Birthday Boy

On Thursday, April 25th, my sweet baby boy turned THREE years old. Where does the time go? This year has been a big one for him, exploding with new words and expressions, full of friends and imagination, a jump in jeans sizes, gymnastics classes and our first splash into a a team sport-teeball.

We began the birthday celebrations with a special dunkin donuts breakfast and Skype date with Grandma. Chris and I burned the midnight oil the night before building his very special present from us-a train table! Of course, he was beyond excited to open some fun trains to go with it-thanks Grandma Sharon!

Later that day we had dinner with my parents at Chucky Cheese and then headed home for some delicious dinasour cake. The cake is a story for another blog, but suffice it to say it did not turn out the way I imagined, and so I threw together another last minute. It was not nearly as pretty and perfect as I would have liked, but a tasty plan B nonetheless.

Fun at Chucky Cheese with the family...We have extra tokens so we'll be back soon-Evan is still talking about it!

 

Gigi, Poppi and Aunt Sami had an awesome dinosaur table set up, complete with birthday banners, balloons and fun little dino's to decorate the table with. 

 

Evan had an amazing third birthday with family-truly we could not asked for more! Just a few days prior we were able to have dinner with Chris' aunt and uncle where he was also showered with some birthday love. And then on Friday we enjoyed a beautiful day strawberry picking with friends, where Evan and his friend Kylie(who are three days apart) enjoyed a fun joint birthday picnic and park playdate at the strawberry farm. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such kind, thoughtful and loving family and friends.

I'll post our strawberry pictures on my next blog, but for now I stumbled upon this gem of a blooper from our birthday photo session...love it! Happy birthday to my sweet, silly, three year old-I love you stinky face!

Play ball!

Blue socks and baseball pants, ball cap and cleats-check! This Spring we signed Evan up for his very first season of rookie basebseball with the Wilson Rec League. Truely, baseball is bigtime here in Wilson! Chris and I both have been really impressed with the program and are so happy with our team and coaches.

The Little Bulldogs had their first games this week...

Our coach is a local college student and Evan LOVES her!

Being a 3-4 year old team, Evan is not only the youngest but also the smallest on the team-and boy does a year make a difference. In hindsight, I think we could have waited a year but here we are and I'm committed to having fun out there on the field. Our expectations for what a 3-4 yr old team would look like have been blown out of the park-it's serious stuff here! I'm so proud of my big boy, every game/practice seems to be better than the last. Our major hurdles now during the games are teaching him to be patient in the outfield, while paying attention and being alert to run after the ball. In the "dugout," we practice cheering on our teammates while waiting our turn to bat. What good lessons for a growing toddler!  The games are also a little over an hour long, which I'm convinced is like a millineum to a three year old. It's a good thing we have team snacks to look forward to afterwards!

  

Notice Bennett's adorably supportive bulldog attire-he is his brother's biggest fan after all. I vote we make him the mascot! :-) He has already made a sweet new friend...

 

I think Evan's favorite part of the game is this hands in huddle-"Go Little Bulldogs!"

 

Lastly, the game ends with a line of high fives...no scores are kept, but everyone has a good time!

Meal Plan Monday

I took a break from the meal plan last week but I'm pleased to say we did pretty good. Once I get this down, my next goal is to be better about planning more lunches at home. We're not leftover snobs, but I'm so used to halfing recipes for our family size that we rarely have leftovers anyways. However, I sense with these growing boys that times are a changing. On another note, I'm SO excited that farmers market and strawberry/blueberry season is just around the corner-we always seems to eat so much healthier in the Spring and Summer!

Monday-Caesar chicken pasta
Tuesday-Spaghetti
Wednesday-Grilled barbeque chicken and corn on the cob
Thursday-We'll be eating out on the go since we have a tee ball game that night
Friday-Cheese quesadillas with Spanish rice

It's pretty simple, but that's my plan and I'm stickin to it. Also on the menu this week-a little Spring cleaning, painting, baseball, some yardwork and Bennett's first time strawberry picking at Dean's Farm!

Turning Three

Evan is peaking over the edge of two and ready to roar into the big 3s. I say "roar" because dinosaurs are a pretty big deal if you didn't know-at least in 3 year old boy world. It's amazing how much he changes every month at this age, and we are especially loving his ever expanding vocabulary.

At "almost 3," Evan is completely daytime potty trained and knows all his ABC's and 123's. He is Mr. Polite, and starting to say those please, thank you's and your welcome's unprompted. He reminds me we need to be quiet in the library, and often tells me which way to turn in the car. What's really fun and new recently is that he is starting to sing songs out loud more articulately and with actual lyrics-so encouraging to see even those tiniest of fruits from our labor! I LOVE it when I catch him repeating back to me something we've taught him. Just the other day I was grabbing a quick snack of vanilla wafers and he says to me "mama you share with me? You have one, I have...two!"

As always, he loves his cars, trains, search and find books, and books in general. He is an "I Spy" and ahem "Ipad" pro. It's safe to say that he has stepped into the world of pretend with a bang! He loves to race his cars, chase Peter Pan's shadow, and play Peter Rabbit in his tent (everyone in the house has their assigned characters...I'm still wondering what I did to become Mr. McGreggor). Also, something tells me that superhero's are about to explode in this house. Not sure if I'm ready for that one yet. #boyworld

Here are some fun things he says nowadays...
In the morning when he get's up, he always asks "did you have a good sleep?" (Because we always asked him...now he happily returns the question!)
He's all about sharing his blanket with mommy- "Sit with me mama, I share my blanket with you...super cuddles!!!"
Frequently while walking he'll spot an "x" on the ground and say ""X marks the spot!"
Many times when he falls down or clumsily runs into something he'll say "Don't worry, I'm OKAYYY"
My favorite which he says multiple times a day with enthusiasm is "Hmmm...I got an idea!"

Lastly, we recently took a dive into our first sporting activity-rookie baseball! But, that's a story for another post! I can't believe my first baby is about to be three. While I wish I could stop his feet from growing, I sure am enjoying every inch of this new season.

Monday Meal Plan

Monday-Breakfast for dinner
Tuesday-Spinach/ricotta stuffed manicotti w/ salad
Wednesday-Chris will be in Raleigh all day for a BB&T workshop, so the boys and I are on our own! (Read-chicken nuggets, mac n' cheese, apple slices oh my)
Thursday-Chicken tortilla soup a la "The Pioneer Woman"

Friday-Baked ziti and a veggie side (My little boys LOVE peas and broccoli and I don't take advantage of this nearly enough!)