Happy Easter

We had such a great Easter this year.  It was busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

The weekend before Easter we dyed some Easter eggs. Patrick thought it was so fun and had a hard time sharing with little brother and Harper. 

Stirring his eggs.  Blue was his favorite.

Notice we lost the clothes after about the second egg

Sweet little Peyton thought it was fun, but wanted to keep dipping his hands in the dye.  He had really orange hands for a day or so.

The day before Easter, Matthew, Mark and Nana took Harper and Patrick to an Easter egg hunt.  The boys had a blast.

Opening some eggs

Cute cousins

Whatever Matt does….

The boys do

The night before Easter, we kept Harper since Ryan was joining the church and participated in the Easter Vigil.  The boys had the best time playing. The ceremony is a little long, so the boys didn't go to bed until 11pm.  We were getting up early for 7:30 am church the next morning, which was a little tough after such a late bed time. The boys were a little tired during church, but still did a great job.

We didn't have a chance to see what the Easter Bunny brought before church (mostly bc the Easter bunny didn't get his act together…) so the Easter bunny quickly set up everything while the boys were unloading from the car after church.  So I didn't get any pictures of them seeing their baskets, but they were really excited!

Peyton's Easter basket

Patrick's Easter basket

Patrick opening his eggs

After church and the Easter bunny, we headed over to Nana and Grumps house for brunch and an Easter egg hunt.

Peyton and Harper hanging out

Sweet little Peyton

Peyton hunting for eggs

Found some eggs

Love my precious little family! My boys look so handsome!

After Nana and Grumps house, we went home for a quick nap.  After nap we headed to a late lunch at Belle Meade.

Big, Aunt Denton and Peyton

My sweet little boys

Peyton decided to try his chocolate bunny out right before bath time…it was funny

So thankful for my precious little family!

5 years!

Happy Anniversary to the most wonderful husband and dad!  I feel very blessed that I have had the joy of being married to you for 5 years!  I can't wait for many more fun times ahead of us!

Our wedding day

1st Anniversary Trip to Vegas

2nd Anniversary celebrated by dinner at Flemings- A couple weeks after welcoming Patrick

3rd anniversary trip to Napa

4th Anniversary celebrated by dinner at Flemings- A couple weeks after welcoming Peyton

For our 5th Anniversary (and my 30th Birthday, yikes!) we are headed back to Napa. I could not be more excited!  We always had plans to go back to Turks and Caicos, but life got a little more interesting (and way more fun!) with two little boys.  It just didn't seem feasible to go out of the country this time around.  Maybe 10 years :)

Dear Patrick

Dear Patrick,

I cannot believe you are already three years old.  It feels like yesterday that we were bringing you home from the hospital!  I remember the day so vividly and I remember being so amazed at how I could love someone so much! 

You enthusiasm and zest for life are contagious! You keep us on our toes.  You have so much energy and you run everywhere.   You are so funny and you really keep your dad and I laughing. 

You love for your family to do things together. You get upset if all members of the family don’t go on an errand or participate in an activity.  You also love to cuddle with your family or have family movie nights together.  It’s precious and I hope you always want to keep your family close.

You are so smart!  I am constantly amazed at your vocabulary and what you are able to pick up on.

You have an amazing laugh. You really light up when you laugh. It's one of the things I love about you the most (reminds me a lot of your dad). You also have such big beautiful blue eyes!  I love seeing your sweet innocence through them.

It has really been the greatest joy of my life to watch you grow into such an amazing, sweet little boy.  I look forward to many more precious years together!

Love you to the moon and back,

Mom

Patrick's 3 Year Interview

Below is Patrick's three year interview. He hates to wear pants in the house, so he is pantsless in this video. I love his answers....so cute!

Patrick- 3 Years

Patrick is 3 years old!  He has grown up so fast!  Here is a little trip down memory lane

Newborn

12 Months

2 years

I'm not even sure how to begin with his 3 year update. He has changed so much from my last update three months ago!  

Patrick has such a big heart.  He really loves his family and would be perfectly content to hang out with his family all day every day I think.  He loves to cuddle, but he can also be really rambunctious.  A few of his favorite activities are running, wrestling with Michael and kicking the soccer ball. He loves to be really active all the time.  He still plays with his trains and cars the most and whenever we let him pick out a new toy he always picks out a train or a car. 

He is really shy and gets nervous in new situations. He clings to Michael and I whenever we go somewhere that he is not very familiar with. He is very stubborn and likes to keep to his schedule.  He is not necessarily focused on the timing of his schedule but the order we do activities.  He never forgets. He will bring up something we told him a few months ago and still remember the exact details. 

We went to the doctor last Friday and got a great report. He no longer has anemia and his cholesterol looked great.  He is 35% for weight and 30% for height.  I can't imagine what he would weigh if we were not in food therapy!  It has been a life saver for him!  He is still really small and can still wear 12-18 month shorts.  However, his torso is long so he wears 3T shirts. Peyton and Patrick now share shorts and pajama's, since all of Patrick's shorts and pajamas are 18 month.

He goes to bed between 9 and 9:30.  He goes to bed really easily, but still wakes up in the middle of the night wanting to sleep with us.  I know there are so many people out there that are against sharing a bed, but I actually really like it.  He goes to sleep by himself in his own bed and does sleep through the night some nights, but the nights he wants to cuddle with us are pretty fun. I know he isn't going to want to do that forever and will probably outgrow it soon.  Those morning he sleeps with us and taps me on the shoulder in the morning and says, "Mom, it's a SUNNY DAY…it's time to get up" are just priceless.

He occasionally takes a nap, but is definitely trying to drop his nap.  On the weekends he normally naps in the car when we go somewhere or takes a really late nap.

Potty training has been a nightmare with this little guy. Let me start by saying that we were not ready to potty train and I did not think he was ready to potty train.  But, he was the oldest in his class and the teachers told us that we had to bring him to school in underwear. The first few days were battles to even put on underwear and he would beg to wear a diaper. Two months later it is still a struggle for us and we go through multiple sets of clothes every day (about 4 on average).  He does great with #2 and has never had an accident with #2. But, #1 is still a big struggle (which I realize is backwards for most kids). I think he understands the concept and he seems like he is really trying, but maybe just isn't ready yet.  After talking to the doctor, he reassured me that boys are much later and some really vary on the age.  Patrick still wakes up with a full diaper, so that is one sign that he might not be ready. He said to let the teachers do all the work because with two demanding jobs, its just too difficult to focus the little time I have with him on potty training wars.  So that's what we are doing, lots of pull ups on the weekends so we can focus on the fun stuff!  He has really made progress, but we have a long way to go!

Patrick said he was going to work and headed off….pantless with daddy's beer cooler :)

I really love this age and he is becoming so much fun.  I'm not going to lie, two was a tough year for us.  Although there were lots of sweet moments, there were also lots of tantrums and lots of frustrations because he could not appropriately express himself or tell us what he wanted.  I have seen such a change in the past few months! There are far less tantrums and we can actually begin to reason with him. He is growing into such a big boy! 

Patrick, I have loved watching you mature into such a funny, sweet little boy! I cherish the time I get to spend with you.  With the amount of energy and determination you have, you are bound to do great things in this life and I am thrilled to be able to witness it! Love you!

Dear Peyton

Dear Peyton,

This year has gone by so fast and I cannot believe you are already a 1 year old!  I have had the time of my life watching you grow and learn this past year. 

You are so happy and you are always smiling.  Your smile and giggle are so contagious. I constantly get comments from strangers about how happy you are.  You light up every time you see your family and it is the best feeling.  I can’t wait to pick you up every day and see you bouncing up and down as I walk through the yard to get you.  It is the best part of my day by far. 

You love to cuddle. You frequently get up in the middle of the night to cuddle, which I love.  You also really love to give hugs.  You love to give your daddy hugs the most.

You love to play with any type of ball, footballs, soccer balls or basketballs.  You think it is really fun to try and throw the balls back and forth to Michael and I.  You also love to copy anything your brother does.

We just sold our house after your first birthday.  We sold the house so that I could stay home with you more and we could spend more time together.  It was the house we brought you and your brother home from the hospital in, so although it makes me very sad, I am so excited to be able to spend every day with you.  I know I will have the time of my life spending every day with you and your brother.  I can’t imagine a better job!

You are such a sweet boy and I cherish every moment I am able to spend with you.  God definitely knew what he was doing when he gave me you!

I love you to the moon and back!

Mom

Happy Birthday Patrick!

My precious Patrick turned 3 years old on Wednesday!  How is he already 3 years old!?!? He looks so big I can hardly stand it!

Michael and I have taken off Patrick's birthday each year and have a day filled with fun activities.  It is always one of my favorite days of the year because we play all day! The past two years we have gone to Loveless for breakfast, but restaurants are not really Patrick's cup of tea since he is such a picky eater. So this year we decided to change it up a little bit and start Peyton's birthday off at Loveless (which is much more fitting for his personality) and celebrate Patrick with donuts at the park. I asked Patrick the day before his birthday if he would rather go to a restaurant or eat donuts at the park (already knowing the answer :)). Without hesitation he started jumping up and down and saying "donuts at the park, donuts at the park!"

 

It was a beautiful day so we packed the car and headed to the park to eat donuts and play first thing in the morning. When we drove to Margaret's house to drop off Peyton, Patrick said that we could not drop off baby and that baby had to come to the park to celebrate his birthday…..melted my heart! I pray that these two will be the best of friends some day! 

Ready for donuts at the park. "I eat donuts, they make my tummy happy!"

Patrick only eats the top of the donut (aka the frosting) so whenever we get donuts he eats the frosting off about 3 of them!

Grumps joined us at the park 

Peyton had fun walking around the park too

Brothers at the park

Next on the agenda was Bounce U.  We asked Patrick whether he would rather go to the zoo or a bouncy house and he chose the bouncy house.  They had pre-school jump time from 10-12 and we happened to be the only people there for the entire two hours! Patrick was a little nervous at first, but then he warmed right up and ran around and jumped and played for the entire two hours! Mom and dad  jumped and played too and we were exhausted afterwards!

Hitting baseballs which he was surprisingly really good at!

Next up was the slide, which we probably went down 100 times.  I don't think I am exaggerating, we literally went down it 100 times and Patrick had the biggest smile on his face every single time!

He insisted that mom or dad go with him each time, since it was more fun that way :)

Michael's turns were a little more rough than mine, which Patrick thought was way more fun!



He was pretty upset to leave the bouncy house, can you tell?

After the bounce house we asked Patrick where he wanted to eat lunch and he said "the shoe." Michael and I both asked a few times and finally figured out he was talking about the zoo! We both couldn't say no to that precious little voice asking if he could go see the Tigers and Zebra's at "the shoe," so since we were pretty close, we headed to the zoo. The zoo was PACKED! We were surprised it was so packed at 12:30pm on a Wednesday.  Patrick was most excited about seeing the Tigers and Zebras. He kept asking to see more animals. It was pretty cute.  It was 80 degrees outside and very hot so we decided it was time to head to lunch after about an hour at the zoo.

We let him pick out a birthday toy at the zoo gift shop and of course he found the only trucks in the entire store.  So we came home with more trucks…  He was exhausted and fell asleep for a quick nap on the way to lunch.

Before he fell asleep he asked for a milkshake for lunch, so on the way home we googled good milkshakes and The Pharmacy came up.  Michael had never eaten there so we decided to try it out! Patrick did great during lunch and loved the milkshake the most.

After The Pharmacy we headed home to have a few minutes rest before it was time for his birthday dinner.  We had his birthday dinner at Nana and Grumps house and Big and Allie joined us as well. Patrick's favorite meal is chick-fil-a, so we ordered chick-fil-a for everyone.  Michael also picked up a "Queen" cake, balloons and lightning mcqueen cups and plates. Patrick loved it!

Patrick is shy and gets nervous when the attention is on him, so he cried during the Happy Birthday song. 

Peyton decided to dig into the cake! Wish he had been this excited about his smash cake!

A few family pictures after a fun day!

Michael and I both had a blast with Patrick! It could not have been a more fun day! I think it was just what we needed!