across, feel free to share them with me:)

Feeling the Love...:)

We're in the spirit of the season this Valentine's Day!



I decided to finally have Scott and Madeline handmake all their Valentines for their class this year (all 44 of them, combined). I have wanted them to do this every year, but always run out of time and end up just buying them from the store....:) A week ago we got online and found some cute Valentine ideas. I let the kids each pick the one they wanted to do. Scott wanted to do this one from the Family Fun Website since it wasn't "too girly". And Madeline chose this one. Both looked relatively easy, which I was happy with. For the Butterfly body in Madeline's, I ran over to See's Candy to get some of their Candy Sticks, only to find out they stopped making them 6 years ago....oops! And I coud find some online, but shipping was as much as the sticks, and I didn't want 80 of them. So we just used Smarties.:) They kids had alot of fun making them.

And while they were making their Valentines, I was making some of my own.:) I found this recipe on Our Best Bites, and thought I would give it a try. I put the apple filling in these little pies. They turned out pretty good! Next time, I might need to try something with some chocolate in it.:) So what websites do you like to look at throughout the day? I'd love to hear about some more good ones!