Will is FOUR/Our Silly Face Boy

 

This boy turned four today! Since we spend a good chunk of Sunday at church, we decided to celebrate Will's big day a day early. We started the day with the traditional pancakes. I saw early on that getting a normal smile out of him was going to be tricky. I deleted at least five pictures of him with his pancake before I got this one. I settled. He's a stinker! ;)

Being our third boy, it's often tricky figuring out what to get him for his birthday and Christmas. We have more cars, trucks, trains, and blocks than any one household should have. He loves the Cars Movie right now, but since we have over a dozen different Lightening McQueen cars alone, I couldn't justify spending money on more Cars. Instead, I was thrilled to discover Lego Juniors. They are a fairly new line of Legos for 4-7 year olds. He just recently started playing with Jon and Sam and their Legos, so this seemed like a perfect fit. The best part is that they are normal Lego size, so they can be used with the older boys Legos and by Will for years to come. I am so excited to have found these! :)

We took him to EnterTRAINment Junction last year for his birthday, and this year he wanted to go again. He LOVED it. 

watching Thomas pull Annie and Clarabel

 shoveling coal into the engine

one of the many "cheesy faces" he gave us on Saturday

Will requested Chick-fil-a for his birthday dinner. I don't think any of us minded that one bit. It was fun. The kids ate their meals and went off to play happily, leaving Pete and I to sit and talk a bit, with them just on the other side of the window playing. Everyone wins! :)

 seriously, what is this face?

 leading the pack down the slide (that's Maggie right behind him-she's fearless)

 traded in his book for an ice cream cone

If you haven't had the chance to spend much time with this boy, you are missing out. He is a spitfire. He is so very funny. He is sweet. He tells me, "I missed you, Mom!" when I get back from the store. He tells me he likes my hugs. He is super-focused, and can be quite strong-willed, which can drive some people crazy, but I just know that God is going to use that drive and focus to do great things. It can be frustrating, but he really has a pretty tender heart. 

 Swinging with Maggie in the neighbor's yard

building with Sam before bed

He loves being outside and recently learned to ride a two-wheeled bike without training wheels. He loves Wild Kratts and can rattle off all kinds of information about many different animals. He adores his siblings and still likes to ask me to hold him/snuggles up on my lap several times a week. He is not the least bit shy. In fact, I have had to ask him to stop talking to people at the store on numerous occasions. Just recently, at the lunch that followed my grandma's funeral, he stood on his chair and told everyone in the room a joke. He is a fun boy. I'm so thankful to be his mom. 

Silly selfies with Mom and Lightening! 

Happy birthday, Will! 

Our Maggie is TWO

In some ways, this seems like so long ago! The 6 week early surprise arrival of our sweet baby Margaret Anne, and then the two week stay in the NICU...

Then I blinked and she was one! To be honest, that first year was ROUGH. Between all the normal newborn stuff, living in a 3 bedroom rental with four kids, and my thyroid deciding to not work properly, it was a long year. But it still seemed to have flown by and we were celebrating a year of this little lady:

And now here we are again, where has that little baby gone? She has turned into this crazy little lady now. The one who loves to push her stroller and, unfortunately, write on the walls with anything she can get her hands on. She also adores her brothers. And while she may have let me paint her toenails for the first time a couple weeks ago, she isn't all girly. She loves to "tackle" and to push the trucks and play cars and legos. She really doesn't have a lot of choice there. ;) She loves her babies and dolls. She's not a great eater, but would eat vitamins and mints all day long if I let her!

I love seeing her play with Will more and more these days. It makes my heart happy. 

Just a few other things I want to remember. This girl loves to accessorize. She picked out the necklace she wore for our family pictures herself. And she loves shoes. She just recently became much more vocal and opinionated. Until recently she didn't care to watch t.v. for more than a few minutes at a time. Now she requests George or Daniel Tiger or occasionally Thomas and Friends. For the sake of her brothers, she doesn't know that princesses and fairies exist YET. ;) She has gotten very good at saying thank you and your welcome. She doesn't always remember the please, but she will always say "God bless you!" if you sneeze! If I call for her brothers, she often responds with a "coming!" before they do. She is growing up so fast. I don't want to think about what's going to happen if I blink again. I better not! 

Happy birthday Maggie! I love you so!

Alabama

Pete's grandma and her husband live in Alabama, near Gulf Shores. Last year, we decided to combine a family vacation with a visit with them and we had a great time. Well, it was a great time with the exception of crazy sinus infections for both Pete and I that led to separate trips to local urgent cares. But I digress... We decided then to try to make it a yearly tradition. This year, praise God, we all stayed healthy and were able to enjoy a really beautiful week in Alabama. Pete got to golf with Granny and Ken a couple times, and we went to the beach, and the pool, we played mini-golf, and went go-karting. Each night we'd eat dinner with Grandma Gloria and Ken, and then usually the kids would want to play games with her. The weather was great. All in all, it was a fabulous trip!

Here's a pictorial summary of our time there. A few pics of Granny and the kids and then some snapshots of us at the beach.

Our trip was more fun this year than last, and I suspect that as the kids get older, it will just keep getting more and more fun. The beach and family, two of the best things in life in my opinion! <3