Birthday Party

I think we're finally recovered from round #1 of birthdays for the year. J is by far my easy child to plan a party for. M is a different story. I'm REALLY not looking forward to planning that later in the year. She's already got a plan in her head and if I had an extra $20,000 laying around I would gladly do it for her. J's party was obviously John Deere. Who would expect otherwise? The cake we got was amazing. We just had our local Dillons store make it and I was so impressed with how it turned out. The trees, fence and tractor have been put away so we can use them again next year. I get the feeling we have a few John Deere parties in our future.

(Have you ever seen anyone else use a combine as a centerpiece? Yeah, me either.)

We got pizza for everyone and just had a nice party here at our house. 

J had a little time to be silly with great-grandma. He even let her wear his birthday hat. Of course we had to make a trip to the John Deere store that afternoon before his party so he could pick out a birthday hat. He rarely takes it off now. 

He got lots of goodies. Grandmas and grandpa spoil him rotten. Along with everyone else.

My niece and nephew were here helping open presents. My kids adore their cousins and I sure hope that doesn't change after staying with them for 10 days next month!

He really loves this toy. He says daddy needs one just like it. The best thing about it is that it doesn't take batteries! I love any toy that doesn't require batteries!

And because M is the center of the universe she also got gifts! My mom and dad got her this dress. Grandma J and Grandma B gave her money so she got a new Thumbelina doll that is rather annoying and requires a lot of assistance by mom and dad.

Poor J was just exhausted by that evening. We went to run a few errands and he fell right to sleep in the car. We really thought he was down for the night but he managed to wake up enough to stay out until after dark with his friends playing. He had to show off his new ambulance, tow truck, remote control car, JD tractor and trailer, weed trimmer and everything else he got for his birthday. 

My house is still not back to normal. I'm not sure it ever will be! We have so many toys now I feel like I live in Toys R Us! I don't ever buy them toys and yet they keep multiplying! In a few months it will be time to clear some things out to make room for Christmas and M's birthday!

Now the countdown begins! 31 days until mommy and daddy get a vacation!

All Grown Up

I can't believe in just 3 short years my baby has become such a grown up little boy! 3 years ago they were pulling him out of me because my poor doctor got so tired of hearing me complain that I couldn't breathe. When they took him out weighing nearly 9 pounds and his head was lodged in my ribcage I think she understood that I wasn't kidding. This was my big boy. Now of course that seems like a lifetime ago.

Then he started to grow...

and grow...

and grow. This is how he carried his bottles around. There was no time to sit still for feeding. There were trucks to be played with! He just sucked the liners in the bottles so hard that he could get every last drop out without his hands ever touching the darn thing!

Then he turned one! 

Grew a little more.

And then he turned 2! 

Now I have not a baby, not a toddler, but a preschooler! A big 3 year old who thinks he is capable of taking on the world. He loves tractors (obviously), dirt, hot dogs and summer weather. Somehow I ended up raising a country boy in the city. 

I can't believe how much he's changed and looking back through the pictures I'm not sure where the time has gone. In some ways I think life was easier when I had an infant and toddler at home, but if someone had told me that back then I think I would have lost my mind! It doesn't seem like that long ago that we brought him home from the hospital wearing the third outfit for the day (apparently he didn't like the first 2 and threw up all over them). I'm so proud of the person he's becoming. He's such an independent child. My baby is gone and now he's a big boy. Happy Birthday to my little man!

You Just Have to Want it Bad Enough

While looking through pictures to do J's birthday post on Saturday I came across some pictures of me that I can't even believe I'm going to post here. This was me when M was 10 months old. I weighed 100 lbs more than I do today. 

My recent picture is right there on the side of the screen. I can't believe how much time I wasted being fat. I will NEVER be that person again. Now if the scale creeps up even a pound or two I restrict my diet a little more and hit the gym a little harder. I've managed to maintain for a couple months now and at this point that's all I can ask for. I would love to lose another 20 but realistically I'm not sure it would make me any happier. I work out 2 hours a day and I almost never eat above 1500 calories a day. Occasionally I splurge just like everyone else but I know for the rest of my life I will have to fight my weight. 

Today at the pool when the kids wanted to do the lazy river I realized that's something I could have never done before. I can't believe how much I would be missing out on if I were still at that weight. I wanted it bad enough and I've worked my butt off (literally) to get here. Lately I've been really hard on myself and wishing I could change things about my body. Seeing these pictures made me realize that there's only so much I can change. I've had 2 babies and I'm not 16 anymore. I'd like to look into getting a breast reduction at some point because that's one area I can't shrink no matter what! My back is killing me all the time! It's also really hard to buy shirts when your bust is 10 inches larger than your waist. I can't wear anything with buttons because I would send one flying across the room! Other than that, I think I need to learn to realize that I'm not that person anymore. My brain hasn't yet caught up with my body. 

I rarely stop to think about how far I've come because I don't see the huge changes in the mirror. It's been lots of little changes that ended up being a big difference! It's unbelievable. Truly, I don't even believe it myself sometimes but here I am. I wanted it badly enough and I finally made it to a point that I can be accepting of. Yay me!

Playing Catch-up!

Last week was crazy! My mom had some health problems so Monday through Thursday were mostly spent with a house full of extra people, very little sleep and a lot of time at the hospital. She's home now and things are back to normal around here so I thought I'd catch up on my blogging. Friday we went back to the art museum because M is in love with the place and would spend every day there if at all possible. We took our Friend A with us and the girls had so much fun. We went with a group of friends and we left almost a full hour after everyone else. The girls made some excellent pictures by spreading clay.

They took a few minutes to pose for a couple pictures. 

M made a flower, clouds, a clown cow and a sun on hers. They had to spread the clay to make the background too and I was really impressed with how well the girls did. They didn't need hardly any help and their pictures turned out wonderfully.

Jack mostly made balls from the clay. He mixed the colors together and made some dinosaurs eggs. He was patient and did really well so I certainly didn't mind that he was being a boy. The teacher got out some puppets and things for him to play with while he waited for the girls and he didn't seem to mind that we were there forever. (Notice the JD shirt again. I swear he owns other clothes!)

Then we went to the park for a while. We went to McDonalds first to get some lunch and the kids did some eating and some playing.

They love this new park. They can both climb all the way to the top of the big web and they think they're pretty cool.

Friday night we went to a baseball game. M had to stay home with grandma because of all the peanuts so it was just us and J. It was a friend's birthday party and J didn't care much about the game but he loved the nachos and pretzels. 

We had to bribe him to sit still long enough for these pictures. As long as he had food in his hand he was fine. 

Today a friend and I went out and had lunch, did some shopping and got a pedicure. It was fantastic! I'm not sure there is anything that compares to having freshly pedicured feet. It feel so nice!

Now it's time to start another busy week. It all starts bright and early tomorrow morning when we head to the Y for a workout and swim lessons. M has 1 more week of lessons and then J starts. There's never a dull moment around here!

My John Deere Loving Boy

My son LOVES John Deere. There's nothing he loves more than a trip to the local John Deere store. Luckily they love him just as much and he pretty much has his run of the lot. 

He loves all tractors equally. The scoop tractor was his first stop.
And then on to bigger and better things. He was way over my head on this tractor and I was just praying he didn't fall off. He climbed right on up there and did fine though. 
And here's the climb back down. Notice that I'm photographing it instead of helping. There was another guy standing right there so we would have caught him if he fell. He wasn't too far off the ground at this point.
And then there's the gator. There aren't even words to describe his love of the gator. He wants Papa to buy him a brand new shiny gator for his birthday! Not the the kid version. Oh no, he wants the big one. He tried so hard to convince Papa to let him have the keys so he could drive. My dad is so proud. This boy is his pride and joy! He's going to take J for a gator ride on his birthday next Saturday. I can't wait! He's going to love it!
He would wear his John Deere shirts every single day if I would let him. I'm noticing that in pictures it looks like he only owns 4 shirts. I assure you that he owns an entire closet stuffed full of clothing but the John Deere shirts take priority if they are clean. He sure looks happy in them!

For the record this totally counts as a bath around here. They were soaked all the way through so we just did pjs and straight to bed. I love summer!

My New Car!

I have about 4 million things from this week that I want to blog about but it just isn't going to happen today. I've been sick all week, my mom has been in the hospital and we decided kind of spur of the moment to buy a new car. I love it so much and it's exactly what I wanted. The hubby hates it but it's my anniversary gift so he's dealing with it. I think it will grow on him. He just has issues with change. M was not happy about getting rid of the van either but this morning when I proved to her that we can still take her friend with us and cram 3 carseats in the back then she was ok with it. Goodbye minivan!