Birthday Boy

Somehow, when you're young, your birthday celebration morphs into more of a birthweek celebration. On Tate's actual birthday, we celebrated at home. He had a special request of beans and rice for dinner and brownies for dessert. He talked about the brownies all day long. He was showered with lots of Toy Story gifts including a scooter, a talking Buzz and green alien, a few Toy Story figures and a pair of rollerskates (which should be amuzing if nothing else).

Day 2 of the celebration came the next day when Grandma Jackie and Aunt Michelle came to take Tate to Red Robin for his birthday lunch. He had pizza and a special sundae and a balloon. And more presents, of course. A Lightning McQueen bike and helmet and various other Cars paraphrenilia.

Day 3 wasn't so much a celebration when we went for Tate's 3-year check-up. He had a pretty bad ear infection (and probably had it since Sunday when he was complaining that his ear hurt, but then he never mentioned it again) and had to get one shot. He weighed in at 29 pounds (25th %ile) and 36 inches (also 25th %ile).

Day 4 (today) was his party. He had been looking forward to it all week--not so much for the fact that it was at a fire station or that his friends would be there, but pretty much because he really wanted a cupcake! And more presents, of course. The kids loved checking out all the fire trucks, ringing the bell on the old fire truck and trying on all the fire gear. I loved that it wasn't at my house so all I had to do was show up with food and we were ready to go. And I love that Tate's friends have parents that are my friends. A win-win situation!

Tate, the week started off rough. You skipped a nap, cried a lot, were clingy, liked to say "No" way too frequently. I was dreading the whole "3 is much worse than 2" stage that seemed to be happening. But today you were more yourself. Not necessarily always cooperative, but pretty good. Full of cuddles and kisses. I'm blaming the ear infection for the beginning of the week and I'm hoping you spend this year proving my previous statement wrong.

I love that every night when I ask God to give you sweet dreams about _________, you always fill in the blank with "Everyone. Because I love everyone in the world." And I love that you occasionally fill in "especially you" after that already adorable statement. I love that your new favorite statement is "Oh, yeah" and you say it anytime you even mildly agree with something. "Tate, are you ready for a brownie?" "Oh, yeah." "Tate, are you finished with your dinner?" "Oh, yeah." "Tate, do you think you could eat one more piece of asparagus?" "Oh, yeah." I love that you are obsessed with Toy Story and Cars, even though I think you've seen each movie once and not in their entirety. I love that you are the only boy in dance class, but I'm pretty sure you haven't even noticed. I love that you have always happily played with Rowan's toys, but you ran down an aisle in Target the other day and shouted. "Mom! Look over here! It's BOYS TOYS!" You are becoming such a little boy, as shocked as I am to say it. And I can't wait to spend the next year watching you grow even more.

Valentine's Day

Since Lance and I went out over the weekend for Valentine's Day (and had a fabulous time and spectaular food), we let the kids call the shots on the day of. So we had heart-shaped pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and went to QDoba for dinner, finishing up with chocolate covered strawberries at home for dessert.

During the day Rowan had a Valentine's party at school and both kids had a party with some church friends. Overall, a fun day with way too much candy.

I, of course, decided to make all of the cards (with a little "help" from Rowan). As usual, it took longer than I thought, though they were pretty cute sitting on the kitchen table. When Rowan came home with a bag half-full of pieces of the cards, I promptly went to Target and bought Valentines for next year, in an attempt to talk myself out of any sort of homemade nonsense next year.

Puddle Jumping

We had to take advantage of the warm temps today to stomp around in some puddles. So much fun.

Feelin' the Love

Tonight after dinner, I was writing a card for a friend whose mom recently died. Rowan asked why I was sending her a card. I said "Well, when your mommy or daddy dies, it's sad and you really miss them. Like when my dad died I was really sad and I still miss him." And Lance added "When my mommy died, I really missed her and I still do." And I said "If I die, would you miss me?" And Rowan, without missing a beat, smiled and said "No, Mommy. I would just get a stepmother."

Mommy-Daughter Date Day

Today I took Rowan to her first ballet. She knew we were having a date day, but where we were going was a surprise. When I told her we were going to a ballet to see real ballerinas, her response caught me off-guard. She said "I don't want to go. I just want to stay home and play with you. I AM a real ballerina." "Well, I suppose you are, Rowan, as you do take real ballet classes and all, but this is going to be different", I assured her. So she got dressed up and we went downtown to the St. Cecelia's Music Center for Carnival of the Animals. It was pretty impressive. Rowan was asking questions the whole time. "Why are the lights off?" "Why aren't they talking?" "Why it is a boy who has the dreams and not a girl?" "When is the mermaid coming?" "Why is the kangaroo on stage with the fish?" "It looks like they're really underwater. Is that really water all over the stage?" "Can we stay and watch another show?" "Can I go meet the mermaid onstage?" She did meet the mermaid, but was too shy to get a picture with her. She loved it, but couldn't wait for the next part of our date.

We lunched on the back deck of Rose's (where Rowan insisted she wanted another hot dog after finishing her first. After getting hot dog #2, she licked the ketchup off and declared herself done.) and then went out to the frozen lake for the kite festival. There was a little station set up for the kids to make their kites. Rowan picked a red kite with a pink tail and loved running through the snow trying to get it to fly. She did pretty well, getting her kite into the air and running as fast as she could to keep it up there. She had a blast. She begged to stay longer. I let her. It was about as perfect of a date with my little girl as I could imagine.

Daddy-Daughter Dinner

The pictures pretty much say it all. Tonight was the Daddy-Daughter Dinner. Rowan couldn't wait to be Daddy's little princess tonight. She told her classmates all about it for show and tell. She picked out her outfit (after I banned the size 2T Sleeping Beauty dress with a large hole). She planned her meal (I don't like chicken or mashed potatoes, so I'll eat a roll, some corn and my cupcake--and that's exactly what she did). She listed all of the friends she might see (Will Marley be there? Will Cassie be there? Will Lydia be there? Will River be there?)

Since I volunteered to help out, I was a fly on the wall, observing, sneaking in for a few photos. Watching Rowan be swept off her feet (literally and figuratively) by her daddy (and hoping that some day, a LONG way down this road, that she will expect to be swept off her feet by a guy as nice as Lance). Games, dancing, dinner, cupcakes.

I went to check on her tonight after she fell asleep and there she was, with a picture frame (one of tonight's gifts) lying on the pillow right next to her. Sweet dreams.

Groundhog Day Blizzard

Tons of snow. No school. No work. Groundhog Day. What could be better?