Chad's Birthday, Part 1

Have I mentioned before how much I love celebrating my husband's birthday? I do! He is such a sweet man, and does so much for our family, I love having a day each year when we can celebrate just him. This year Chad's birthday was kind of a week long celebration, and we had a lot of fun as a family.

My sister-in-law Brenda's birthday is about a week before Chad's, so the weekend before his birthday my parents took us all out to dinner at Tepanyaki. We've never been there before, and it was so cool! I wish I had taken pictures. The boys loved watching the man cook the food in front of us, and the food was absolutely delicious. Then we came back to our house for cheesecake (Chad's favorite!) and ice cream.

On his actual birthday, the boys and I woke up and fixed Chad a big breakfast of cinnamon waffles, Tabasco-flavored sausages, and orange juice. We don't usually have big breakfasts around here, and since Chad loves breakfast we tried to make it a big deal. We were going to go tubing that day, but unfortunately Chad spent a big part of the day fixing our car (poor guy!) so we ended up doing that on Monday instead. He opened up his presents later that afternoon, but his big present he's still deciding on. He's getting a hiking/camping backpack that can also hold all of his camera gear, but he's still trying to decide which one he wants so I'm afraid it will have to be a belated gift!

Little B and the Potty Seat

I guess this gives new meaning to the term "Porta-potty", doesn't it?!?! We've had such a hard time getting Aaron to be willing to potty-train, so when he wanted to tote his little potty all over I certainly was not going to deny him! No worries, he did not actually use the potty while sitting in our kitchen nook.

I can't tell you how happy I am that we have finally (almost) potty-trained our last child. We're still working on the #2 (TMI? Sorry.) because it grosses him out, but I think we're almost there. Hooray!

From experience, I think I can say that potty-training is the hardest part of being a parent so far. Two out of three children have been difficult. ;) Aaron is very independent and the trick was finally just to let him do it on his own. We put him in underwear and let him decide when he needed to use the bathroom. That was the trick! I am so proud of him, and he is so proud of himself! What a cutie.

Our life in a nutshell

I know it's kind of become the norm--it's been awhile since I've posted. I won't try to recap everything that's happened over the past four months and bore you all to pieces, but we have been up to some fun things lately that I think are worth mentioning!

Last week our summer finally officially started (hooray!) after Aaron finished his last speech therapy and group sessions on Wednesday (the Early Intervention programs ends at 3 years-old). Ethan and Noah have been out of school for a few weeks, and although they were sad to be out of school (Ethan: "I don't want school to end! I want to have more math problems!" and Noah: "I don't want school to end! I want to have more gym!) they are having a blast getting to play with friends everyday.

It's a little crazy for Chad and me to comprehend, but our little Aaron turned three this last week! We had so much fun on his birthday. Chad took the day off of work and we all rode the Front Runner train down to Salt Lake and spent a few fun-filled hours at the Discovery Gateway (our first time!). Aaron absolutely loved the train, so much so that, for better or worse, he threw a temper tantrum when it was time to get off in Salt Lake. Now every time we see a Front Runner train he says "A train, a train! Again, again!" And he loved playing at all of the different centers at the Discovery Gateway, and spent a very long time at the water center. He was in heaven! (Take a look at Aaron's b-day shirt! How CUTE is that?!? I just had to buy it!)

It's unbelievable to me how quickly the last three years have gone by. Even though it doesn't seem like it was that long ago that Aaron was born, in the same sense it seems like our life has completely changed since then and everything is SO different from what it was. I am so grateful for Aaron, and for his special personality that adds such a unique dynamic to our family. He is such a sweet little boy (most of the time!) and has this uncanny way of melting my heart with his small but surprisingly tight little hug. I am so grateful for that little man!

On another note, we've added a new sport to our life roster this year, a switch from our usual soccer, and Ethan has been having so much fun playing baseball this spring! It's been so fun to watch him play, and he makes us so proud--he does great! Noah has asked to play next year too so I think that both baseball and soccer will be a big part of our lives now! Next spring is going to be a little crazy I'm afraid, since the schedules will overlap a little bit!

Anyway, I promised this wouldn't be a long post and here I am rambling so I will leave it at that! Just a little glimpse into our good, but very busy, life lately!