happy 3rd birthday

My sweet baby boy turned three on Friday! Where has the time gone? Unfortunately, over the weekend Lucas got sick and we had to cancel his birthday party. I'm not sure who was more disappointed - Lucas or myself. We spent most of Saturday on the couch, snuggling and watching movies while I kept him hydrated and cool. On Sunday, he was feeling better and several family members came by with gifts which helped ease the disappointment of missing his party. In the last year, I have watched him grow by leaps and bounds. It's exciting to think of what the next year has in store for him - and our family. 

So without further ado, here are a few milestone/accomplishments of Lucas's past year...

• His vocabulary has increased by tenfold! Last year at this time Lucas was saying words and stringing together simple sentences. However as the year progressed so did his vocabulary. I love listening and recording his conversions - with himself, with family members, with the dog and with his toys. He is like a little sponge, soaking up everything he hears (good and bad). 
• He is turning into a little athlete! Between riding his bike, hiking with Mamma, playing baseball, golf, soccer and basketball, I foresee sports in my near future. 
• He has developed strong opinions and has been testing his negotiating skills. Ahem..yup...this one hasn't been much fun as the others. 
• He loves to sing! This ability/desire to sing did not come from me. Before having Lucas, I told my husband that I would never sing with my kids. It just wasn't something that comfortable doing. However, over the past year I have found myself singing nonstop! Lucas loves to sing his Sabbath School songs, VBS songs, camp songs, songs he hears on Curious George etc. We have even made up new lyrics to old songs to suit whatever mood he and I are in...for an example "I'm a Little Tea Pot" is now "I'm a Little Fire Hydrant." Just please don't ask me to sing it... 
• Lastly, I love hearing Lucas say "I love you Momma." It warms my heart to hear those words. 

Happy Birthday to Thursday's Child

Happy 3rd Birthday to my blog... 

Alara's baby shower

This past Sunday, I was blessed by friends and family with an amazing baby shower. A big shout out and a ginormous thank-you goes to my lovely party planners - Sarah and Amber. These two ladies did a fantastic job and went above and beyond all my expectations. I am truly blessed to have you ladies in my life. 

our little egg baron...

I've renamed Lucas as the Easter Egg Baron. This is the first Easter where he was actually into participating in the egg hunt. We started with one small basket, and about half way through the hunt had to switch to a fireman's hat that I found. I think he found the most eggs out of everyone. Thankfully, most of those eggs were plastic...I really wasn't looking forward to bringing home several dozen real eggs. I hate egg salad sandwiches. 

Now if only I could get him to cheerfully hunt for this missing toys, shoes, socks, pants and other "lost" items we'd be set! 

This muddy picture makes me smile. Years ago, my Mom took a similar picture of my sisters and I in the same spot planting our Easter flowers. However, we were wearing light and flowery Easter dresses, and there was less mud. 

A few weeks before the Easter party, my Mom called asking for recipes for making baking soda volcanoes. I remember thinking "what do volcanoes have to do with Easter?" Is this a new trend in Easter celebrations?  Apparently, during a lesson about the letter V, one of the boys asked my Mom what a volcano was. This led to the idea of making oozy, muddy boy friendly volcanoes at our Easter party. I gotta give my Mom credit for diving in with four muddy boys. 

Boys + mud = fun! 

our daughter's room

I had intended on blogging a big nursery reveal. It was going to be picture perfect - magazine and pinterest worthy. However, after postponing my big nursery reveal, I decided that I am no longer going to let my desire for perfection stop me from posting. The room is a work in progress, and is far from finished. I am very happy with how it is progressing, and I can't wait to see how it evolves over time.

This room was originally going to have a Little House on the Prairie  theme. However, I found this fabric at JoAnn's and knew that I had to have it. I love the combination of coral pink and navy blue. It's girly, but not over the top. The crib and tan rocker are hand-me-downs from big brother, and the dresser came from Dadi. I did the bedding myself, and the curtains are semi-custom made by me as well.

Future me has several projects in mind for this room.

Thank you pinterest for the inspiration...

1. A gallery wall above the white dresser.

....or....

2. Doing some sort of name thing above the crib. 

3. The room is small, so shelving on either side of the window will help maximize storage. 

4. Sprucing up my old rocker. 

So there you have it. I'm thrilled to be working on this room. It's been fun dreaming up a beautiful girl room that will be enjoyed by my daughter and myself. 

I'll keep blogging my progress. 

dresser update

I finally finished our baby girl's dresser. This dresser originally belonged to Lucas's Dadi. It's a really nice solid wood dresser, but it needed a face lift.  Before painting, I spent several days sanding off the dresser's original mustard yellow color. When I originally envisioned our daughter's room, mustard yellow didn't even come close to making the cut. Using left over paint, I finished the project with the same color I used on the trim in our house. I did keep the original dresser knobs - the picture doesn't do them justice - but the knobs are a vintage white with dainty pink, blue and yellow flowers. 

St. Patrick's Day & A Conversation with Lucas

Driving to my parent's house can be wearisome for Lucas. He can usually get about half way before the boredom sets in and the fussing starts. On this particular trip, his biggest complaint was the lack of trains, fire hydrants and ambulances on the freeway. This lack of entertainment (apparently his stack of books and toy air planes weren't enough) resulted in the kicking of the front passenger's seat and squealing loudly. For the sake of my sanity (and my car seats), I asked Lucas to tell me what he wanted for his birthday and after much deliberation he responded by announcing "R2D2."

Alrighty then.

His answer to my "what do you want for your birthday" distraction question led to the following series of questions....and I found the answers highly amusing.

Me: Who's Mamma?

Lucas: Princess Leia!

Me: Who's Daddy?

Lucas: Darth Vader!

Me: Who's Dada?

Lucas: ...hmm...he's Obi-Wan.

Me: Who's Baba?

Lucas: Han Solo...hmm...probe droid.

Me: Who's Dadi?

Lucas: Aunt Beru.

Me: And who is Lucas?

Lucas: R2D2!

I'm impressed. Thanks to Daddy, this guy knows his Star Wars and at least Lucas thinks I'm Princess Leia instead of Chewbacca.

This discussion of Star Wars kept him entertained for the remainder of the journey and we arrived at my parent's with my sanity intact.

It wasn't until I noticed that all three of my brothers were wearing green that I realized that it was St. Patrick's Day. You would think that I would have noticed after all of the beautiful St. Patrick's Day pins on Pinterest and shamrock shakes plastered on the McDonald's billboards that something was up. 

Lucas had a blast playing at Grandma's house in the country, and I enjoyed kicking back in the shade. Much better than hiking around the Wild Animal Park in the warm sun. 

However, now I gotta find an R2D2 for Lucas's upcoming birthday.