Birthday Boy Festivities

Jayce turned four while we were in Florida, and it was our first full day of vacation, so he had a day FULL of fun things.

He woke up and was ready for presents.  I had picked up a few small things for him so that he would have something to unwrap, but his real excitement was over a gift from his Aunt Candy, a Spiderman grooming kit.

He wanted to try it out immediately, so I handed the job over to Chris, and got my camera out.

It's a proud moment for a father, the morning that his son turns four years old and he learns to shave. 

After breakfast (Krispie Kremes), we headed to the beach.  We were there by 8:30, if that tells you anything about how early our day started, and it should.  Like I said, it was our first day in Florida, so "the beach the beach!" was all we'd been hearing about for days.  I didn't take my camera over for fear of the sand, but my camera phone would do. 

 Luckily, an early morning at the beach also meant an early lunch and an early naps.  Afterwards we headed out to putt putt.  It was in the 90s, so I stayed in the car with Hannah, who napped while the boys played.  She woke up just as they finished up and headed into the arcade too cool off a bit.

 Busted, Chris.

 I am forever discovering that I am one of "those moms."  I don't know exactly how to define what is under that category, but every once in a while I will do something, and then think to myself, "Oh, I'm one of those moms."  It came out again in the arcade.

"Oh, well no, we're not going to play Terminator Salvation.  But hey!  Look at this cool motorcycle game!" 

Never mind the fact that Jayce didn't really weigh enough to make it lean from side to side to turn.  Notice that he is in the grass on the screen.  But he did finish and came in 8th place.  Out of how many, I have no idea, but he was happy.

Then we headed out for a round of go carts.

They only did it once, on the "big cool track."  Jayce seemed to like it while they were driving, but afterwards told me that he didn't want to do it again until he was a grown up.

Then we went to dinner, and back to the condo for dessert.  

At the grocery store, I realized that if we bought a cake or cooked cupcakes, that we would then have a whole cake or full batch of cupcakes sitting around all week that we would then eat.  And we had already bought a cake for the birthday party in Akron, and baked cupcakes to take to Jayce's class, so I opted for this semi-ghetto version.

But I totally recommend it.  Three yummy, soft baked, frosted sugar cookies.  It did the trick for giving him something with frosting and decorations, candles to blow out, and when the candles were removed, we had three tidy dessert servings.

But try not to let your birthday boy lean too far over the candles, or he might burn his eyelashes.  Luckily Jayce has lashes to spare!

Happy birthday little buddy!

Vacation, Tubs, and Hannah

We took a little road trip these past few weeks.  By little, I mean 32 hours of driving over 2 weeks time.  (That's 32 hours of just driving, not overall travel time, which included many stops for potties, leg stretching, meals, and Starbucks.  All equally important.)

 It may surprise you that at a hotel in Kentucky was the first time we dumped both kiddos in the bathtub together.  For our routine at home, it just works better to give them baths separately, especially since Hannah goes to sleep an hour before Jayce.  But since we all go to bed at the same time in a single hotel room, they took their baths together.   It was cute.  

 I won't share more than these photos, for obvious reasons, but it's also pretty obvious why, when I put them in, and called "Chris, come look at this," he came with my camera bag in hand.  He's a good husband like that. 

When we reached our condo in Florida, I let Hannah play freely, unrestrained by the confines of the car and car seat.  I tried to entice her to crawl, but instead she looked at me like I was crazy.

But in the end, I did it.  Or I guess she did it.  That is, I enticed, and she crawled.

Or maybe it was her toys and the ducks outside that were the real motivation.  Either way, it was win-win.

And that's enough pictures for one post.  I love these ones.

Mother's Day Weekend

As I mentioned in my last post, I was thrilled that I got to spend Mother's Day with my little family, and it was the first one with all four of us.

We had a low key weekend.  We headed out to dinner on Friday night so that we could beat the Mother's Day crowds and Chris let me wander and shop in Old Navy with much less complaining than usual.

Then we had lots of at home, family chilling out time, which was just what I wanted. 

We introduced Hannah to the tree swing and she loved it.

I couldn't put my finger on what I thought was so strange about the baby in these pictures, until I realized I'm just so used to seeing pictures of THIS baby in the swing instead.  

(Jayce, in May 2008, above.)

Then Chris and Jayce took to the sprinklers.

One of the sprayers was broken, and when we told Jayce about this, he had no choice other than to go inside for his tools to attempt to repair it.

Then there was lots of running and giggling.

Before church on Sunday I made everyone go outside for a few pictures.  

I tried to get one of all of us, but Hannah realized in the middle of it that I wasn't holding her, and decided to punish me.

But I can take her.

And in honor of Mother's Day, this is basically just a post of pictures.  Hope you don't mind.

When You're Four

The other night we were snuggling before bed and you asked me to sing to you, as you often do.  I was surprised when you requested the Moon Song, because it's not one of the normal songs on the rota, but the song we used to dance to in the kitchen all the time a few years ago, back when you were only two.  I truly cannot remember the last time that I sang it to you, but I still know the words and started to sing.
  

We were in a hotel on our way to vacation, so we weren't in the normal spinning chair, but laying down on the pullout bed on the couch.  As I sang, you twirled the ribbon on your bear's neck, occasionally hummed along with me and held my hand, and wiggled your legs all over the place because you are SUCH a wiggle worm.  And as I sang and held you in my arms, tears slid quickly and steadily down my cheeks and onto the pillow.

 I can't believe we used to dance to this song when you were two, and now you're FOUR.  That seems crazy to me.

 One afternoon just after you were born your dad and I were riding with you in the car and I started to cry.  He looked over at me and I shrugged towards you by way of explanation and said, "I just love him so much!"

You were a new baby.  You slept pretty well, then you cried it out for a week and you slept amazingly.  You ate perfectly: bottle, formula, nursing, baby food, adult food, all of it.  You travelled easily.  You played happily alone or sweetly with whomever approached you.  You were the most content baby that I have ever known.

Then you were one.

You started to walk, sign please, and eventually talked.  You didn't like the cockroach or the jack in the box.  You hit a golf ball off a tee with scary precision.  You took 2 long naps every day and kept to a precise routine.

Then you were two.

You loved to kick a soccer ball, watch your dad play softball, and at the softball games you would "golf" the softballs with your bat.  You loved to sing any song that we taught you, and dance to any song that was playing.  At play dates you began to play with your friends instead of everyone just playing alongside one another.

Then you were three.

You started preschool and loved it.  You got potty trained, then untrained, then re-trained.  You shot a basketball and hit a baseball with scary precision.  You became a big brother.  You struggled and acted out at first, but eventually you (and the rest of us) fell peacefully into a new rhythm, that of a family of four.

And now you're four.

You turn anything that you're doing, into a song about anything that you're doing.  

You use adult phrases with profound accuracy 95% of the time.  5% of the time you're way off, and I love it.

You insist that I call Hannah's favorite lovey a bear, despite the fact that it's an elephant, because your loveys are bears.

You pump both fists into the air and say "Yay yay" when dad gets home from work, greet him at the garage door, and then run away, either for him to chase you right then, or to hide so that he'll come find you.

You sing the Fireman Sam theme song often, and you dance while you sing it.  You have a version where you replace "Fireman Sam" with "Jayce and Dad."  "So move aside, make way, for Jayce and Dad.  Cause they're gonna save the day.  Jayce and Dad...

Everything right now is "Amazing!"  or "Impossible!"  or "How did they do that?!!"  You slip these phrases into our regular conversation and seems that the world is a mystery to you.

 When I think about the little(r) you and cry, it's not because I'm sad that you are getting older, or sad that you aren't little anymore.  It's just that I love the four year old you so much that it overwhelms me.   I remember feeling the same way about the one, two and three year old you.  Apparently, just when I think my heart is completely full, it stretches just a little bit more.

And I'm glad.  Because now there is "wait for thi-is" when you're supposed to be in bed, and you applying the multiple stages of a goodnight kiss to my cheek with concentration, and you always ALWAYS wearing safety goggles when you are "fixing" something with your tools, or you reminding me to set the timer at every nap time because you are so serious about routines, and a  million other things that make you the way that you are right now.

You, at age four, are all that we ever wanted in a little boy, and I can't wait to see how you stretch our hearts (and surely our patience) in the years to come.
  

Happy birthday buddy.  We love you.