Happy Birthday Shaylor!!!

Shaylor turned 3 this past weekend and we had such a fun day with him.
We always make a pretty big deal out of birthdays. We let the person choose all their meals for the day and open up presents throughout the day. We had planned to have pancakes for breakfast, but the night before his birthday, we were at the grocery store and he saw cereal that had marshmallows in it and asked if he could have that for his birthday. So it was "Marshmallow Mateys" for breakfast (gag!) What the birthday boy wants, the birthday boy gets!

He got a new elephant shirt and a Diego hat that he wore all day!
He also got a foam sword that he thought was "cool!". Every time he swung it around, he would say, "huh-CHAW!"

After breakfast, I baked his cake. We were in a different part of the house and all of a sudden Shaylor says, "What dat smell?" Ian and I were talking and not paying attention and he kept persisting until finally he shouted, "I SMELL SUMFING. WHAT DAT SMELL?" It was the birthday cake filling the air with chocolatey goodness. He knew he smelled something good and wanted some of whatever it was! It took a while to explain to him that he had to wait until after dinner for his cake!

Ian and I went for a run with Shaylor and Maisy and let the girls stay home and work on their games for the party while Gracie had her morning nap.

For lunch, we went and picked up some pizzas and headed to the park. About 5 minutes after we got there, Shaylor had to go potty and it started to rain just a bit. So, that plan was short lived.
Here's a picture of him eating his pizza - he always eats it with the crust on top.

We finished lunch at home and Shaylor got to open his T-Ball set. He saw a commercial for "Batter Batter Baseball" at the beginning of the year and since then has asked us for one. He was so cute playing with it.

After afternoon naps, it was time to get ready for his party. We had family come by for a (rainy) Barbecue. Shaylor chose a Diego/jungle theme for his party decorations. Ashlyn did a "Diego Says" game (like Simon Says) and Noelle did an Animal Charades game. Shaylor had so much fun and got great presents. (Thanks everyone so much for spoiling him!)
Here's a picture of the cake Ian and I made for him.

He played with his toys until about 8:30 and then it was time for his final present - an elephant. He LOVES elephants and has seen this one in a store we go to often. Every time we are there, he picks it up and carries it around the store until it is time to go. Ya, there was no way we weren't going to get it for him!

He had a great birthday. Now I just need to make him understand that it's over and we're all out of presents!!

Viewing Pictures

Just a note about viewing pictures. Did you know that if you click (double click?) on them they get much bigger and clearer? I found it out by accident, but am glad I did!

Have a good day!

First Day of School 2008

Ashlyn and Noelle had their first day of school after a long 3 month summer break. Ashlyn is starting 3rd grade and Noelle is starting 1st grade. They get to wear uniforms, which is a fun change. They have a beautiful school and we feel so blessed to be a part of it. This is Noelle's first time going to school for a full day. So, she gets to eat lunch there and she misses Mom by the time she gets home!





It has been very quiet around here this past week! It is hard to know what to do without anyone to nag! I tried to nag Shaylor about cleaning up toys but he just looked at me and said, very matter-of-fact, "No, Mommy, I don't want to. You clean up toys."
How can I argue with that logic?! :)

Labor Day Luau

Last Monday we went to a Labor Day Luau and it was a lot of fun. The food was great and the setting gorgeous with the sun setting and the waterfalls in the background. There was a live band that played great and amazing Polynesian dancers. The kids got to go up on the "stage" at the beginning and dance to the music - which they loved. Noelle and I went up and learned how to do a hula called the hooki-lau (We're pulling in fishing nets in the picture below.)





At one point, they were showcasing dances from New Zealand and the dancer, who was painted like the guy below, came out into the audience with crazy, googly eyes and his mouth wide open and his tongue flicking in and out. He was searching for someone from the "enemy tribe." He had a leaf, which, when placed in front of the enemy, symbolized a peace offering. So, this guy comes out and sets it down in front of Shaylor, who just looks at him, wide-eyed. (I, meanwhile, am frantically trying to take a picture of this, and the camera was set on timer somehow and I couldn't get anything until it was too late!) Anyway, the main singer is explaining the peace offering to the crowd and everyone was waiting for Shaylor to pick up the leaf to symbolize that he accepted the peace offering. Shaylor just sat there staring. The Guy talking was pretty funny and said, "That's ok, little buddy, take your time; we'll wait." Shaylor finally picked it up and everyone clapped. It was cool. We saved the leaf!

At the end of all the dances (2 hours worth) these two fire dancers came out and amazed us. Ashlyn couldn't watch! One guy was putting the fire on his tongue and holding it with his feet. It freaked her out! I loved it though.




During all of this awesome entertainment, we had a lot of hard times too. It poured rain for about 24 hours before the show, so the ground was soaked. We brought a blanket, but it didn't keep the wet from seeping through. We finally had the idea of sitting on Gracie's diapers, which prevented us from getting more wet, but the damage had already been done. When the sun set and it got cold, our wet bottoms made us even colder.

Then, in the middle of everything, I look down and Gracie had, shall I say, "made a stinky" and it had gotten all over me. So, I move her onto Ashlyn's lap, thinking I had contained it all and was trying to clean myself up, only to find that Ashlyn had it all over her now. It was on the blanket too. It was so weird, I still don't know where it was coming from! So, I tried to change her diaper, but, oh ya, we had used all of her diapers to sit on. We found one that was ok and used it. Poor girl. Ian, being "funny" in the middle of all of this craziness looks over at me and says, "Ugh, that stinks, could you do something about that?" I almost flung poo at him!







Let's see, cold, wet, gross-ness, what else happened. Oh ya, we lost Shaylor...twice. He would come off the stage after dancing and go to find us. We were only one row back from the stage, but he thought we were much further back, and was trying to find us. The first time, I saw him about 20 rows behind us at the top of the hill, wandering around. I leaped over people and blankets to get to him. The second time, he was nowhere to be found. I went up to the announcer and gave him a description. He was going to announce it after the song (Uh, no, how about right away...you doink!), and I was scanning the crowd and saw a man bringing him down the hill. Again, crazy woman bounding over blankets and people to get to her lost little boy. It was so scary - for all of us. We didn't let go of him for the rest of the night.

So, some good and some bad, but all in all, a fun memory!

Spotlight of the Week

Shaylor

Shaylor will be turning 3 this month and over the past year he has really become his own little person. He has so much personality. He loves to make people laugh. He tells jokes to everyone he meets, without being prompted.

His favorite joke:

"Knock, Knock."

"Who's there?"

"Cargo"

"Cargo who?"

"Car go vroom, vroom."

He's quite a talker and chatters all the time. If he is talking to one person, (let's say, Dad)and someone else (Mom) tries to say, "Oh, cool," or answers his question about something, he very directly say, "No, Mommy, I talking to Daddy."

The ride in the car to take the girls to school in the morning is filled with him pointing out everything he loves: the Temple, tractors, big rigs, bulldozers, cranes, horses, cows, school buses, fire engines, and cool-looking cars. Did I mention how much he loves anything on wheels?!

He loves to pretend he's riding motorcycles. He'll straddle the edge of the bathtub and "ride" it like a motorcycle, complete with the noises!

He's a boy that knows what he wants and isn't about to let anyone tell him differently. This leads to power struggles all day long. However, he balances them out with very sweet hugs and kisses and completely unexpected I love you's. He's also very tender-hearted. If Ian or I so much as look at him like we're upset with him, he'll burst into tears and cry, "You not happy with me?"

He loves to sing songs and read stories and play with his sisters. He is usually very sweet with little Gracie. He calls her "muffin," and calls out "Muffin's wake!" and runs to give her a hug whenever he sees her after a nap . He cuddles her in the rocking chair and sings her songs before her naps. He always brings her toys to play with. He's a great big brother.

He is now fully potty trained and we're so proud of him.

He also can count to 10 in Spanish. (Thank you Dora the Explorer and Diego!)

Shaylor's favorite color is orange. He goes nuts over anything orange! If he sees an orange car, he is in heaven.

He can throw a ball really well - a natural talent since he has had absolutely no encouragement in that department!

He loves hats and he puts the funniest things on his head!

One thing that is great about Shaylor is that he will compliment people without being prompted to. He'll tell them he likes their hair or shirt. We think that it is great that he notices things about people and then thinks to tell them what he thinks about it. Added to that is his ability to actually find the words to communicate it all. We think he is pretty smart!

He loves to go to church and especially loves his Nursery teacher.

He's not really a big fan of haircuts.

He hopes to be a race car driver when he's bigger and drive an orange race car "really slow."

He's Daddy's boy and has been since he turned one. When Ian leaves in the morning for work, he'll call out, "Wait, Daddy, I give you kiss and hug!" or, "Daddy, when you get home, you play cars me?" He loves to watch him mow the lawn or work on household projects asking, "What you doin', Daddy?"

Shaylor has two great friends named Eenee and Andro. He plays with them all day long every day and talks to them when I think he's talking to me. ("No, Mommy, I talking to Eenee.") Yes, they are imaginary. He's had them since he turned two. We're not sure if that's normal or not, we're hoping it just means he has a great imagination - and just needs more "real" friends!

One thing is for sure, life would be so dull without our sweet boy. He brings us all so much joy every day and we think he is pretty great.