Presents With Daddy

Since Colby has been working out of town, he wasn't home for Marshall's actual birthday and would be gone at work for Tyler's, so we did presents when he got home tonight.  I love to see them smile before they ever know what they are going to find inside all that wrapping paper.

Tyler got a sleeping bag (that Marshall chose especially for him) so he could have one like Marshall.

Marshall got a bike helmet.  What might he need that for?  ;)

They both seem pleased with their surprises.

Then Daddy rolled something else into the room...

... a super cool big boy bike!

We quickly took it outside for a test drive.

Tyler cracks me up.

Marshall has been so ready for a big bike!  He did so great riding it around.  

He even took it around to show his Grandparents that night and 

did so well navigating from driveway to road and back to driveway.

I think Marshall liked his surprise.

4.

Wowza.  Marshall has turned four today.  No longer is he "a tall three" but actually four years old!

 I can't believe how quickly it has all flown by...  We had a great day, that's for sure.  Marshall has been so spoiled today and he never even opened a present.  We're saving all of that for this weekend's partying extravaganza.  No kidding... we have days and days of partying lined up for our little dudes.  All week he's been overflowing with joy about his birthday.  For a few days now his regular look is something like this:

Can you see that excitement?  

This picture was taken Saturday as he watched Daddy paint his new bunk bed we got them.  The kids absolutely love it!  So even though this picture had nothing to do with his birthday, it is a fairly accurate example... back to what I was saying.  Haha.

Today he got to wake up and go straight to Aunt Lauren's house and she had Easter eggs hidden in her house for them and then she made him the edible version of what he had requested the night before, spaghetti soup with gummy worms.  She made them a feast of spaghetti and a cake complete with mud (frosting), dirt (crushed oreos) and gummy worms on top.  She really went above and beyond.  He loved the whole thing too, as did she.  There's never a dull moment with Marshall around.  These are a couple of the things he did that had us laughing our heads off.

                    Marshall: "Lauren, would you like a glass of water?"
                    ...no response...
                    Marshall: "Lauren, say 'Yeah. I would like a glass of water.'"
                    ...Lauren: "Yeah. I would like a glass of water."
                    Marshall: "Ok, then, go get one."

Haha.  That was while I was gone, but this next one I was there for.  Classic.  We were sitting there finishing our food and Lauren's room mate was practicing her violin in the other room.  After a few minutes Marshall leans toward the hall and in his best "grumpier old men" kind of demeanor yells, "QUI-ET!"  It was soooo funny.  I'm not sure if the poor girl heard him or not, but she soon stopped playing and we kept laughing and laughing.

The day just continued to be great for him.  We rushed him to preschool and I took in some cupcakes for his class.  His teacher, Miss Gwen, announced that Marshall would like to introduce this special lady.  Marshall looks up from making his "Easter bonnet" and says (matter of factly, of course) "this is Andrea," then went back to his project.  He really always has me laughing!

After school we went to playgroup at the park which included cupcakes and was missing some of our great friends.  But of course it was fun and Marshall sang the birthday song to himself before any of us could then made sure to announce that fact to us.  :)  Following the park we went to Carly & Cierra's softball games (where he received birthday wishes from Great Gma Stratton) then finished up the night visiting Great Gma & Gpa Tom and Gma Diane.  Gma Diane had blueberry waffles with blueberry syrup and whipped cream waiting for the birthday boy.  

Would you say he's a spoiled soul?

Since this is already a super long post, maybe I'll include a few of the funny things he's said and done lately.

• He is often heard praying that Uncle Chase can come home soon.  He misses his super cool uncle dearly, but Chase is doing great things in East Malaysia as a missionary so Marshall will just have to hang in there.  Marshall now jumps up and down as he says that he has to be five before Chase can come home.
• Yesterday he asked me, "Do you want to put this ear poker (earring) in your ear?"
• On 3/7: "I put chapstick on so I can be ready to marry Ayla.  I am not marrying her right now, just when I am like a daddy."
• On 3/9 he was having a little naughty episode that had him in time out and screamed this at the top of his lungs, "I'm gonna be like you when you were a little girl and you were screaming!"
• Beware... this one contains potty talk.  On 3/27: "Mom.  I pooped a round one shaped like a rainbow and its all brown.  That would be one ugly rainbow."  I still giggle at that one.
• On 4/7: "Mom.  I love you bigger than a dinosaur."

 Well Marshall, birthday boy, I love you bigger than a dinosaur too.

I'm Hungry

I'm hungry for food and I'm hungry for some blog updates.

I am trying to force my body to burn up some of its excess calories, so a snack will not be in order.  

But as far as the blog goes, I figured I could post a little something to hold me over.

This is my latest completed project.  It took the place of folding and putting away a mountain of clothes, but I decided not to wait for Colby to do it for me.  Hang my jewelry, that is.  I'd go crazy if I wasn't the one folding the clothes and accounting for them in my head.  I had thought about framing the cork board, but figured I'm far too picky about frames and I didn't want to wait any longer to get all my necklaces off of the door handle of our closet.  It was always the pits when I forgot to turn the lever handle up which would result in all my necklaces falling in a scrambled pile on the floor and creating a sparkling, colorful doorstop in the most inconvenient of places.  I may decide to frame it later.  The embroidered flowers in the frame are  also mounted on cork board which I'm sure will end up holding old love notes from my hubby and maybe a sweet photo.

P.S.  Did you see the special I'm running over on my photo blog?  Don't miss it.

Won't Be Stopped

You know... I was worried about Tyler and how he would tolerate his cast.  That first 24 hours had me really nervous.  He hardly slept because it rubbed on his other leg and he didn't do anything but sit.  It was like he was an infant on the verge of crawling all over again, except for this time he was almost two and knew he was able to go wherever he wanted, but just couldn't figure out how.

Within a day he could "crawl," his leg just dragging behind him.  The next day he was walking.  

So here's a look at all the things Tyler can do, in spite of his cast.

He could "drive" the truck while I cleaned it.

He could sit and play with Marshall for hours and hours.

Play with Play-Doh.

Stand right up.

Get his own breakfast.

And take it anywhere in the house.

Play in the sandbox.

Go exploring and Easter Egg hunting.

Play on the playground.

Not only could he climb the stairs and play, 

but he worked really hard to prove that he could climb UP the slide.  

I was bummed to never get a picture of it.

Climb just about anything.

He had managed to climb into this baby walker and was happy to be there.

I love you Tyler.  You independent, persistent little guy.

You should get your cast off right around your birthday.

Reverse Psychology?

So... tomorrow I am quitting sugar. It really helped me last time I did it, but even more importantly, when I eat sugar I eat lots of it and then my belly keeps it. So my friend Tara and I are working together and saying goodbye to sweets. And in lieu of such a lifestyle change I thought I'd live it up today, make some chocolate chip cookies, and eat to my heart's content. And I did. I'm sure I ate at least a dozen of them on my own.

Now I have a belly ache and I'm pretty sure I don't want to eat another cookie for half of forever from now.

Yeah for getting healthy! Haha.

Winner winner chicken dinner!

I asked Colby to help me determine the winner and asked him to chose a number, 1 through 18.
He chose 18. Which makes Cherry the winner!

Yeah for Cherry!

Thanks for all the comments. That was so fun! Now keep it up.

Sure Enough

Today, the 8th of April, we woke up to a fascinating sight.  Snow.  I was a little worried about my garden that I just planted, my flowers out front, and about the church welfare orchard here in town (it would be so sad if the cold destroyed the crop).

But having kids makes surprises like this so worth it.  Marshall was loving those giant flakes that were falling and covering "the mountains" (the giant dirt piles in the yard) with snow.  He even thought it made sense to watch Merry Madagascar, since the snow practically equaled a holiday.  Haha.  I think I'll have a little fun  of my own getting bundled up today.  It's not that often I get to dress in my winter clothes when I'm tan.