Happy Birthday Emmett

Emmett is 3 years old today! In keeping with my pictures from the past, I had to share some of his. Here is his as a brand new newborn.


This next picture is the next day in the hospital. I just LOVED his hair. Kind of spiky and so soft. He had a hat on usually, but when it was off I just couldn't resist his hair.



The next 2 are pictures I took in my quest for the perfect birth announcement picture. (I didn't use either of these.)



Finally, a picture when is isn't so newborn, but still a baby. Just too cute not to share.

I realize that many of my posts about Emmett are about his ability to drive me a bit mad. That is true, but I do have to say that he is so sweet, too. He is a very helpful little boy. When I have work to do, he is always willing to help and is a good helper. Emmett loves to help me in the kitchen, too. He is also my dishwasher helper. Emmett is also a very quick learner. He just seems to pick things up without much effort and on his own. Things like potty training, puzzles, and letters to name a few. Emmett makes us laugh. He is a funny little boy. He is always trying to climb onto our backs/shoulders/necks anytime he has access to them. He just climbs up there and hangs out. The other day he stood behind me and turned my face to his and kissed my cheek -- about 10 times. I was laughing so hard. He also likes to turn our faces toward his when he is talking and he doesn't think we are listening. Emmett cannot talk, tell a story, or listen to a someone else unless everyone else is quiet, and that sometimes applies to loud background noises. He does not like scary images or talk of scary things (ghosts, witches, "scary" parts in kids' movies)--unlike Ethan who loves this stuff. He is recently a daddy's boy. If he is scolded at all during the day he cries, "I want my daddy!" Emmett is also our adventerous eater. He will try anything and likes a lot of things most kids don't like.

He just had is 3 year well child visit. As always after such visits, I rush home to see how he compares to Ethan's height and weight at that age. Emmett is a bit taller and a bit heavier than Ethan was at 3, which surprised me, especially the height! As I looked back at his growth I was amazed! He started life out in the less than 3rd %ile! And now he is in the 75th %ile for both!

The Aftermath

The party is done. Crumbs, toy twist ties, wrapping paper, packaging, and toys line the floor. Here they are playing with some of the new toys.

Preparations for Emmett's 3rd Birthday Party

Today was our prep. day for Emmett's birthday party. Due to the the large number of family members who attend our parties, we usually need to make 2 cakes. This year I made my standard super-rich chocolate bundt cake. I then made a second of these cakes to make the these two fun cakes. My mom, though, gets the credit for the decoration of these cakes. She also watched the boys this evening so I could get a last-minute birthday gift and so Aaron could study for an upcoming test. She even made some extra food for the party! What a great woman.

When Emmett and I were making the frosting this morning, he wanted to dump ingredients in for me. I kept beating him to it (honestly, who wants to hand over a measuring cup filled with powered sugar to a 3 year old?). So, when I got the cocoa out he insisted he dump that one by saying to me, "I want to dump the diet coke, mom." HILARIOUS! (coke/cocoa -- for those of you who didn't get it!)

A Valentine's Day Gone By

Back when it was just Ethan and Carson, Lindsey and I wanted to take Valentine's pictures for my parents. At the time we didn't think any turned out very well. Looking at them now I realize how precious they are. This post is for you Grandma!

Here's our little Ethan 4 years ago!

I just love their interactions in these pictures.

I Found Another One!

I found a great cookie recipe I'd love to share. You can get Fiber 1 cereal at Walgreens for a good price right now and go to some of those coupon websites to print off a Fiber 1 coupon to make the price even better.

Fiber 1 Crunchy Fudge Cookies

1 box fudge brownie mix
2 c. Fiber 1 cereal
1/3 c. water (I needed to add a bit more)
1 egg
1 T. oil
2 t. vanilla
1/8 t. cinnamon
2 T. chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cookie sheet.
Mix all ingredients with a spoon.
Drop dough by rounded T. 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
Bake 10-12 mins. until set.
Cool 2 mins, remove and cool on a rack.
Store in tightly covered container.

1 cookie only has 70 calories and 1 gram of fat!!!!!!

Valentine's Day Fun

On Wednesday Ethan and Emmett celebrated Valentine's Day with Brayden, Zach, Carson, Cruz (and Traxton--though he was sleeping through it). As soon as Carson was dropped off after school the kids each ate a pink and white heart shaped sugar cookie. There are no pictures of these, because I swear they inhaled them. After washing it down with milk, they were allowed to have some Root Beer that Ethan and Emmett's great Uncle Bob dropped off for a special treat.


Next, the kids were each given a 1/4 cup of gummy bears to graph. Since they did the same thing in school this week with candy hearts, Carson was done before the rest even got started. Ethan and Brayden also did a great job and knew better than to eat too many (while I was watching that is).



Cruz and Emmett had a bit of harder time understanding the task set before them, but once they got started they did great! (Look at the concentration on their faces). I think Cruz sneaked the most gummy bears while he was working. He was anticipating those gummy treats all day. I didn't even bother giving Zach a graph, he was allowed to eat from the time I dropped those bears in front of him.

The next thing I did blows my mind every time I do it with these kids. It is the simplest thing that I have been doing for the past 3 years and they never outgrow it. Depending on the holiday I vary the shape of the paper, so yesterday it was hearts--just paper hearts. The kids played in the bedrooms while I hid paper hearts in the living room. When I said "ready" they came running out to find the hidden hearts. So much fun. They wanted to do it again and again and their anticipation made it almost impossible to keep them back in the room long enough to hide the hearts again.

Everything I made for the kids this year was themed around bears. Their Valentines said, "I think you are beary sweet." They were given bags with teddy grahams and gummy bears and it said, "Bear Hugs for ____ from Mommy/Missy." So, I made the kids bear shaped sugar cookies to take home, too. Well, they thought they were gingerbread men and wanted them to run away and hide in the house. About a year ago or so my mom and I coordinated a day where she came and helped me so the boys could decorate their own sugar cookie men. We put them in the pantry to rest while we ate lunch. During this time, my mom hid them in the spot I told her. The night previous I made up rhyming clues for a treasure hunt for them to go around the house finding the clues and eventually the cookies. So, yesterday Carson and Ethan wanted me to put the cookies in the pantry and see if they ran away again. Little do a 6 and 4 year old know that it took a lot of preparation the last time to do this fun activity. SO, thankfully, when April arrived she was able to hide the paper hearts while I quickly hid the cookies and wrote 1 note from the sugar-cookie bears. They were disappointed it was only one note and to top it off, it didn't even rhyme! (I tried to find a picture of this and failed.)