A Whole Lot of Pictures and a Birthday Interview

These are Elias' more formal birthday pictures.  We took them at the park right after picking up Asher from preschool. He was a little cold.

But seriously cute, right?

Showing off the 3 shirt.

 Smiley face.

Swinging.

This is his fake smiley face.

Pondering something. Speaking of pondering something, I did his birthday interview and here are his answers:

Elias' Birthday Interview: Age 3
What is your favorite color? orange
Who is your best friend? Asher...he fights with me
What is your favorite TV show/movie? Dinosaur Train
What is your favorite thing to do outside? bike ride
What is your favorite thing to do inside? play
What is your favorite game? fire truck 
What is your favorite thing to wear? my orange shirt
If we were to go on vacation, where would you want to go? under a volcano
What do you like most about your siblings?
Asher - play
Addilyn - play
Albert - being mean to him...cause I not like Albert (he's been having some displacement issues with Albert as of late)
Now that you're 3, what do you want to know/learn? yellow book (our children's Bible) 
What do you want to be when you grow up? mama (we'll have to talk with him about the attainability of such a goal)
What is your favorite toy? dinosaur
What do you sleep with? shoes (he's not kidding; last night I found Addilyn's Chacos in his bed)
What is your favorite thing to do as a family? eat
What is your favorite art project? playdough
What is your favorite cereal? Life
What is your favorite lunch? sandwich and nana bread (half a PB&J sandwich with a banana bread muffin)
What is your favorite dinner? Asher meatballs
What is your favorite snack? sandwich
What is your favorite dessert? cupcakes
What is your favorite drink? juice
What is your favorite animal? Rawr and Seal (his stuffed polar bear and seal)
What is your favorite song? Bum, Bum (the Veggie Tales theme song)
What is your favorite book? the orange book (Green Eggs and Ham)
What is your favorite holiday? Easter

I really wish I would have started this interview thing earlier with the older kids because some of his answers are awesome! A vacation under a volcano?!  How does one come up with something like that?

He was telling me something.

Elias has always had the best expressions.  You never have to wonder what's going on in his head because it is written all over his face.

Seriously. Too cute.

Grumpy bear.

All done.

Elias' Birthday...Part 2

Tyler had to work the afternoon and evening of Elias' birthday so we chose to have his party on Saturday night instead. For dinner on his actual birthday, he requested Asher meatballs.  Mmm...meatballs.

After dinner we went to see Daddy at work.  Elias decided he wanted to go as his alter ego, BatSuperman.

Daddy even made him a super special drink for his birthday.  Unfortunately, BatSuperman wasn't interested in it as it was warm (Tyler warmed it to the designated kids temperature so it wasn't too hot).  Apparently, its warmth displeased him.  Silly boy. 

We managed to arrive right as Daddy was having his lunch break so we even got to hangout with him for a while.  Yay!

On Saturday night, it was party time.

For his party we invited over his friend, Vivi, and her family for dinner and cake.  Vivi is just a few days younger than Elias so we are going to her party next weekend.

For his birthday party, he requested tacos and orange cupcakes. 

This was my attempt at orange cupcakes.  They are pumpkin with vaguely tinted frosting.  That counts, right?

Another cupcake please!
Apparently they were orange enough for him.  And I most definitely gave him another cupcake.  You only turn three once, right?

Elias Turns 3!

On Friday Elias turned three!

He started the day with a few phone calls from grandparents and general birthday well-wishers.

As per our birthday tradition, he had special cereal.  Crunch berries...mmmm.

The kids even shared a couple of green Crunch berries with me.  They know the green ones are my favorite. Sometimes they can be so sweet. 

 Oooo...what's that?

Opening presents. 

 Cutie.

Enjoying some breakfast and cards.
Playing with his new dinosaur and rider.

Meet Batman.

Batman at three years old at least.
That was his birthday morning.

The Fort

These boys are becoming quite the dynamic duo.  I went to shower one morning and put Albert down for a nap. About 2 minutes in to said shower, I heard Elias say, "Peekaboo!" from the dining room and knew that Albert probably wouldn't be sleeping when I got out.  When I went to check on him, I found this.  They both seemed pretty happy about this setup.

We made homemade pizzas one night when Daddy had to work. We had some leftover foccacia bread and a desire to experiment. Asher even got to enjoy it with all the cheese!

Happy baby!

Hey check it out! Elias left a few pieces of cereal in that bowl.

I want that in my mouth!

Success!

Super cutie!

For 'F' week, we built a fort. Daddy was at work so it was a pretty simple rendition.

Hanging out in the fort.

Peering in the "window." Creepy.

Addilyn made this sign for a game they were all playing before the fort was built. It seemed to transfer well to the fort. 

They enjoyed some Dinosaur Train in the fort.

You might notice Addilyn and Elias both have shirts tied around their necks.  Those aren't just to look stylish; they are their capes.

We finished off our fort fun with a picnic lunch.  Mmm...sandwiches in pillowy comfort.  Can life get better? I submit that it cannot!

Easter Eggs

Sometimes Albert is sleepy.  He's so cute and cuddly.

Sometimes he's really, really sleepy.  He feel asleep in his chair while I was making lunch one day.  He woke up 20 minutes later with a red line across his cheek.

I know we're  not even close to Easter but it's 'E' week. Easter egg has two 'e's and demonstrates both 'e'-sounds.  Yay!

The kids seemed to enjoy the activity even if it was a bit untimely.  Oooo.

E.

Look at this pretty egg!

One afternoon/evening we went for a walk in Peterson Park. There are some woods in this park.  We had heard there was a treehouse in said woods and thought we would go looking for it.
FYI: This is the same park where Asher goes to preschool.

So...this was said "treehouse". It was a little underwhelming.  On the bright side, Elias was able to climb up in it all by himself.

We enjoyed a snack in the "treehouse."  Here they were trying to charm Daddy into giving them the first piece.

I'm not sure what this face was about but it makes me laugh.

Asher at the top of a pile of bricks.

Elias at the bottom of a pile of bricks.

"Hey, let me help you out there."

"Hey, thanks for the hand."
Isn't Asher such an awesome big brother?!

"I made it!!"

Walking in the woods.

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon/evening in the woods. Yay for almost feeling like we were out of the city for a bit!