Baby Daniel Isn't a Baby Anymore

Birthdays are kind of a whirlwind around here.  Natalie comes first with a birthday in February.  Then it's my turn on March 21.  And two years ago, Daniel made his entrance into the world on March 24.

On Saturday, we celebrated that entrance.  This year, I had big visions for large birthday parties for each of the kiddos, but it didn't really work out for Natalie and so we just gave her a very special day instead.  And we all kind of liked it.  I guess that's our style -- to roll with something smaller and more laid back.  So we decided to do the exact same thing for Daniel.  

We tried to wake him up in the same way as Natalie.  You can check out how that went on her birthday here.  But Daniel wanted none of it.  He greeted the terrible twos in a terribly appropriate way, I'm afraid.  He was in a bad mood from the get-go.  We went in all excited with a birthday sign and he kicked it.  Then we brought Natalie in with his good morning birthday present and he threw it on the ground.  Then we told him to come out of the bedroom when he felt ready to wake up and left the room, leaving the door open.  He cried.  Sigh.  I didn't take pictures of all this, but now I kind of wish that I had.  

A few minutes later I went back in, and tried again, and miraculously, he was ready.  So out we came.  First, we gave him his good morning cupcake:

And his good morning present.  Dave specifically bought him a net and wanted to give that him first so that he could take him fishing for minnows later in the day.  They did this about mid morning, but unfortunately didn't bring the camera, so we don't have any pictures of it :( .  But I heard that it was a huge success, and it must have been, because Daniel has been pretending to catch fish with his net ever since.

I made him a little sign to greet him at "breakfast."  Well, it was kind of breakfast.  We did give him some fruit to go along with his cupcake.

Like father, like son. :)

We decorated the hallway with streamers before waking the kiddos, but they immediately got to work destroying them.  And that was okay.

My mom with Daniel holding his new Simba.

My mother, my sister, and I worked very hard to make the birthday cake.  My sister made the cake, my mom made the cream cheese frosting, and I decorated.... I know, it leaves something to be desired.  I won't go into the cake decorating business anytime soon.  

But Daniel liked it just the same, I think.

And a series of birthday sign pictures.  I was just going to share one, but I really like the whole series, so here it goes:

My sister and brother-in-law bought Daniel a real cowboy hat.  That boy is going to end up with more hats than I have.

My parents bought him a guitar shaped like a dog, which instantly became a favorite:

Dave and I bought him a cowboy gun and holster set, and Daniel immediately got to work trying to put those guns in his pockets.

After dinner, we had cake.  My dad and step mother brought over a cake for me, too, so we had two birthday cakes and two sets of candles to blow out:

Mesmerized by the fire...

I love that boy!

Happy Birthday, Daniel!  We love you so much!!!

Thanks for reading!

Sarah

My Nat Nat is THREE!

I cannot believe how time goes.  It seems like yesterday that we were holding our little baby girl in the hospital, completely worn out and sore from head to toe... well, I was sore, anyway.  But that wasn't yesterday.  That was three years ago.  And now, here we are, with a little boy as well and another one on the way.  Life is so different from then.  All you have to do it wait and life happens.

I'm kind of emotional.  Maybe it's because I'm pregnant?  That's the excuse I'm going with.

Anyway, this is going to be a picture-heavy post.  I tried not to add in a zillion pictures from different angles of the same thing, but instead to give you a whole picture of my little girl's day.

First, I wanted to start a new tradition this year.  I found this over at Young House Love and I really loved the idea -- even the part where you take the picture by the front door.  So I made the sign the night before Natalie's birthday and then on the big day, out we went to take the picture.  I love it!

 
So, we devised this plan for waking Natalie the night before: Dave would run to get doughnuts in the morning and then we would walk into Natalie's room singing happy birthday, carrying a doughnut with a lit candle.

We woke Daniel up first so that he could be a part of the festivities.  He wanted nothing to do with it.  He's a boy who likes routine and did not understand why he wasn't immediately sitting on the couch with his morning milk.

 
Once we calmed him down (sort of), Dave carried Daniel and the dougnut, Grandma (Dave's mother) carried the first present, and I carried the camera down the hallway into Natalie's room.  Dave and I hung streamers right before this so that the hallway would look festive when Natalie came out.

Success!

Yes, I know my child is three and that she's still in a crib, and yes we're planning on getting her into a big girl bed soon.  We haven't felt the need to rush it because she hasn't tried crawling out...but I know it's time.

She was so excited!

One more:

Then we set them both down at the table with their breakfast of champions...doughnuts.  Special days require special treats, I think.

I made another sign to greet Nat Nat as she sat down to the table.

After breakfast, she immediately wanted to put on the princess dress she opened in bed.  I think she liked it:

Later in the morning, Dave and I had to leave the kiddos with Grandma.  I had a meeting at my church and Dave went to pick up a (F-R-E-E!) play set from a friend who wanted it out of his backyard ASAP!  It nearly killed him, though.  It's one of those giant wooden ones and Dave had to take it apart piece by piece because the guy had a fence around his backyard with one very small opening.  It took over three hours for him to take it apart and haul it (in two trips) back to our house.

During this time, Grandma made the birthday cake with two very enthusiastic helpers.  Well, as I understand it, Natalie was pretty enthusiastic and Daniel lost interest partway through.  But they both loved the end:

We frosted and decorated the cake during their nap.  I really like how it turned out!

After nap, Dave took Natalie on a special Daddy-daughter date to Dairy Queen to get her an ice cream cone.  He said she was very methodical about eating it and that he had to stop her several times from taking a big bite out of the bottom too soon.  He didn't bring the camera with him, so we didn't get any pictures. :(  However, in honor of that time, I'll give you this (and also because I love this picture):

Around 5:30, some family came over for a little birthday celebration.  We ordered pizza (Nat Nat's request) and made a fire outside.  After dinner, we did cake and ice cream:

and opened the bounty.  Seriously.  That girl has a lot of stuff.  She got another princess dress from her Aunt Nay from the movie Tangled.  This might be her favorite movie ever.

The gloves were a little bit too big:

So were the shoes.  But, boy, were they cute!

By this time, she was just humoring us.  We took so many pictures you'd think we were about to send her off to the prom.

Oh, and Gray Gray and Papa bought Daniel a little brother present.  Woohoo!  A new hat!

It's a little big, but that's just room to grow as far as I'm concerned.  Now maybe we can retire the cowboy hat since every time he wears it, it leaves a dark red crease on his forehead -- it's a little too small for him.

Well, that was Nat Nat's day.  I think she had a lot of fun, which was the goal.  Yay for birthdays!  :)

Thanks for reading!
Sarah