Ellie is 3 | Three is a Magic Number

Happy Birthday Dearest Ellie!

 

 It is so crazy to me that we have a 3 year old in the house again.  It's so true that time just flies by.

We celebrated Ellie's birthday by spending lots of quality time together!  She got to open her presents first thing in the morning, eat her favorite breakfast {white powdered doughnuts :/ }, play, take a cupcake up to Daddy at work, and eat dinner and play games at Chuck E. Cheese with our friends.

 

Things Ellie Loves @ Three:

• Pestering her Bubby. to. no. end.  Whether it is while he is playing Legos, during school time, or while he is trying to go back to sleep, if she can pester him... she will.
• Tackling, chasing, teasing, and being "gotten" by Daddy - her favorite thing to do is be chased by him and then being tickled until she can barely breathe from laughing so hard.
• Pizza. Broccoli. Chick-fil-a. Apples. Watermelon. And any sort of chicken.  And not necessarily in that order.
• School time.  The girl loves getting to use dry erase markers {and getting in trouble for using them on the carpet}, being read to, getting to use the computer, and being the calendar person for the day.
• Choosing what to wear for the day and how her hair should be fixed... because every girl learns to love this eventually.
• Anything that has to do with princesses.  ANYTHING.
• Anything that has to do with playing with baby dolls.
• Snuggling with Mommy after she wakes from her afternoon nap.  ♥

 



Dearest Eleanor, you are such a blessing.  We are so lucky to have your spunky self as part of our family and love that you are so silly and sweet at the same time.  You keep us on our toes and have the funniest pouty face when you are in trouble.  You make us giggle and laugh with your silly songs and funny faces and melt our hearts every time you tell us you love us and say your prayers.  We can't wait to see what an awesome big sister you'll be since you've clearly got the awesome little sister part down pat.  Happy Birthday, Dearest Little One.  We'll eat you up, we love you so. ♥

Confession.

Confession: Today was the first time my kids have been to the dentist.

Confession: We have great dental insurance, thanks to the USAF.

I'm honestly a little embarrassed, especially considering Noah's age, but whatever. They brush their teeth daily, don't drink a lot of juice {though they LOVE CapriSun Waters}, and Noah actually asks to use his "flossers".

 

But I knew Noah had a cavity.  And I dreaded what all that might entail. 

So, today, we finally made it in to the dentist.  Noah. was. a. champ.  He was so excited to get to take "pictures of his teeth", kept asking the dentist what everything was for, and truthfully enjoyed every part of the trip.  He even asked the dentist what was next, even though he was completely finished.  And, lucky for him and me, he only had the one cavity {which, much to my relief, the dentist declared a fluke since the rest of his teeth were, in his words, "spotless"}.  Hopefully he'll be just as brave next week when we go back to have it fixed.

 

 

 

Ellie, amazingly, did fantastic as well.  I'm convinced it helped, quite a bit, that Noah went first and she saw all that he did and how brave he was.  She was actually a little upset that she didn't get to take x-rays as well!  No cavities at all for her and the dentist even said that with her "beautiful spacing" we don't have to bother right now with flossing for her!  But, we are going to be working on the thumb-sucking. :/

 

 

The kids and I celebrated the good results and excellent behavior by stopping for a treat at Sonic on the way home and Daddy even spoiled them a little bit more with a new little Lego set each.

 Meanwhile... I'm lamenting that my baby will be THREE tomorrow.

 

 

Getting Out{side}

The weather has officially cooled off... which means that this very pregnant Momma can manage some outsides play time again.

 

 



Working Together

Ben and Noah have been working so diligently on Ellie's birthday present... I love that they are making it for her and I am oh-so-grateful that they are working together on it, just for her. ♥

Celebrating {a little early!}

Ellie's third birthday isn't until Wednesday, but we've already started celebrating. Today she got to open her birthday presents from my side of the family because they requested that she open them up on Skype with the whole clan. She didn' mind - it simply meant having more people to show her new gifts off to!  Thanks Nana, Papa, Aunt BB, Aunt Jessie and Uncle Bryan!

 

 

Shortly afterwards, our good friends, the Kauffmann's, came over for dinner.  Dinner with Mr. Matt is not complete for Noah if it doesn't include an epic Nerf gun battle.

 

I swear I'll be finding Nerf bullets and Legos hidden in random places for years to come!

An "Off" School Day | Glimpses

We've been taking it a little slow lately. School happens, three days a week and on the fourth day we do something "fun"... today, we learned how to use watercolor pencils. Both kids were in heaven. We watched a short video on how to use them properly, talked about how to use them, and they even watched me before they got to start. Their level of concentration while creating was amazing... and both kids seemed so much older to me than their almost-5 and practically-3.



Dinner with Daddy {and his Co-Workers}

We had a work dinner tonight at a local restaurant with most of the military and a handful of the civilians that Ben works with at APG.  Needless to say, the kids were super excited to see Daddy {especially since he and the Colonel were a little late getting there from their meeting!} and Noah was especially excited to get to sit with his new buddy, Shawn, another Lego-loving kiddo.

  

The only bad thing about a work dinner is that it started late, which means the kids got to bed a little late as well. Every night, before Ben and I go to bed, one of us goes in and take Noah to go potty one last time to help ensure no overnight accidents.  Tonight, the poor kiddo was so tired, he decided to lay down and take a break on the way to the bathroom!

 



 

{P.S. Please forgive the boxes and piles of stuff sitting in the hallway... between 7 and nesting, the house is in a state of upheaval!}

Lucky.

Lucky for me, I have a husband who completely understands that a long day + too many contractions means Mommy. needs. a. break.  After a nice relaxing bath, I came downstairs to find the three of them watching a video and eating popcorn.

The kids are pretty lucky too.

We *ARE* here!

We *are* here!

 

 

We've just been a little preoccupied... and while I can't promise daily updates from here on out, rest assured that there WILL be updates... and backdated posts. ♥