How old did I turn?? :{

I'm 30. I can say it. I don't even cringe or anything, promise. I don't think I really 'feel' very 30, but then, I guess I don't know what 30 should feel like.

In some ways, it makes sense. I've been married for almost 9 years, I'm expecting my 3rd child. We've lived in our own home for 5 1/2 years, and my oldest kid is now in kindergarten.

It's still weird, though. In my head, I'm still 21 and crazy and in college. :D (and probably we're all very lucky that's not true)

It was a nice birthday, though. Kenn took me out for a delicious dinner the night before, and then Saturday I got to go run 8 miles!

Wait, no, that wasn't for my birthday, that was just how the training schedule fell.

FOR MY BIRTHDAY, I got to take a nap, and my boys spoiled me.

 Roses and gifts (Caleb picked put the flowers himself!)

Present from my in-laws (which, sadly, met an untimely death 

mere seconds after this picture was taken--

I did love it, though! It wasn't my fault!)

yay for movies that Kenn has owed me for 5 years!!!

And serving dishes! Kenn remembered when I said, just in passing, 

that I needed some more serving dishes. He's good. :)

My Rashelle sent me some adorable, hand-decorated shoes :)

 

And I did get DELICIOUS cake! We all went to Nothing Bundt Cakes and got some bundlets, 4 different flavors, which is nice when you can't pick just one. ;)

(I HIGHLY recommend the white-chocolate blueberry when they have it again!)

And... I may or may not have gotten a new kitchen table with 4 chairs and a bench.

Ok, this wasn't really a birthday present, 

but I got it not long afterwards, 

and Kenn never even saw it beforehand. He just let me get it. 

And I LOVE it. Craigslist is awesome! :)

Happy Birthday to ME!

baby #3--16 weeks

I think I should always look this excited, for everything :)

Beckett is 3!!!

He's 3?? Really?? My little Beckett man is...3??

Clearly this is hard for me to accept. :) It wasn't hard for him, though! He had a fabulous 3rd birthday, with lots of attention and colors and balloons and cake and fun things. He was happy as a clam, or as Kenn would say, 'time of his life.'

Daddy brought home balloons 

(and this is becoming a birthday tradition around here)...

We went for a train ride on the Cedar Rock Railroad...

And to Burger King for lunch (Beckett picked it himself, I promise)

The birthday boy's dinner of choice--pot stickers, rice, and stir-fry veggies

Train cake!!!

(the exact same one Caleb wanted for his 3rd birthday, too! 

Although it turned out better this time...sorry Caleb!)

complete with watermelon-rind tunnel (thanks for the idea, Candace!)

first present of the day! From the Hayden family

the rest of his haul, pre-ripping

kid loves his trains...

and tracks...

and Thomas :)

He even scored a Thomas shirt and more trains from Grandma & Grandpa Smith!

And here's a final addition, a short video of B opening his present from Grandma & Grandpa North, and the blowing out of the candles. Enjoy! :)

Not the best pic of me, but Beckett is adorable. And 3... ::sigh::

Beckett is hilarious at this age, too. His talking has finally exploded, and he says things so funny! He's got this adorably high, expressive voice, which makes almost everything he says 

completely entertaining.

He's not potty-trained yet, but we hope to get there eventually.
He's just not ready. :P

He knows all the letters of the alphabet by sight, and knows
most of his numbers 1-10. 

He knows all his colors and shapes and loves to go through
picture books and say out loud everything he sees.

He LOVES Thomas and trains, and will play for long periods of time driving trains on tracks. 

He also loves Caleb, and those two get so crazy together,
but they love it.

Beckett is amazingly affectionate, loves giving and receiving hugs and kisses, and loves to get his back rubbed and scratched.

He is stubborn as all get out (hmm, wonder where he got THAT from??), and things happen when HE is ready for them (see the potty training thing above).

He's 95th percentile in height, 80th percentile in weight,
and he loves to eat eggs and anything dairy.
I think he makes up for all the dairy that Caleb can't have. :)

He loves to fall theatrically,
and can do a really impressive frog-jump.

He is happy and funny and so sweet,
and we LOVE having him as part of our family.

Happy Birthday Beckett!!!

mommy's cute little 'four-eyes'

So a couple weeks after school started, I was reading with Caleb and asking him to sound out words. Every time he looked at the book I was holding, he'd get super close to it and squint his eyes. I asked him if the letters were clear, or if they looked fuzzy, and he said they looked fuzzy!

So we went to the eye doctor a couple days later, and sure enough, this boy is far-sighted! He got some reading glasses, and seems to be doing quite well with them.

And we're so glad we paid the $25 for the warranty--they were already broken 2 days after he got them.

Sorry about the bad-vision genes, kid. Your daddy and I just couldn't help but share.

He looks cute, though. :)

September randoms...

The boys figured out they could be 'tunnels' for each other to crawl through...

it's amazing what is fun for them... :)

We woke B up from his nap one afternoon, and he was apparently still tired...I think this is how he slept when he was a baby, too. :)

Adam came to visit!!! We love our Adam, he's great, and even though this is the only picture I got while he was here for 6 days, it exemplifies all the joy that Adam brings.

"Upside down??!!??" :)

Homework has begun! Caleb has these sheets of 20-25 'ideas' and each week we do 5 of them with him. One of them was making labels for things in his room, so he can get more familiar with reading words. So this is what we did. Isn't his handwriting great?? :)