Miss E turns 3!!!!

It actually feels right that she is turning three.  Not that I can't believe how fast it has gone but just with all the things she is doing and the way she talks and acts she has seemed like a three year old actually for awhile now.  I felt so bad that last year her two year old party ended up being a bummer since I was so stinkin morning sick.  The morning of her birthday I made her some waffles and we adorned them with candles and sang to her.

When we talked about her party she told me she wanted a baby doll party.  Perfect, I thought.  Great for three year old's, easy to put together and fun for her first "friend party."  So we made up some invites and decided on her four closest friends.  We asked each girl to bring her favorite baby doll to the party.  Picked a school day where the park would be empty and let Ave stay home from school to go to the party too.

I made some birthday hats for the baby dolls to wear....

We made goodie bags with a baby doll rattle, baby bracelets and a baby cake in them.

The weather was so nice. I love that Em has a spring birthday because we can have parties outside.  As Deke and I set everything up she kept running around talking about all of it.  Every car passing by she would ask if this was one of her friends.  She invited Sara, Kate, Ellie and Zoe.  It was so sweet to see her excitement.  When all the girls arrived I had them start by introducing their baby dolls to one another.  It made me laugh that during the course of the party I think every single dolls name changed at least twice.  Dolls that came as Sara left as Jocelyn and somewhere in the middle were named Ellie.  It was so hilarious.  Also as they first told each other their baby names two of them said their babies name was baby.

The first game we played the girls each tried to toss binky's into a vase to see how many they could get.

Then we played find the binky's.  The girls took turns hiding them around the park for the rest of the girls to find.  The girls loved it but after this they were so ready to have some cake.

I am not a baker and really not great at frosting cakes so I decided to put a cute banner across the cake to distract from my frosting job.  Not that three year olds are worried about stuff like that but it made me feel better.

Before we cut the cake we put all the babies party hats on.  It made my day how excited the girls were about the hats.  They were all asking me to put their hat on at the same time.  Telling me which color they wanted.

Deke and I smiled just listening to them all throughout the party making their babies pretend to have conversations.  They were definitely a cute, cute group of girls.

After cake and presents we had brought a whole bunch of doll stuff and spread it out on a blanket for the kids to just have fun and play.  They spent the last part of the party diapering, feeding, strolling and just playing with their dolls.  Deke brought some bubbles out and they chased bubbles with their dolls until the moms came.

The party was great, I think Emma had so much fun.  It was nice and relaxed and we enjoyed the rest of the day together as a family.  I had to sneak one pic in of Hudson that was cute after the party staring at the balloons.  Happy Happy Birthday my sweet Miss Emma you are going to love being three!!!! We love you, Mommy and Daddy

Quiksilver

Can't believe its that time again...pinewood derby time!!  As the guys started planning out their car I couldn't help but think about how fun it was last year to watch Hunter take first place in his first ever pinewood derby with Ghost Rider.  Hunter decided on a shape for his car and knew he wanted it to be a chrome metallic paint job.  He and Deke got to work and when it was done it looked great.  Hunter decided to name it Quiksilver.  The only bummer was that every time you touched the paint it left fingerprints on the paint job so we put some blue tape lines on it so that he could pick it up and carry it. 

We got there and the boys were all showing each other their cars, asking what their names were and talking about the trophies sitting on the table.

My favorite part of the derby is always watching the boys cheer each other on.  I love when they all start chanting someones name or chanting the cars name as it is getting ready to race.

Then the way they pat each other on the back, slap high fives and tell each other how awesome they are.  It is so cute.  I just love to watch them encourage and support each other and cheer each other on.  A car named Big Red that was shaped like a surfboard pretty much dominated every race only losing one the entire night.  Quiksilver won race after race but when he raced Big Red twice he came in right barely behind him.

This little guy was enthralled with the whole thing except when the boys would get cheering or yelling too loudly then he would start crying.  Last year at the derby I had just found out I was pregnant with him days before and was already feeling so sick the entire morning of the race.  I kept looking at him thinking how happy I am that we are going to get to do all this scout stuff again with Hudson down the road.

When all the racing was done we headed into the room to get awards.  Hunter took 2nd place for the bears and got a ribbon and then took 2nd place overall.  The top three got a trophy and so even though this year he took second instead of first he still got to take a trophy home.  He was so excited!!!

We took him to have some frozen yogurt and celebrate.  I was really proud of the sportsmanship he showed and that even though he really wanted to take first place again this year that he was still a champ :) and that Quiksilver was still really fast.  Another awesome derby!

Contractual agreement

The other day the kids were playing out in the playhouse together busily working on something.  They came inside telling us that they were going to start a doughnut business.  Hunter had designated himself the manager and they had been out there having their first "staff meeting."  They had decided that they would ask to use my new doughnut maker and Hunter wanted to know if I would be their supplier (of assorted doughnuts).  They would set up shop near the entrance to the community by the community mailboxes.  They had made a list of the supplies they would need to buy such as poster board for signs, stuff to make the donuts.  They had decided to charge $.25 a doughnut and had a list of flavors they were going to offer.  They were all really excited about it and asking if we could get started on it today.  Then Avery handed me this paper and said that Hunter had had them sign their names on it saying they agree.  He had drawn up a contract?? of course he had drawn up a contract :) :)  As I read Hunter explained: "Pay days for Avery are Wednesday and Saturday.  She gets $4.00 every pay day."  Avery was jumping up and down grinning, "Four dollars mom, for just me."  Hunter continued on telling me about their hours of operation.  Deke and I couldn't stop smiling listening to them.  We explained to Hunter that giving Ave four dollars on pay day was a great idea but what if they made $20 that day? Then Ave would only get four and he would get $16 and was that really fair if they were working together?  Also miss E had signed up to this contract when she was getting paid 0, zippo for any work that she did.  We told them they should be partners in this venture and that they would split the earnings equally.  We decided that since Emma is two she would get $2 off of the top as her pay.  Then we talked about adjusting their operating hours since they had hours written down that coincided with school.  We decided it should be on weekends or early release days.  I told them I would help them make the posters and get it all set up but not until after Easter sometime.  It was actually a neat opportunity for Deke and I to talk to them about running a business.  I love when they find something fun for all three of them to do.  Can't wait to watch them try this.

Eye hand coordination.

It always cracks me up when my babies are in the process of learning to grab and hold onto things. He is starting to grab on to toys. It is hilarious to watch him then try to get them into his mouth to chew on them.  The other day I handed him this teething ring.  He was holding it out in front of his face and focusing on it intently.  A minute later I heard him kicking and fussing a little bit.  I turned around and saw this....

Not only was it not in his mouth it was not even in his hands anymore and was on his face.  He was kicking in frustration trying to figure out how to get it off.  Poor guy.  He looked at with wide eyes to help him out.  I took it off and handed it to him again only to have the same thing happen five minutes later.  Sometimes he has the opposite problem and will have his hand clenched around a toy and wants to let go of it and can't figure out how.  Or he will be staring at his hand and then all of a sudden bring it swinging towards himself and smacks himself right in the face.  Sorry guy, keep on trying, you'll get it.

Meeting Glow worm

 We got the glow worm back when Hunter was born.  Its been around for a long time now but none of the other kids have been that interested in it. We introduced Hudson the other night and he really liked it.  The kids were giggling so hard because every time it would turn off then I would push its belly, it would light up and Hudson's eyes would go huge.  So funny.