3 years old

This is a little late in coming and I feel like I already wrote a million (okay, two) posts about him turning three, but I like having a quick run down of what my kiddos are up to at each age. And this is more for myself to have years down the road, so feel free to skip the reading if you want to :)

Thomas James--

At three years old, you are:

*around 36 lbs and 38 inches tall

*counting to 10 (although you sometimes skip 6 and go straight to 11, but we're working on it!) and singing your ABC's.

*potty trained (thank you God!). You still have a few random accidents but do pretty good. There was a time where you peed your bed EVERY night and one day you had like five accidents in a row. I talked to your doctor and he said you were probably doing it for attention and that we should not punish you but ignore it and make you clean up the mess. He was right. We did what he said and you stopped that day.

*hilarious! You say the funniest things. Your newest thing is that you call referees "diarrhea." We went to a hockey game and when we got home, you said, "Mommy, why did the diarrhea put that guy in the box?" You were talking about the referee putting a hockey player in the penalty box, but we couldn't stop laughing long enough to explain it. You also say, "Are you kiddin me?!?" when we tell you about something. So funny!

*really getting into sports. You LOVE hockey and football and set up hockey games in our house every night. You love watching football with daddy and you always want him to wear his football jersey when you are wearing yours. You constantly invite us to hockey games or basketball games that you're playing in the living room.

*in a size 4T pant (although they're a little big in the waist, they fit you perfectly length-wise) and 3T or 4T shirt.

*wearing a size NINE (almost 10) shoe. Bigfoot.

*surrounded by girls. I feel bad because the other day I was thinking that you're really never around BOYS (except baby boys that are too little to play with yet). The older kids at your daycare are girls, my friends mostly have girls.......sorry bud. I'm hoping once you're in preschool, you won't be completely clueless on how to play with boys!

*really getting into trucks, tractors, cars, etc. Your imagination  is so fun to watch while you're playing with them!

*accepting your discipline. You used to fight time out like crazy and we'd have to put you back a million times, but lately, you've walked straight to the corner, stood there for your one minute and then apologized when done. Fingers crossed that it lasts!

*ready for preschool! You know all your colors, shapes and a lot of your letters and numbers. You can spell your first name and say your address (most of the time unless you're being silly!). You almost always know left from right. You're a smart cookie!

*asking a looooooot of questions about God. I feel inadequate to answer your questions a lot of the time, but I try! I'm just glad you know enough about Him to want to know more! Although you did tell me the other day you don't want to live in "Heabin."

*wrote your name for the first time about a month after your birthday! I was amazed!! You've known how to spell it for a long time, but you sat there and wrote it, all by yourself. I was seriously so impressed!

*like a sour patch kid. One minute you're sour, the next, you're sweet. It makes it a little hard to figure out how you're going to react to things, but we've learned to kind of roll with the punches. You throw the biggest tantrums over the craziest things and then you'll turn around and be the sweetest little guy to us or your sister. Silly 3 year old!

 

*you talk noooooooon-stop. Literally. I've never met a person that could ask so many questions or keep up a dialogue with themselves as well as you do. Would I call it a gift?.......eh, the jury's still out on that one. Sometimes, silence is bliss. But it is entertaining :)

I feel like this picture is the perfect representation of how active and noisy you are!

Tommy, you are just the sweetest boy. I am thoroughly enjoying you. Everyone told us that three was worse than two, but so far, that's not the case with you. You're maturing--if that's possible for a three year old--right in front of our eyes. You're always quick to tell us we're doing a good job at something or that you love us or that you want us to "nuggle" with you. It's the best thing in the world to wake up every day and be your mom. I never knew how much  love my heart could hold until you came into our lives. I loved you as soon as I knew about you, but I love you even more now that we're getting to know who you are! I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

Birthday in KC!

Last weekend was my cousin's 26th birthday. I had a couple of options for "travel" last weekend and was completely torn on what to do until Thursday afternoon. Nick and Tommy were going to Stockton with his family. I had the option to go with them or go to Kansas City with my family for my cousin's birthday. OR I could stay home and have a girls weekend just with me and Tess. Finally, in the final hour, I decided to go to Kansas City. Whitney travels a lot to see our family and my kids, so I figured it was my turn!

Me, Tessa, Brooke, Michael and my mom left Friday after work. We got to Whitney's house around 8:30pm. Tessa did pretty good on the ride down. She got a little antsy towards the end, but there were no major fits or meltdowns, so I'm counting that as a win! We decided to order Papa John's (yum) and hang out for the evening. Tessa passed out on me shortly after we ate and the rest of us just hung out and talked until I got too tired to keep my eyes open.

The next morning (Whitney's birthday!), we got up at 8:30am-ish and didn't stop moving until 8pm. First, we went to a couple thrift stores. I hit BANK! I only found a few things for Tessa, but I found SO many things for Tommy. Lots of dress shirts and cute t-shirts (all name brand) that were on sale from the already pretty low thrift store price. I think I ended up getting him 22 items for $28!! So excited about that.

Then, we headed down town to the City Market. On the way, we found a garage sale....WOOT-WOOT!! Brooke loaded up on baby girl clothes for one of her friends (she got over 40 items for $10). I loaded up on some décor and a few things for Tess. Funny side note--in order for all of us to fit in my sister's Dodge Nitro, someone had to ride in the very back (which is illegal, but don't tell me you've never done it). My mom took one for the team.......so when we left the garage sale, she was crammed in the back with all of our stuff! Thanks, Mom!

We went back to Whitney's to unload everything and then finally ended up at City Marker. Love that place. The atmosphere is so fun! There weren't as many vendors there that there has been in the past, but it was still just such a beautiful day to be outside. They had the best deals on produce....you better believe we bought a flat of strawberries!

Tess was such a trooper the whole time. No whining or fussing. It helped that we bought some home made cookies as soon as we walked in. That kept her entertained :)

The cookies and fruit were all we walked away with, but the weather and atmosphere made it the perfect way to spend our morning!

Whitney had heard about a St. Patrick's Day parade going on near her house, so we headed that direction next. Now, I completely understand that Benton and Kansas City are totally different towns. But I have to say, when I thought of parade, I thought of a 30 minute waltz around a few blocks. No. Not the case. We had to park almost a mile away and trek to the parade site. The streets were PACKED. Like, there was nowhere to stand along the road. We finally chose a spot and then me and my mom went in search of something to eat and drink. That took forever to get through the crowds. But we did see some pretty cool stuff!

This hamburger truck was my favorite!

Tessa watched from Uncle Michael's shoulders....

...and then from Nana's arms or my arms.

She was being SO good. I could tell she was hot and tired, but not a peep came out of her the whole time!

We stayed for an hour and the parade still wasn't even close to being over. I could NOT believe how long it was lasting! I finally camped out on a patch of grass while everyone else watched. I'm glad we left early though, or I can only imagine what traffic would have been like.

After the parade, we went back to Whit's to relax for an hour or so. Then we headed downtown to eat. By fluke (because where she wanted to eat her birthday dinner was already full), we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. And I am SO glad we did. There was a 45 minute wait, but again, the weather was wonderful, so we were able to wait outside and people watch the whole time.

Me and the birthday girl!

She was such a big girl, holding onto our beeper!

It really didn't take too long to get seated and we got to sit outside in the fresh air. I ordered a burger with a chili relleno on it. Best. invention. ever.

Like, I'm glad I don't live down there or I'd want to eat one every day. It was seriously SO worth the wait. The company was perfect, the food was perfect, the setting was perfect. Best dinner ever.

We went home after that for some much needed relaxing. I ended up falling asleep with Tessa around 9:30pm and I don't think they stayed up too much later than me! We were all exhausted from our non-stop day.

We headed out the next morning around 11am. It was sad to say bye to Whitney and Kansas City, but we were ready to head home.

Overall, it was SUCH a great weekend. So glad with my decision to go there!!

Happy birthday, Whitney!!

Things you must know about me to be my friend....

*I still hate sleeping with socks. Hate it. Sometimes I fall asleep with socks on and while I usually somehow get them off during the night (without remembering), there have been a few mornings when I wake up with socks on and it literally makes me nauseous to  feel socks on my feet in the mornings. I don't know why.

*I hate newspaper. I hate cotton balls (and q-tips). I hate Styrofoam (HATE it). I hate paper napkins. The sounds of all these things rubbing against each other (like Styrofoam against Styrofoam or newspaper pages rubbing together) makes me gag. I shutter when I think about the sound of a cotton ball being ripped apart.

*I'm not a big meat eater (no, I'm not a vegetarian, I'm a carbatarian. As in, I only enjoy eating carbs and no other food group--I just don't really eat meat). And when I do, I like it in very small pieces and VERY well cooked (charred). I think it smells good, sometimes I even think it looks good, but I don't enjoy the taste. So if you're going to feed me, don't be offended if I turn down your beautifully cooked steak or a chicken leg, mmmkay?

*I do not keep up on politics or world issues. Some people think that's "horribly uneducated" of me, but honestly, I'd rather not know. I know enough to know I don't enjoy our current government leaders and that compared to a lot of other countries, we've got it pretty good, so I like to leave it at that.

*I LOVE breakfast food. I could eat breakfast food for any meal, any time of day, any day of the week. Biscuits and gravy is my favorite. Add some bacon to that (the one exception to my disgust for meat) and it's a done deal.

*I thoroughly enjoy having my back tickled. Or my hair played with. I've considered paying someone money to do this for me. Nick tries.......but he doesn't have long fingernails and his idea of how to tickle a back and my idea of how to tickle a back are extremely different. Although he has come a long way!

*I hate sleeping on the pillow with my head facing the open side of the pillow case. It's like the sock thing. Drives me crazy.

*I have a severe mild case of road rage.

*I'm very organized at work and have a filing system and a clean desk with VERY minimal clutter. Not the case at home.

*I LOVE shopping. I live for the hunt of a good bargain! When people throw their junk away, I want it! I could seriously do it all day, every day. I'm trying to figure out a way I can do that for a living :)

*I do NOT like gel pens or blue ink or pencils. I refuse to use any of them. A black ball-point pen is the only way you'll catch this girl writing!


Can anyone relate to my weirdness?! Anybody...... (insert crickets chirping)........Tell me something weird about yourself so I can feel more normal!!

Things that make me smile.....

It's kind of hard to see, but Nick put Tessa's shirt on backwards. She had a big flower on her back right shoulder instead of her left front chest :)

He likes to wear whatever Daddy wears!....God help us all

I love a good nail polish display. I wish I could buy every one of these colors (except green. Green nail polish is gross).

I've waited my whole life for this cute little pony tail!

Beautiful scenery around my house.

Her angry face...it slays me.

These boys have my heart.

She has big boots to fill!

Bedroom redo

So when we first moved into our house, we practically lived in the basement. The biggest bedroom is down there, so we set up camp! However..........two children later, we had to move upstairs. There are two bedrooms upstairs and neither is super huge, but both are sufficient. We painted both bedrooms tan when we first moved in just to get a fresh coat of paint on the walls and since we wouldn't be actually living in either room for awhile, we weren't too worried about it.

But when it was time to move upstairs, I painted the kids' room, but didn't feel like or have the time to mess with ours. A few weekends ago, I got so tired of looking at those tan walls.

So I threw some junk up there and made some curtains! It at least brightened up the space and brought a little personality to our tan box.

The Mr & Mrs signs, I got for $5 at a garage sale. The curtains are just material from Hobby lobby. The only seam I sewed was a pocket for the rod. The other sides are left unfinished :) Because that's how I roll. The quilt I got for $5 at an estate sale (an answer to one of my many prayers). The two chevron pillow cases, I made from a dress I had bought on clearance at K-Mart for $1.99.

In the small turquoise frame, I printed the lyrics to our wedding song and then wrote N + B in the bottom left hand corner. The scrlly turquoise frame on the left was actually a mirror I found at Goodwill for $3. The mirror broke, so I painted the cardboard back and wrote "Grow old with me." The shutters I got for $1 each. The N and B letters are cardboard that I modge-podged scrapbook paper too. All super easy.

In the time since I've taken these pictures, we got a flat screen and put it up where the "A true love story never ends" painting is. It's nothing majorly beautiful, but I love having fuller walls and bright colors! Makes me so happy! And it makes our room feel not so small :)