gone fishin' 2

Dear Hunter, Daddy was going to take Connor for some one on one time and you got word, and that was it. You decided that you also were in need of one on one time with Daddy, which couldn't have thrilled Daddy more. When Daddy got done playing with Connor he came home and picked you up. Daddy was hungry so you both got to go to Costco first. You were pretty excited because you love having lunch at Costco. Typically you pick the sausage dog, but I'm not sure what you ate with Daddy. Then Daddy needed something from the sport store, or maybe he just wanted to take you there. You loved it! You were pointing at the big stuffed Bear and telling Daddy to look at it. He said you were super excited, and then all of a sudden you got really quiet. Daddy thinks you noticed his claws and teeth at that point! When you got to the fishing hole you were very excited! Daddy says you're a natural. He said you were super quiet. You didn't want to talk and you just sat very still and patient waiting for a big fish. You didn't even get to see a fish, but it didn't matter. You still had a fantastic time! I'm really curious to see if your first fishing trip will turn you into an avid fisherman. Only time will tell.
Mommy

Love this picture!

No Fish!

gone fishin'

Dear Connor,
Daddy wanted to have a one on one date with you the other day and you told him you wanted to go to the park. Daddy ended up taking you to the park with the fishing pond. You were so excited! I've never seen you get dressed so fast. You even insisted on wearing your Buzz hat so that you wouldn't get too cold! I've been so proud of you lately. You've been making decisions on what to wear based on the weather and I love it. The days of your little shirts are slowly fading away, for now.
Anyway, you had to go to the sports store to get some bait, and you thought that store was pretty cool too! You liked looking at all the pictures of other people and their trophy fish.
Daddy said that there was this big fish just circling around your bait. He was really hoping he would bite, but no luck. You saw the big fish though and were pretty excited. Daddy said fishing was really fun for you, but a little challenging because you wanted to talk a lot and you had trouble sitting still to wait for the fish. Daddy had so much fun with you! He loved every second of it and came home beaming and ready to share all the stories of your adventure with me.
Your first fishing trip! I wonder if you'll become an avid fisherman now.
Mommy

No Fish! 

Dear Kaylee,
You are growing up so quickly! Every day you talk more and more. There's really nothing you can't say and now we're watching you try to assemble your sentences.

"May I juice peese?" and "Where's miiiine?" are your most common phrases. You've also started saying Connor and Hunter's name, which is pretty adorable.

You love, love Dora. Every day you fall a little more in love with her. In the stores you will point out all the Dora merchandise you can find. Except you don't say Dora. You call it "back pack." No doubt from the  song on the Dora show that just repeats the word back pack while Dora's back pack dances around. You love that part. About two weeks ago Daddy said he wanted to buy you a back pack and surprise you with it when he came home from work one day. Life happened and that didn't happen, however one night while we were out to dinner I saw a little girl walk in with a replica of Dora's back pack. I knew I would not rest until I had this in your possession so I went to the table and asked them where they bought it. Walmart. It was right across the street from the restaurant. So, after dinner Daddy took you into Walmart and bought you your very own back pack. We've never seen you giggle and squeal with so much glee. You were absolutely thrilled!

You can be a pistol. You still throw the world's best tantrums, complete with ripping off your shoes. I just ignore it now and you seem to calm down much quicker. You are just as quick to move on as you are to get upset though.

You watch Connor and Hunter's every move and imitate them as often as possible. Grammy was buying your winter coats and had Connor and Hunter stretch their arms out in all sorts of silly positions. She was just messing with them. She even told them to bend over and touch their toes to see if their jacket fit. As soon as you put your jacket on you bent over and touched your toes. It took us a second to figure out what you were doing since we were just teasing the boys, but it gave us a good laugh and you were very proud of yourself for "checking your jacket." 

Mommy is still your favorite. You want to do everything with me. However, Daddy is still your buddy. The other night you had croup. You weren't breathing so hot and it kept waking you up. You snuck out the the living room and convinced Daddy to let you have a plate of nachos, some juice, and watch Strawberry Shortcake while cuddling on the couch. It was pretty cute watching you two have a midnight date. The two of you slept on the couch all night together, very sweet.

I love you kiddo! Thanks for making every day so fun!
Mommy

Swamp Stomp

Dear Connor and Hunter,
I know I've told you before about the Swamp Stomp exercise video I bought you. You have to parade around like animals as a means of working out. You both love it, but in different ways. Here's an example of how one workout session goes...

Picture this...Hunter jumping up and down while Connor is sitting on the couch watching intently.

Connor- "You're doing it wrong Hunter."
Hunter- "What?"
Connor- "See, you have to walk, walk, walk. then jump."
Hunter- stops, watches the tv for a second," OH! Like this?" Walk, Walk, Walk, Jump.
Connor-"Yeah, like that."

Good Job Connor. Way to coach him through that!

Although, Connor is at least helpful. Mommy just gets in the way.

Mommy- "Hunter come here please."
Hunter- "I'm exercising."
Mommy- "I just need to comb your hair before it dries silly."
Hunter- "HURRY UP! I don't want to miss the kangaroo!"
Mommy- "Never mind..." 

Oh you two make me laugh so much. You are so full of personality. Never change.
Mommy

Group Hug!

Lindsey

Dear Hunter,
At the beginning of the year I asked you who you played with at preschool. I've been getting little pieces of information each week, until this week. This week you told us everything!

At first we just knew that you played with a kid named Josh. Then we learned that Josh and you play with the girls. After awhile we found out that these girls have pretty shoes and that's who you play with, but you don't know their names.

Then on Monday you got in the car and you told me that Lindsey liked your Batman slap bracelet.

Mommy- "Who's Lindsey"
Hunter- "A girl, I play with her."
Mommy- "Is she one of the girls with the pretty shoes?"
Hunter- "Yeah. She likes my bracelet. She thought it was cool."
Mommy- "It's a pretty cool bracelet."
Hunter- "yeah... I want to give her some of my quarters."

So, it's started. I knew the girls would go crazy over you, I just didn't realize it would be when you were three. You are so cute, there are no words to describe. I love you!
Mommy

Dear Kaylee,
You change so much every day. Every day you say new words and you show us more of your personality. You have revealed to us that your favorite color is blue, for sure. You always point it out to me. You love Yo Gabba Gabba, but even more so you love Dora. Dora has become pretty big in this house, against my better wishes. However, I should have known as soon as you fell in love with Barney that you would like everything I don't. I recall my mother and I having the same issue!
You pick Dora shoes whenever you can, and you walk around the house singing, "Back Pack, Back Pack." It's pretty adorable and I've come to appreciate Dora just for the simple reason that she makes you so happy.
You still try to keep up with your brothers as much as possible. When we took you to the dentist you did so awesome! Largely because you were doing everything you saw your brothers do. Connor and Hunter got x-rays taken. You were too little, but you refused to leave the x-ray room until you got some pictures taken. The hygienist was super nice and he picked you up and put you in the chair, then he moved the camera into your mouth for pretend and we all told you what a great job you did. I wish I had my camera in the x-ray room, but because I didn't I've taken a mental picture and I'm holding onto it with everything I have. At one point when he had the camera by your mouth you pursed your lips right at the camera. It was so stinkin' cute!
Today we took Connor to the doctor and he had to take his shoes off to weigh in. You stood and watched every move he made. When he got off the scale you got up on the scale. When I told you to get down that it wasn't your turn today, you gave me a look like "Oh, you're right. I forgot to take off my shoes." You jumped off the scale, plopped down on the ground and started ripping off your shoes and socks. No amount of convincing would work so I had to pick you up and carry you into the exam room.
We got to have a special morning together the other day. That doesn't happen a lot. I took you to Frost Me Sweet. Did I already tell you this? Well, just in case... You love that store. You picked a cupcake and went to town on it. It was a really fun morning with you and I enjoyed every second of it. We had the almond joy cupcakes, which I have to say were divine! 
You have started playing pretend with babies. You chose two teddy bears to be your babies. I think it is hysterical. You have twin brothers, and so you pretend with two babies. Coincidence? I don't know, but it's really cute. You don't play with them all day, but you want them when you go to sleep. The last several days I've had to rock you and two babies to sleep! This morning you woke up at 5 am and wanted juice. I knew Daddy was in the kitchen making his lunch so I said, "Go tell Daddy." You climbed out of bed, grabbed both your babies and a sippy cup and strutted down the hall to see him. Daddy thought you were so cute with your bed head and arms full of babies that he of course filled the sippy with juice. He then delivered it to you in bed and kissed on you and your babies to which you thought was the best thing ever. It was really cute.
You've started saying "Pizzpa." Which is pizza. We had pizza delivered the other night and you just yelled it over and over again. You were so excited. I think we've found one of your many favorite foods. You're a girl who knows what she likes! I'm contemplating having your birthday party be a Kaylee's favorites theme, but I have a feeling Dora may push her way through and steal the show.
I love you kiddo.
Mommy

Shirt Wars

Dear Connor,
Since the day you were born you've been a little "anxious". You come by it naturally. We've been through so many phases with you. Some were challenging (I can do it myself phase) and some we thought would be the end of us (backpack phase). However, we've gotten better at this parenting game, because when you hit the shirt phase we only fought it for a few days before we realized how to handle it. This new phase you're in we like to refer to as the "little shirt" phase. One day you told Daddy that you didn't have any cute shirts. This became a great topic of conversation in our house for days. Daddy asked you what kind of cute shirt you wanted and you said a shirt with no pictures and with no sleeves. In an attempt to bring peace to the house Daddy brought home a 5 pack of Hanes undershirt tank tops. You fell in love, and that was it. You would no longer wear anything but that white tank top. At the beginning of the month I banned all shorts and flip flops. You had a hard time with that but it comforted you to know that we would not be banning the "little shirts." Whenever someone asks you if you want a new shirt or if you like a shirt, you ask them in response," Is it little?"
Life was going pretty smoothly for all of us until preschool announced it was color month. Every day was a new color and your teachers were encouraging you to wear that color to school each day. I know that it would not have been a big deal if you wore your white shirt all month long, but I was so afraid that you would go to school and everyone would be wearing brown (the first color) and you would be sad that you didn't.
The van was broken the next day (Saturday) and Daddy was working overtime. I didn't have a way to get to the store so I Googled dying shirts brown and learned we could do it with coffee. So we did. You thought it was fantastic! Hunter loved it too, but you were really thrilled that you had another color "little shirt." When you wore it to school your teachers were thrilled and you told them all about how you made your shirt with coffee. After I dropped you off at school Kaylee and I went to Walmart and bought every color fabric dye they had. We've been dying shirts for over a week now and you love each one! Your dresser drawer is hilarious. It is full of multi-colored "little shirts."
Picture day is Friday. I've been going back and forth in my mind if I'm going to have a shirt war with you. I decided no. My mother gave good advice. She said it would be a picture that would show exactly who you are right now. She's right. I think you're an adorable little boy, who is so full of life and energy it just pours out of you at all times, and you like "little shirts."
Nothing wrong with that.
I love you sweet boy! Thanks for making the "littlest" things fun.
Mommy

PS: You did so great at the dentist this week! What I particularly liked was how stinkin' cute you looked during the x-rays. You are a very cute little boy!