Look Who's 3!

During Jonathan's nap, I gathered all his gifts and put them out so he'd be able to open them once he woke up.

When he got up from his nap, he walked right past them without even noticing. Once I got him to turn around, he went straight for that lawn mower and started 'cleaning the house' (he kept calling it a vacuum!)

It took Clara a little longer to get up from her nap, and I made Jonathan wait for her before he opened all his gifts. I told him he could go tell her to get up. He went running to her room and yelled, "Get up Sissy, I want to open my presents!" She was kind enough to get up then. I think she was just as excited to see what he got.

Grandma Yonka and Grandpa Michael sent this cool train puzzle. It was the first thing he opened, and he was ready to just play with that, not at all worried about opening any more presents. I had to get him to set it aside and open some more.

Gift from Clara...

...his own bug jar, for our cricket-catching walks!

Another present from Grandma Yonka and Grandpa Michael...

...a new birthday hat!

Our neighbors stopped in just as we were opening presents, with another gift for the birthday boy...PJ's and fire truck slippers. He was VERY excited about the slippers (he's always had a thing for feet and shoes!)

A gift from Daddy... His 'Daddy Jacket' (a flight suit with patches, just like Daddy's).

He had to put it on right away (with his new slippers, too)! Clara said, "Now I don't have to miss Daddy so much. If I miss him, I can just ask Jonathan to go put on his 'Daddy Jacket' and then I won't miss him as much!" She's also working on plans to figure out how to build a ship out of pillows and stuffed animals, so they can pretend to be at work with Daddy!

Jonathan also had a few cards from Grandma Yonka and Grandpa Michael.

Jonathan tried to pull the tissue out of this bag, but it wouldn't come...

From that point on, he devised a new way to find out what was hiding in the gift bags, just dump them out!

See, it worked, he found this police truck hiding in that bag!

"Oooo, Hulk Hands!" (He dumped this bag out too!)

You can see the Hulk Hands there to his right, and his new Batman car there too!

Another card from Grandma and Grandpa

That card had stickers, he had to wear them ALL, of course!

The Birthday Boy with hat and button!

Chris sent some stuff for Clara when he sent the patches for Jonathan's flight suit. I held on to Clara's stuff to give to her today so she wouldn't feel left out. Daddy got her this fan, a flower paper weight type thing...

...and this butterfly scarf. Clara thought it was 'pretty cool that Daddy didn't want her to feel left out today'.

After opening gifts, we headed out to Applebee's for dinner. My neighbor and her 2 boys were meeting us (her husband is currently deployed as well, and I figured it was as good a reason as any for a good meal she didn't have to cook).

Jonathan insisted on wearing his hat to Applebee's. I didn't take any pictures while we were there though. Despite our attempt to get there before the Friday crowd, we had a bit of a wait for a table since there was 6 of us. Once we told the host that we could fit in a regular booth since all the kids were young (small), we were seated almost immediately, but by that time the kids were all a little restless and hungry, so I thought it best not to pull out the camera at that point. Still, it was great to have some friends come along and help us celebrate!

Jonathan's cake. I decided that with the craziness we already had planned for this day I wouldn't even attempt to make Jonathan's cake, so we ordered one from the Commissary. Jonathan picked out this car cake on his own.

Happy Birthday! It's so fun to see him really enjoy his special day!

Posing with the cake!

Clara decided to wear her new scarf from Daddy while she ate her cake.

Checking out the sprinkles from the cake.

Yum!

We didn't let balloons go, but I did still get him a few.

Just before bed time I asked Clara to get my picture with the Birthday Boy, but she insisted I take theirs first.

My Birthday Buddy!

He seemed to have a good day. He was in great spirits all day, even with all the running around, and he was most excited to get that flight suit from his Daddy. I knew he would be, I only wish Chris was here to give it to him himself. My phone was ringing off the hook today with people calling to wish him a Happy Birthday (sorry if we missed your call, I tried to return calls, but it was a bit of a hectic day!)

I can't believe he's 3 already, it certainly doesn't seem possible, and yet just as I said about Chris and Clara on other 'special days', it's hard to remember what life was like before Jonathan was in it.

Happy Birthday, Jonathan! I love you!

A New Furry Friend

Both of my kids have a special furry friend, one that has been around from the beginning. Gund makes a 'comfy cozy', which is a cross between a stuffed animal and a security blanket. They come in a variety of colors/animals, so it's easy to find the one that's right for your little one.

The theme for Clara's nursery was pink elephants, so it was easy to choose that special furry friend for her. Here she is when she was about 2 years old, dancing with her 'elephant pillow' as she calls it. He's not so bright white/pink anymore. There's more of a grey tinge to him now, and he no longer has to come with us everywhere we go, but he still gets to snuggle with her each night as she goes to sleep.

Jonathan's nursery theme was trains, but in some of the train cars on his quilt were little dogs, so we chose 'blue doggy' for his special friend. As you can see on that paw over Jonathan's head, 'blue doggy's paws have started to come apart, but Jonathan doesn't seem to mind one bit. 'Blue doggy' still gets to sleep with Jonathan as well, and is the number one choice for a cuddle partner when Jonathan's feeling a little sick or grumpy.

So with a new baby on the way, one of the worries on my mind was finding the perfect furry friend for him. (I know it doesn't seem like much of a thing to worry about, but that's the kind of thing I do). This baby won't get his own room, and coming so close to Jonathan (who's still sleeping in crib, as a toddler bed) will be sharing the same nursery bedding that was Jonathan's. (Especially, since Jonathan still won't sleep with a blanket, so to this day, the crib quilt has barely been used!) So I started looking on the Internet for a new furry friend. I should mention, that I have the worst luck shopping on the Internet. Every time I decide on a product, which can take me some time to begin with, I come to find out that it's been discontinued, and therefore, not so easy to find somewhere in stock. Well, I found the perfect furry friend for the new baby, and after weeks of searching to find someplace that still had one of these discontinued items, I finally received him in the mail today!


I chose carefully a brown bear (to help hide the dirt that accompanies years of snuggling).


His underside is a flannel that matches the star on his bottom on the reverse side. He's adorable and I can't wait to see him get the love and snuggles that have been given to the others that my kids have. I can't wait to see how that perfect furry friend can calm all worries and fussiness, just by being around. Now that we have the perfect furry friend, I'm ready for the baby!

Birthday Boy

I got the kids to bed early last night, knowing today would be a very long day. Clara had her last day of zoo camp this morning in Fresno from 9am-12pm, but I had a Dr. appointment here on base at 10:20am. So I had to get the kids up a little earlier than usual to get her to zoo camp, then drive the 45 minutes back base for my appointment, ran by the post office and the commissary (to pick up the cake) and then 45 minutes back to Fresno to pick Clara up again - whew! So I figured the kids should get a good night's sleep last night to prepare them for all the running around we'd be doing today.

Jonathan spotted an Applebee's the other day when we were driving around and asked to go, I suggested we save that for his birthday, and boy, is he excited! Because our day was already going to be so busy, and with Chris deployed, I figured going out for a nice dinner would be easier than trying to fit in a party somewhere.

This morning I walked into Jonathan's room to wake him up, singing 'Happy Birthday'. He looked at me with big eyes and said, "Is it my birthday already, Mom?" I said, "Yes!" He said, "Then I can go to Applebee's, OK Mom?" I said, "Yep, for dinner, after your nap...Aren't you excited you're 3 now." To which he said, "No I'm NOT...after my nap!" Apparently Applebbee's must be the deciding factor for his age!

Despite going to bed early and getting up early, we were still rushing to get out the door this morning (I had to get gas in the van or I was not going anywhere!) But first, I let Jonathan open one card he'd received from his Grandma Ginia and Grandpa Vic. Grandma Ginia had told me it had a button for him to wear on his special day...notice the 'Cool Kid' button on his shirt. I snapped a quick picture of him wearing it so we could get out the door, but he was already too busy singing 'Happy Birthday' to pose for the camera.

Jonathan's rendition of 'Happy Birthday'

He still has a whole stack of cards and presents to open. After his nap. Plus his Lightning McQueen cake (and even a few cards/gifts some people sent for Clara so she wouldn't feel left out!) Chris even called him while we were waiting for the doctor to see me. I think at this point he's most excited about Applebee's though...He told EVERYONE he saw today that it was his birthday, he's 3, and he's going to Applebee's after his nap...and he's not typically my talkative child :)

So far, a good (but busy) birthday!

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!!!

Little Gym

I finally managed to get some pics of Clara in her Little Gym class. My neighbor's boys take gymnastics there as well, and they were making up a class today during Clara's class. I asked her if she'd mind keeping an eye on Jonathan while I went in and took pics. She was kind enough to agree. I took along the big camera, figuring it would allow me to sit in the corner and take pics from a distance and not be a distraction to Clara's class, but I didn't take into account that I'd still have to move around a little to get the right angles, where you could see Clara's face, and not have other children in the way of the pictures. In other words, I should have taken my smaller lens. I was sitting much too close to be using the lens I had with me, and as a result, the camera had a difficult time focusing and I ended up with a lot of blurry pictures...Lesson learned for next time! Regardless, here are some of the pictures I took tonight.

At the beginning of class, each child was given a balloon and a tennis racket to hit it with.

Clara did pretty good keeping up with her balloon.

After a forward roll at 'station 1'

Another skill in 'station 1' was to to jump over this rope. (all the pictures I took of her actually jumping over, cut off her head since I had the bigger lens with me)

A 'high 5' for a job well done!

Love the smiles on my kids' faces while they're at this place!

They line the kids up in 'trains' to move them from one station to the next.

Check out those muscles!

They practiced little hops across the high balance beam at 'station 2'

And did 'big bear walks' across the bars in 'station 3'

They also practiced backwards rolls in 'station 3'

Here, Clara is trying to lift her feet up to the bar...she almost has it!

The last activity in today's class was the 'magic carpet ride'. They get the kids to lay on a mat and the teachers pulls them across the big logs to the other side.

The pics didn't turn out as great as I had hoped, but Clara was still having a blast! I'll have to try again some other time.