Ever Tried to get a Photo?

One day I will get the perfect photo of both children. They will be holding hands and smiling.  They will both be looking at the camera. It will be perfectly in focus. They will both have clean faces.  Until then, I will have fun trying.

Presents for a 3 Year Old Birthday Princess

I don't know if I have mentioned lately how much Mayson is devoted to princesses?  Or maybe she  just gotten worse--I mean more passionate.  We usually have to leave the house dressed as Belle, Aurora, Sofia, or Cinderella.  If she isn't wearing one of their dresses, then she grabs some fairy wings and calls herself Tink.  She loves Jasmine too, and even though we don't have her outfit, I often am addressed as Aladdin, and Gray is called Abu.  I always get to be the main sidekick, so I am flattered.  When I got her the Belle dress for her birthday, along with the accompanying tea set, I didn't think ahead to the fact that I would probably be called "Beast."  And indeed, that is what I am.  It hasn't been so bad out in public when she calls me "Prince" or "Terrance" (Tinkerbell's best friend), but it sounds a little out of place when she yells, "Beast" across the street to get my attention.  Anyway, you can imagine the items on her birthday wish list.  Along with the Belle dress/tea set, she got a Doc McStuffin's medical kit (I've had lots of checkups), a tiara, a Sofia nightgown (she insisted on wearing her other night "dress" every night so we had to get a backup), Barbie,  a Pinkalicious set complete with book, picnic basket, and game, Sofia purse, and an airplane/airport figure set (That was the only non-girly exception). 

Happy Birthday to Mayson!  We love how smart and beautiful she is.  She is the life of the party; loves to laugh and dance and sing.  She loves books and listening to stories on CD.  I adore how she does a wonderful job making friends and engaging kids to play with her, act out stories, and run around.  She is a leader.  She is good at sharing with other kids, loves to close her eyes and sway to the music, and has a blast dressing up and pretending to be different characters.  She is amazing at role playing with little figurines, and has the best discussions with them.  I love how she really stops and thinks when you ask her a question before she responds.  I love how she looks at the world and makes comparisons between things. I like how she always wants to come up with a plan that fits her needs.  I adore when she says things like, "Thanks, Dad." or "Let's get that for extra case" instead of "Just in case." She runs really fast, and loves to make her brother laugh every night before bed by rolling around with him in his crib and making silly sounds.  She is amazing, and I am thankful for her every day. 

 

 

The Birthday Cake

After the bouncy house fun on Saturday, we went home and made Mayson's birthday cake.  We had Grandma and Grandpa come over on Sunday morning to celebrate on the 24th for Mayson's real birthday.  They helped us eat the cake, but beforehand, they made their famous waffles and we had Amy and Marni come over and join us for breakfast and to help celebrate the birthday girl. 

Mayson's Bouncy House Birthday

We had a birthday extravaganza weekend to celebrate Mayson turning 3!  First, we invited her friends Molly, Noah, Brandon, and Rowan to have a fun morning playing at the Arena Sports bouncy house.  They ran around, bounced, went down the slides, and had a great time!  Gray got into it and went into the mini bouncy house for the first time and loved every minute.  He climbed right up the little ladder and went down the slide, and jumped all over the place.  Mayson smiled and laughed the whole time and loved every minute with her buddies.  Then we brought everyone over to some tables and gave out little lunch boxes filled with snacks.  The tired crew ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese, fruit, crackers, and sucked down some juice boxes. Baby Will and Baby Sidney also attended, along with everyone's parents.  A very fun event!  I don't have a lot of pictures because they were all moving around so much, but I managed a few blurry ones:

Fall Leaves for Gray

First Big Boy Haircut

It was time for us to trim Gray's beautiful hair for his first cut, so we set off for our favorite place.  He wasn't too excited about the whole affair, but with the combo of the soothie, some toys, and Mama near by, we did it with just a few grunts, wiggles, and tears.  Mayson got in the act too and got a little trim.  The whole process was aided by a cupcake at the end (the fun happy hour afterwards helped us parents quite a bit too)
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9 Month Mover

At 9 months, Gray is moving like crazy.  Having a boy is a completely different experience from having a girl.  He is totally good natured and such a loving, happy little guy.  But the kid has to be moving.  He can pull himself up to a standing position and hold onto something and move around on his legs.  He crawls incredibly fast, and can flip, roll, and put himself in a sitting position in the blink of an eye.  It is almost impossible for me to change his diaper or put him in pajamas by myself.  We lay him on the bed and he flips over and dives toward the edge, or crawls and rolls away.  Today he crawled up our twelve stairs from our basement no problem.  When you hold him, he tries to climb up you.  Keri predicts that he will walk by one year.  I agree.  I think we'll start a pool.  My guess is walking holding on to us by December 26, but independently by January 14.  Keri says December 30.

 

 

The Girls

We enjoyed every minute of our special Veteran's day off and were thankful. Mayson and Hope had an amazing day at the park and a lunch date after. We even ate outside in the sun...a rare event in November. Gray was the best little date, flirting with Jenny and smiling the whole time.

Car Talk

Mayson and I have very interesting conversations on the way to work. Today when I asked her if she wanted to take ballet classes she said, "No, I want to take princess lessons."

 

* I had to come back and edit this post because Mayson continues to be so funny and well-spoken.  We got in the car after a trip to the grocery store yesterday.  At the store, I had her push her own cart and tried to engage her in helping me find the items we needed.  That lasted about a minute and a half before she ditched the cart and started roaming the aisles, touching everything.  When we got back to the car, I said, "Thanks Mayson, you were a good helper."  She responded with, "Yeah, more or less."  It was spoken with just the right amount of sarcasm that hinted at--you and I both know that I wasn't helpful at all.  Today, when I asked if she had a good day at Angies, she responded the same way, "More or less."  Her sentences are pretty amazing.  I always find it so incredible that at her age she is so good as using prepositions and pronouns and using compound sentences. She never switches "you, me, him, her" and will say something is behind or in front of another thing.  There are some things that she doesn't say with proper English, but I LOVE those sayings.  She always says, "That will feel me better," instead of "That will make me feel better."

Big Girl Bed 2.0

Mayson graduated to a super, duper big girl bed a couple of weeks ago. It is extremely cozy and I have asked (without luck) if I can sleep in it too.

 

 

Muffins with Grandma

A little late of a post, but last month Grandma and Grandpa came over to play and watch the Seahawks game.  Mayson had a fun morning with Grandma making muffins while Mommy and Daddy cleaned the house.