Four for Sure

Well, it's official. I don't have two tiny tots anymore. Four just has "preschool" written all over it with no hints of baby whatsoever. As usual, I am a messy mix of sentimentally sad and proud and excited and heartache-ish.

Weston has grown so much in his third year of life, and not just 2 inches and 4 pounds. Three was rough in a lot of ways. A big move, dropping nap time, learning to use the potty (sort of), dealing with anger, a fair share of naughtiness...I don't think any of us came out of this third year unscathed, but he is maturing a lot and we are so proud of this little man. I can already see how four has a new journey on the horizon.

Here is a little story I would like to remember about Weston that testifies to the sweet spirit God has placed in this little boy...

We had to take Weston to the ER one night when he started to have a hard time breathing. It was the 3rd night of a really bad bout of a virus/asthma. No one had slept in several days and instead of going to bed to get some much needed rest for everyone, we were headed to the hospital at 10:30 p.m. Children's was of course packed, and we waited 2 hours just to see a doctor. His patience in the interim of just sitting I'm pretty sure exceeded my own. By hour 3 we were both starting to come a bit unraveled and cranky. At last we left and as we were pulling out of the parking garage at 1:30 a.m. we had this dialogue...

Weston: Oh look! There's those animal statues! Wasn't it so fun that we got to see those?!
Me: No, this was NOT fun buddy, but I'm glad that you're finding something good out of a bad trip (so cranky, yes?)
Weston: Yeah Mom, there were some bad things, but there were some good things too...we got to see those animals, I got to play in that train thing, Daddy packed those books...there were some bad and some good things.

I'm sorry, but I don't have that kind of "glass is half full" maturity in my 32 years of living and I was the one who was healthy. Sheesh. No wonder Jesus told the disciples that we needed to become like little children.

We had an animal themed party with friends and family on his birthday since it was Sunday (still loves all creatures big and small). He was so excited about everything he spent most of the day jumping up and down on his tip toes. And after being so gracious on Lily's birthday, he was more than ready to soak up some attention and open his own presents. In the morning he opened Tinker Toys and a car set from us...

Dining with his friends...


 
Oh that little monkey face...

Cake time...mind you we had to make a grocery run 30 minutes before party time because the animal candles were missing. One week later we found them underneath the deck. Lily had stolen them and shoved them between the board slats. Luckily a board needed to be replaced anyway. Animal candles anyone?

Little sister enjoys cake

 

Lily learned to ride his scooter before he had 2.2 seconds to even try it out and she's pretty much taken it over ever since then.

Happy Birthday Weston!

Sweetest Things

I let the kids out into the backyard after lunch while I cleaned up. I looked out to check on them and was struck, first of all, by how quiet it was and, second, by the the sweetness of these little ones...

Weston had taken his sketch pad outside with his roll of crayons and was drawing a picture of Papa and his new boat. It was complete with the boat's sparkly paint finish, a mouse under the boat, and the stones Papa put behind the trailer wheels to keep it from rolling. I admire his attention to detail!


Lily, in a rare moment of stillness, had set her chairs up and was sitting next to "Cat", just quietly daydreaming into the yard.


Lest you think all of our moments are this peachy cream, I assure you, they are not. But these little snapshots remind me of how grateful I am to be at home with these little guys and will be a nice pick-me-up on days not quite so calm and peaceful!

Say Cheese!

Yes, a certain someone turned 4 last week, but I'm still compiling pictures, so hold on to your socks!

I let Weston use our digital camera a little while ago. It was a moment of weakness and he was having so much fun with it, I had to watch the cuteness for a bit. Little did I know, in the 20 minutes I let him play with it, he took 170 pictures! That's a lot of snapping! Unfortunately, I had pictures still on there I wanted to keep, so I had to go through all 170 individually and delete them. In the process, I kept a handful that were actually pretty nice.

Noni cooking...

Papa on the computer...


Momma outside...


Making sister roar like the lion...

Pretty tree...


And then fancy that he got one of these from Aunt Abbi and Uncle Tim for his birthday...


Say Cheese!