A Bushel and a Peck

Charlie figured out how to ride his bike without training wheels today. It took him a while, mostly because he was too nervous to go fast enough on his bike to keep his balance. Once he got over the fear of speed, he figured it out on his own. He is incredibly happy about the whole thing. And we're realizing that it's time to pass this bike down to Peter and get Charlie a bigger one. It's nice knowing that buying the bike is an investment for three boys though. It makes it less hard to buy something that I know he'll be growing out of so quickly. 

We spent the day with Grandma today. We ran errands, played at the school playground, spent some money at Bath and Body Works, visited some cousins, sang songs in the car (loudly) and ate dinner at Cafe Rio. I love days like that. Nothing spectacular, just a happy day.

Still Smitten

But how could I not be?

One More Birthday . . .

Peter turned four this weekend. He was determined to have a Mario party. I tried to fight it because Charlie already had one. I lost. He was so excited and loved every single minute.  He has such cute little friends. I just love them all!  Peter is the one on the top right. Charlie tried very hard to steal the spotlight, and looking at the pictures I'd say he almost succeeded.

I love doing these parties. Sure they are a lot of work, but it's worth it. Even if it's just for the pictures. ;)

2 Months Old

Can I still call him AJ if his middle name doesn't start with a j? Because that is what comes out of my mouth most often. Well, that and Andy-roo. And Baby. But I use it like a name, without the "the."

This little guy is so sweet and so good. Well except for at night when he still gets up about every three hours. Like most babies, he loves baths and he loves music. He loves it when I tickle his cheeks and he loves to be held tightly. He doesn't like it when the boys get too close to his face, which they do often. And he gets scared every time he um . . . creates a dirty diaper. Sorry if that's too much information, but seriously the look on his face is hilarious. It's like, "What the heck was that?!?!?"

It's such an overused cliche, but it's so true. They really do grow up too fast.

32

32 totally random things about the birthday boy

1. His favorite foods are Reece's Peanut Butter Cups and funeral potatoes. But not at the same time. ;)

2. He listens to hard rock in the truck, and really enjoys Metallica.

3. He drives my old blue truck to work every day. That truck is 19 years old now. Crazy.

4. He taught Charlie how to play chess.

5. He plays the guitar . . . a little.

6. He knows how to play two songs on the piano: Jessica's theme from the Man from Snowy River and a Jon Schmidt song that I don't know the name of.

7. I can't get him to smile normally for a photograph. He totally reminds me of that episode of Friends when Chandler can't smile. Every once and a while I'll get a genuine smile out of him, but it has to be unplanned and he has to be genuinely happy.

8. He grew up with horses. Sadly most of his horses have died, but someday we'll have a place where he can have horses again.

9. His favorite baby girl name is Katie, which was the name of his favorite horse.

10. He doesn't really enjoy any breakfast food that is served with syrup. He rather have eggs, bacon, and hash browns any day.

11. I can only remember him being sick three times since we got married. And only went to the doctor one of those times. And still, it took him passing out in the hallway to convince him he needed to go.

12. He's the type of dad who will take work off for a tee-ball game or a parent/teacher conference.

13. He has the type of job that will allow him to take off work for those types of things.

14. He enjoys his job, and refuses to slack off while he's there. He definitely doesn't fit the "state worker" stereotype.

15. He loves Winger's sticky fingers and chooses to go there for every birthday dinner.

16. He says he's training for a half marathon this summer. We'll see . . .

17. He's taking the professional engineering exam next month and is terrified. When he passes, he will make more money and get to put P.E. after his name on his business cards.

18. When they release him from the bishopric (hopefully this year or next), he wants to ask for a nursery calling, which is funny because we had that calling before we had kids and he was not at all happy about it. It's funny how responsibility makes you wish for the days when life was easier.

19. He is impossible to buy presents for. And even when you do get it right, he doesn't know how to rave about it, so you never know.

20. He shared his birthday cake with the rest of the March birthdays at a family party last night. So fun. And so yummy.

21. He got a new board game for Christmas: Ticket to Ride. It's a fun game, and we play it all the time now as a "date" after the kiddos are in bed.

22. He doesn't cook. At all. Well I shouldn't say that. He's fine with Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or frozen pizza and once in a blue moon, pancakes which he doesn't really like so I've never figured out why he knows how to make them.

23. He doesn't get excited about vacations like I do. And I know he dreads the moment I start to get the itch to go somewhere. But once we're gone, he throws himself into it and has fun and doesn't worry about a thing.

24. He has a secret dream to move to the east coast for a while, just to experience something different.

25. He has absolutely no desire to get a dog. I'm starting to feel like we should get one for the boys. Don't little boys and dogs go together? Can you really have three boys and not have a dog for them to play with? But Mike is adamant about not having one until we have a bigger house.

26. He's never adamant about ANYTHING, except not getting a dog. I really can talk him in to most things.

27. He takes longer showers than I do.

28. For his birthday the only thing he wanted was sunglasses. He got those and a couple of shirts. The boys gave him a card game and a plush Angry Bird which really wasn't for Mike, it was for them.

29. He's been threatening to take the Angry Bird to work and put it on his desk because the boys have been fighting over it like crazy. I'm not letting them pick out a present for him anymore.

30. He's older than me for just two months of the year.

31. He rarely checks the blog, so I'm wondering how long it'll take him to realize that I wrote this.

32. He's the best husband, best friend, and best dad for our boys. I couldn't have asked for better.

Happy Birthday Mike!

Love you!

Related

This is my brother Jimmy. We are definitely related. We took a little trip to visit him and his sweet family last weekend. It was a quick visit, but sometimes those are the best kind. The kids played so cute together and didn't have enough time to start fighting. ;) 

We also got to visit my cousin Linsey. She just had her 5th baby girl. None of that gross boy stuff in her house. It's all princesses all the time. We've never had a baby around the same time until now, so we had to take some pictures. Especially since we were born two days apart and have pictures like this of us.