Quinn Turns 3!

Q is officially 3 years old! This year we decided to just do fun stuff he'd like on his birthday, rather than a party. In the past few weeks whenever we'd ask Q what he wanted for his birthday he'd list the following: Balloons, Party hats, decorations, cake with candles, and presents. So I let him pick out a few decorations of his own while we were at Target one day. They were, of course, all Thomas the Train crap. As for cake, he picked out strawberry. I picked up a few things as well and we were all set.

The night before his birthday I hung up streamers, balloons and birthday signs. Shawn made a regular round cake. BUT. He made a bridge with train tracks using graham crackers, and I bought a new Thomas train that we set on top. I re-wrapped a couple presents we held back at Christmas and we were ready to go. (I don't need to disclaimer or apologize for all the crappy cell phone pictures anymore, do I? )

I spy: party hats, balloons, decorations & a present.

Birthday Sign, from his first birthday (made by Sam)

Throw a few balloons on the floor, and you're good.

He woke up on his birthday and Shawn intercepted him before he could go to the living room. Basically to give me a minute to drag my tired ass out of bed.  We walked with him down the hall and as soon as he saw the decorations, he stopped and did this thing he does when he's overly excited/overwhelmed. He smiled, hid his face in his hand and wouldn't go any further. SO cute.

Seeing his birthday sign

Seeing his Thomas Cake

He does this with his arms when he's really happy/excited

 \

Birthday donut!

So after breakfast we got the boys ready to go to WiggleWorks. Shawn had had the idea to take Q to one of those bounce house places. But I knew that Archer wasn't quite big enough to navigate around that kind of place, but would for sure want to play. Anyway, I found WiggleWorks through the Parent Map website and it looked perfect. Geared more towards younger guys with all soft play equipment ANNNND a balloon room.

In the vortex of the balloon room

I just love his face in this one

Chillin

After Wiggleworks we picked up a pizza and headed home for lunch and birthday cake.

After cake we had quite time (no nap for this boy) then played outside for awhile. Then, finally, it was present time.

Clearance Xmas themed Disney match game?!

 And I believe that was it for the day. I think it was good to just focus on him and not deal with a big party (although, I really do love having parties, so I don't know that this will be the deal every year.) He for sure had fun and it was nice to keep it low key and not spend a ton of money, ha! So, Happy Birthday Little guy! I love you so much. Even though I had to just stop writing this post to go change your disgusting diaper, only to discover you'd found a rouge crayon (for like, the 4th time in the last week) and drew all over the floor and wall. Again. And you're now sitting in time out sighing that big sigh that you do, while I try not to laugh. You're funny, silly, & sweet. You give the best hugs and smooches. I love the songs you sing, especially when you make up your own words to other tunes (Quinney the Pooh might be my favorite.) Here's to another fun year with you! (And please, go easy on us. I've heard about age three and I'm scared.)

"Camping"

Q has been pretty into the idea of camping, campfires, tents, etc. lately (thank you TV). Since we're still a ways off from being able to go camping around here (COME ON WARM WEATHER!!) we haven't been able to accommodate his desire to go. UNTIL Shawn had a bit of a genius/crazy idea. Sunday he decided we'd drive over to the Leavenworth area where we could hopefully find the sun and maybe find a little campsite and have lunch and a campfire. It stopped raining about 5-10 minutes before we hit Leavenworth, and what do you know- it was sunny! Miracle! I even took my jacket off! We decided to pull into a little park with a playground we've been to before, right as you get into town. We let the kids play and run around for awhile.

 Then we packed back in the car to head to a campground. Well, it was all closed. And there were trees down all over the place. Either there was a terrible storm, or they're taking down trees on purpose. It was a mess. And also, did I mention, closed? Well a little thing like that doesn't stop Shawn. We pulled the car over next to a spot by the road and drug our lunch supplies and such over. We spent about and hour & 1/2 having some pb&j sandwiches (Archer ate at least 1 & 1/2 by himself then just held on to one while he walked around) then roasted a couple marshmallows for a sorta smore (no choco). Q loved it, and it made me so excited to take him camping. Archer on the other hand just liked to get up on the picnic bench, then back down. Then up. Then down. Also, keeping him away from the fire (we even had the huge baby gate up around most of it) was a bit exhausting. And doing something like having a fire at a closed campground makes me all nervous and anxious. BUT, I'm glad Shawn made us do it. If it were up to me we'd never do anything fun.

I think I'm ready for camping this summer. It's going to be so much fun with the kids, if not a little stressful. But I really do love camping so I'm very excited. Anyone else love camping?

Friday Five: The return of the Internet

1. So we finally have Internet at home again, hallelujah! Although I did go back to Comcast which is annoying. And don't even get me started on the ordering process. I'll just say if you're going to let me order online and then make me end my order with  a live chat and go through the whole order all over again, don't let me choose my options first. Just start with the live chat you stupid son of a....

2. Hi. You look pretty today.

3. We also now have a new computer. Yay? Weren't really planning on that one, but well, our laptop died. It was kind of the worst timing ever, and we couldn't really go without. So. Yay. Windows 8 is so confusing!

4. After 2 or so years of thinking about it, I finally decided to start doing Project Life. It's scrapbooking but simpler. You can go look for a better explanation than I could give you. I've tried scrapbooking over the years, but I'm not especially creative and just never got anywhere. This is perfect because I don't have to be creative BUT I can be if/when I feel like it (and use up some of the stuff I've collected over the years.) I'm really loving it so far. I'm embellishing cards a little bit, mostly just washi tape (WASHI ALL THE THINGS!) and a little bit of stickering/lettering here and there. I very much recommend checking it out if you like the idea of scrapbooking but it's too overwhelming for you.

5. Did I mention I was participating in the March of Dimes walk? Oh, I did. Well anyway, if you like, have a few dollars.... You can't get mad at me for asking again because IT'S FOR THE BABIES!

Happy Friday!!

Around Here

A lot going on. And also, not much going on. You know what I mean?

First of all Q's 3rd birthday is in like, a week. I feel like I spend a lot of time on this blog freaking out about my babies growing up too fast and all that so I'm going to try not to do that. Instead I'm just going to try and enjoy my crazy almost-3yr-old. This kid. He's just so dang awesome. You know, when he's not making me want to rip my hair out. The things he says... just astound me sometimes. I keep trying to take note of all the funny little things he says, but I can't keep up. And sometimes it's more of the tone or way he says something that catches me off guard. There's no way to put in words how cute it is when he says "I yove you too mommy" It's just... perfect. Last night he'd woken up because his foot was bothering him. He was hysterical, as is the way it goes a little too often at night these days. So I carried him out to the couch and laid him down with his blue baby & blue blanket. I got him some "purple medicine" and a "purple drink" (water with grape flavor) and laid down with him. He'd calmed down and was just laying quietly. I said "you're so handsome, aren't you?" and he said quietly "yeah" and I said "and so smart!" and he replied "yeah" again. And then continued to agree with all my praises .. "and funny... silly... such a good big brother" Just makes me want to squeeze the heck out of him.

So after I recover from my baby turning 3, I'll be embarrassing myself at yet another blogger meet up! Yea! This time it's in Seattle though, so at least it's close-ish to home. I'm excited/nervous, per usual.

Then in May I'll be joining the Bloggers for Babies team for the March of Dimes! I've been wanting to join the last couple of years but haven't been able to. I'm very excited to be raising money for babies! Trying to decide how to bring my babies with me. Pretty sure I can't convince Q to ride in a stroller, so I'll probably just make Archer suffer through ; )  Oh and hey- You got a few bucks? Head on over. I've set a modest-ish goal. But the team goal is $5000 and we have a ways to go.

How about we end with a sweet picture? Mr Q feel asleep on the couch after dinner a few weeks ago, which NEVER happens. So sweet.

Recap: Archer Oliver One Year Old!

(I somehow forgot I had this post almost all ready to go and be posted on Archer's actual birthday, but never finished and hit 'publish'. Whoops! So pretend it's the beginning of December will ya?)

Please excuse the sobbing. I'm fine with my little baby turning one. It's totally cool.

The only somewhat decent picture I got on his birthday, and it's a little bit of a stinkeye

So what's new with Archer? Well he's walking like a mad thing. He still has this stiff legged walk that is just hilarious. The unfortunate thing about his walking is he really likes to get going fast. Which is funny, but dangerous since he's still a bit wobbly.



Trying to get in on Q's food action. (Please ignore my kitchen. This is mid-party prep)

Feeding him is apparently akin to stabbing him with hot pokers, cause home boy won't let me do it anymore. He must feed himself. WHATEVER BIG KID. He currently loves him some pasta (I just do whole wheat elbow noodles with a bit of sauce. Finally someone will eat the whole wheat pasta I buy). He will eat cheese forever if I let him. Clearly Shawn's son after all. He loves yogurt too and would put down a whole container in about 2 seconds I think.

We're still breastfeeding in the morning & before bed, but I ditched the pump. I couldn't keep spending all my breaks at work pumping and coming away with like, 2 oz for the whole day. Forget that noise. Done. Still trying to decide if I'll completely wean him off the boob. I want to keep going but I am also kinda over it.

I think he's probably in 12 month clothes. Except the thing is? I can't find any of Q's 12 month stuff. It all seems to go from 9 mo to 18 mo. Huh.


Oh you think you're just such a big kid now? And you can open doors and walk away from me?!

The clingy-ness has relented a bit. I think his new found independence with walking has helped with that.
He is hitting the stubborned phase full on. He has quite the piercing whine when he doesn't get what he wants. Fun!


"Do NOT take this bag of dinner rolls I stole out of the pantry away from me, or I will cut a bitch. By which I mean you."

He gives sloppy open-mouth kisses, hugs my legs sometimes, leans his forehead against mine when I ask for a kiss sometimes (instead of the open mouth kiss), he claps, shakes his head 'no' and has started bouncing/dancing sometimes to music. Basically he's sweet and cuddly and I love the crap out of him.

You and I both know I won't manage to get an actual birthday party recap post up. So here are some pictures I managed to get with my phone.




 First the bday boy in his Cat in the Hat shirt and Bday crown (Q had a matching shirt, but I'm pretty sure I only have a picture of his back)

Hard to believe, but he kept this on all day.

Next we have some of the food. I tried to do Dr. Seuss themed food, but had trouble comimg up with things besides desert. Thanks PINTEREST for nothing. Well, I did get a couple of ideas.

My version of green eggs and ham. There were green deviled eggs too, but I don't have a picture.

Not Dr Seuss themed, but tasty and cute

Hop on Pop is my favorite

Cat in the Hat cake Shawn made!!



Yink Pink Ink Drink was just pink lemonade from frozen concentrate. Easy Peasy.

 There were some decorations. Mostly balloons & Dr Seuss books strewn around. Don't really have any decent pictures. I was pretty bad at getting pictures once people arrived. So no party guests either. And once again we failed to get any pictures of me or Shawn with the birthday boy. Lame. I do have a couple more cute ones of Archer though:

Cake you say? Hmmmm

You can't really beat an adorable baby in a crown, can ya?! Happy, Happy Birthday my sweet, squishy boy!

Updates

I have a lot of drafts of posts for things that have long past. I still might try and get them up. But maybe not. For now, just a quick update of what's been going on.

-December was Archer's First Birthday! Shhhh, I'm pretending it didn't happen. Kidding. Sort of. We had friends and family over for a little party. Archer walked around stealing food from everyone and was nice enough to let Q open all his presents. AND he wore his birthday crown all day. This kid is just too awesome.

-Christmas! Fa la la la!!! We had a very nice Christmas. Q woke up a little cranky and it took a little while to get into the Christmas spirit. Eventually he enjoyed opening presents and playing. However, there were of course too many presents (and that was after I grabbed a stack while wrapping and put them away for later this year). Note to self: if your kids can't even get through opening all their gifts by the end of the day? TOO FREAKING MANY! I knew there was, but I tend to buy things and put them away, then forget about them. I for real am going to try and pare down big time this year.

-New Years! All I can remember about new years is the slushy boozy punch Shawn made. I would drink it every day if I could.

-My sister got married! It's very weird! Isn't she just a kid? (No, she is not. She is almost 27.)

-We all got sick, sick, sick! It sucked and it was several weeks before it cycled through all of us. There was just so. much. snot. Vom.

-We finally went to Northwest Trek which we've been wanting to do for awhile. It was cold, the tram ride is too long for a 1 yr old & almost 3 yr old to handle. Then at one point Q had a meltdown and ran away from us. Outside. Where there are black bears just roaming around.* It was not our favorite day
*Okay fine, technically they have fences and stuff, but I still don't trust it.

-That's all I can think of!

I'm working on getting pictures of Archer's Birthday & Christmas organized. So just hold on to your hot pants, and get ready for those. Who doesn't love Christmas recap posts in February? Oh, everyone? Too bad, it's my blog.

Um, Happy Friday! (Does anyone else have trouble wrapping up posts? It's awkward.)

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: Children's Museum

So one of my main goals this year with our Tax Return was to get a family pass to our local Children's Museum. It's tough trying to think of things to do with the kids on the weekends when it's rainy and yucky out, which in the PNW is all the time. So I thought this would be a good solution. We went on Sunday and the kids had a ball. Archer just throws himself into any situation like a mad thing, ready to have fun. Also, it turns out he really like hats. Every display that had a helmet or hat of some kind he was just really into. Q spent this first half hour at the train tracks. Then it was just swarmed by other kids who kept taking his trains, and I decided it best to move on to try and avoid continual meltdowns (In all fairness the "taking" would happen when he'd push the train out of his own reach, and would be trying to crawl to the other side to retrieve it. Still. Don't take my baby's trains! Haha)

Anyway, they had a ton of fun, demonstrated by the big ass meltdown Q had when it was time to go. (PS 3 is just going to be SO much fun.)

Yap, Yap, Yap. Here are some pictures.