Monday, March 30, 2015

Paxton's Birthday

Since Paxton's birthday was on Sunday this year, we decided to celebrate all weekend. Saturday morning, we let him pick breakfast (Whataburger for pancakes) and then we went to the park. 
After we had played for a little while, he spied a familiar car. He ran over and saw that it was Gramsy and she had something in her trunk for him! It was a new bike with a basket full of gum! He was so excited to try to ride his bike and have his first gum. 
He loved the horn and the bell and the basket, but he really loved the gum. He swallowed the first few pieces, then after a lot of conversation about the importance of spitting it out, he took a piece, chewed twice and spit it out. Apparently there's a learning curve to the whole gum thing. 

That night was his birthday dinner with my family. We gave him free range to pick and he chose Mazzio's and then chocolate cupcakes with green frosting so that's what we did.

After dinner, we came back home and let him open his presents from his aunts. 
And we sang him happy birthday and he blew out his candles. 
Then while he was playing with his new toys and changing into his new jammies, Daddy and Gramsy snuck off to pick up a big surprise...

OUR NEW VAN!! Paxton could not have been more excited and he totally thought it was a birthday present for him. 
We started a new tradition last year of filling the room with balloons while the birthday boy was sleeping, so on Sunday morning, Paxton woke up to balloons everywhere. He was so excited that he piled them all in Porter's bed and hopped in. 
He had picked cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but before we could eat, he had to open his presents. 
He loved his tractor with a trailer more than anything else but he was excited play with everything. 

We let him pick an activity and he chose the Omniplex, so we loaded up in his favorite birthday present...our new van!
He is seriously so excited about this new van and has told everyone about it...including his speech teacher and his OT. He also tells most people how we didn't get the silver one because it smelled like smoke and cat pee...

He bossed everyone around at the Omniplex and made sure he tackled all his favorite activities. 
After awhile he wanted to get back in the new van and get some lunch. We asked him where he wanted to go and expected one of his favorites (Chick-Fil-A or IHOP), but just like he had surprised us the night before by picking Mazzio's, today he picked Arby's. 
An older lady was talking to him in line and he told her it was his birthday and he got a new bike from Gramsy and a new van and asked her where her car was...she was really nice to him and showed him where her car was. I just thought it was so cool all day how he knew it was his birthday and felt like a rock star. He told everyone he was four today and it was his birthday. 

We went back home and he got to ride his bike and skate while Porter went in for a nap. 
During his nap I built his Playmobil hotel we got him and he was excited to play with it when he got up. 
We wanted to go somewhere fun for dinner and ended up deciding on Pops. We even let this kid who never has coke to pick out any drink. He picked out a strawberry and loved it. 
After he ate, he got a birthday sundae and the hostess announced his birthday which he reacted to with utter amazement. 
After dinner we headed home for baths, new jammies and our current bedtime story, "Go Dog Go". 
On Thursday we went to GG's house and she gave Paxton a remote control monster truck and a big brother t-shirt. He asked to put his shirt on immediately and spent the rest of the visit slamming his truck into walls and furniture and trying to figure out how to steer. He loves it! He played with it so much that the next morning, the batteries were dead!

A few days later, Grandpa Mark brought over his last birthday present...a new Jeep for 2 riders!! He and Porter have been having a blast. 


Paxton is FOUR!!

My sweet, tiny firstborn turned four. Four is not a baby or even a toddler. It is just a kid. This birthday hit right as we was going through a growth spurt...both physically and emotionally so it makes the transition seem even more severe. He is tall and thin now, there is no baby chub left at all. Even his cheeks have thinned down. He has an opinion about everything and is better at making decisions that Jared and I combined. He is talking so much more clearly and will argue about anything. He will also listen now and think about the things we're telling him and most of the time he will try to make us happy. He can sit through a whole meal and eat with a fork, drink from an open cup and wipe his face off at the end; or there are meals where he sits down and immediately starts engaging in baby talk and screeching wars with Porter, throws his cup down and eats with his hands. 

He is really funny now and loves to do things over and over if we thought they were funny the first time. He calls us "Cait-yun" and "Jeh-wed" half the time and thinks Porter's middle name is Mark. He knows his full name and address, all his letters and numbers and has "Go Dog Go" memorized. He loves cars more than anything and wants to know who each car belongs to that we see driving around town. He is developing an interest in dinosaurs and has learned a few kinds. He loves routine and would eat the same thing every day for breakfast and lunch if we would let him. 

He has such a kind heart and always wants to use his own quarters to buy Porter something when he gets to buy something for himself. However, if we are at home and Porter is touching something of his...watch out. 

He is quick to tell us he's a big boy and he does "big boy fings" and it seems like that is true. We can trust him in public to stay with us and act appropriately...until something happens he doesn't like and then all bets are off. 

My favorite thing about him is how he comes in to find me so sweetly after his nap. He curls up next to me and talks to me softly about what he wants to do next or eat for dinner or tell me I'm his best fwiend. He really is a sweet little boy and even though he doesn't make everything easy, he's ours and we love him more than we could have ever imagined. 

The Circus!

Jared was in Vegas almost all week and by Saturday we needed something exciting to do. Granny V suggested the circus and that sounded perfect. 

The boys got some popcorn and ate the entire box. 
The boys ate tons of snacks but made it intermission with minimal drama. However, when lights came back on and people started walking around, they were over it. I took Porter out to walk around and Granny V took Paxton down to ride the train. He had a blast and even got to sit in the front and ring the bell. 
The boys loved the second act: elephants and motorcycle and a human cannonball. 

On the way home, we stopped at Chick-Fil-A and took it to the park for a picnic. 
It was a pretty awesome morning! The boys were definitely ready for naps by the time we got home, and when they woke up, Daddy was home!!

Monday, March 16, 2015

Dallas!

Now that we are back in OK, we get to make frequent trips to Dallas to see our favorite Texas friends. This weekend was our first time to head south in over a year!

We got in late Friday night and the boys were so excited to sleep at a hotel...

Saturday morning, we got up and headed to downtown McKinney for brunch and a St. Patty's day festival. Since the festival was about to start, we had to wait almost an hour for our table so we left the husbands to wait for the table and we took the kids to see some shops. 

Paxton and Blakely seemed to remember each other and were chasing each other around as soon as their eyes met. 
After an amazing brunch and a little bit of festival fun, we dropped everyone off at the Thompson's house for a nap (well only Porter took a nap...) and Tabatha and I headed to ikea. It was so nice to catch up kid free and just browse all the cute stuff! Our husbands were texting is asking us where we were, so we knew we had stayed too long. We gathered everyone up and went to Mooyah for hamburgers. Paxton and Blakely had missed their naps because they were too busy playing together, but they made it through dinner. After dinner, Paxton and Blakely wanted to play outside more and spent most of their time doing this on the swings:
Porter got to play too, but anytime he got too close to the big kids they would tell him to go away. He didn't seem to care. 
He was mostly interested in the kitty anyway. 
Then they got to do their favorite thing, a joint bath. Porter crashed this year...but he splashed too much and had to make a quick exit. 

The next morning, we hit ikea and then met up with Tabatha and Blakely (Ryan had an early flight) for some donuts. 
We had so much fun with our friends and we're so glad we live close enough to be able to make quick visits!!