Look Who's 3!

Today our sweet boy Luke turns 3. So hard to imagine. I keep looking at this little boy and realize he's not so "little" anymore. He is a "big boy." My BIG BOY LUKE.

I'm not going to blog about what it was like to come home with this new baby, what being a first time mom was like, how each milestone in his life was such a new and wonderful experience...simply because I don't remember it all! We are so wrapped up in our everyday life, life with two absolutely crazy and wonderful little boys, that just thinking about the past is something that I just can't do.

So here is our precious and absolutely awesome Luke! The 3 Year Old!




This is our little boy who...
* Thankfully loves his Mommy, Daddy, Baby P, God, Jesus, all of his grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins... etc. etc.
* Makes new friends with everyone who comes his way (even our plumber!)
* Is ALL boy...loves to make noises, play with trains, trucks, puzzles (he's the "Puzzle-Man"!)
* Can run laps around the house or outdoors and still call it "walking"
* Is too busy playing to eat a meal, yet asks for snacks ALL the time
* Loves to watch Disney movies (even the princess ones)
* Is a great "helper" around the house
* Shares with his brother and others with a huge smile
* Still likes to play by himself at times, but is learning to play more with Paden
* And SO much more!

What an amazing little boy...what an amazing 3 years...

Disney Date

Several months ago I noticed that "Playhouse Disney Live" was coming to Montgomery, how exciting! I thought "what a fun and cool treat to take Luke to, maybe for a 'Mommy and Me' date". So I ordered 2 tickets and waited patiently for 2 months while keeping our "secret" from Luke. (You see, we still don't tell Luke anything until the day, or minute, it's about to happen. One, he'd either obsess for an entire day, or he'd completely forget. So, "SURPRISE"!)

Finally, this past Sunday was our lucky day! John and I told Luke that he was going to see Mickey Mouse after nap...and it was going to be so much fun! Luke really looked forward to it all day, until it was time to wake him up from his nap and head downtown. Talk about a cranky kid! He just wanted to crawl back into bed rather than go see Mickey Mouse. Oh no, Mommy was not going to let that fly! So I toss the kid and a backpack full of snacks into the car and hit the road. Thankfully it was a 20 minute drive and Luke's mood changed dramatically for the better.

The Montgomery Performing Arts Center was a beautiful surprise. A lovely, intimate theater, quickly filling with excited kids and cautious, frazzled parents. And why were we cautious and frazzled? Maybe it was the maze of booths selling all things Disney and sugary that we had to navigate our children through just to get to our seats. And then we were dodging concession "hawkers" threading their way through the theater selling cotton candy, popcorn, and toys...all to the delighted squeals of children and the many parents forking over an insane amount of money for things that will end up in the trash by the end of the week. I hate to admit, I was one of those parents forking over $12 for cotton candy and a Handy Manny hat, but that was all! I swear!

The show included most of the Disney characters that you find on the Disney channel in the morning -- which is usually on 5 days a week in our house! We got to see Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Handy Manny and friends, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Darby, and The Little Einsteins. Whew, what a crew?! And was it exciting? Thankfully, YES! Luke seemed to be in awe and love every moment of it, sometimes sitting with his mouth wide open, and sometimes dancing in the aisle. Mom on the other hand sang along with the music and tried not to go nuts by the insane degree of lip syncing!

I will admit that I had few moments of "moist eyes" as I watched my little boy totally engrossed and thrilled with what was happening on stage. Every moment was worth it: the grouchy boy being awakened from his nap, the circles being driven around downtown as I was trying to figure out where on earth parking was, the mass/mess of "trinket s***" being sold everywhere you turned, the lip syncing...all for a little boy who has continued to talk about seeing Mickey and Friends the other day. And that Handy Manny hat that is now in a toy tub at the bottom of the closet!

I think Mommy was more excited at this point!

Mmmm...Cotton Candy! It took Luke's second "try" to even like this sugary treat...does that tell you how little "sweets" he eats, or maybe he's like Mommy and prefers chocolate.

Yeah! The show started...and it's loud, colorful and exciting for this 2-year-old!

Winnie the Pooh, Darby and Tigger

Handy Manny and friends. (OMG, Handy Manny was SO cute!)

The Gang with Handy Manny

The Finale - finally!

How cool was that?!

Our Attempts at "Fun Times in Montgomery"

I've had several people say that they figured from my tone of voice and such that I'm not a big fan of Montgomery. I would have to say that they are correct. Big time. This is not an easy place for me to live and it doesn't help that it has been very difficult for John at school. BUT, we're trying to make the best of this year. So I decided to share some of the "crazy fun" that we have shared with the boys this past month.

1. We draw pretty pictures for Daddy.

2. We eat spaghetti.

3. We read LOTS of books.

4. We take bike rides with our new, cool bike trailer.

5. We attempt potty training -- which isn't working.

6. Mommy bakes like a "mad woman" for Luke's classroom -- isn't that what a "Room Mom" is supposed to do?

7. We just "hang out" -- and sometimes let everything hang out as well!

8. We fingerpaint!!!

8b. And make a huge mess in the process!

8c. Cute, but messy boy #1.

8d. Cute and messy boy #2.

9. We fall asleep in places other than our beds.

10. We cuddle with our brother!

11. We explore new parks on chilly October days.

AND SO MUCH MORE!

Labor Day Weekend Getaway

John has decided that we need to leave town every chance we get -- and I would have to agree! We hope to get to the beach most of the 3-day weekends and were successful in doing so over Labor Day Weekend. We hit up Gulf Shores, Alabama for the first time, along with thousands of our nearest and dearest friends!

Gulf Shores is an interesting place...a very crowded beach town with lots of high-rise condos all along the shore. John and I often wondered if these places were truly full and in use often. It's surprising to see all the condos, hotels, etc. that are along the beach, but not that many restaurants or grocery stores that can keep up with the demand. Oh well, thankfully I brought a bunch of food from home and had a little kitchen in our condo. Speaking of our condo...quite disappointing! So small, hard to move around, a disgusting layer of dirt, dust and grime, and brown water out of rather old pipes (which thankfully cleared up after a while). Thankfully I was able to over-look all that after a while...especially when we were stuck inside most of Sunday due to the rain.

It was a nice treat to be away from our "norm." I think we all needed a break and an opportunity to just hang out as a family. It was also great to be at the beach again! The boys certainly loved it! John said it seemed that Luke forgot how much he liked the beach. The boys certainly played to their hearts' content in the sand, building castles, destroying castles, pushing around trucks, running, finding sea shells, etc. They even got into the water! By the end of the weekend Luke was standing on his own in water up to his waist while laughing as the waves came crashing in. Paden, being the little guppy that he is, wasn't content being in Daddy's arms, he'd much rather be on his own swimming -- crazy kid, doesn't he know he's too small?!

Needless to say we had a lot of fun!

Paden's first taste of a fried-pickle...

Rainy day activity -- Luke giving John a manicure!

1, 2, 3, 4 Haircuts!

We have been starting to look a little shaggy these days. I decided that it was time to chop off my hair, found a stylist that came "highly recommended, he's the best!" and took my picture...so excited yet nervous! Turns out it was something to be nervous about, I will post a picture but I believe this is the worst haircut I've ever had...I'm trying to grit my teeth and bear it.

The big news isn't my haircut, but my boys! All 3 (including Daddy) were loaded up yesterday after nap time and we hit a local salon. This was going to be Paden's first haircut -- yeah! John needed his usual shave down (I didn't really have time to do it myself before his trip), Luke needed his just cleaned up on the sides, and it was time for Paden to lose his "old man hair" in the back. Luke hopped up and acted like an old pro and Paden was amazingly well behaved for a newbie while sitting in Daddy's lap. I'm so proud of my boys - and they look great!!!

Happy Birthday Paden!

It's hard to imagine that it has been a year now that we've had Paden join our family (August 9th). Of course at this point in my blogging I'm at least 2 weeks off from that day of celebration -- surprise, surprise!

We kept P's day pretty low-key. Grandma Mimi (Char), who was in town for a couple of weeks to help us finish with our unpacking and decorating, and Mr. Eric (MackDad) joined us for lunch. Even though it was just the 6 of us I still spent hours preparing and ordering just the "right" items for our lunch and working on the cupcakes. A momma has to go all out for her babies, right?! We opted for a firetruck themed lunch -- of course! Hats, balloons, tattoos, and fireman-ducks all covered our table. I found some awesome cupcakes on the web and of course had to copy them myself...and I'm rather pleased with how they turned out too (it only took me 2 days to bake the cupcakes, make the gum-paste firetrucks and whip up the frosting)!

A few "notes" about my precious Baby P: easy to smile (except when he's teething), adores his Daddy, follows big brother around, has the sweetest personality and disposition, eats like there's no tomorrow, loves to play with big boy toys, started walking the day before his birthday, climbs all over the furniture and whatever he can find to use as "steps", cries when he gets the tiniest boo-boos, looks a lot like his Daddy (is a perfect match to John's baby pics), doesn't like it when Luke tells him "no", and so much more!

My heart is filled with joy and love for this little dude! Happy Birthday My Precious Boy!

A Big Boo-Boo

You know you have a little boy when you have Band-aids and Neosporene in nearly every room of the house. Okay, maybe not every room, but there are definitely more than one package of each in my stash!

Luke had a nice "ooops" yesterday afternoon that resulted in a major boo-boo. Playing around like he usually does Luke fell and busted his lip. He didn't only bust his lip, but it looks like his teeth went through his lip. I haven't actually been able to take a good look at it, but having done it myself twice in my life I kinda know what it looks like. Poor baby! We tried to keep cold packs on it as well as frozen yogurt sticks, but alas, it's a big-fat-puffy lip!

2 Months Overdue...April Part 2

Here's a continuation of April...

* A Day Out With Thomas The Train! OMG! What an exciting day we had with the boys! John took the Friday off (April 17th) and we all drove up to Filmore, CA (northwest of LA) to enjoy a ride with Thomas and everything you could possibly imagine that was Thomas-related. I think I was more excited to see Luke's reaction when he saw the life-size Thomas than he was when he actually saw him! Of course we didn't tell Luke what we were doing or who we were going to see, he is certainly a kid of the moment. I believe he truly enjoyed his day seeing Sir Topham Hat, riding Thomas (only a 25-minute ride), jumping in the bounce-house, eating hot dogs and snow cones and everything else! Paden was such a trooper too, they both passed out in the car beautifully on the way home! John and I were certainly pleased with ourselves and the wonderful day we had as a family.

Luke's first ink!

Seeing Thomas roll in to the station -- too cool!

Family pic with Thomas

Boarding the train

Wow!

Mommy and Paden chillin' out during the ride

Isn't it cool how they even decorated the inside of the train?!

Enjoying the view along the way.

My happy boys!

Mommy and Paden enjoying the shade on this beautiful CA day.

One cool dude (new Thomas sunglasses)!

And he's out!

So is Paden! A nice quiet ride home for Mommy and Daddy!

* Paden's 3rd and 4th teeth made their debut (along with him pulling up to his feet and lots of vocalizations)!

This never happens! Luke passed out on the couch one afternoon before nap time, watching basketball with Daddy too! I think John's feelings were a little hurt that the little dude couldn't hang with the basketball game! Ha!

Paden loves hanging onto the baby gate and rockin' it like a crazy kid!

Playing with Luke's "old" activity table -- still interests the big kid too!

One very early morning...

Yummy Cheerios!

* We have a new nephew!! Kade Gordon Mizell joined proud parents Mike and Dawn and the rest of the Mizell clan on April 22nd. We can't wait to see him during our time in Austin in July!

And that wraps up April! Tune in for May's update and pictures!