We have a 4 year old

Happiest of birthdays to my four year old!

 I can't handle that he is growing! 

I want him to stay little! I want him to love Mickey Mouse and Monster Inc forever. I never want him to be embarrassed that he sings "small world" out loud in public. Though the asking "why" phase is sometimes draining I don't want him to loose that curiosity! I don't want his love of trampolines to stop anytime soon. I want to keep hearing him ask to watch his favorite show PJ Masks. I don't want to him to figure out that the word "stupid" isn't really a bad word. I don't want to stop hearing him randomly tell me I'm beautiful. I will miss him repeatedly telling me he and his dad fixed the kitchen sink just so I'll thank him loudly and give him a big hug. I will miss chasing him with the vacuum while I do my cleaning. I just hate that he is growing! I want this phase in my life to slow down! I love my boy! He is sweet as he is sour! 

He makes for a perfect 4 year old! 

(with all that being said I am so glad we had a birthday party for him before his actual birthday and the broken arm)

Miles wanted a Lizard Party this year.
Oui, this kid and his love of reptiles is killing me.
But a lizard party it will be!
While I was getting Lizard lunch ready, all the kids played so well together in his room!

He and his buddies ate lunch

  

They played Pin the Tail on the Lizard.

They played Toss the Lizard in the bucket

 

He opened presents

They all gasped and huddled over presents

 

and ate the individual lizard cakes that we decorated earlier.

 

 And that is the birthday wrap!

Miles we love you and are so grateful you are in our family!

A Fracture

A first happened at our house.

A fractured arm. 

And I'm not totally sure how this all happened either.

But I do know what led up to to it.

Miles and I were cooing over Andie on my bed.

Miles asked to hold her so I let him.

 She drooled on him and he gave her back to me and was acting silly.

Then I started changing her diaper and he was acting super silly and ran behind me towards the chair in my room.

After that I don't know how it all went down.

But out of the corner of my eyes I did see feet in the air and a big thud against the wall.

I winced thinking "well that had to of hurt"

Then Miles started crying.

But not his normal cry.

My very first thought was "he broke his arm."

So I looked behind my chair where he somehow air flighted behind and his arm looked fine.

I fished him out from behind the chair and he was screaming and could not bend his arm.

I tried the boo boo bag but it didnt work.

I tried putting an M&M in that hand seeing if he'd bend it to eat it, but nope.

Then I tried Monsters Inc. but he still was crying.

 He fell asleep on the couch so I tried to see if I could inspect it better but as soon as I touched it he woke up crying again.

I facetimed Romney at work to get his opinion and after Miles not being able to squeeze my finger Romney said to take him in.  

I took Andie to my sister in laws and a crying Miles to the ER.

I couldn't get him out of his jammie shirt without bending his arm so he rocked the snowman pajama shirt.

 He was so sad and very scared to see the doctor.

He didn't believe me that the dr would not be giving him shots that day.

 

Once we got to our room he was happy and distracted.

They had cartoons to watch.

The dr. was awesome.

He played all kinds of games to get Miles to do what they needed.

Going to a children hospital is a night and day experience I tell ya.

They sent us to x rays.

He was in so much pain as they twisted his arm, bent his arm and straighten his arm.

I told him they were taking pictures of his bones.

While crying he asked "Do I need to smile?"

I told him "no, it's just pictures of your bones"

Sweet boy.

After x rays he was able to bend his elbow again.

They even brought him toys to play with.

We were all convinced he dislocated his elbow and the x ray tech wiggled it back into place.

False!!

There was a fracture.

So they splinted him with a hard cast like thing on the bottom half of his arm to allow the swelling to happen.

Now we have an appointment with orthopedics for a real cast next week.

Poor buddy had to leave the hospital the day before his birthday shirtless with a sling.

Christmas Morning

I love the excitement of Christmas morning!

It was so fun to wake up with our friends and make the kids wait down the hall in anticipation for what Santa brought.

Santa did indeed come to our house!

He brought frogs, lizards, crocodiles and snakes galore

for this reptile kid

He brought a marble track and EVERY kid loved that thing.

Miles "needed" a new gun so when his little buddies come over there is enough for all to have one.

 

 A couple of weeks ago I told Miles we were going to the store.

He ran to get his piggy bank and said I want to buy something. 

(he has like 4 bucks in change)

I couldn't deny his excitment.

So, I took a detour to the 99 cent store where he bought himself a candy bar.

BUT the back ground for the story is while we were at the store he said he wanted to buy Romney a present.

So he picked out a snicker and a hot wheel with his own money.

We came home and wrapped it up and he signed his name.

Here is Miles giving his present to daddy and showing him that he wrote his own name.

And here is Daddys reaction.

Probably the sweetest Christmas gift ever!

I have been giving the Stubbs sugar cereal for christmas for a while. 

I'm not sure how it started or why, but it has become tradition.

 Miles helped me pick out each kids box and he picked out lucky charms for Lance.

 

It was pure joy to watch the boys open their presents!

And I felt pure joy when I opened my Adele CD.

Then finally little miss woke up from her morning nap and joined the chaos.

She was super interested in her new toys.

Miles took his time opening his presents and played with each one!

 He was so excited to add to his train tracks!

(though Miles is adorable, look in the background at cowboy Kade)

and I was excited to add to my jewelry collection 

After all the presents were opened everyone was spread out playing and admiring their new things!

 

I just sat there admiring these two! 

It was a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

This Christmas was extra special this year.

We had Ethan and Amys  family with us for a week.

Ethan and Romney have been best friends since they were 11 and I love his wife and their 6 kids.

They stayed with us the 23rd through the 31st.

Miles was in heaven with all the kids and called them his "cousins"

(in fact Miles is sitting on my lap as I type this and he yelled "look my cousins" when I put these pictures up)

Christmas Eve morning we cranked up Christmas music while we decorated the sugar cookies we baked for Santa. 

And we know if were making one for Santa....

 

...we need one for ourselves too....

That evening the Stubbs went to Ethans parents for dinner and we stayed home

where Andie ate pine needles and ornaments under the tree.

(It has been so sweet to have a baby during Christmas time.)

We were lucky enough to score alone time with Grammy and Grandpa Neil.

They joined us for a yummy dinner that consisted of Mexican Barbque, rice, beans and gingerale.

We played Bingo, memory and the fishing game with them.

It made my heart so happy.

Everything is crazy, loud, and busy leading up to Christmas so to have a quiet, peaceful and cute evening with my family was awesome.

After grammy left, we let Miles open one present!

It was Christmas jammies for he and Andie. 

He thought is was so funny that they had matching jammies.

Soon enough the Stubbs came back and got in their jammies.

We all piled in the living room 

where we read the Nativity from the Bible and read Christmas books.

We finished the night by reading Twas the Night Before Christmas, put cookies out for santa, tucked in the babes and the elves stayed up putting together toys.

A 4 month old Andie

Andie girl is a big 4 months and is figuring out life is good. 

She is 12.9 lbs-she has doubled her birth weight (good job baby girl)

She is such a happy girl and makes everyone smile.

She is working on raspberries and drool bubbles daily.

She works that tongue, talks/gurgles, and still tries to suck that thumb all.the.time. 

She LOVES Miles!

She lights up when he talks to her and I can not wait to watch their relationship grow. 

She was a trooper at Disneyland on a freezing cold day.

She stayed bundled up in her stroller and smiled.

 

She is sitting up in the bumbo now and putting everything in her mouth!

She is getting her knees under her but doesn't know what to do after that, so she just cries until I fix the problem.

Most nights I bring the swing in the kitchen while I cook dinner and do the dishes.

We talk to each other and keep each other company during that witching hour.

As long as her belly is full shes a happy camper.

Andie shoves all the blankets and burp cloths in her mouth.

She loves her pacifier 

She is still a spew factory-(all of us go through many outfits a day)

She found her toes

She can roll from belly to back but still not consistently  

She is super alert

Super active

She likes being held looking out to see what is going on

She loves playing under her play mat

and 

She can compete with grown men when it comes to burping!

We sure love our Andie Girl.