Four Years Has Gone Too Fast

I cannot believe Edison is FOUR! He is growing so fast. 

We kind of put together and impromptu party. February 26th came before I knew it. I have always wanted to  do a colorful layered cake so I went for it. 

 It turned out great. The only problem...it made so much. We threw about half of it away. We should have done this last year when we had all our family at his birthday.

We sure love our little Eddie. Happy Fourth Bud.

Eddie's Fast Cars

Edison is way into fast things. Every time we walk from the apartment to the car, we have to race. He can not walk anywhere; its always running, galloping or skipping. He has a pretend horse named Casa that he gallops around on everywhere. It is pretty hilarious. He is always trying to show me how fast something is going by swinging his arm around. Here is a little video sample.

Yes, he looks like his arm is going to fall off.

Tap, tap...is this thing on?

Well, hello again. I know I haven't been the best blogger in the world lately and I don't make any promises to become better anytime soon but my little boy just turned three on Saturday and I think he deserves a post. Edison is in love with Toy Story (the only movie he will sit through) and he especially loves Buzz Lightyear. So, of course we had to do a Buzz Lightyear themed party for him! The cake didn't turn out quite as I was hoping but Edison loved it and that's all that matters. He was in the bath while I was frosting it so he didn't see it until it was complete and he was so excited, he wanted to eat it right then.

I don't know if you can see his devilish eyebrow very well in this picture but let me tell you--this guy is a little rascal!! He certainly keeps me on my toes.

Edison was delighted that so many people came to our house just for him. We had 19 family members at the party and he was just pleased as punch that everyone was there for him. He took center stage and had no problem with it.

I decorated the house with cardboard stars covered in tinfoil, green and purple streamers, and a glittery Happy Birthday banner. We have this spare room upstairs so we turned it into our "Space Ranger Training Camp." We filled the empty room with about 200 balloons and had the kids do target practice with some nerf guns and then we gave each of them a can of silly string and let them go at it. We are planning on replacing the carpet in that room so I didn't think it would be a big deal. Boy was I wrong! It made such a mess! But the older kids thought it was cool to pick up all the silly string and make a big ball so they did most of the cleaning for me. Anyway, the kids enjoyed themselves so that was good. We got Edison a Toy Story bike that he still needs to learn how to peddle by himself but we can't get much practice time with all this snow and cold weather we've been having. We Gordon also got him a Zhu Zhu pet so that they could play together (Gordon got one from his cousin for Christmas and the boys think they are the coolest thing to hit planet earth!)

I just cannot believe my baby boy is three. His speech has really taken off in the last couple of months (Oh, one of those things I forgot to blog about--he graduated from speech therapy!! Like back in October/November?!) He is quite the chatter box now. In fact his favorite word lately is a curse word he heard from someone of the male species in this house. It starts with a d. He also loves to argue with his brother non-stop and won't give up. He knows he is always right! His other favorite thing is to have me close my eyes before he gives me anything and then put it in my hand and say "surprise!" We sure do love this little  big boy!

I have been working on a few projects for the boys room. I still have a few more but who know when they will get done so I thought I would post what I finished.

I don't know if you remember this blanket...

I am trying to decorate the boys room with this blanket as the focus. I want to paint the small bookcase in their room orange or green. I think green would be a little safer but orange would be fun.

Edison

I realize Edison does not get nearly the amount of face time on this blog as Gordon does and it is just not fair!! Eddie is my little rascal. He loves to pull a funny face. He is always doing it at dinner time and making us all laugh.

Edison is super cute and boy does he know it. He uses his charms to get out of trouble all the time. He's just too hard to stay mad at. Except when he gets out of his crib at night and at nap time!! Just started that this week and it is sooo not fun.
We wanted to see if Edison's hair had any curl to it like Gordon's so we let it grow out a little bit. I wanted to document it before we cut it. 

Edison's Birthday Party

Edison's birthday was last Friday. We had a small party with just some family. The pictures are all out of order (I really hate Blogger sometimes!) but you get the main idea.

We got him a Mr. Potato Head and it has been really fun for the boys. His cousin gave him another Mr. Potato Head so it was perfect because now we don't have any fights about it, except for who has the better eyes, hat, nose....
I really love this photo of Edison. It makes him seem so big. I don't know if it is because he is my second child but he has always seemed smaller to me. I realized at his 2 year check up--he is not small. He is in the 90% for weight and the 75% for height so not to bad at all.
This is Edison giving dad a hug for the present I we gave him. He then proceeded to give everyone in the room hugs. Did I mention Edison loves to give hugs?

Opening presents wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper. Like he really cares what is on the front?!

I love that smile! He is such a happy guy. Well, he did just get a hand-me down brand new barn that makes animal sounds. Who wouldn't be smiling? And I am just going to warn you about the picture below--it involves spit and boogers and cake...
It was actually kind of hilarious because he kept blowing upwards and couldn't get the candle out until he used the spit...and boogers.
The kids love to help me cook and of course they love to lick out the bowl. And below is my masterful creation. I know it looks a little bit like a pig but it is actually a cow. A pretty darn good looking cow if you ask me.
And that is the end of this picture show.

Happy Birthday Edison!

My Little Eddie

Dear Edison,

I cannot believe you are two years old today. You are such a fun little boy. Just last night we were dancing in the kitchen at nana and papa's house and you got everyone to join in with you because your smile is infectious; your laughter, contagious. You are all about having fun.

You don't talk much with words but we are working on it and you also know some sign language. The words you can say: mama, dada, papa, nana, animal sounds, baby, wow, bye, juice, no, yes, ouch and you try to say more as you sign. The words you sign: all done, bath, milk, more, cracker, please, help, and thank you. You catch on very quickly to new signs. You are such a smart little boy and understand so much more than I think you do. When I tell Gordon to go get something upstairs, you hurry to go get it first. You love to tease your brother Gordon, which makes him chase you, which makes you laugh. You are very good at puzzles and matching pictures. You love the book Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton. You laugh on every page.

You are such a loving little boy and give everyone hugs when they leave our house, even if they are only acquaintances. You have been such a joy in our family from day one and we all love you so much. Happy Birthday Edison.

Love, Mommy

This video was taken in December of 2009 so it is a little old. I should take another one of him

The Stink Eye

Edison is such a love-able, like-able guy but occasionally he finds someone he doesn't like. And for some reason that person is Chris's brother Josh. We were over there the other night with Josh, his family and some friends when Edison came walking in glaring at everyone. He has perfected the stink eye. I was trying to get him perform for me but I guess he likes me too much!

Random-ness

Today it was 4 degrees (felt like -10 degrees because of the wind.) when the kids wanted to go out and play in the snow. I let them because we have been, for the most, part stuck in this house all week. It was -4 degrees on Monday. I cannot believe how cold it is!!

(Hey boys, don't try to look happy or anything, okay.)

Edison looked so funny in all his snow gear. He loved walking around the house in his boots.

A long time ago (about 4 months) I thought it would be fun to do home-made gifts for Christmas for each other. Now I am thinking--not so fun. Chris and I are both working on the rag quilt for Gordon since that is the one that is taking the longest to get anywhere. This picture was taken in March when I just started cutting out the fabric and I was so excited. Now I have sworn never to sew again! I think I should be embarrassed to admit that I started this project in March but I am so over it.

And I am also making a quiet book for Edison. Which is coming along quite nicely, thank you. I was going to make a headboard for our bed for Chris but we decided the project that he is working on for me will be both of our presents since it is costing more than we thought. He is making a bookcase and it is going to be the nicest piece of furniture we own. Got to start somewhere right?

And finally some good news. We found our camera. Such a funny story. So I decided to wake up at 2:45 a.m. to be at Target by 3:00 a.m. to buy a new camera. This was the first time I woke up really early to do Black Friday shopping. It was kind of fun just because I had my sisters with me. Anyway, at the end of the weekend, Chris decides to go up and check our room one more time to make sure we didn't forget anything. He looks in the big dresser to see if the kids maybe put something in there, and there was our camera!! Yeah! We were so happy. And thankful.

And now, I may just have to post Halloween pictures in December. Would that be too awful?

Entertain ME

Gordon has to be constantly entertained. He rarely plays by himself for longer than 5 minutes. Since I am always trying to come up with fun things to do I thought I would share what I've come up with if you promise to share your ideas too!The other day Gordon and I made some vanilla pudding and I found this great idea to put the pudding in a muffin tin and add different colors to the tins and do some finger painting. It really was fun, fast, and easy to clean up.Then when they were done painting, I gave them graham cracker sticks to eat it all up with. If you think this is gross you should see what else they put in their mouths.Another easy way to entertain kids, especially boys, get some flour or oats and pour it onto a large cookie sheet and let them dig around in it with their little cars. Gordon loves this. The first time we did this he would play for the whole time I made dinner every day for a week. It was great. Now he only plays for about 15 minutes to a half hour depending.In this picture he is telling me to stop taking pictures so he can just play. Hence the angry look. So what are some fun things you do to keep your kids entertained?

Its a good thing I didn't go into child psychology

Could someone please tell me WHY-

• it is so much fun to throw food on the floor
  
• my eighteen month old drools so much he needs a new shirt by midday
• Gordon likes to stick things in the back of his underpants and keep them there. (It tickles his bum, he says.)
  
• my almost-four year old has to tell me he needs to go to the bathroom EVERY time before he goes (he doesn't want my assistance just the knowledge that he needs to go.)
  
• but he cannot ask my permission before he gets any food out of the fridge
• kissing an owie makes everything better (not complaining about this one)
• it is fun to throw toys down the stairs or dump all toys on the floor- not to play with them, just to have them all over
  
• and what is so enticing about screaming in the car? Happy or sad. Edison loves to scream in the car
  

These are a few of my favorite things

Gordon loves to play "house." He is the dad and someone is always the baby. Poor Terin has learned not to fight it and just accept his role. Gordon also loves to play Tiger! He likes to crawl around and growl at me and I have to run and be very afraid of the big mean Tiger.
Of course sometimes the roles are reversed and I have to be the Tiger chasing him. We got a new bed for Gordon a few months ago and he loves to jump on it and jump OFF it onto his bean bag. After that got old he wanted to start jumping of his dresser. I told him that wasn't a good idea and he said, "but mom, it's so exciged."
He also loves to shoot things and since we don't have any guns he uses his fingers. This is his gun.
He also makes a little "pikchoo" noise and closes his eyes. It is pretty darn cute as long as he doesn't point it at me or Edison or anyone else for that matter!
Gordon is also very emotional lately. He is so dramatic; everything is like the world is coming to an end. I am trying to teach him to talk about it when he is upset or sad but we're still working on it.
Gordon loves to answer the phone and talk to anyone who will listen. Sometimes I don't hear the phone ring and then he will come in the room talking to someone. Silly kid! And last but not least, Gordon LOVES to play with my camera and take pictures. Here are a few of his best.

Edison is ONE!

I cannot believe this boy is one year old. My how time flies. Wow. For Edison's birthday we had cupcakes that were evidently delicious,opened presents, of course with the help of Gordon,
and went to the Family Fun Park to crawl around in the soft play area. Everyone had a great time, even when I had a cupcake shoved in my face.The End!

To Edison

Dear Edison,

Edison I want you to know that you are an absolute joy in our family. I was really nervous to have a second child but if I knew you were coming, I would have been so excited. You are so full of love and happiness that everyone around you can't help but love you and be happy with you. You have the biggest smile that stretches from ear to ear and looks like your cheeks are just going to burst! I love it. I have told your father that if we could guarantee that all our babies would be as pleasant as you, I would have ten more! (Not really) I hope that your happiness and easy-going nature continue on through out your life because optimism is a sign of great faith and with great faith you can achieve anything.
Right now Edison, you enjoy experimenting with your taste buds by putting anything and everything in your mouth , testing the theory of gravity, walking around the room with the help of a hand, chair, ottoman, toy..., demanding whatever it is that I am eating, and getting lots of attention by smiling at anyone who will look at you.
We love you so much Edison and are so glad you are part of our family. Happy Birthday!

Love, Mommy

Walking Soon?

My 8 1/2 month old is now doing this...
Which means there is a lot of this...
and this... and of course this...
my favorite part.

Seasons

I love Fall (Autumn, Harvest, Halloween, Thanksgiving and all other names associated with this time of year.)I love hearing the crunch as I walk through the fallen leaves. I love how Gordon cannot walk past a pile of leaves without walking through it. I love the leaves as they change colors and finally fall off leaving the streets and sidewalks covered in gold.

I love the smells of this time of year. I went to a Scentsy party the other day and all I wanted to smell were the "cozy fireside," "nutmeg and orange zest," or "cranberry spice."
I love LOVE LOVE Thanksgiving and all the food that comes with it. Pecan pie, hour derv's that have become their own dinner, pumpkin rolls, oh I love it all. This is the time of year that I throw caution to the wind (I can't help it, the winds are so strong here!) I love making soups and stews, eating them in bread bowls or homemade french bread.

I love wearing long sleeve shirts, sweaters, and jackets. (I also love that other people have to wear these too. No more seeing too much skin!)I love that I get to stay inside all day with my boys and I don't have to come up with any other reason than, "it's too cold to go anywhere today."

Lately Chris has been dreaming up all sorts of places he wants to move when he is done with school (May '09 Baby!) His favorites are: San Diego, Texas, Las Vegas...anywhere warm and all I can think is, "no more autumn."