Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Pictures at long last

I am swamped. We (Matthew, Andrew, Benjamin, my mom, and I) are leaving for the beach this Friday to stay in my friend Stephanie's cool condo down in Florida. And while a vacation is cool (and long overdue), all of us parents know that it is truly not really a vacation for us, and we often need an additional vacation from the vacation. This week has been super busy already, and we're only three days into it. The next three days are jam-packed as well.

But added to my stress is the fact that I have not yet blogged about Andrew's third birthday party, so I have diligently uploaded pictures tonight while I simultaneously tried to understand paperwork for Benjamin. (Seriously? Why does it have to be so complicated and redundant?)

Speaking of Baby B, he is doing *wonderfully*!!!! He is *this* close to crawling. In fact, for all intents and purposes, he is crawling. But he's not quite doing it right, so I'm prone to wait to "call it." He skipped "army crawling" altogether and gets on his hands and knees. But because his hips are so darn flexible, instead of bringing one knee forward and then his other knee, he'll bring one knee forward and then his whole other leg out in front of him. He'll scoot like that, and sometimes he'll move his other knee again. But other times he just decides to sit back up. It's difficult to work with him on this b/c he usually just bangs his head while we're trying to help. And Natalie (his PT) and I can't help but laugh as he's also making cute noises and trying to eat toys at the same time. I kid you not that everyone who crosses this boy's path is in love with him. If only we could all have that said about us.

Okay, onto the pictures.

Here is Andrew the night before his party, assembling his goody bags.







He loved the pink sunglasses and made me promise that his bag would have the pink ones. I suppose the birthday kid can get a goody bag at his own party. Is that normal?



The cake and cupcakes. LOL As I stated on Facebook when I posted these, I never claimed to be Martha Stewart. Some cupcakes were huge, while a few were tiny. Oh, well.









My ghetto Clifford decorations printed off the PBS website. He loved them, and we later taped them all in a book.







My mom used to hang balloons on our mailbox when it was one of our birthdays. Then she started doing it for the cat's birthday. It started as a joke but then never ended. The cat is now 17. It used to bug the stew out of my brother Justin, so we did it as long as we all lived there just to irritate him. Anyway, here is our mailbox.





No joke. If Benjamin is always smiling for the camera, Andrew is always frowning for the camera. He's not a depressed kid by any means; he's just serious in front of the camera. Here is his expression when I tell him to smile. I am not kidding. (I wanted him to show the personalized Clifford t-shirt that my Aunt Priscilla sent.)



So then I tell him to say something that is bound to be cheery, like, "It's my birthday!" But then that always causes him to move around and I miss important things. Like the "w." And suddenly I have a son named Andre. But he's not a giant or a seal, so everyone is confused. (Let me know if anyone got both of those references...)



Pointing out the various Clifford characters



At birthday party #1 of the day. Eating cupcakes with his friends.







Opening presents with his friends



Evangeline, who has a baby sister due in a couple of months, was especially intrigued by Benjamin. He just wanted her to move the heck out of the way so he could get his red ball.



Ahhhh...the chaos of three-year-olds. With a few babies thrown in there.



Then the friends left and it was naptime. After naptime, it was time for party #2--the family party. Here are Andrew and his cousins (L-R--Davis, Abbie, Ashlyn) on the couch, wearing party gear and holding up how old they are. Can't you see? Davis is six, Abbie is 11, Ashlyn is nine (well, she would be the very next day...), and Andrew is desperately still trying to figure out how to hold up three fingers.



While we got the food ready, the kids played in the master bedroom where we had stashed some of the louder toys...



Looks like these two chose the wrong room in which to nap...



Being silly with the kids (Michael included)





Cake time!



Little brother getting in on the party hat action



Opening his big present from Matthew and me: a Melissa and Doug Fire Chief play outfit.



The cutest thing about this is that Andrew thinks the word firefighter is pronounced fire-fire. So he is always saying, "I'm the fire-fire!" It's adorable.







Okay, the parties were a grand success. Fun was had by all. Here are just some random day-to-day pictures to round out this post. And then I am going to bed because it's late, I'm exhausted, and I have a million and two things to do tomorrow.

Here is Benjamin playing with his pants on the hardwood. He loves to play with burp cloths, small blankets, and articles of clothing, as you can plainly see.









His 11-month picture. I can't wait to post all of them!! Only one more month!



The day after Andrew's party our dishwasher decided to get sick. The repairman came today (a week later), and I was never so glad to see a strange man standing on my doorstep.



Seriously...this is not cool. We used as much plastic and paper as we could (except for silverware), but we still amassed tons of dishes. I think this is just a day or two.



This was taken today during lunch. LOL



To conclude, I have two short videos. **Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom of the page!!**
Here is Andrew reciting his very first memory Bible verse. He has one a week to memorize for Puggles, which is the 2-and-3-year-old AWANA division that he and Matthew go to every Sunday night. (Matthew is one of the adult helpers.)



And here is Andrew today at lunch. After I took a picture of his messy face, he wanted me to "take a picture where he talked." Otherwise known as a video. I love this boy!




That's all for now!!!!

8 comments:

Verna said...

You were busy, but do love the photos.

I know what you mean about vacation. Expecially when you take children. It is always lots of work, but well worth it.

We leave next Friday- not this Friday for AZ. Now that it is just the two of us. It is totally different. Our daughter wanted to know why we didn't take week vacations when she was growing up.
It was more week end ones then.

Hope you all have a good time and at least some time for some relaxation.

Stephanie said...

I am so jealous of your vacation!
The party looked wonderful! Way to go super-Martha Stewart-momma!
The boys are SOOOOO cute.
Can't believe B is crawling. One milestone after another!!
So happy the hospital days are in the distant past!!
Talk to you soon-

Anonymous said...

I got both Andre references. They made me laugh until I had tears in my eyes.

I love the glasses picture of the four kids on the couch!!

Benjamin is seriously such a doll. I love the last picture of him with that HUGE grin playing with his pants. I think that what you are describing *totally* counts as crawling. Lily never crawled on her knees. She always used one foot and one knee. Then she progressed to bear-crawling (two feet and two hands) and then walking!

Anna said...

I totally got both references! Love it. Have a good vacay!

Anonymous said...

I've got a great place for you to stop and get sweet tea on the way to the beach in bham. Milo's sweet tea is the best. They have a drive-thru. It is in a large cup with crushed ice. Yummy! It is right off an exit on your way down. let me know if you want more info. We have to wait until they open at 10:30 a.m. on our way home because I have to always get one for the drive to Chattanooga. Selena

Amber said...

B looks huge to me!!

Claire said...

Angela,
It looks like the birthday party was lots of fun. Also, congratulations on all of your Weight Watchers success. Have a great vacation.

PS-Way to go Benjamin on the crawling.

Love,
Claire

Kellye said...

Thank goodness! I was beginning to think something was terribly wrong...I mean you really don't have anything else to do during the day except raise two kids and all that entails...I mean GEEZ ANGELA!!!! Don't leave us hangin ever again! Hope you know I'm kidding. What cuties! I hope I do actually get to meet you one day because Benjamin has already stolen my heart!!! And I love it when they talk like that! Andrew is just precious! Thanks for sharing! Enjoy the beach! Can't wait for pics!