Yates is 3!

Happy Third Birthday Yates!

I really don't know where the time has gone with Mr. Yates. It just doesn't seem like he should be three. He is delighted to be three and we celebrated his big day as hard as we could. Stella suggested to Yates that he should have a fireman party and that was all it took. We had a great day and a super fun party with all of our friends and family.

Sitting in the firetruck with Stella

We had some of Yates' favorites, pizza and brownies and lots and lots of firetrucks. A fireman friend, Brian, loaned us all of his real fireman gear and gave us fireman coloring books and crayons. He even included a real patch (that Yates wore on a tshirt) and a Dallas Fireman tshirt. So, so generous! We rented a huge firetruck bounce house that was super fun. I think Michael played in it for at least 2 hours. The biggest surprise was having the fireman from our local fire station stop by in the huge fire engine. Bop and Gabby delivered a bribe earlier in the day and begged them to stop by if they were available and they did. I had already given up on the idea after calling every Dallas Fire Dept # I could find and being told "no way" over and over. Leave it to Bop. The kids loved seeing the fire engine and getting to climb through it.

The dudes hanging out with the firemen

Aside from the fabulous celebration we have the real Yates. He is a very sweet and sensitive "big" boy. (He is not little if you ask him!) He is a non-conformist for sure. He is coming out of a very frustrated stage that we are still working through. With a super sized personality as a sister and baby brother I know Yates feels the squeeze no matter how special we try to make him feel. Luckily his daddy is a middle child and turned out fantastically. Yates has an amazing imagination and plays soooo hard. It is so cute to listen to him playing and to the scenarios he is creating. He is so thoughtful and gives the best hugs. He says he learned those hugs from his school... really? Yates is a master noise maker and does the best helicopter sounds among many others. He "does not like his bed" and sneaks down stairs like a silent ninja multiple times eeeevery single night. He loves going to the grocery store and detests school mornings (understatement of the century). He has the best laugh and gets tickled so easily. He is my sweet big boy. He has taught me so much about raising boys and about how far patience and understanding will go. Happy Birthday Yates! We love you!

Climbing/screaming on the awesome jungle gym from Gigi and Gabby

Happy Birthday and Good Morning Shot #3

Buzz Lightyear Birthday Bike

The Men Playing Firetrucks...

Happy Belated New Year...

So doing a better job at blogging obviously wasn't on my New Years resolution list. I do want to do better but a resolution probably won't help.

It has been a loooong time. Rex turned one on Thursday!!! We celebrated with Bop and Pink and a highly inappropriate kids birthday dinner at NHS Grille. The adults enjoyed themselves as best as we could. The kids just hung in there. Luckily Yates loves calamari (strange b/c he is uber picky) if you can order it plain, Stella loves mac and cheese and bread and Rex will eat anything that he can catch. We had a group birthday cake baking effort and opened presents.

I love taking the babies pictures when I wake them up on their birthdays. Here is Rex's 1st of many...

Rex doing his 1st Birthday masterpiece. I love these so much...

Having a little birthday cake with Stella and Daddy

Opening a present

Yates documenting...

Our little mini party pales in comparison to what a precious baby Rex is. He deserves fireworks and a full circus, sweet, sweet boy. He loves his big brother and sister and tries all day every day to be and do just like them. He actually keeps up really well and is going to be one tough cookie. He is almost always in such a good humor and does so well putting up with our hectic schedules and the terrible nappus interuptus situation. Rex is always smiling. He is very good at making copy cat sounds, but doesn't have any actual words... except Dada. When I ask him to say Mommy, he says Dada. Michael loves it and its fine with me. He is our sweet little baby and can just stay that way.

I don't know what it is about the turning of the calendar but it is fabulous. Whoever came up with resolutions, thank you. We all know that resolutions are hard to stick to, but just the idea of a fresh start, another chance is such a relief. I have wiped my slate clean from 2010 and am trying desperately to work every day on my resolutions. I am desperate to focus on art and creativity this year. I enrolled in an abstract art class and hope to hone my art and really find my true style.

2011 is also the year to go as natural and organic as I can. I have always had a preference for fruits and vegetables and whole/healthy/unprocessed foods. The thought of what is actually in processed foods just turns my stomach. Pesticides, chemicals, meat processing, high fructose corn syrup... all of that irks me. I hope that offering my family "real" food will teach them the correct way to eat and make them all healthier overall.

And finally, I want to work on my stress management... whatever that entails... I will be doing it. Lots of deep breaths and counting to 10 I guess. Happy New Year!