Thursday, June 23, 2011

Arielle at 19 months

My sweet, beautiful, funny and LOUD girl; oh how I love you. You are growing up before my very eyes!!

Speaking of eyes, you have the most sparkly blue eyes. I could get lost in them when I look at you. It amazes me just how much you look like your grandma. I wish she would have had the chance to meet you.

You are getting crazier by the day. You are loud and run around upending anything you can get your hands on. I am about to move the desk downstairs until you are old enough to stop opening the drawers and pulling EVERYTHING out!

Potty training is going well. I am still not sure if we should move to undies during the day or not. 9 times out of 10 you will tell me when you have to "poopy" (which still means either number 1 or 2), but there is that 1 time you won't and I don't have it in me to clean it up yet. I suppose I shouldn't worry considering you aren't even 2 yet!


You are getting so much hair now! It is nice to be able to put little piggy tails in your curls. Too bad you yank them out almost as fast as I can get them in.

Your sleeping is not as good as it used to be. You have been either waking up in the middle of the night and demanding, "song" or waking up at 5am. If I bring you in bed with us you will go right back to sleep but you need me to be practically spooning you! Please go back to normal soon. Mommy thought we were done with the newborn phase.

You are so stubborn. Did I mention that you are stubborn?? MAN ARE YOU STUBBORN! Once you get something in your mind, you dig your heels in and will scream, screech or cry until you have it. We are in deep doo doo come the teenage years.

You had your first real experience at the beach this year. When I took you near the water you protested and then proceed to shriek when I put your feet in the water. The second time we managed to get you in up to your knees. I'm sure it will grow on you, but I doubt you'll be charging head first into waves, like your brother does, any time soon!

You are learning words at lightning speed and have started using 2 to 3 word sentences. Your favorite one right now is, "Trina, she seepin". When you see the cat curled up all around the house.

You are a climber. I can't turn my back on you for a second. If i do, you will be standing ON the kitchen table. You have quite an assortment of bumps and bruises from all of your climbing escapades already.


Until next month baby girl!

Natey at 4 years old

Natey you are 4!
 You never miss a chance to tell people that too.
It is almost a part of your name now, "I'm Nathan. I'm 4 years old".
It is the cutest thing.


At your 4 year check-up you were 45 pounds and 42.5 inches tall! That puts you in the 95th and 92nd percentiles. You gained 5 pounds and 1.5 in 3 months! I knew you were going through a growth spurt when you kept telling me you were starving right after you ate!

You have come leaps and bounds in the last few months with your, ahem, cooperative spirit. I have seen such a change in your willingness to listen and help out. I am starting to give you more "responsibilities" and you are rising to the challenge.

You can get dressed almost all by yourself now. Socks are still a mommy job and you can get your pants on if they aren't too snug and a regular button is not involved. Shoes are hit or miss. I know you know how to put them on and you will do it sometimes, but often you give up and ask for help.

You are still an amazing eater. You are actually a better eater than I was at 25 years old! You eat a wide variety of foods and have an awesome attitude when it comes to trying new things. We have a motto and repeat it every time you are unsure. I say, "If you try it..." and you reply, "I might LIKE it!" and will always take at least a bite.

You are still a mini-me but are starting to look a lot more like daddy. You have now developed a dislike for eggs and regular milk. I swear I have NEVER told you I didn't like either of those. It seems I passed it directly through my DNA to you. ;)

You are inquisitive and ask so many questions. You always want to know about things, but your latest obsession is asking about what will happen when you are 100 years old. It shows me you still don't get the concept of time completely!

You are still  a great sleeper. After going through a battle with early waking we bought you a clock that turns green when it is ok for you to get up and you rarely exit your room before that time! Best. Idea. Ever!


You would never wear clothes if we didn't make you. Any chance to strip down, you will take it. We went to our friend's property and, on our walk, came upon a perfect, serene lake. It was a matter of seconds before you ran in with no clothes. I will only let you get away with this until you're 5, so you'd better enjoy it now!

You also have no sense of when it might be an inappropriate time and/or place to pee. Just so you know, on the patio at our friend's cookout, in front of EVERYONE is not one of those times. They make toilets for a reason. Just because you CAN pee anywhere, doesn't mean you should! (SOOOOO embarrassing for me)

You are a sweet, sweet boy! You are also a little charmer and have been telling me (about every pretty girl you meet) that you are going to, "Marry her". You bat your long lashes and smile your one-dimpled smile and they just melt. All of the women love it and I'm sure the girls your age don't get it, so we're good. You never miss an opportunity to compliment someone. You told Auntie that she looked pretty in her dress. I could just smoosh you!


With the return of summer weather came the return of beach days. This is basically EVERY picture I take of you at the beach. You have zero desire to come out of the water. We literally have to drag you out and you think it is funny to turn around and sprint back to the water once we've got you back at the blanket. You want to learn to boogie board and then surf. I think we should start at square one and get you some real swimming lessons first.

Your language development continues to amaze me and everyone else. Lately everything is "Extremely" (good, bad, long, etc.). You like teaching your sister new words and then clapping for her when she gets them. The funniest thing You have tried to get her to say had been, "Ultimate Alien". I have no idea what that is or where you heard it, but it is hilarious.
You continue to be obsessed with all things super hero and when we play you like to tell daddy and I that we are whatever hero you are at the moment's brother and sister and we have to "Get the evildoers!"


 You graduated from Pre-school and are starting Pre-K in the fall. You know how to write all of your letters and can count to 59 with no prompting. If I help you a little, you can get to 100. You still seem to have no interest in coloring or drawing pictures, but we will continue to work on that.

Your imagination is very active and you like to blame things on "Casper" when I asked you if you did something bad.

I think you are having bad dreams because of your crazy imagination so every night I have to make sure your closet door is closed and I do a "spell" to keep monsters away from you in the night.

Since we cut the cable we have been watching only Netflix. You have been loving some old school shows like He-man and Inspector Gadget. It is pretty funny. You are also watching Power Rangers and Barney with your sister (kill me now). My favorite thing is the lack of commercials and no more, "Can I have THAT for my birthday?".


I love to watch you grow. Thanks for being my sweet boy.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Wordless Wednesday: What's more fun?

    Brother's new toys...........................or the bag they came in??




You decide!

(The last pic would have been so awesome but it was blurry. Darn toddlers moving at light speed!)


Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Monster Party!!

My boy turned 4 yesterday. {Insert sniffles here} After much debate we settled on Monsters as the theme for his birthday party. Being the over achiever that I am, I set out to make a ton of stuff for the party. We had 25 adults,18 kids and 2 babies at the party. Too bad we also had RAIN! I had grand plans of a beautiful tablescape set up under our tent outside, children running their energy out in the yard or jumping in the bouncy house, and 2 organized games being played by all but 5 minutes after guests started arriving it began to pour and everything had to be moved inside. So much for grand plans. The kids still had a blast destroying playing in Nate's room and the family room so that's all that matters, right?? Without further ado, pics from the party...
Natey's party shirt that I made (and Liz helped me finish. THANKS!!)
Meet  melon monster. Don't get too close...you might lose a digit!
Juice box wrappers, candy dipped pretzels & wooden spoons and blueberry ice cream all made my me. Vanilla ice cream and rain soaked mini beach balls, not.

Kiddos decorated their own monster masks as they arrived.

Favor cones!
Monster hand puppets on parade!

Yes, I made them. Yes, I'm crazy. There, I saved you from asking.

The two games that didn't officially get played because of the lack of space in the house. Grrrr. At least the kids played the beanbag toss a little bit.

All in all, everyone had a great time. I got a little ambitious on my projects so I didn't finish a couple of things that I really wanted to do. I did love how everything came out though. Happiest 4th Birthday my big boy! I hope you enjoyed it 'cause next year this tired mama is having your party at Germy Chuck E. Cheese!

Since I always want to know where stuff came from, I will break it down for ya!

Invitation: Made and designed by me, Picture edited for maximum awesomeness by Lisa (Salt and Light Studio)
Nate's shirt: Made by me with simple felt which was sewn onto the shirt
Monster melon: Me, with inspiration from HERE
Juicebox wrappers, Pin the eye on the monster game made by me with monster images (also used on the invite) from: Babystar Design
Monster Puppets and favor cones: Made by me with the help of my hubby! Now's that's teamwork!
Cupcakes: Me. Sprinkles and candy eyes were from Michael's Craft store
Little paper cups and wooden spoons for ice cream and cupcake wrappers: Shop Sweet Lulu and inspiration for them: One Charming Party
Monster Beanbag toss game: Amazon.com
Masks, beach balls and monster suckers: Oriental Trading Company
Super cool monster stickers: Fishcakes by Voz Perkins
Inspiration for monster party ideas: J. at your service and Kara's Party Ideas