Evelyn at Six Years Old

What is your favorite color? The rainbow
What is your favorite food? Chicken nuggets
What is your favorite thing to do outside? playing with Zach in the bounce house and sprinkler
What is your favorite thing to do inside? Playing with my dollhouse that I got for Christmas.
Who are some of your friends? Ellie, Ada, Daisy, Eugene, Evelyn, baby Charles, baby Alistair
What is your favorite book? Princess Stories, Superhero StoriesWhat is your favorite movie? Llama, Llama
What makes you happy? hugs with all of my family and friends
What makes you sad? When Zach punches me in the eye
What do you want to be when you grow up? A mom
What is your favorite song? Jesus Loves Me This I KnowWhat is your favorite animal? White rhinoceros
What’s something you’re really good at? Riding my brand new bike!
What’s something you’re not good at? Trying to put my feet up on Caleb’s bike and balance
What is love? When people love you
Who loves you? God and Jesus, family and friendsWhat is something Mama tells you a lot? Don’t stay up too long
What is something Dad tells you a lot? Let’s go to the park and ride a bike
What is your favorite place to go? Chick fil a
What do you like about Zach? How he plays tea partyWhat do you like about Caleb? How we play games together
What do you like about Daddy? How I play run into him
What do you like about Mommy? How she hugs me and does my hair

 

Caleb at Eighteen Months Old

Caleb is now eighteen months old! Caleb is such a sweet boy. And crazy, funny, demanding, loving, needy, hangry, and easy-going. He runs around and chases after the big kids as much as possible. He gives the biggest open mouth teethy kisses. Caleb can give you a slap across the face that you will not soon forget, all in love and silliness, of course (but it still hurts and we discourage it.)Caleb is a mini-Jacob. And we do mean mini. He is 30.5″ in height and weighs 21lb 2oz. Only the Lord knows how we genetically produced a child in the 6th percentile for height and 12th for weight. We’re happy to know he is healthy in all areas and there is no cause for concern with our itty bitty boy.Caleb loves swinging and going down slides at the playground. He picks up the trash he finds and hands it to a parent, usually after licking it. Caleb sings and can match pitch! He “talks” all the time and is very emphatic. He nods his head and grunts “uh” for yes. He can say Dada, Mama, no, cheese, please and all done. When he bellows at you in a foghorn level voice that means he’s thirsty and wants you to hand him his water. The foghorn does not stop until the water is attained.Caleb likes to eat all kinds of food but he especially enjoys hummus, any kind of pasta, string cheese and bananas. His favorite snacks include veggie straws, granola bars and popcorn.Caleb adores his older brother and sister. He and Zach are starting to play and interact more every day. We hear lots of giggling coming from their room at night. Zach is getting better at making Caleb laugh and sharing toys with him. Evelyn continues to treat him like her own baby and is quite good at rescuing him from ledges or other places he has wedged himself in.Caleb’s naughtiness comes out in throwing food from his tray at every meal. He also loves to play in the toilet water and toss in the battery-operated trains. He certainly does not let go when he’s got a fistful of hair. He has also been known to chuck whatever small or large object he is holding at another person’s head. This does not feel good for the receiver of the object. Overall, he’s a very well-behaved kid for his age. Though he and his brother put together without Evelyn to report on them can cause exponential trouble. I learned that lesson this last week when Evelyn was gone and the boys got into all manner of mischief (e.g. Playing in used cat litter and spreading it like confetti.)Caleb is always happy to wake up and he gives excellent hugs. He enjoys reading short books and sitting on our laps. Caleb loves being thrown in the air and hanging upside down. He laughs wildly when his tummy is tickled. He makes other smiles with his big blue eyes wherever he goes.We love you, Caleb!

Zachariah At Three Years Old

Zachariah Daniel is turning three years old! What a crazy, sweet, silly and strong boy he has become. He has so much fun with trains, planes, cars, trucks, etc. Anytime he draws or paints he always tells us that it is a bulldozer. He can name all the construction trucks that we drive past on the road. Zach loves watching all shows involving trucks and trains. He often pretends that he is an Octonaut and is playing with Quasi and Peso. He loves all Curious George stories and movies. That silly monkey makes Zachariah laugh and laugh. Zachariah loves reading books and will sit for long periods of time! He eats very little, aside from the jellybeans he receives each time he goes potty. He has made great strides in the bathroom zone and we hope in another six months we will have smooth sailing. Zach loves running, especially when he’s chasing his big sister. He runs down sidewalks, around the yard, through the house. He excels in brushing his teeth and allowing Jacob or me to brush his teeth also. Zachariah has challenged us as parents at times. We are continually learning about who he is and how to bring him up in a good and godly way. He has some extra struggles with emotional management and sensory input, but we are so proud of the ways he has learned to communicate and problem solve with us during frustrating moments. Zachariah is such an amazing member of our family and we are excited to see how he grows this year and how he likes preschool and swimming lessons. We love you tons and tons, Zachariah Daniel!The answers were ascertained by handing him a chocolate chip for each response. He very much enjoyed the chocolate question game. What is your favorite color? red
What is your favorite food? red food, more food; chocolate
What is your favorite thing to do outside? play
What is your favorite thing to do inside? outside
Who are some of your friends? Eli and me. We were pretending we were dragons.
What is your favorite book? Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site
What is your favorite movie? Curious George
What makes you happy? Chuggington
What makes you sad? ‘Cause I don’t get to watch Chuggington
What do you want to be when you grow up? a superhero cape
What is your favorite song? Jesus Loves Me
What is your favorite animal? giraffe
What’s something you’re really good at? at being an animal
What’s something you’re not good at? chocolate
What is love? that means love
Who loves you? Mommy, Eli and Jack
What is something Mama tells you a lot? time to go for naptime
What is something Dad tells you a lot? time to go to naptime again
What is your favorite place to go? to church
What do you like about Evelyn? I love her as an elephant
What do you like about Caleb? I do like Caleb
What do you like about Daddy? I like Daddy
What do you like about Mommy? I like Mom

Evelyn at Five Years Old

We love our beautiful Evelyn so very much. She is such a delight. I am not even kidding. Yes, she’s a child who has her fair share of irrational tantrums and such, but she is one of the sweetest kids I’ve ever known. She sings all the time. She makes up words and/or tunes. She is constantly using her imagination to interact with everything around her. The grapes (or anything in sight) become Mommy, Daddy and the babies. She frequently walks around the house talking to imaginary friends. I have not heard specific names lately. I believe it’s a mixture of animals, princesses, and whatever else is on her mind. She is completely girly girly girly. She loves princess movies, stories, dresses, etc. She gets home from school and puts on a princess dress, swimsuit, or leotard and tutu nearly every day. Her brothers adore her. Zach follows her around and mostly obeys her commands when playing together. Caleb loves playing with Evelyn every afternoon in her room. He giggles at her silliness and lets her dress him in ridiculous clothes and put clips in his hair. She can be a very good helper when taking care of him by bringing his milk, snacks, or diapers to me. Evelyn goes to preschool at Golden Hills Elementary School four mornings a week. She has a wonderful teacher and gets to work on her social skills and learn new things all the time. We love her class and are excited for her to attend kindergarten there in the fall. And I cannot neglect mentioning that our dear Evelyn is such a book lover just like her Daddy. She can “read” by herself for long periods of time and wants to bring home every book from the library. I’m so glad she inherited this quality and I hope she is a lifelong reader. What is your favorite color? yellow, and pink and purple and blue, all the colors and white
What is your favorite food? spaghetti that I can suck up with my tongue
What is your favorite thing to do outside? play with my bike in the summertime
What is your favorite thing to do inside? draw pictures and count
Who are some of your friends? Emilie and Travis and Emiliano, I think Claire, Lily, not Travis and Xena
What is your favorite book? Peter Pan
What is your favorite movie? Peter Pan
What makes you happy? hug and kisses
What makes you sad? Zach biting me
What do you want to be when you grow up? a nurse
What is your favorite song? Aurora “I Know You” and Ariel “Under the Sea”
What is your favorite animal? ponies
What’s something you’re really good at? making pictures and making get well cards
What’s something you’re not good at? by making superhero capes. It would be hard because I don’t know how to get the shape of a WonderWoman cape.
What is love? by dancing and getting married and having cake and having a wedding
Who loves you? God and Jesus
What is something Mama tells you a lot? not leaving my lamp on and wasting it. Clean up my room after naptime.
What is something Dad tells you a lot? Time for pajamas
What is your favorite place to go? Cousin Clara’s house
What do you like about Zach? he likes princesses too
What do you like about Caleb? he was so cute when he came out at the hospital and I got to hold him
What do you like about Daddy? he likes doing tummy time
What do you like about Mommy? having you read me a story and having these pictures in my room and I love how you hug me, and that’s all of my things.

Zachariah at 2.5 Years Old

Zachariah Daniel
75th percentile for height
50th percentile for weight
99th percentile for wild, sweet and silly boyZachariah Daniel at 2.5 years old is quite the boy’s boy. He loves construction trucks and can name all of them while we are driving. And if we do not acknowledge his shouts of “bucket truck!” or “excavator!” he will continue to yell until we do. He loves planes and trains too. We were at a friend’s house the other night and there was an electric toy train engine. Zach would have played with that all night.Zach now loves reading books! He sits down for a short time, or a long time when he’s getting tucked in for his nap and he’s stalling. His favorite books have pictures of trucks and planes. Zach has a huge vocabulary. One that literally echoes his older sister. It is so great to be able to communicate more with him. He still gets excited at times and the words come out too quickly to be understood, but he has come a very long way since he turned 2. Zach loves running and playing with dirt outside. He will dig in dirt or sand with his plastic construction trucks for long periods of time. He likes to play fetch where the parent throws the ball and he pretends to be the dog and bring it back. This is a great game for the parents. Zach is a runner. He runs away at pretty much any opportunity–in church, at stores, on walks. He is still in a stage of needing to be strapped in whenever possible. He had a good week where he didn’t wander far from me at Target but that did not last. He also has an infatuation with turning light switches on and off and shutting doors. This can cause some problems when we disagree with his desires to turn the light on and off or shut the door. Zach adores his older sister. He gets sad every day when he realizes Evelyn is at preschool. He always asks, “Where’s Evie?!” Though he usually gets to watch Truck Tunes while she’s in school and that pretty much makes his day. Zach and Evelyn play constantly when they’re both home. They love pretending together and chasing each other around. This is what siblings are for! Zach weighs about 29lb and is very skinny, but one big muscle. He has got some major core strength and seems to be in training for some sort of wrestling competition… I asked Zachariah some questions about his life and gave him a Smartie candy for each answer. The bracketed responses are my input.

What is your favorite color? blue
[he is really bad at identifying colors still–working on that.]

What is your favorite food? chocolate milk
[he likes bread, cheese, any fruit, cookies, chicken fingers]

What do you like to do for fun? drink chocolate milk
[play with Evelyn, build a train track, read his Richard Scarry truck/cars book, watch shows]

What makes you feel happy? candy
[playing with Evelyn, watching a show, especially Truck Tunes, getting treats]

What makes you feel sad? when he got his hands “burned” by hot water in the bath tub (he was not harmed, it was just a little hot before the cold water got added in)
[when Evelyn goes to preschool, when he gets in trouble, when he’s strapped into a chair of any kind, when Evelyn beats him to a task, when he fights over toys with Evelyn, when the movie is turned off]

Where do you like to go? the zoo and the plane museum
[also playground, children’s museum, walks, Chick-Fil-A]

Who are your friends? monkey at the grocery store (?)
[Evelyn and Caleb, Eli, Henrich, cousin Ethan, cousin Landon, Ada]

What do you like to do outside? play in dirt, eat candy outside
[follow Evelyn, play ball, swing, play monster with Daddy]

What do you like to do inside? inside monkeys, “doken” Mommy (doken is his made-up word)
[build a train track, run, tummy time/wrestle with Mom or Dad, watch shows, read books]

Who do you love? “doken” Mama candy hot hot
[he loves his sister, brother, mommy and daddy, and extended family, of course.]

What is your favorite song? piano, dump truck from Truck Tunes
[anything from Truck Tunes, Jesus Loves Me, Hush a Bye, Sleep]

What is your favorite animal? “doken” Mama
[dogs, foxy]

What is your favorite book? Monster Car book
[Very Hungry Caterpilllar, Goodnight Moon, anything with Cars, Trucks, Planes or Trains, Children’s Bible]

What is something I say to you a lot? other way
[gentle, stay with Mommy]

What is something Daddy says to you a lot? Halloween Candy
[hey buddy]

Caleb at Eight Months Old

This kid is so much fun. He would probably sit on my lap and play and kiss me all day if I let him. He has his fair share of witching hour and evening tears, but keep him entertained and he’ll smile all day long. I cannot tell you how sweet it is when he and Evelyn are rolling around on the floor and they’re both belly laughing. Zachariah often wants to join in but does not yet understand that sitting on the baby’s face is not the same thing as what Evelyn is doing. Oh brothers. They’re going to have a good ole time someday. At eight months old, Caleb:
– sleeps 7:45-7am
– naps about 9:30-10:30am, 2:30-4:30pm
– wears 9 month clothing and size 3 diapers
– had his first haircut.
– nurses 4 times a day, has one bottle, and eats in his chair at breakfast, lunch and dinner. He has pretty much mastered the art of grab a pile of food and shove it in the mouth.
– he likes any kind of carb a lot but does have lots of fruit and veggies too. Especially rotini with red sauce. Caleb tried pineapple and freaked out. I think he got a sour piece stuck on his tongue and he thought his life was over. Took awhile to calm him down.
– rolls around all over the floor. Pushes up with his hands and scoots backwards but does not rock on his knees yet or go forward.
– adores pulling hair and giving sloppy kisses
– sits up well but reaches for toys or objects and then falls over. Poor guy. Just can’t control that movement/gravity thing.
– can hold onto things, like rails on playground equipment, and stand for short periods of time
– now enjoys sitting on a blanket outside! I’m so glad he likes watching Evelyn and Zach run around being silly.
– has started sleeping on his stomach, I think. He seems to sometimes wake up mad that he’s on his tummy.
– loves cuddling his taggie blankets against his face.
– flew to Chicago and back with me to visit Uncle Dan, Aunt Katie, and cousins Clara and Ethan. He did pretty well on the flight out, though he refused to nurse, and slept on the flight back. We had a great time playing, walking and going to the Brookfield zoo.
– is very excited to play and splash in the bath tub. The running faucet water is especially thrilling.

Evelyn at Four Years Old

What a beautiful, funny and sweet girl we have. Evelyn is a goofy kid who loves life and we cannot imagine ours without her.What is your favorite color? pink, and red and blue and purple and green and uh, red.
What is your favorite food? chicken and strawberries and apples
What is your favorite thing to do outside? umm, play with sand, umm, drink juice
What is your favorite thing to do inside? play, be monster chased
Who are some of your friends? Sarah and Bella, and doctor and girl and my favorite person is Monica from Maggie’s house. And Maggie the dog.
What is your favorite book? Princess Castle. And my favorite fun book is about a zoo, and they know how to get out of cages (Goodnight Gorilla).
What makes you happy? Play
What makes you sad? crying
What do you want to be when you grow up? Mama
What is your favorite song: Bringing home a baby bumblebee
What is your favorite animal: giraffes and elephants and my lion. My lion is so silly. He even climbs up to the ceiling. He even hangs upside down. Is that funny, Mama?
What’s something you’re really good at? playing games
What’s something you’re not good at? I don’t know how to just climb up on the ceiling like lion.
What is love? I don’t know
Who loves you? Jesus
What is something Mama tells you a lot? Happy
What is something Dad tells you a lot? Go pee pee
What is your favorite place to go? To the zoo!

Evelyn at 3.5 Years Old

Our beautiful Evelyn is 3.5 years old. Where do I start?She is a wonderful, caring, goofy girl. She sleeps well, about 11 hours each night. She uses the bathroom by herself and has few accidents. She wakes up happy in the morning and plays in her room during nap time. She falls asleep for a nap 2 or 3 times a week, if that. Evelyn loves playing with her babies, namely Sara and someone else of her choosing. She regularly holds church services in her room and puts the babies in church nursery. She loves playing outside and especially with other kids. She copies everything she sees older girls do, which is generally a good thing.Evelyn goes to preschool twice a week in the mornings. She does not tell us much about what she does or learns, but so far we know she has one friend and his name is Spencer. For some reason, she cannot learn the names of any girls there.Evelyn adores her family. She cannot wait to wake Zach up every morning. She delights in her Daddy and frequently asks him to play chase or lift her up in the sky. And speaking as her Mommy, I think she likes me quite a bit. She is very excited for her next little brother to come, around “Christmas-time” is what she will tell you. She also is giddy for visits from the Grandparents. Whether it’s playing at home, fun at the zoo, or Runza playplace, she loves family field trips.Evelyn sings. She can sing a song about anything. I wish I could write down all the song lyrics in her head, but the record-keeping would be a full-time job. She is hilarious and you never know what she is going to sing/say next.Favorite Foods: Orange chicken, chicken strips, runzas, peanut butter tortillas, yogurt, cheese, cheetos, popcorn, all cookies, dippin’ dots.Favorite Activities: playing with babies, walks to playground, zoo, Children’s museum, watching Netflix kid shows, listening to “new music” (i.e. library CDs) in the car, playing chase with Zach or Daddy, reading with others or by herself.

Visiting Notre Dame campus

Kuiper’s Pumpkin Farm

Catechizing Daddy

And then she rubbed the scratchy stem on her face and hurt herself

Martin’s Hillside Orchard

Go Big Red!

Ballerinas go for walks, too.

Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo

First Day of Preschool

First night in the big bed…

80 Ridiculous Reasons Why My Toddler Is Crying

My sister and I love our ridiculously wonderful, toddler daughters. And here are 80 reasons why they make us laugh (and sometimes cry) every day.
1. She asked for one cheerio and I gave her three.
2. I retrieved her baby and blanket from the car in subzero temps without her.
3. I washed her legs off after she peed her pants.
4. I tucked her into bed just the way she likes.
5. I took away the gigantic bar of chocolate that she found, unwrapped and ate half of while I was on the phone with a student.
6. She bit her own finger during lunch and nearly broke the skin, claiming she thought it was an apple slice.
7. I did not let her lick the raw egg off her hand.
8. I tucked her in with her blanket the wrong side up. It is identical on both sides.
9. She begged me to turn off the music in the car. So, I did.
10. She didn’t want her mommy or brother to say hi to daddy.
11. She couldn’t eat her French fries bc her bottom had a tummy-ache.
12. We were going to the restaurant where a train brings you your food.
13. I removed the uncapped toothpaste tube from underneath her rug.
14. She smashed her playhouse bathtub (a foil container) under her rug.
15. I removed library books from under her rug.
16. I did not put milk on her cereal like she asked.
17. I did put milk on her cereal like she asked.
18. She was not allowed to conduct the church choir.
19. She purposefully ran face first into a hard, metal picnic bench and hit her nose.
20. She wanted to sniff the cumin jar and somehow in the process stuck it in her eye.
21. She wanted to sit on the toilet and go potty but keep her pants and pull-up on.
22. She was too cold to eat lunch but wanted to take her sweatshirt off.
23. She sat in a pool of ice water by our front steps, against my warnings, and found that it was cold.
24. She only had 4 large blankets on her for nap time.
25. She didn’t want me to turn on “dark” music in the car.
26. She wanted a “snack” and the fact that it was dinner was not acceptable.
27. I shut the car door too soon and didn’t allow time for her imaginary friends, Monica and Kate, to exit.
28. She woke up from a late afternoon nap and asked for breakfast. I told her it was dinner time and not the next morning.
29. I poured milk on her bowl of cocoa puffs without her permission.
30. I told her she couldn’t leave her hand in her pull-up. And subsequently, that she could not scream at me.
31. I didn’t let her eat [des]”sert” for dinner. Instead, she was forced to eat pizza.
32. She couldn’t stay for 3-year-old Sunday School, then was mad about getting dragged on the floor by her dress.
33. She was not allowed to drink a to-go cup of bacon vinaigrette dressing.
34. I asked her not to slam the church nursery door, since she had just smashed her fingers in it 2 minutes previously and cried bloody murder.
35. I opted to drive directly home, and on a road, instead of going “that way.”
36. I asked her not to slam her bedroom door on her brother.
37. She got in trouble for stealing Q-tips from the bathroom, because the three I provided for her were not acceptable.
38. The sun was in her eyes.
39. The sun was not in her eyes.
40. She wanted to sit on the kernel of corn that I removed from her chair.
41. She didn’t want mustard on the finger that she had just dunked into her mustard.
42. She wanted to leave shampoo on her head “all night.”
43. She wasn’t allowed to stay in the bath after she announced she had to poop.
44. The Dora pull-up with circles was not as good as the Dora pull-up with stripes.
45. I chose the wrong socks.
46. I took away the toddler scissors because she would not stop sucking on them.
47. Her hands were wet after the she washed them in the sink.
48. She was not able to say “cockadoodledoo” to her liking.
49. She was asked not to stand and jump on her brother’s back.
50. I did not let her go back downstairs for “purple” Halloween candy when she decided that the green candy was unacceptable.
51. She asked for milk in a yellow cup. I poured it. She wanted a yellow lid. I said we do not have yellow and would green be okay. She accepted the green lid. She then wanted a matching green cup and I denied her the opportunity to switch from the already poured cup of milk.
52. She could not get her rain boots off fast enough.
53. She did not want Gather Round Pound Cake for breakfast.
54. She kicked her brother in the head and his crying annoyed her.
55. She insisted that I had put her shorts on backwards. I had not.
56. She stole a book from her brother and I gave it back to him.
57. She wanted to go pee while Dad held her upside down by the ankles.
58. She asked for her magazines for the car. I gave them to her. She threw them on the floor of the car. She wanted them back and I said she had to wait ‘til we got out of the car.
59. We drove past the zoo and she forgot to look at it.
60. Daddy’s car was not in the mechanic’s parking lot for us to take home.
61. We ran out of sandwich baggies for her to put her snack in.
62. She took off her shoes in the car and when walking through the garage her feet got dirty.
63. I filled up her lidded sippy cup of water too full.
64. I told her that she was putting on her shoes on the wrong feet.
65. She didn’t like the spring breeze coming in through the living room windows.
66. I had rolled up her pant legs, to wash the marker off of her feet that she had colored during nap time, and she could not get them rolled back down.
67. Steven forgot his backpack and it upset her.
68. She said she had to poop, so I took her to the bathroom.
69. She did not want me to change her poopy pants.
70. Despite beginning to pee in the car, she did not need to go potty.
71. Daddy got more Cheetos than her.
72. We paid more attention to her brother than her–while he took his first steps.
73. It was cold outside so she wanted to wear a jacket and shoes. But then when she took them off, she was cold.
74. I didn’t allow her to put the blinds cords around her neck.
75. She wasn’t allowed to sit on the organ bench with her Dad during the Easter service.
76. I didn’t buy the light up, size 12 purple crocs at Famous Footwear.
77. She was not allowed to chase wild geese at the park.
78. I pushed her the wrong way in the swing.
79. The ice cream in her mouth was too cold.
80. She had to be the one to carry her lunch container to the zoo, instead of having it placed in the adult-carried backpack. (She carried it to the car and no further.)

Evelyn at Three Years Old

Evelyn is so great. She is often a delight to parent, and often a toddler (if you know what I mean). She is smart, musical, creative, and so playful. Her imagination is wild when it comes to make-believe friends, animals, and activities. She loves having tea or pizza parties in her room. She loves reading. Her best friends at home are her babies, Sarah and Rosa. Her favorite Netflix shows are Super Why!, Elmo and Friends and Daniel Tiger. Evelyn sings all the time. Her life is a musical. She loves Music Together songs that we listen to in the car and she makes up lots of tunes. She can sometimes count up to 20 and she sings her alphabet very well. We’re working on completing letter and number identification. Evelyn loves to play outside. Whether it’s “biking” in the front yard, digging in dirt, or going to a playground where she can climb like crazy. She’s fun to take to the grocery store or other errands. Evelyn adores her brother! She loves taking care of him and making him laugh. Their styles of play are a bit different right now but they can be really sweet together. We are so thankful for our little girl and are excited to see what this next year holds for her.
What is your favorite color? Pink…and red!
What is your favorite food? Yogurt…and crackers
What do you like to do for fun? Just play
What makes you feel happy? Animals
What makes you feel sad? Animals
Where do you like to go? Fire Station
Who are your friends? Ellie and Ada
What do you like to do outside? Just play
What do you like to do inside? Play
Who do you love? Ellie. Anyone else? Nope…I like Rachel.
What is your favorite song? Zoom, Zoom (Ridin’ in the Car from Music Together)
What is your favorite animal? Elephant
What is your favorite book? Jesus Bible
What is something I say to you a lot? Nap time is over
What is something Daddy says to you a lot? Goodnight

Evelyn, on your third birthday you:
Woke up at the Brestels, because the Mattix family was visiting. You had pancakes with strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream for breakfast. Daddy called you to wish you happy birthday on the way to work.
You played with Clara and Nana and were bribed with sprinkles to take birthday pictures.
You had a yummy burrito lunch with the Mattix family before they left town.
You stayed at the Brestels for nap time while Mom did some grocery shopping.
After naps, you and Zach came back home. We opened a couple presents and waiting for Daddy to get home.
Daddy got home and we fed you and Zach runza sandwich, sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, and strawberries. Bobo and Gigi joined us for dinner and stayed the night. You had a bathroom trip during dinner and earned halloween candy. You declined ice cream ’til later in the evening. I stuck a candle in it and we sang Happy Birthday. We opened more presents, read from your new books, put the puzzles together and you ran in circles. Zach got a bath while you ate your ice cream. You and Gigi picked out jammies and Bobo read you a couple bedtime stories. Daddy and I tucked you in and I sang you Itsy Bitsy Spider and Lullaby. You quieted down quickly, like you normally do. We have so much love and adoration for your sweet girl. We’re looking forward to your birthday party with friends, too!

How to show three fingers…