Breakfast With Grandpa

     This morning (even with the time change!) we got up and headed out to breakfast with Hubby's dad.  We went to Big Brother's favorite restaurant - Cracker Barrel! The food was delicious and it was nice to spend some time out of the house after yesterday's lazy afternoon. The kids had a blast and ate a better breakfast than they normally do.

He stole my orange

Hubby and Big Brother

Froggie got a froggy

The Froggy

    After we were done at breakfast we went to the mall and let Big Brother blow off some steam playing in the play area at the mall while Froggie slept in the stroller. We picked up a few things while we were there, the most exciting of which was a small stash of Girl Scout cookies despite our attempts to not buy cookies this year.
     We wrapped our mall trip up with a stop into Build A Bear. Hubby absolutely hates this store but he wanted to see if Big Brother wanted to make a Spiderman bear. In true Big Brother fashion he decided that he didn't want the Spiderman bear but he wanted a My Little Pony. SO… we left with Rainbow Dash. He wanted the sound clip for her but we decided that it would drive us nuts so we just got the pony.

Making a pony

He was so excited

Rainbow Dash!

Picking a friend

riding on my back!

Big Brother Fun Day!

     Today we decided to give Big Brother an afternoon out with Hubby and I. Froggie stayed home with my mom while the three of us went to see his very first movie in the theater; Frozen! We got there a little early, waited in line for our snacks (Big Brother wanted popcorn AND Skittles to go with his fruit punch) and then found our seats. We tried out the seat by itself but Big Brother was just a little too short to see all of the screen so Hubby took him out to use the potty once more before the movie started and they picked up a fancy booster seat on the way back. 

Waiting for the movie to start

He made it through the WHOLE movie

     After the movie we sat and waited for the credits to finish (if you haven't seen Frozen or if you're going to see it again stay, there's something after they finish rolling the credits!) and he got a little antsy at this point but he sat pretty still and was especially quiet (for a 3 year old) during the whole movie. He ate all of his Skittles (which were rationed out over the course of the movie) and most of his popcorn. After the movie we tracked down the Olaf display so that Big Brother could take his picture with it. He was pretty excited to play the ukelele too.

Big Brother and Olaf

Playing the ukelele

All of us with Olaf!

     After the movie Big Brother was pretty tired and a little grumpy but apologized for crawling on the floor and not being an especially good listener and asked to go to the book store. Who can honestly say no to a 3 year old who requests a trip to the book store? Hubby and I thought about whether we should take him or not since he was getting pretty tired and tends to act up the more exhausted he is. Because of his sincere apology and the fact that he doesn't get a lot of one on one time with both of us we took him. He got to pick out a book and chose Rescue Mater (a Cars book, go figure). We got Froggie a Frozen book and Hubby and I both picked up books for ourselves as well.

     We came home to a sleeping Froggie and tucked Big Brother into his bed for a late nap. Froggie woke up with bright red cheeks and was pretty clingy. She has slept most of the evening, has been pretty drolly and seems to have a low grade fever; a dose of ibuprofen put an end to the fever (for now) and the redness since it was a result of the fever. Hopefully the sleep and snuggling will fix the rest! She even got carried around in a sling for awhile because I wanted my hands back!

snuggly Froggie

Happy to be snuggling in her sling

Sleeping snuggled up to mommy

Happy Birthday Big Brother!

     Today was Big Brother's 3rd birthday! I can't believe he's already 3! I swear it wasn't that long ago that Hubby and I went to the hospital bright and early so that I could be induced and we could welcome our little boy that afternoon…
     Well, this morning he woke up to a pretty special day. He found that Zippy had shown up as requested, and he decorated the recliner!

Our decorated recliner

Zippy came back

A picture with Zippy

     After that find he found a present on the kitchen table. A brand new Lightening Mcqueen hat! This gift came in handy today since we didn't get out of single digit temperatures for long. He was really excited about his hat until I asked him to model it for me but I was able to get a few pictures of him wearing it before we left the house.

A special gift

Opening his gift

What is it?

A Lightening hat!

Birthday boy

check out that hat!

      Unfortunately Big Brother will probably always return to school from Christmas break either on his birthday or shortly after and day care/preschool is no different. This, however, also means that he is able to have a "birthday party" at school. Today we took in cookies and his friends sang to him at snack time. THEN, since one of my co-workers is leaving we had a joint birthday and farewell party at lunch with cake and more singing.

excited for singing and cookies

making a wish?

blowing out candles

Mmmm tasty cookie

And the cake!

Pretty excited about it

Birthday boy and the cake!

     Big Brother napped at school today though he normally comes home with me in the afternoon and naps here. I made the choice so that I could socialize with some of my co-workers, have some lunch and meet up with Hubby for coffee before we parted ways to collect children or take them home. Froggie and I headed home and waited for the boys to show up. When they got home we asked Big Brother what his favorite food was (he answered fruit) and then gave him a list of meats to choose from (he decided on shrimp) so we could decide where to take him for his birthday dinner.
     We waited for my mom to get out of work and she gave him a gift (2 planes from Disney's Planes) and we headed to Cracker Barrel (the only place I know with a shrimp kids meal). I should have taken a picture but it slipped my mind - oops! Big Brother didn't eat much, though he normally picks at his food. Froggie, on the other hand, ate an entire sweet potato and a bowl of mac and cheese and probably would have eaten more!
     After dinner we headed home, read a bed time story and sent Big Brother to bed. Tomorrow afternoon we're celebrating with family and friends.

Get the Party Started

     Today was Big Brother's 3rd birthday party. We had made the decision to have it outside of the house this year and thought that we would try bowling. While we had completely intended to take him bowling before today it never happened and so today was his first time bowling as well.
     He was SO excited that he didn't nap and so he got a little crazy during his party, but you'll have that with 3 year olds. He did a great job bowling and with his pizza, cupcake and ice cream. He was also pretty patient about opening his presents and didn't even start asking about them until after we ate. Here are some pictures from the day.

Our 3 year old

Hubby celebrating a gutter ball

Birthday boy bowling

Froggie & her Godfather

Bowling!

Waiting

Aunt Jen & Uncle Chris 

Hanging

Froggie & her Godmother

Scored an 80!

The cake

Sleepy Froggie and grandma

She slept through cake!

Happy Birthday to you...

he wanted road, grass and a cone on his cupcake

I'd say he liked it!

opening presents

He had a helping friend

Some excited faces

One joint present for the kids

What's in there?

Disney on Ice tickets!

Playing with his presents