Drake is 3

Before I get started, I wanted to warn you that this is a LONG post, pictures are at the end.

I have a 3 year old....that just sounds a little crazy.  This little boy has truly blessed our lives.  We had a fun celebration, and then he went in for a check up a few days after his sisters birthday.  For some reason, he loves the doctor, he was brave and the doctor would check his chest, ears, ect first, then Addysons.  It was super nice because Addyson freaks out whenever she sees someone in scrubs.  It calmed Addy down to see her big brother do something first and that everything was okay.

Drake had a flu shot when we went in.  It was adorable, he was so excited.  He wanted a sticker so he climbed up on the table, the nurse told me how bad she felt because he was so happy to get a shot.  He looked quite betrayed when the shot wasn't as fun as he thought, but he was fine soon after.

Drake weighed 31 pounds and was 37 inches tall. He is actually quite on the normal size now that he is a little older.  He wears 3T but he is still skinny so his pants fall off of him.  I often find him with only a shirt and socks on later in the day because he get annoyed and just takes his pants off.

Around his 3rd birthday I started potty training him.  He did so well, but if I didn't remind him he would just go in his underwear and not care.  After 3 weeks of asking him to go every hour I got discouraged because it was a bigger chore than diapers, and school was starting soon so I gave up.  Yeah, I'm awesome.  He still will ask to go in the potty from time to time, and I plan on trying again in May when he isn't at a sitters.
Maybe I will train Addy at the same time as Drake...we will see where she is developmentally.


Drake is a boy that is all boy.  He loves any kind of car or truck, he knows the difference between mommy's van, daddy's truck, and daddy's car.  One morning Kade took my van to work, Drake asked me all day long, "where's mommy's van?"  I think that is pretty smart.  He has known his abc's and he can count to at least 16.  He has a hard time with colors, but knows pink and blue for some reason.  He loves the birthday song and always asks if it is his birthday.  He seems to get smarter and bigger everyday and I can't keep up.
When we say family prayers at night, if it is his turn to pray, he will only say "thank you for my cars, thank you for my cars," over and over and finally amen.  Sometimes you can get him to be thankful for something else but it is rare.  He knows once prayers are over it is bed time, and he promptly crawls into bed.  He is so much better at bed time then his sister, who still cries for a few minutes.

He now will tell me what he wants to watch, eat, and wear.  I love how independent he is, but sometimes he really throws a tantrum if he can't wear his shorts and cars t-shirt to church.  He loves anything lightning mcqueen and mater!

The other day he cried during lunch because all he wanted to eat was carrots not the sandwich I made and I couldn't understand what he wanted, we finally figured it out.

Drake is just growing into his own fun person.  Here are some pictures and videos from his birthday.

His little army set, he was pretty excited!

Showing off his favorite part of his army set!  He even smiled. 

Showing us how old he is.  You can see his thumb, he sticks up his thumb and two fingers, so most of the time it looks like only 2 fingers. 

He was so excited 

No fork needed folks 

Then he was excited for a fork

Here are some cute videos 

Souper Saturday

My mother-in-law came out to our wards super Saturday and did some crafts with us.  I only chose to do one because all the rest were really BIG.  My home is stuffed already and I don't have a lot of space for festive/changing decor.  I do regret not doing a wreath, but the displayed one wasn't my favorite and I didn't know we could choose different colors.  So, my bad.

I only ended up doing one thing, and I absolutely loved the way the display looked.  I don't love mine as much....


But I do like it, and it was so simple to make.  Just pieces of wood, paint, fabric, and glue.  I loved the way my bronze star turned out, the display was a bright yellow, that just didn't fit the muted color scheme.
:)

Bathroom

This weekend we found a new tub on craigslist.  The owner purchased it, then decided to put a shower in instead, due to convenience.  Our old tub, had some cheap metal all around it, every time you turned on the water, there was a yucky metal smell.  It creaked so bad, there was also a big dent in the floor of it.  Water pooled and just would sit in this sink hole.  We have had it on our list to replace it.  When we found this nice deep tube, we decided that it would be a perfect weekend to redo our whole bathroom.  Thanks to Richard for helping us out, we owe you one. :)

Okay, so the weekend is over and all that is installed is the tub.  :)  I am hoping Kade will get the rest of it finished this week.   Yup, lots left to do but we had to build a frame, install an outlet, and move the plumbing over.  I can't say enough, how much I love that my husband is handy.

The picture is of my bubble bath, with jets I had tonight.  I love it already, it is nice and deep, I feel spoiled.

New Glasses

Right after graduation, about 5 years ago, I got glasses.  Basically I was told that I didn't need them except for working on the computer or driving.  It was a really weak prescription, so I wasn't great at wearing my glasses, I didn't feel like I needed them much.  I purchased 7 pairs at http://www.zennioptical.com for less then 7 bucks a piece.  I got so many different ones because I didn't know what ones I would like the best.  Not being able to try on glasses is a problem, how will they look on your face? During harvest, I wore glasses a lot, and my kids kept getting a hold of them and broke 4 of my pairs, my favorite ones.  I new it was high time I got my eyes checked, but I kept putting it off I hate those dang exams.

On Halloween, I got my glasses ordered.  This time around I only ordered 3.  Sadly my favorite pair had been discontinued, so I was worried how these new ones would fit my face.  Today, I got them in the mail and tried them on.  Surprisingly, they are all very similar.  I am not sure I love them either, I guess I can always order more.  Their quality was never an issue, but I noticed that the quality has actually improved over the years, and they are still the same great $6.99 and up.

My eyes have gotten a lot worse and I need to be better at wearing glasses.  I am a little bit disoriented and hope it gets better.

So, if you are more on the frugal side, this is the best way to save money on glasses.  They have kids ones too, so those people with kids in glasses, buy a few so when they get lost you have a spare.   They start at 6.99, the black ones and the black and yellow ones were 6.99.  The pink and black ones were 14.99 if I recall.  You pay one flat rate shipping fee.  

Kids and their destruction.

Last week, Addyson and Braelie got a hold of some left over marinara from breadsticks.  Before I knew what happened they had eaten it in Drake's room.  I somehow got it all out (i think), there was a lot on the floor.  Although, now my home may forever smell of vinegar.  I guess I need to put a lock on the fridge.  :(


A few months earlier, Drake opened a box, found some nail polish, and dumped it on the carpet.  I walked in as it was happening, and It was white...so at least no one will ever know.  Needless to say, I got my boxes unpacked really quick after that.  I guess I shouldn't have purchased new carpet if it isn't going to stay nice. :) We are really trying to be careful, it looks so nice, I want to keep it nice.

Sorry, I didn't take pictures of the stories above, I was busy cleaning it up before it set in.

Yesterday, I walked into the kitchen and saw this...

Crayon on the newly painted wall and new fridge! So my question, do magic erasers actually work? HAHA

If it doesn't, I may have to put vinyl above it that says ARTWORK! ;)

This last one wasn't the kids, but it seems to fit in with the post.

My curtains are close to the fireplace.  My husband lights the fires with a propane torch (an awesome way to light a fire).  Anyway, I had warned him that he waved it too close to the curtains.  And when this happened, neither of us noticed, until the next day.  I guess I am counting my blessings that my curtains are not flammable, or we may have been homeless!

Halloween 2013

We didn't do much this year in celebration.  We didn't even end up carving pumpkins, I just wasn't ambitious and the kids are young and didn't care.  Our family did go to the annual Pincock Halloween party.  We dressed as a family of hunters! For actual Halloween, I purchased my kiddos animal hats.  It is always so cold, I thought that they could wear their coats and a warm hat, and then Kade and I wouldn't have to dress up.  It worked out great.  And yea, I didn't get any pictures on actual Halloween, just the day of the party.  GO ME!

Here is the family in camouflage.  Drake carried around a BB gun, he was really excited.  

Drake and his gun :)

Drake as a moose 

Addy as an owl

Oh YEAH, one of me.

Adult Time

With my kids being the age they are, I feel more free then I have felt in 3 years.  This year I have had many opportunities to have my own time away from home.  My husband is really the best, he knows that I function better having alone time once in a while.  He is always willing to let me be me, and he is the first to volunteer me to go places I am invited to go.  I do feel guilty, but he helps me not worry about it as much.  He is a great daddy, he loves his kids, and really enjoys being with them.

So every 6 months there is a scrapbook weekend that my mother-in-law and sister-in-laws attend.  I have been pretty good at going, and I tend to get some digital scrapbooking done.  This year for croptoberfest, I decided to do a craft instead.  I have had some wooden letters made, and I hadn't had time to fix them up all cute.  Anyway, they turned out cute and will match the theme of the kids rooms, if I ever get their rooms actually fixed up.  I didn't get a group picture this time around :( I guess I'm slacking.

Kade got his personal time this last week, he went hunting, and got a little buck.  I am told it was a perfect shot from 280 yards.  This little guy went down with one shot.  Kade was pretty excited, he called me right away! :)