Timothy turns 3!

Timothy turned 3 back on December 20th, but with Lily having RSV and the Christmas Holidays, we were a little late in having his official celebration with his friends.  But have no fear, sweet little Timothy celebrated his birthday with several small celebrations through-out December and January - so for all we know, he thinks he will celebrate his birthday every month!

So we celebrated ON Timothy's actual birthday by attending the Kids Crazy Christmas Show at our church.  It is a big production about "Who's birthday is it?"  Well, I have to admit that everytime they asked who's birthday is it, Timothy grinned from ear to ear because, well, it WAS his birthday.  So...maybe he was a bit confused, but I think Benjamin got the message about Jesus' birth. 

After the show, we went to Carrabba's to celebrate.  Below, is a picture of Timothy and me before he blew out his candle!

 We went back home, and he opened one, small gift - a Stuart Little DVD.

On the 23rd, we traveled to Nacogdoches to celebrate Christmas with my cousins/aunt/uncle.  So...guess what?  We celebrated Timothy's birthday AGAIN.  We had a cake and everything.  We called this our family party - he got to celebrate with cousins.  He was so excited.

 I think he liked the cake!  So cute!

The next day, when we were back home, we gave him his gift from mommy, daddy, Nonna, Poppa, and MaMa -- a Lego Table!  It was a huge hit - he plays with it all of the time! 

Lastly, on January 23rd, Timothy celebrated his birthday with his best friend (and school buddy), Tanner.  Tanner and Timothy were born on the exact same day.  I met Tanner's mommy, Michelle, when Benjamin started at Creme 4 1/2 years ago.  Her first son, Brady, and Benjamin were always in the same class so we became friends.  Low and behold, we got pregnant at the same time - both with our second boys - and delivered on the exact same day!  So....below, are pictures of Timothy and Tanner's school party at Wonderwild!

 Tanner is a happy boy!

 Benjamin's friend, Connor, shows off his cowboy boots!

Lily sleeps.

My good friend, Lauri (Connor & Kaitlynn's mom), looks so pretty here with baby Kaitlynn!

 Timothy heads up to slide.....

"Hmmmm.....which way should I go?"

 ...on the stomach!  Is there any other way?

 Nonna holds her sweet baby grandaughter.  Lily is enjoying the party!

Pam, Tanner and Brady's grandma, loves on her sweet Brady for awhile.

Cameron stopped by for a visit with Kate (Benjamin's classmate) and sweet Sophia!  It was so good catching up with these girls!

Lastly, at home, Timothy models the glasses that Kate and Sophia gave him for his birthday!  So cute!

Lily Update

Well, we've finally found a schedule for Lily that works for us.  Since Lily was born, she's been a really good sleeper.  She came home from the hospital sleeping 6+ hours at night and within a few weeks was sleeping 8 hours.  Within 6-8 weeks, she was sleeping 10 hours, which has been such a saving grace.  I always say that the first few months of a newborns life are killer - the sleepless nights, etc, but with Lily, we haven't experienced that much at all.  Just a few nights here and there. 

It's been difficult for other reasons - having 2 other kids attending preschool and having to run kids here, there, and yonder - for school, appointments, doctors visits, sports stuff, etc.  We're tired....but all is well. 

Back to Lily.......  Lily turned 3 months on January 8th, and we finally have a set schedule.

8:30am - Bottle
12:00pm - Bottle
3:30pm - Bottle
7:30pm - Last Bottle
8:00pm - 10:00pm (Fussy Time/Some Sleep)
10:30pm - 8:30am (SLEEP - SOUND ASLEEP - AMAZING SLEEP)!

I am still amazed at how soundly Lily sleeps at night.  In fact, she sleeps so soundly that - gasp - I am thinking about moving her to her nursery (upstairs) when she turns 4 months old!   But....don't hold me to that!  :-)

Lily is such a sweet baby.  She is starting to smile more and more.  She loves to be kissed and loved on, and she is really "talking" a lot when you talk to her.  She loves lights/fans/fixtures/etc., and she thinks her brothers are very funny.  (Well, they are.)  She definitely has a fussy time with BAD tummy aches - usually late in the afternoon and/or evening.  I think she is starting to fight sleep a little bit at the end of the day, but once she goes, she's down for the count.  She is happiest in the mornings - when she first wakes up and throughout the morning.  There are lots of sweet smiles during this time.

At the doctor last week, she weighed 15.7 lbs and was 25 inches long.  She's a big girl - nice and chunky.  My backache proves it!  Lastly, a posting wouldn't be complete without a few recent photos of our sweet baby girl. 

At bath-time.  Look at all that chub!

 

 Lily showing off her Norwegian outfit knitted by Harry's cousin, Torbjorg.  Such a sweet, sweet dress/cap/booties.  Just makes her look like a little Norwegian!  :-)

Dino Sandwiches

I would do just about anything to get my boys to eat a sandwich!  Since Benjamin changed schools back in September, I have to make lunches 5 days a week, and it gets tricky to come up with a variety of healthy lunches/snacks, and while sandwiches might not be at the top of the list of healthy, they aren't that bad either.  So, below, I have outlined in detail how to make a "Dino Sandwich."  Watch....and learn!

You take 2 pieces of fresh, white, Sunbeam bread!  (Timothy and I like 7 grain, among other more healthy ones, but Benjamin is partial to traditional white bread.  So, for now, we go with it!)

Cover each piece of bread with a small bit of Hellmann's REAL mayonnaise.  (None of the imitation crap.)  Something I should add here is that I hate mayo so much that I normally don't even want to touch it, but hey, I'm on a mission, remember? 

 Put one slice of American Cheese and 2 very thin slices of ham on the bread.

Place your sandwich together, and pull out the DINO sandwich cutter.  (Purchased at my local Ace Hardware Store, Alspaugh's.)

And....PRESS!  Then, pull off the excess crust/etc. from the outside of the cutter. 

Normally, this would be eaten by me, but I hate mayo.  So, I offered it to Benjamin.  I hate to spoil the end, but he loved the sandwich so much, he ate all of the crust too - so I didn't even have to feel like I was being wasteful!  I couldn't have planned this better in my dreams!  Ha!

A step most would forget....flipping it over and pressing on the cutter so that when you push out the sandwich, it's a nice clean cut!   And, yes, I am anal.  I admit it.

Wallah!  2 Dino sandwiches. 

Both boys are excited to try the Dino Sandwiches!  (And..yes, I am even so anal that I clean the plate of any crumbs before presenting the sandwiches to the boys.)

Timothy takes a bite! 

 Verdict?  2 Thumbs up! 

Timothy shares a bite with Benjamin! 

 Benjamin gives an un-enthused 2 thumbs up, but have no fear, he ate 2 Dino Sandwiches tonight - AFTER eating a full plate of chicken, rice, green beans, and apples slices.  (I won't be able to afford to feed this kid when he is a teenager!)

Lastly, if you really want to pull out all of the stops, make a choo choo train. 

At our house, it's sure to be a winner!  (Benjamin wanted to eat this one too, but I convinced him that he was full and saved this one for his lunch tomorrow!  Whew.)   

Christmas 2010

We had a really nice Christmas this year.  We stayed extremely busy over the holiday, but we tried to make it as low key as possible.  Harry took 2 full weeks off of work, which was really nice.  I wish we could have spent some of that time relaxing and/or working on projects, but it seems like it was just spent running around after little ones!  I guess these are just the years for that, and when they are gone, we will miss them. 

Below, I snapped a cute shot of Benjamin while he watches "Home Alone."  He really thought it was funny and was his favorite movie over the holidays.  Although, he's been setting "traps" ever since......

Timothy.....well....just being Timothy!  He's playing and acting silly, as usual.  You gotta love this kid!

Lily -- on wrapping paper -- literally!  

Don't know why but I liked this shot of Timothy.  It's just so Timothy - peeking over the stairs to see if anything "more" interesting is going on downstairs.  He won't make up his mind where he is going until he checks things out first!  

Timothy, Benjamin Kaitlynn, and Connor - Our Christmas with the Courtrights!  Connor and Benjamin have been best buddies since starting at Creme 4 1/2 years ago.  Connor quit going soon after they turned 3 years, but we have regularly (almost weekly) playdates so the boys are still the best of friends.

Lauri Courtright - one of my best and dearest friends.  We are so thankful that our boys became such good buddies 4 years ago.  Here, Lauri poses with Lily.  We enjoyed having her and her husband, Jeff, over along with the kiddos.

Here, the boys pose in front of the Christmas Tree at church.  This is the second year we took them to the Kids Crazy Christmas Show, and it was a hit, as usual!  I'm not sure who enjoys it more - the boys or us!

Something new at our house - Timothy is potty training.  He turned 3 on December 20th and the potty training begin.  No more pull-ups!  He is doing GREAT, but he is the funniest little thing.  I loved this shot so much that I just had to share.  I'm sure, he will kill me one day for blogging about it!  Trust me, there were some I could NOT show!  

We took a day trip on 12/23 to Nacogdoches to have Christmas with my aunt/uncle/cousins.  Below, are my cousins kids.  From L-R:  Claire, Lily, Kaylin, Brandon, Timothy, Emery, & Benjamin.  The kids always have so much fun when we get together...as do the adults!  This time it was way too short, but we plan to go back at the end of January for a weekend so we will have more time to visit.

My mom, Nonna, poses with Lily.

My dad, Poppa, poses with Lily.

Lily LOVES the ceiling fans!

Santa brought The Polar Express - an electric train!  I can't tell you how much a hit this was - with the entire family!  Benjamin loved it so much, I thought he was going to pass out with excitement!  

Timothy shows off a new video from Santa!  And.....reindeer ears!  He loved the ones he got last year so much that they broke!  Santa brought new ones this year!

Santa also brought Timothy a potty watch - it has a timer that tells him when to go potty!  He's doing such a good job, we only needed to use this a few days.  He is already going regularly.

Such a sweet picture.  Both boys - tuckered out!

Timothy singing "Jingle Bells!"

Benjamin singing "Feliz Navidad" -- pretty funny!

My nieces and nephew:  Geory, Maecy, & Gia.  We so enjoyed having them for a couple of days before returning to California!

 Lily sleeps.  Whew.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures!  Benjamin is just sitting, calmly watching The Polar Express as it goes round and round the Christmas tree.  So sweet.  He loves that train so much! 

Technology!  Technology!  Technology!  Here, all of the kiddos are playing on either an itouch or an iphone.  Crazy! 

Not sure what started this - but it became a photo opportunity.  I never though something as simple as pigtails could make me feel 25 years younger, but it did! 

Timothy tries out Mommy's gift - a new Brookstone foot/leg massager!   



Lily gets lots of love from Nonna and MaMa.  

Lily is such a sweet girl. 

If it's one thing our kids do well - it's sleep.  Here, Benjamin is out!

Next to Benjamin is Timothy - out too! 

Until next year.......  Happy 2010! 

Hello 2011!