To Be Filed Under, "Can't Believe I Forgot..."

All this talk about birthdays, turning three, etc. and I forgot to include pics of C & J's third birthday party. I am slowly but surely losing my mind! Anyways, we had the kiddos' birthday party at a local church that has an indoor playground as well as an area where the kids can eat. Charlotte and Jensen chose, of course, a Thomas the Train theme for their party...no surprise that Jensen chose Thomas, but Charlotte actually loved that theme as well and didn't like anything else I suggested! So Thomas it was. I kept it very low-key...of course I had to order them cute invites and outfits from etsy, but everything else was standard-kid-birthday-party: Nugget tray from Chick-fil-A? Check. Cupcakes? Check. Juice boxes? Check. Paper plates and napkins from Party City? Check and check.

The party turned out great and the kids had fun, except for Charlotte getting a bit overwhelmed when all her friends were being "too loud". (It was pretty loud in there!)

Pre-party pictures in their Thomas ensembles.

 Their table full of friends.

Enjoying her nuggets.

This was when we'd started singing to her. She was a bit overwhelmed by all the attention.

By the end of the song she was pretty nervous and required Daddy's help to blow out her candle.

Little Dude, on the other hand, had his eye on the prize...

Little Miss Ellison was very happy with her cupcake...

...as was the birthday boy.

The kids had a blast and every time we drive by the church they inform me that "that's where we had our birthday party!". They have already informed me that they want to have their fourth birthday party there as well, but I guess we have another nine months or so to think about it!

On Two...

I have been thinking back on Charlotte and Jensen's third year, from the time the kids turned two until the time they turned three, and it was good stuff. A really good year. I think sometime during that year, I finally gained a little bit of confidence in my parenting abilities (said confidence has taken a serious nosedive as the kids have hit their terrible threes, but it was nice while it lasted!).

I think age two gets a bad rap. I loved it! Charlotte and Jensen were both able to begin communicating with me really well, so there wasn't as much guess work as to what they wanted and/or needed. We went from wondering, "Oh my gosh, why on earth are they screaming?" to being able to ask, "What's wrong?" and receive a definitive answer ("My tummy hurts", "I'm scared of that noise", etc.). They were able to really enjoy places (the zoo, museum, etc.) rather than just kind of wandering around aimlessly. I got to where I could take them both to the park and not worry about one darting off into the parking lot...because they were finally at the age where playing at the park is more fun than just randomly dashing off so that Mommy has to chase you. I feel like they really got a lot out of preschool this past year, and it was so much fun to not only watch them interact with their peers, but pick them up from school and listen as they told me all about their day.

Really, I think the best part of the past year has just been watching their little personalities continue to develop and hearing all the awesome and hilarious things they've had to say. Even during the most stressful day, I had to laugh at the stuff that came out of their mouths. And their interactions with each other went from mostly fighting to mostly playing with some fighting thrown in for good measure.

So...three years of parenting under my belt. These two can make me laugh, cry, become unbelievably frustrated, and make my heart feel like it's going to burst open in a million pieces because it's so full. All within a matter of minutes, sometimes. My Stinkers...thanks for a great year and for making my life so loud, messy, fun, and complete.  Love you both more than words can say.