Isaac: 3 years old

Wow... how do you describe an entire person and personality in one little post?? How do I capture the essence of Isaac at this moment in time - so that we can remember him always and treasure the individual that he is. I love him SO much. It's hard to put those feelings and moments into words.

Well, let me begin by saying that I am not surprised at all that Isaac is 3 years old. I am amazed that I have a 3 year old... but it is perfectly suitable that my mature expressive child is finally 3. He has only been waiting and thinking about this day for MONTHS. And now he has finally arrived! He just feels 3. It suits him. :)

Alrighty, well I wish that I could remember every funny comment, every cute smile, every hug, every bit of EVERYTHING about him. But it's impossible. So here is my imperfect, incomplete account of things about Isaac at age 3.

- He likes puzzles.
- He LOVES people. He is very sociable and thrives on time with friends.
- He watches TV like a champ (probably 30 minutes - 2 hours a day - depending on the day! Avg. = 1 hour). He likes to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Barney, and Little Einsteins. He sees a lot of Baby Signing Time (watching with Elise). He has yet to see a full length movie.
- He LOVES to be outside. He likes all sports - but especially seems into t-ball right now. He likes to run around outside and play tag. He loves playing in our sprinkler, baby pool, with the water table. He does NOT like to go on walks (in or out of the stroller).
- He likes to play with blocks, cars, trains, the dollhouse, play food, baby dolls, puzzles, etc... Pretty much he likes everything.
- He has the MOST PHENOMENAL MEMORY. He remembers people names way better than most adults that I know. He remembers details about people and their lives - stuff that I don't even remember until he brings it up!
- He LOVES letters. He knows all of his letters and their sounds. He can write most all of the letters (I think he can right them all - but I haven't really tested that theory). He already knows how to write his name and spell it to back to you in simple recall (he's been doing that for a couple of months). He also knows how to write Elise's name and spell her name too. He is constantly asking how to spell everything in sight. Oh - and he constantly asks what color everything is (even though he knows the answer).
- His imagination is alive and well. :) We find him playing with imaginary friends (or real friends who aren't actually there) all of the time.
- He loves to read books alone or with us.
- He's been sleeping in a toddler bed for 2 months.
- He is not potty trained - but that is 100% our fault... I haven't been up to trying yet. He shows LOTS of interest and readiness signs... so hopefully soon.
- He loves church, wearing ties, going to nursery, and is seriously in LOVE with the thought of being a "primary kid". At home, he often pretends to be a primary kid and goes up to the "front of the church" to sing a song. He reverently folds his arms and walks up to the front of our living room and sings "I am a Child of God." Then he walks back and expects a high 5 for not only him - but ALL of the other primary kids with him as well.
- He loves going to restaurants to eat. We call that a "family date". His favorite is Chick-a-fila.
- He's a decent eater.
- He is still sleeping pretty well at night (usually 7:00/7:30pm. ish to 6:30/7:00 am.ish). He occasionally naps. That was a HUGE battle this last month when we finally took his binkie away. He went from napping 5/7 days a week to NO NAPS FOR 3 WEEKS. I thought I was going to die. So... we gave him back his binkie for naps only (not for bedtime) and now he naps probably 4/7 days a week.
- He still loves his warm milk and apple juice.
- Daddy is still his favorite person on the planet - but mom is the go-to person for injuries. :)
- He wants to be a "big boy".
- He says the cutest, funniest things - and I am terrible at writing them down. :(
- He LOVES every member of his extended family. He talks about them all the time and misses them terribly.
- His obsession with musical instruments and marching bands is alive and well. His knowledge about instruments is INSANE.
- He knows the names of the Prophet and apostles. He knows the first 2 articles of faith. He can also sing the colors song from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".
- He is cuddly and snuggly.
- He is often in timeout. :( The last month or two has been particularly difficult in this department. We are trying hard not to expect too much from him or be too hard on him - but that is really hard for us. We pray and work and try as best as we can to not screw the poor little angel up. We love him!!! We want to parent him as best as we can. He has begun to be openly defiant at times. We try hard to apologize and repent with him when we don't discipline correctly. We try hard to be patient and have more positives than negatives in a day. Seriously - he is often pushing all of our buttons - but we are doing our best - really we are.
- We are a happy family and we LOVE ADORE our Isaac.
- He is a sensitive, observant, intelligent, GENIUS, kind hearted, FUN, silly, rambunctious, athletic, expressive little booger. We are grateful to have him in our home. :)

WE LOVE YOU ISAAC!!!!!

Isaac: 3 year old Birthday Interview

Straight from Isaac's mouth...

Favorite color: Black (every time you ask this question of him - you get a different answer)

Favorite TV show: Cosby Show

Favorite sport: Racquetball

Favorite thing to do with Dad: Go to work

Favorite thing to do with Mom: Play with her

Favorite thing to do with Elise: Play

Favorite game: I-S-A-A-C (spelling words is one of his favorite things to do!)

Most proud moment from last year: To Sing "I am a Child of God"

Favorite Food: Green Food (later he said "Fish")

Favorite Scripture Story: Isaac

Best Friend: Blake

Favorite thing about church: Go to nursery and sing "I am a Child of God"

Favorite Book: Go Dog Go! (consistently has a favorite for a couple of weeks at a time - this is the current favorite)

Favorite Animal: Tiger

Favorite thing to do outside: Play tag

Favorite Song: "I am a Child of God"

Best memory from the past year: Going on Family Dates

What are you looking forward to this next year: PLAY!

Any other comments: I like puzzles.

Isaac's 3rd Birthday: The Real Deal

Here he is...
OUR THREE YEAR OLD.
Isaac has been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for this day to come... and it FINALLY came!!! He's officially 3 years old!
Happy Birthday Isaac!

We all went into his room this morning when he woke up and sang Happy Birthday to him. And he got to run through the traditional "car wash" - always a hit.

Birthday Breakfast - Chocolate chip muffins and cantaloupe.
(Side note: Our power in the city of Liberty was randomly off for 8 hours the morning of his birthday. Weird. It finally came back on around 1:30 pm - just when I was getting nervous about how hot the afternoon would be with no AC. It was just random. But, that morning boy was I grateful that we had made his muffins the night before!
2nd Side note: I was assigned Jury duty for Isaac's birthday. LAME. Luckily and gratefully, I wasn't called in... so I didn't have to go at all. But it was just random - and between that and my morning sickness it made it hard to plan much for his special day. Thankfully he was thrilled with his party and the simple pleasures of his special day! Oh - I love that boy!!!)

We spent the morning wandering around outside where it was cool(er) and then had a fun and wet play date (playing in the baby pool and sprinkler) with one of Isaac's friends. Isaac had a great time. After lunch, came nap time, and making a cake together. I let Isaac help make the cake (that he had picked out earlier at the grocery store) - choose the color of the frosting and choose the sprinkles. So it was all his creation. That was fun... he was SO excited. When Jeremy got home we had dinner and then... the MAIN event - Brent and Michelle and their family came over to party hearty with us.

Isaac got to open presents.

We sang and blew out candles and ate cake. :)

Oh. my. Isaac.
How we love you!!!! You have blessed our life with SO much laughter, happiness, and LOVE. We are so grateful to have you in our lives today and FOREVER. We love you!!!

Isaac's 3rd Birthday: The Party

This year Isaac got to have a BIRTHDAY PARTY.
It was a much anticipated event. :)

He had the chance to go to several friends' birthday parties earlier in the year... so he knew what to expect and was eagerly awaiting his turn. We had been tentatively planning on having a party for him this year... but then as I got sicker and sicker with morning sickness... it simply felt like WAY more than I could handle. So, just when I was going to scrap the idea - Jeremy volunteered to do the WHOLE thing.

So that's what we did!

We set the date for Saturday June 25th from 10 am - 12 pm.
Since our home is small and the weather had been gorgeous outside we decided to plan simple, fun, outdoor water activities. Easy stuff like playing in the baby pool, slip'n'slide, running in the sprinkler, using squirt bottles, etc...
We also planned for a picnic lunch.

I emailed out last minute invites to several of Isaac's friends.
And they could ALL make it.
Yay!!!

The day of the event arrived. Isaac was SO excited!!!

Unfortunately, the day was overcast.
And then... just at the stroke of 10 am it started to rain.
Uggghhhh... foiled!

So the plans changed.

We simply played with toys inside, did a brief rendition of "music group", opened presents, and then luckily it cleared up just enough for a patio picnic. After that the kids happily ran around squirting each other with their squirt bottles (take home gifts for each kid).

And it all worked out just great! Jeremy was an energetic ring leader and the kids were easy to please, so it didn't really matter what we did. :)

And Isaac was just thrilled to be having a party!!

Happy Isaac opening presents.

With his friends - waiting for their lunch.

Elise - happy as can be just to be a part of all that was going on.

Lunch: English muffin pizzas, grapes, goldfish crackers, and Capri Suns.

I forgot to take a group photo - so here are some individual shots of his cute little friends.
Eliza Jones (the one and only girl he invited :)

Our Neighbors - Aiden and Brennan Peckman

Wyatt Hatch

Easton Nickels

And here is the cake!
Isaac had requested "black" cake. So we decided to have fun with it and make a dirt cake and serve it in a pail - with a shovel. The kids might have been a little young for the idea. More than one of them was a little freaked out about it (especially by the gummy worms). But they warmed up to it and ended up really liking it! All except Eliza... who wouldn't even try it. :)

Isaac devouring his dirt cake.

I love this cute little dirty faced boy!!

Oh - and a shot of another of his friends - Preston Walker.
(The only friend not pictured is Rollins Pyle).

The remains of the dirt cake.

Here is the happy boy after the party was over.

Isaac had such a good time and enjoyed all of the attention and love. I am so glad that we (JEREMY) decided to throw the party. Yay for Superdad!!!

On Dollhouses and Baseball

I love having a boy and a girl for so many reasons.
One of the random things I love is to see their creativity and personalities come out as they play. I love seeing Isaac playing with dolls and the doll house. And I love watching Elise play sports and play with trains and cars. It is just plain fun to see what they come up with! I love that they are exposed to all sorts of toys and ideas from each other.

Here is Isaac - playing with the doll house.

And Elise - trying her hand at baseball.

And Isaac wearing his baseball hat and bike helmet. Why not?

Girls and Toe Nails

Every Tuesday morning in the month of June Isaac had a play school group that he got together with... so Elise and I had the mornings to ourselves!
Precious girl time. :)
One morning we went shopping for fresh flowers (she LOVED smelling those and looking at all of them) and then we went out to a nice little lunch at a cafe - just the two of us.
The next week the weather was beautiful so we decided to head outside and...
PAINT OUR TOE NAILS.

Yep - she loved it!
She held still pretty well and kept pointing to her toes and my toes.

And she was SO cute out there that I took tons and tons of photos of her! Of course, as usual, the little IMP would never cooperate and actually LOOK at the camera... so these are the best photos I got. But be it known to the world that this little girl is a DOLL - gorgeous in every way - sassy and sweet... just OOZING with personality and LOVE.

I love her so much and I wish that her every cuteness could be captured in a photo forever!
But I am so grateful for the fun mother-daughter moments that we get to spend together.
I love you Lisey-Lou!

My Birthday 2011

This year I had a FANTASTIC birthday weekend.
For future reference - a birthday weekend is far superior to just a birthDAY... I totally recommend it. And, judging by this past weekend, 28 years old is looking pretty good so far. :)

The weekend started out perfectly. Jeremy and I got up early Friday morning to head off for 2 days and 1 night together (alone!) in St. Louis. And while we were getting ready to go we got the BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!!!!! A positive pregnancy test!!!!!!!
Does life get any better than that?!?
(much more on that in a future post!)

I'll try to keep this brief:
We drove to St. Louis talking and talking and talking the whole way (I LOVE that!)
Jeremy went to his firm's golf retreat and I got to spend 5 hours ALONE in a blissfully refreshing hotel room in downtown St. Louis. Seriously? Can life get better than peaceful solitude? I walked through the gardens (the weather was outrageously perfect), I took myself out to a very relaxing lunch, and then I went home and journaled, napped, and watched tv. BLISS. Heaven. I want that every year for my birthday! (please?)
I met up with Jeremy at his firm's cook-out. We had a nice BBQ dinner (have I mentioned that I already wasn't feeling super well at this point - morning sickness started early this time around). We drove back to downtown St. Louis to see the infamous arch. Then we headed back to the hotel to snuggle, relax, and sleep!

The next morning we enjoyed a lovely complimentary breakfast at the hotel.
(Have I mentioned yet that the firm paid for everything this weekend - hotel, breakfast, other meals, gas for the drive, everything? IDEAL).
Then we played card games, watched tv, relaxed, and napped. YUM. A morning nap - talk about frivolous-ness! After going out for a casual lunch, we drove out to the temple - where we got to do baptisms, confirmations, and initiatory ordinances for a FAMILY NAME of mine. What a wonderful and rare opportunity. I loved it!

After the temple we happened upon a mall - with 2 of my favorite things in it. A jewelery store called "Charming Charlie's" and the restaurant "The Cheesecake Factory". YUM!

Then we drove home... calling our family along the way to tell them our BIG news. :)

It was lovely. A wonderful, relaxing, exciting birthday!
p.s. the kids did great with the baby-sitter.

And here are some photos. First, here we are at the temple. :)

I wanted a picture of us together. But it had to be a "self photograph" - so we duked it out to see who takes better pictures in this situation. Here are a few of Jeremy's attempts...

Attempt #1:

Attempt #2:

Attempt #3:

My turn!
Attempt #1:

Attempt #2:

I'm the hands-down winner... am I right?

Oh - and here is our gorgeous hotel room. I don't remember the name of the hotel... but it was an old, but very nice hotel in the center of downtown. Oh how I love relaxing in a nice hotel!

Sunday I got to sleep in and wake up to the sounds of my kids playing happily with their daddy. Jeremy took care of everything that morning and even had cards for me from the kiddos. They were so cute saying "Happy Birthday Mommy!"

In the evening after church we headed to Brent & Michelle's house for dinner. Michelle had made a nice roast and potato meal and Brent made this delicious birthday cake with a cream filling of sorts. Apparently it was an experiment that turned out super yummy!

Great birthday.
It will seriously be hard to top this one.
I am grateful for my life... what can I say... it's a pretty good life.
I am married to by best friend, I have two ADORABLE kids, and
we are expecting ANOTHER baby. :)
I am so blessed.