Happy 3rd Birthday!

Well so much for my plan to become a regular blogger again. Let's just call this a slow return. ;o).

Last Monday (19th) was R.'s 3rd birthday. I thought it would be fun to see how he has grown and changed through pictures.

Here he is at one week old with his new friend Elie. He and Elie are still buddies today.

R. had wavy hair, but sadly it was just not curly enough to let it grow long. Jeremy was very relieved because he was not a fan of having a boy with curls.

1st birthday enjoying his first taste of sweets.

Playing with Daddy at the park. This is a day when our family met Xavier, Karen and E. at the Arbor Hills Preserve. We had a picnic and they introduced us to our first Mooyah burger (so yummy). Now my favorite burger just behind the Burger Joint in NYC. Okay I got a little distracted -back to the birthday boy.

Our funny, expressive and laid back boy. He keeps us smiling!! R. loves, loves, loves The Wiggles! Here he was channeling his inner Captain Feathersword.

At 1 1/2 this became one of his favorite places to play. He loved playing with his friend in the mirror.

2nd birthday - a Mickey Mouse party. At his first birthday, instead of blowing out the candle, he grabbed the "fire" and burned himself. So before his 2nd party we practiced blowing out candles, but as you can see we should have worked on it a little more. Aunt Sloan and Daddy saved his cute little fingers just in time.

This summer, R. spent a few days with Uncle Cameron, Aunt Sloan and the girls. Uncle Cameron has taken up photography and took this amazing picture of him. Look at that face!

We had a little family party on the day of his birthday. We will celebrate with extended family at a later date. Yeah no touching of the candles this year!! R. please forgive mommy for slacking in getting your haircut.

Posing with his proud big brothers!

Hamming it up while opening presents.

New Wiggles DVD - so excited!

A new CD to listen to at bedtime. R. & C. share a room - I am not sure who was more excited about the Imagination Movers CD?

He picked out the cupcakes with the Sesame Street friend rings. As you will see below they loved the neon icing and played a game to see who could make the biggest mess.

He loves mylar balloons! He picked out this one at the store and since his birthday has played with it everyday.

Happy birthday sweet boy - love you!! We are so glad God blessed our family with you.

Happy Birthday Bruce

Happy birthday little brother! I hope that you have a very special day. I will be praying for your 2009 as many exciting adventures are ahead of you - not to mention a wedding! Love you!

Happy Birthday Mom!

On Monday we went to my parent's house to help set up their tree. I love my parent's tree because they have so many ornaments - it is hard to find a branch that is covered! I guess after 37 years you have quite a collection. The boys enjoyed helping - as a matter of fact C. , R. and I are going to work on our tree on Friday.

Mom I hope you have a very special birthday today! Be looking for a package in the mail soon. Love you!!

36 and I am okay with it!

I had a wonderful birthday weekend! On Saturday evening I stayed at my favorite hotel and just relaxed. Jeremy's parents were nice enough to watch the boys so he could have dinner with me. We watched the Texas vs. Texas Tech game while we ate and were very sad about the outcome (Tech won - hard for a longhorn fan to swallow!). I was able to put it behind me and work on my Christmas cards for the rest of the evening. Thank you Jeremy for my wonderful getaway. While at the hotel I watched Secondhand Lions - it was a really good movie.


This morning Jeremy and the boys gave me my gifts. I was not expecting anything because my hotel stay was suppose to be my present. I was excited though because I was given my first Ipod and a yummy Starbucks gift card! I received so many sweet voice mails, emails, facebook messages and cards in the mail. I have not been one to look forward to birthdays since I turned 30 but today was not too bad. Thank you to all who made it such a special day. :o)

Halloween 2008

This year we broke our tradition of trick or treating in our neighborhood. We dropped by Jeremy's parents house so they could see the boys' costumes. Then we found a neighborhood and did a little trick or treating before driving to my parents house to surprise my dad on his birthday.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

(Jeremy and I thought the mask was creepy - reminded us of this)

Batman!

We had the costume because our 8 year old worn is a few years ago. It has been in the dress up clothes and it is our 4 year old's favorite thing to wear around the house. We added the gloves this year which he thought were so cool.
Fireman
I bought this costume at Old Navy for our 8 year old when he was 2. I love it and am so happy that all three of them were able to wear it.

Trick or Treat!

The 2 year old was fascinated by all the candy. When the door would open he would run as fast as he could saying "candy, candy" over and over again. He did not understand once he received the candy that it was time to go. He would just keep getting more candy and of course all the ladies would give him as much as he wanted. He was so funny.

Surprise Happy Birthday Popple!

2 year old birthday party!

We had family over to celebrate our 2 year old's birthday (Blaine - we missed your family). He is a BIG Wiggles fan, but those party decorations were hard to find so we chose Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (he calls him Mick-I it makes him sound Russian.)

Here are links to some of the recipes I made at the party. At some point I will put them on my recipe blog but right now I have plenty of blogging to catch up on here first.
Bunco Buns
Chicken Salad w/ Cranberry & Pecans
Mexican Corn Dip
Magnolia Vanilla Cupcakes (best cupcakes I have EVER tasted - the frosting was just OK. I left a few plain because they were SOOOO GOOD!! Side note- the original Magnolia Bakery was credited for starting the cupcake craze.)

Getting lots of help opening his gifts

Holding the Mick-I he received as a gift.

Loves his Diego Backpack!

He thinks he is so big now that he has a bike like his brothers.

One of his favorite gifts. His brothers enjoy playing with the bat and ball as well. So far they have used it in the right way and not as a weapon. ;o)

At his first birthday instead of blowing out the candle, he put it out with his fingers. We decided he should practice this year, so on his actual birthday we showed him how to blow out candles. We thought he had it down - guess we were wrong.

Everyone at the party started saying "no, no, no, no" and it freaked him out a bit. Here Jeremy and Aunt Sloan are trying to explain that he needs to blow the candle out.

Mission accomplished!

My sweet boys after the party.

Happy 2nd Birthday

Happy birthday precious boy! How is it possible that you are becoming a toddler today? What a joy and blessing you are to our family. We love you!!

Happy Birthday!

Today this precious boy (Blaine & Lesli's youngest) turns 3! I hope you have a great day. :o)

We are sad that we can not be at your petting zoo party but I know that you will have a wonderful time. We can not wait to see pictures!

Happy Happy Birthday! We love you!