A Happy 3rd Birthday

There's little more I can say about Scarlet's 3rd birthday than "awesome." She's just at that age where, for the first time really, she is enjoying everything and really getting into the pageantry of special events. She has been focused on this birthday for about 4 months and it was so much fun to plan with her.

My parents always did birthdays right - spreading them out for us with multiple parties. It wasn't your "birthday" it was your "birthweek." Julie and I are exactly the same. I have at least 4 parties or events every year and I am doing the same for the kiddos.

Scarlet's week started with a party at school for her little friends. Her Gumball and I surprised her with a cookie cake and we all sang happy birthday. She was the first birthday party of the year, so it was an extra special treat for all the kids.

Right before walking out the door to school. Happy Birthday!

This is her cute little classroom, friends and teacher, Ms. Chelle. I don't think she had spotted us yet in this photo.

Then, she spotted her Gumball and made a mad dash ;-)

Ms. Chelle is telling them all that it's a special occasion and that there will be cake. This drew quite a few "oohs and aahs."

Making she sure gets every last bit of her cookie cake.

And this is her best little friend, Marley, who is a complete sweetheart. She loves to give hugs.

Next was her birthday dinner with Momma, Daddy and Brother. We let her choose her favorite restaurant, which of course is Olive Garden. They even came to sing to her. Please don't listen to my singing ;-) She talked about this for at least a week after.

After dinner, we came home to open gifts from us. She had requested her gifts starting about 2-3 months before this, so we were looking forward to her finally getting to open them.

We got her one of those dolls from the Our Generation collection from Target. They are like the American Girl collection, but we thought better for this age. Her name is Holly and Scarlet loves her.

She also got the horse and foal for Holly.

And the highchair that fits beside her at the table.

And then of course came the big birthday bash! Her party at The Little Gym. She had requested a butterfly party, so she got both a butterfly and gymnastics party. The gym is someplace we have gone for classes since she was 4 months old, so we're real familiar with it and all the activities. It is truly awesome. They handle everything - monitoring the kids, teaching them new tricks, balancing acts and strengthening their cores. At the party, they also help with all the logistics, cutting the cake, and even writing down presents on the TY card list. The kids had a blast from what we could see, and it's made me seriously consider having all our birthday parties there.

She loves the rings.

Cousins. Ben was really into this place.

Jonathan was, too. He tried a little bit of everything.

This was HILARIOUS. They turned on music and told them to run, and they took off at lightening speed without a care in the world. Notice Will in the bottom right corner - he seemed to be leading the pack at many times.

Will and Ben walking between the bars.

Swinging and building up that core!

The spread.

The cake.

The awesome set-up they did for us. We had 20 children in total.

Scarlet is very funny about loud noises. They scare her easily. So she immediately covered her ears when everyone first started singing to her. She thought it was too loud...but quickly grew used to it and then thoroughly enjoyed it.

And then came presents. So many presents...

And then the kids could go back into the gym again for some more bouncing around. They have this Air Track. All the kids sit on it while it airs up like a bounce house. Once it's full, they bounce on it in a line from one end to the other. They LOVED it.

Will had a really big time on it. Scarlet always seemed to be moving in the wrong direction...

And the party crew. This was the best we could do at getting all the kids looking in the same direction. I think we did pretty good!!

These are my Pinterest-inspired party favors. I used the Cricut to make double-layer butterflies out of colored card stock, then placed a Smarties roll as the body.

These were also from Pinterest. They are goldfish-filled baggies that are pinched in the middle by a clothespin to create the body and wings. Pipe cleaner antennae and googly eyes finish them off! These were a big hit with all the kids (even though I was afraid of having a butterfly theme with boys there).

A Visit from the Paci Fairy

About the time I found out I was pregnant with Will, Scarlet all the sudden took a very keen interest in pacifiers. For a child who was nursed and hadn't used teething rings or anything of that sort, we all found it a bit interesting that she latched on to the paci at almost 8 months of age, but we went with it.

Two years later and Scarlet was even more attached to that pacifier than you can imagine. It was to the point where you didn't dare try to leave the house without one plus a back-up; and you better not even think of putting her to bed or nap without one. The pacifier became our albatross.

We had started talking to her about giving up the paci about a year ago. We just introduced it whenever it seemed natural and never made her feel as though it was a bad thing for her to do or as if we had a real opinion about it. It was just the simple approach of: "big girls don't use pacifiers." We invented the "Paci Fairy" for her and talked of her often. She came into homes of little girls who had given up their pacifiers and took them away to give to babies who really needed a pacifier but didn't have one. This fairy would leave (just like the tooth fairy) a prize in return.

A full year ago Scarlet humored us in this story telling and even told us that when she was ready, the paci fairy could bring her a dollhouse. We talked of that house often but never wavered in buying it for her for any other reason because we knew it was to be a special prize when she finally decided that pacifiers were no longer for her.

I didn't really worry about it too much health-wise because both our pediatrician and dentist assured us there was no long-term damage from pacifiers as long as she significantly reduced her use or gave it up completely by age three. But when August 1st rolled around and she was still just as attached (if not more so) than she's ever been, I grew concerned.

But that very next day, on August 2, I went to dinner with a friend from high school. When I left, Scarlet had a pacifier in her mouth. When I came home, Waylen said, "I think there's no more pacifier for Scarlet." What on earth kind of a child-whisperer was this daddy??!! And it was true. She got a little blister on her lip from the pacifier she was using that day and decided their relationship was over.

So, the next day, she helped me collect all the pacifiers from around the house to put in a box for the paci fairy.

We wrote a note together. It was precious:

Dear Paci Fairy,

I love you, Paci Fairy.

Please take these pacis away from my lips because they hurt my lips.

Please bring them to other babies.

<3 Scarlet

And, just as she promised, the Paci Fairy came and took all the pacifiers away to needy babies and left Scarlet a beautiful dollhouse in their place.

She (and brother) were ecstatic.

The First Day of Preschool, 2012

This was Scarlet's second year of preschool, entering the 3-year old class. We also decided to let Will go this year, too. He is in the Toddler class. He loved visiting Scarlet so much last year, it was hard to try to keep him at home. And, luckily he is so far proving to us that this was a wise decision.

Scarlet is in a wonderful class with some familiar faces from last year and a great teacher name Ms. Chelle. Will is also in a great class with four other boys! He's right in his element. His teacher is new this year and her name is Ms. Shiloh. I wasn't on-the-ball with getting my camera in the classroom yet, so maybe by year's end I'll have some pics of them.

I really like the photo treatment with all the text about the kids, so here is ours for the first day of Preschool.

The Rocking Chair

It's been a while since this actually occurred, but I wasn't ever able to get around to blogging about it and I not only want you to know this great story, I want you to know how great my sister is.

My mother rocked me and my sister in the same rocking chair, a chair that she kept around until I was in high school. And, then after realizing there probably wasn't much use in keeping it around much longer since it wasn't being used and it would definitely get more use from someone else, she donated it. Our church had just built a new sanctuary, which included a cry room for parents to use with small children during the service. It was set up much like a nursery, but with rows of chairs and rockers.

My rocker became one of those. But not before she wrote on the bottom: "Loving rocked Amy Susan Ramage, November 9, 1975."

It's weird because I didn't really think about that rocker at all when Scarlet was a baby. But after Will was born, I thought about it all the time. I missed it. I wanted it. I wanted that connection to my mom...no matter how old it was. And, a few days before Mothers' Day this year I had a dream that it was in Will's nursery and I was using it to rock him.

Then, on Wednesday before Mothers' Day this year, I got a text from Julie around 3 p.m. in the afternoon. It simply said, "Can you come outside?" I was just about to text her back and make fun of her about texting me on accident, but I went with my gut to the front door. When I opened it and stepped outside, she and both boys were in the driveway with my rocking chair.

After 19 years, she tracked it down for me.

My mom used to tell us the story of the rocking chair. "When you were a baby, I used to rock you in this chair. It's an awful old chair. It would never stay in one place. It just moved backward as you rocked. So, I would pick it up and move it all the way across the room. I would face the wall and start rocking you. We would rock all the way to the other side of room. And if you were still awake, I would pick it up and start over again."

I rock Will in it every single night (sometimes three, four or five times a night). It still moves itself backward as you rock. I imagine her doing the same 36 years ago with me and what a kick she would really get out of all of this.

My Summer Vacation, by Amy Day

I figure since I don't blog that much, and we're already into the school year, I should highlight the summer quite quickly. It was an awesome summer, and one that seemed to fly by really fast. For those who know me well, this is not usually a bad thing because you know I cannot stand the heat. But I have to say that having it fly by so fast is not as great as it used to be since it means the babies are getting that much bigger and older. I'll stand the heat to freeze time right now if I could.

Our summer wasn't really intense with activity, which is good. We visited the museum often, played with our cousins, played in the water a lot and of course, took our annual trip to Galveston, which Waylen's family tries to do every year. This year, as a change, we stayed in Surfside instead. It did not disappoint. I think everyone really liked the house we got right on the beach and it was a lot more quaint and quiet with beautiful beaches.

Waylen and I mainly just enjoyed watching our sweet babies enjoy their first summer as real friends. They love each other so much and you can tell they truly love to be around one another. Will especially loves to hold her hand while they are walking anywhere.

I have so many photos of the summer, it's hard to know where to begin and what to include, so I'm just pitching in a few of my very favorites. And, maybe if I ever get around to it, I'll post some more (but I wouldn't count on that ;-).

The typical scene: kids trying to keep their toys away from Cooper...unsuccessfully.

:-)

At Lake Granbury

Just because.

A typical morning scene. They don't sleep in the same room ever, but always end up reading or playing in Scarlet's bed.

Swinging with her cousin Karli. She has become very brave on that swing...

Mini man. Can't you see a difference in just a very short period of time??? Where's my baby gone?

They love this truck and I LOVE this photo. "Watch out! Scarlet's driving!"

Blue eyes.

Exploring the beach at Surfside for the first time. She loves bugs and especially rolly pollies, so she is always with a net and magnifying glass.

Bubba really liked being with his Bumpy on the golf cart, so that is where he stayed much of the time we were on the actual beach.

Thinking about going in...

Awesome.

We took a huge box of crafts to the beach so the kids would have one new thing to do every day when it came time to wind down. She is heavily concentrating here.

Brother never really got into the crafts, but he loved to watch (and bother) her.

We were at the beach for the first time on the anniversary of losing my dad since 2008. I drew the date in the sand to photo the kids. Four years later and all I can think about is just how much he would have loved his grandchildren. Scarlet Elizabeth, age 2, 10 months

Clyde William, age 1, 6 months

Can't forget our handsome daddy. He had a great summer, too! (you're welcome, babe ;-)

My Big Boy

If you can believe it, Will just turned 18 months. I'm not quite sure where the time has gone. I feel like I've been robbed of at least a year.

This amazing little guy is just the sweetest, most loving child. He loves to give hugs, kisses, and he loves his sister. He must see her first thing when he wakes every morning and say goodnight before he goes to bed. Their relationship is something for which I am very thankful.

Some things about Will at 18 months:
- he weighs 30 lbs
- he is 34" tall
- he loves bananas and grapes
- he will eat just about anything
- he loves horses and monkeys and knows their sounds well
- he knows about 50 to 75 words and is speaking in 2 and 3 word phrases now. His fave? "look at me!" we also love it when he says "where it go?"

Most importantly, he smiles constantly. The question I get asked most about Mr Will is whether he ever stops smiling. The truth? Hardly ever!



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