Toby Is Three!!!

Are you kidding me?! This boy cannot be that old. I feel like yesterday I was up all hours of the night with him...oh wait, it was. ;) Ha.

But really, this guy has blessed us beyond belief. I have had hard times in the past with him (and his VERY strong will) but he is really truly a joy now. He is helpful, loving, hilarious, a ball of energy, sensitive, strong willed, cuddly, and compassionate. He is quick to apologize and say "please" or "thank you". He puts himself into time out (seriously, it's awesome). He loves a cartoon called 'Caillou' and could watch it all day if I let him. He has a shadow named Jack. He is quick to pray and ask Jesus for help anytime and anywhere. His childlike faith is beautiful. He likes to be tricked and play pretend. He has a fish named Nemo. He loves his family and friends. He is a good nickname giver. He has an insane memory. He is very smart (no credit of that goes to me). He is looking more and more like a 'big boy' and I love it and hate it at the same time. I LOVE the age three. He L.O.V.E.S. basketball! Before he got his basketball hoop for his birthday he would turn my laundry basket, Hanna's laundry basket, Jack's high chair, the couch, and basically anything you can think of into a basketball hoop. He's a good shot too. When he hit 2 years and 10 months old his fits and tantrums tapered off to maybe one a day versus seemingly all day long. I cannot say it enough, I love this age. He can communicate well and verbalize his feelings =ing less fits. It's great.

On to his party. We are SO blessed to have such an amazing family, my parents drove down from Yakima, WA and Jamie's parents, grandparents, brother and sister in law all drove up from Eugene. That alone would have filled our little home, but Toby loves our friends Kiki & Cuppy (Chris & Katie), Dede & Dan (Mandy & Dan) and Matt (who brought his sweetheart of a girlfriend Alexis) and they were a must have for his party. The house was packed to the brim and the boys loved it. A ton of people showering them with love, affection, presents and candy!

For dinner we had all of Toby's favorites. Homemade Mac n'Cheese, trees and larry's with dip (a.k.a. broccoli and cucumbers with ranch), applesauce with spinkles, cheese cubes, and a table full of candy, cupcakes and cake. We had a blast. I think that one of the highlights from the night was when he opened his big present (the basketball hoop) and he was just ecstatic. "A HOOP!!!" He didn't care who was there, what was going on, all he cared about in that moment was shooting some balls into that basket. He was in the zone. After prying him away from the hoop, we sat him in front of his big basketball cake with candles (which he was really looking forward to) and we all sang Happy Birthday to him. This was another highlight because his face was just beaming as he listened to everyone sing to him. He was looking at all our faces with an ear to ear grin. It was so sweet. But as soon as blew the candles out he stood up and announced "I want to play basketBAAAALLL!!!!"

Snow For Breakfast

We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow. The first thing Jamie did was go out with Toby, scoop up some snow on a plate and take it inside to eat. It was hilarious to see Jack's reactions to the cold but he wouldn't slow down, he just kept shoving it into his mouth.

Jamie even stayed home for a extra hour and half to play with the boys, since snow is such a rarity here. Such a blessing to have some fun family time. What a great Daddy these two boys have.

These Eyes...

Are beautiful, aren't they?! Jack's are big, round and bright blue. Toby's are almond shaped, and blue-green-gray as we say. I love them. And I can't tell you how excited we are to add some beautiful brown/black ones to the mix!

He's Walking!

Jack took his first step in early August while we were in Black Butte (he was a little over 10 months old) Only Jerry and I saw it, we were forcing him to try on the porch, and surprisingly he did it. Since then he has gradually been making progress. A couple weeks ago, right after turning one he just decided that he wanted to walk....all the time. I have failed to get him on film (our camcorder right now is not compatible with our laptop) so I had to use the web cam this morning to capture it. He usually has his arms in the air, I wonder if it's a balance thing, or him just being so used to someone holding his hand to walk, and just waddles around. He's had quite a few bumps and bruises, Toby seems to think that Jack is a lot more capable of his tackles and (rough) hugs now that he can walk, so he's getting pushed around more than before, hence the bumps and bruises.



I was a little late getting Jack in for his one year check up, we went last week. Here are his stats if you're interested: (even if you aren't I'll do it anyways, since this is my 'baby book' of sorts :)

Weight: 25 pounds 4 ounces (Which puts him at 80th percentile)

Length: 32 inches (94th percentile)

Head Circumference: 47 1/2 centimeters (77th percentile)

He's a happy, healthy little dude!

October 31st, 2010

We had such a fun Halloween. The big event was Athey Creek's Harvest Festival. They had all sorts of games, a cake walk (which Toby and I won as soon as we got there! wooohooo!) a professional photographer to take your picture, an awesome biblical puppet show, and lots of friends. We had a blast, although it was very, very crowded, we still got loaded up on candy and Toby had a ton of fun, which was the goal. We love our church.


Practicing his "ROOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!"


Trick Or Treating at Mr. Phils (our tenant and next door neighbor). Right after this we started to load the boys into the car and then our neighbor from the other side of our house, George, yelled out "Karen has been waiting for those boys, you better go see her!" So we hopped on out and ran over there before we left for church. I sure enjoy our neighbors. They love our boys :)

Like father, like son.


Fishing for candy... definitely the best kind of fishing, if you ask me or Toby.

Toby was captivated by the puppet show.

Here's our family photo from the festival.

And I just had to include this one...it's Hanna, Chris & Katie Niehus and some friends of theirs Anthony and Nick. SO funny. Hanna got quite a few curious stares from the kids, it seemed that the utters were eye level with most of them, it was priceless.

The Simple Things

Who needs expensive toys when you have bubble wrap?!

Self Portrait

Here is Toby's first drawing of a person...up until now there's been a lot of snakes (squiggly lines), O's (circles), and T's and crosses. I think it's a pretty accurate drawing ;) I took some child development classes way back when and in one of my books I remember them laying out the progression of how kids start drawing people and this is always what the first one looked like, a head with legs coming out of it.

A proud boy.

Haircut

It was time....it's been time for quite a while. Jamie didn't want it cut, but after I told him it could be a mohawk too, then he was ok with it. I think he looks SO handsome. My sweet little guy.

Father & Son

Here's a sweet moment I caught from last nights Duck game.

I See A Future Here...

Not A Baby Anymore

My baby turned ONE! Where did that year go? Man, it sure went a million times faster than it did with Toby. A year ago this is what my little dude looked like...


And now he looks like this...

Is this normal? It sure doesn't seem normal...a child should not grow this much in ONE year. He is jabbering, whining, trying to walk, throwing fits, and still melting our hearts. Life needs to slow on down, I don't want to miss another second with this guy.


Now I would like to welcome you to Buddy Jacks birthday party! Most of the Wright family was able to drive up for a couple hours to celebrate with us, and a few amazing friends of ours. Jack was absolutely spoiled. He (and Toby) loved it.

Afternoon Drive

Sometimes we just need to be adventurous and throw all caution to the wind. A few weekends ago we were feeling like that, like having kids has 'changed us' (in a bad way), and that we weren't fun anymore. So after church we had no plans, we put the boys down for their nap and right then decided that we need to get away and have some fun. So we did. We packed up the diaper bag, extra pair of clothes for the dudes, some shovels and hit the road as soon as they awoke. And I am so thankful we did. The boys did GREAT and seemed to love the spur of the moment trip. We all had a absolute blast.


Jack looks so serious in all of these, but trust me,
he was L-O-V-I-N-G it!

Beautiful, perfect day in Seaside.

Oh man. Internally I was screaming 'Don't do it Jamie!!!!' But I'm glad he did, Jack enjoyed the little puddles and picking up the sand with those chubby little hands.

The mess. And yes, he even likes the taste of sand. Wonderful.

Toby flinging the sand in the air, and digging a monster hole with Dada. Can you see that little remnant of my baby behind all of that sand? Yeah...he was covered.


Proud owner of a ton of nasty seagull feathers.


And this is my favorite part, no trip to Seaside is complete without a meal at Pig N' Pancake. This was the first time that Toby has actually been old enough to enjoy some food here. And I am absolutely positive that this is the most he's ever eaten in one sitting. Seriously, he doesn't normally eat. Jamie and I joke that if we didn't force him to, then he would never eat. Not this day. That monster plate of pancakes you see? Well, he ate about all of them (minus 3, that went to Dada)and could have eaten more when he finished.

Mother and son enjoying our yummy food :) Four happy hearts and tummy's for sure. Man are we blessed.