Happy 3rd Birthday Alden!!!!

OH MY WORD!!!! My little munchkin is 3!!! How did that happen?! Time flies way too fast. I swear it was yesterday I was the nervous new mom bring my baby boy home from the hospital. Now, he is a sweet, adorable, sensitive, precious 3 year old boy!

For Alden's birthday this year, he had two birthday parties. One the day of his actual birthday with the family and one the next Saturday with his friends. The day of his birthday he wanted a pizza party lunch. Lyndon headed to Papa Murphy's and got a Hawaiian pizza (Alden's favorite) and we had a pizza party. I bought him a chocolate cake at the store and he blew out his candles!!!

For his birthday, Momma picked out a whole bunch of arts and crafts things. Paper, markers, crayons, scissors, etc. He loves to create things. Lyndon chose to get him a new bike! He was THRILLED!!!! The helmet was a little too small, so we will have to get him a new one and Collyn gets that one, but he couldn't be more excited!

On Saturday, he had a party with his friends. He requested the theme be SPIDERMAN!! So, that is what we did. There was certainly another theme to the party. Arts and crafts! Word got around that he loves to color and draw, so we are set for a while with art supplies! Color Wonder is amazing by the way!

He had a cake with cupcakes and punch. We gave out goodie bags to his friends. We were going to do a pinata, but it was too windy outside. The boys ran around and played the whole time. It was a great party!!

Trip to the Sacramento Zoo

A few days after the new year, we headed to the Sacramento Zoo. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! And, what is better than the zoo on a great day like that. Sacramento is a little over an hour from our house. Our kids are so used to riding in the car, they are such troopers, an hour is nothing for them.

The Sacramento Zoo is a smaller zoo, which is perfect for our family and little legs. We had 2 strollers, but the boys insisted on walking a lot. We checked out lots of animals. Alden's favorite was the tiger. Collyn loved the giraffes! We had a little treat of Dippin' Dots and I bought both boys some Safari Binoculars so they could be tour guides. They really enjoyed that. We ate lunch at the zoo and explored some more and then headed home.

It was a nice outing for the day!

Playing In The Dirt

So, California winter weather is WAYYYY different than Idaho weather. Granted, we are in a drought right now so it hasn't rained more than twice since August. Even though it's hard for the farmers, it makes my life easier, because with 70+ degree weather and sunshine, my boys are outside almost every day playing in the dirt. What also worked in my favor was the house we are renting has amazing raised garden beds. One of them is lower to the ground, perfect for the boys to play in. They have their dump trucks and other trucks out there and they get dirty almost head to toe each day. I am able to sit, sometimes with my coffee and Kindle, soaking up the sun and enjoying the small break.

Christmas Eve 2013

Our first Christmas Eve away from Idaho and away from family was a little bittersweet. We missed our families dearly, but at the same time it was such a wonderful evening. Alden is almost 3 so he understands everything with Santa. It was so fun watching the magic and excitement in his eyes every time we talked about Christmas.

On Christmas afternoon, we made homemade salt dough ornaments. Alden did his hand and I attempted Collyn's hand, but he just liked to squish it, so I ended up doing his foot again this year. I baked them and when they went down for their naps, I painted them.

In the evening, we headed to the church for a Christmas Eve Candle Light service. Alden and Collyn got restless in the middle, so I spent 1/2 the service in the hallway while they ran back and forth through the hall.

After we got back from the service, I had cooked a lasagna while we were there and we had a late dinner. Then, the boys got to open 3 presents. One: New Pajamas. Two: New Slippers. Three: New book. We had such a fun time with these gifts. They wore their new jammies to bed and walked around all evening and the next morning with their slippers on. Before bed, we read their new books to them.

It was getting late, so we put out cookies, chocolate milk, and carrots on a special plate Grandma Kay got the boys last year, specifically for Santa. We headed to bed, and it was a good fight to get Alden to sleep. He was just TOO excited!!!!

Youth Group Christmas Party 2013

We hosted the Youth Group Christmas Party at our house this year. We had TONS of finger foods and treats to eat on all night, we played a game, and had a gift exchange. It was lots of fun.

I made a saran wrap ball filled with candy bars and little tokens to win big prizes. They had so much fun with this game.

Then, we had a "white elephant" gift exchange. It was a good time. There were some crazy gifts!

Trip To The Park

My boys are just that... Boys. They love to be outside, playing in the dirt, the wind, the sunshine. I try to get them outside at least once a day to get some good sunshine and fresh air. It has been very easy to do this living in Northern California having a BEAUTIFUL winter. It has been sunny and in the 60's and 70's every day. We have had 2 days of rain since we moved here. It is a horrible drought, and we are definitely praying for rain for the crops and the land, but it is just so beautiful out, we have to take advantage of every ounce of it.

We headed to a new park (New to us) in town. We have always gone to Sycamore park that has a nice walking path, a skate park, a swimming pool, tennis courts and an amazing "Little one's" playground. Perfect for my kids. This time, we headed to Jensen Park (I'm pretty sure, correct me if I'm wrong). It has little league baseball fields, a great picnic area, and 2 large playgrounds. They are a little too big for my kids with monkey bars and big slides, but they were able to climb and run some energy out.

It was such a beautiful day. We went around 4 so the sun was slowly going down, but it was still in the low 60's. They ran around and we headed home for some dinner, because after all the playing, they were STARVED.

Mission Potty Training: Complete.

I officially have one potty trained child in the house. Can I get a happy dance, hallelujah, amen, jump for joy...???

I'm scared to potty train Collyn now, because honestly, Alden's potty training experience was a breeze to say the least. It wasn't that hard at all. I think my one secret,.... I wasn't too worried about him potty training, so I didn't push the issue.

In November, I introduced Alden to potty training. We bought the potty seat, bought the underwear and away we went. The first 2 weeks were pretty successful. The poo part was an issue. He wasn't too confident about going on the potty. Then, we headed to Idaho for Thanksgiving and potty training was thrown out the window for a week. We occasionally made our way to the bathroom while we were on our trip, but nothing too big.

The day after we got home from Idaho, we jumped right back in. I would ask every hour if he needed to go, yes or no. If it had been a couple hours we would go in "just to try". He started getting the hang out it.

This last week he has been dry at night and at nap time. He knows after any "sleeping time" he has to go in and try to go. He is still in pull-ups at night, just in case. But, he does wear underwear during nap time.

Tips for Potty Training:

1. Don't push the issue. Your child will not be in Kindergarten with a diaper on. I promise. They will eventually get the idea of the potty.

2. Make it fun. Thank goodness for technology today, I would give Alden our Kindle with a little educational game or a TV show on Netflix. It helped to learn going Number Two because he wasn't concentrated on the potty itself.

3. Most of the time, candy and sticker rewards don't work. Not saying they do on occasion. I don't think kids understand the concept at such a young age. I tried the M&M trick. Alden would sit on the potty and then ask for his candy without doing anything. We threw that trick out the window after day 2.

4. Buy lots and lots and lots of pairs of underwear.... and let them pick them out. I think I literally have 20 pairs of little boy underwear. And, you will go through them. I did a load of laundry each day with a few pairs in there for the first few weeks of laundry. When you know you have lots of backups, you worry less. :)