Happy Birthday 3 Year Old!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Ttytus.....

 I can't believe our big boy is 3 already! We had so much fun celebrating with just our family of four. He got to open a new basketball goal and shoot some hoops. We could even lower it for Witten to reach. He happened to find the big box somewhere around Christmas and would ask who/what it was for. So, he was super excited to find out it was always waiting for him.

Finally, he got to open it!

Yummy!

We had also spent quite some time planning out his birthday party and he had been involved in the planning. He specifically wanted a "Flo" birthday party (which is one of the cars he hadn't yet acquired from the Cars movie) with cupcakes with pictures on them. He'd also gone to the park we had picked out to see if it would be just the right place for the big day. We made a few other small trips getting invitations (which he helped choose friends to invite and put stamps on each one), balloons, table cloths, etc. He was super excited about his birthday party, so when it started raining that day he was a little bummed that we couldn't still have it at the park we'd chosen. As we sat eating breakfast he came up with several options of how we could still make it work. We could use a blower to blow all the rain away, we could bring lots of towels, or we could all just get a little bit wet and be okay! Once it started raining harder we started getting everything set up in our house and he loved every bit of it! It's always fun to have friends over, eat cake, and play. We're so thankful for how smart, fun, and helpful Tytus is! Happy Birthday big boy!

Singing with all his friends

Time to eat some cake!

He's such a social little guy and loved having everyone there!

opening presents

All of the Sudden!

There are definitely times I look at our boys and all the sudden they're bigger! They either suddenly have longer legs, started saying a new word, are physically able to do something new, or just thinking bigger. It always surprises me because it's so sudden, and our "normal" changes so quickly! That's one of the main reasons I try to write things down and take pictures because it's a great reminder (and sometimes a little sad) to see how quickly time passes and how much they change!

Ready to go!!

When I went to visit Amanda for 8 days, I knew it would be quite the change for everybody....especially the boys. Once again when I got back they both showed off some new skills. The day after I got home it was a beautiful day, so we headed outside. Tytus sat down on his tricycle and started pedaling! What?? He got his tricycle the Christmas before he turned two and was definitely not tall enough to ride it. Over time we would try it out again and I would show him how to put his feet on the pedals and push. He was NOT having it! He would be so excited, sit down, try one or two times, and get really frustrated. I even got my bike down 2 or 3 times just to show him what it looks like to ride something with pedals, but it didn't really help. I finally resorted to just letting him figure it out and would not help him when he got frustrated. So, when I saw him sit down and just start pedaling I was amazed. That day we pedaled all the way to our park and back with no major hiccups! It is SO SO fun to go on walks now!

It was that same day that Witten started going up and down steps standing up! Usually he would hold on to something or get down and crawl if he needed to get from one level to another. Even the small lip from our garage floor out to our driveway (maybe an inch high) he would put his hands on the ground to get down. But all the sudden he wanted to try going up and down steps without bracing himself. He also figured out how to get himself up in our little rocking chair and loved rocking away!

This is also a pretty normal sight for our mealtime. They have so much fun eating together, and Witten thinks it's great that he can get himself out of his chair when he's done eating. So big!

Yesterday we had our first full day outside because it was SO beautiful! We went out to fly Tytus' kite during Witten's nap, and then we all worked raking some leaves once Witten got up. We came in long enough to eat lunch and take a rest before heading back out again. They watered, played in the sand, and walked up and down the sidewalk while I got to work in our garden and finish raking some leaves. Summer is coming, I can just feel it!

endless hours spent in the sandbox

Almost time to go in!