Some December Highlights (So Far)

Here are some cute stuff I got on tape this month:

Our annual trip to Build-A-Bear.  This is the part when he does all the things to the heart before putting it in the bear.  So heart-warming.  It is hard to hear over the older girls having a party behind be chanting about their dirty bears at the shower machine.  But, you can still see how cute he is!

 

Mike and MP3 during their light saber battle complete with "Action Music!"

This starts off as a finger puppet show (complete with music) but then it takes a turn.  He apparently had a memory of something that happened the last time we played with this (months ago) and, as he does, had to recreate whatever it was that he couldn't completely remember.  This is a peek into my life of trying to read his mind. :)

Okay, this is pretty long and starts and ends kinda slow.  But this too is a sample of my everyday with this kid.  The stories that come out of his mouth are just so darn entertaining!  But, he won't let me tape him anymore so I have to be sneaky.  Sorry for how shaky the video is.

This one is just too much!  It's kinda long too, but I think it's worth it.  Please take note of the fabulous floor work and the poses on the chair.  Right before I taped this he asked me, "Mama, did you ever see this before?" and did a split like in the video.  You should also know that we just went to see the Nutcracker the day before so that is why he is referencing it.

Our trip to Linvilla Orchards to get our Christmas Tree:

Huge pumpkin turned huge peppermint:

Cookie Decorating with Daddy:

Helping Daddy set up the tree:

The finished Product:

Here's another angle:

And another one:

MP3's first real show.  We went to see the Nutcracker!  

All dressed up and ready to go:

 MP3 and "Baby Dinosaur" (and Buzz socks) are ready for the show:

Just some of his friends that were there:

In Claire's chair:

Mike had a Christmas concert with the contemporary choir that he plays drums for at the church:

MP3 playing the bells in front of the stage:

The choir:

MP3 took this picture himself with my phone:

Just plain cute:

Cupcake!

We went to see the Muppets with Kermit:

Went to his friend, Rachel's, third birthday party and decorated his own cupcake.  Take a guess how that went:

Then made his picture frame craft.  I think he got a little confused and put something to frame in the middle.  Good thing I put paper on the table so we could still have that frameable artwork. 

Since Mike was at an office Christmas Party tonight, MP3 and I had a date night. 

We went to Azie for some sushi.  This is actually just a big slab of salmon:

Then when asked about dessert, he asked for ice cream with sprinkles.  When she said they only had vanilla, mint, or green tea ice cream and no sprinkles he was a bit disappointed.  (That was the first thing he asked for when I told him we could go out for dinner.)  I gave him the option of going for a walk down the street to get ice cream with sprinkles or we could stay there and have one of their choices.  Take a guess what he wanted to do.  If you guessed that the three year old would rather stay in an upscale, dimly lit, Japanese fusion restaurant in a confining high chair and pick the green tea ice cream you would be right.  Even the waitress looked at me as if to say, "really?"

Then we rode around and took pictures of the lights on houses.  Here's a picture of him taking a picture of one of our neighbor's houses:

And just a bonus, here's some shots of our lights:

I just had to share this picture of him sleeping:

Oktoberfest

Last Saturday was Oktoberfest in our neighborhood.  Here are some highlights.

This was the first time he really gave a moon bounce a try.   As you can see, he was a bit hesitant at first:

 

"Woh! I have to hold onto somfing.  What can I hold onto?"

Then he started to get the hang of it.  He started narrating everything that was happening to him.

"That little guy just hit my elbow.  That little kid just passed me off.  JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!"

Then he REALLY got the hang of it.  There were two boys a little older then three girls much older than him just playing along.  He then decided to shoot lasers at them in what seemed like a live action video game that only he knew they were all playing.  Once they caught on, it was great!  Please excuse my uncontrollable laughter.  You may want to turn your volume down for this one.  It was just too funny to see this little kid taking them all out like that.

Then they decorated pumpkins.  The poor kid ended up decorating two and we lost them both. 

Then we tried the face painting thing.  Mom's not so great at that:

This is the picture he took of himself with my phone:

Not too bad considering most of the pictures/videos on my phone are from him and are of random body parts of me or Mike.

Then night fell and the DJ and light sticks came out.  As you might expect, the main purpose of the light sticks were to be drum sticks.  Here's how he used them.

   

 

The poor kid was just starting to let loose before he poked himself in the eye with his glow stick.

But he had a great time.  The next morning the first thing he asked was, "What did you do with my glowey fings (things)?"  Poor kid!  Just wait, MP3, there will be plenty of glow sticks on Halloween and in Disney world!

June 2011

Okay so it's been waaaaay too long, but here's some of what happened in the month of June.

There were a few firsts for MP3 this month.  They include:

His first bike ride outside:

First Concert at Rose Tree Park.

First trip to the Franklin Institute:

And his first trip to Comic Con:

This was what we saw across the street on our way in.  (I couldn't focus this picture like this if I tried.  Especially on a phone camera.)

He was excited to see Chewbaca, just "not that close."  He also got to meet the actor who played Chewbaca and they had a conversation in "Wookanese."  They really liked each other.  (Notice the bath toy in his hand.)

"Twibble!"  They had a 10' long table full of Tribbles of all colors and sizes on a table.  They were sound activated.  He loved when the worker clapped the whole table shook.

Using the Force.....

to get his Tribble.

A fun day was had by all!

Some other things we enjoyed in June were:

Dining Under the Stars:

Cool Joe waiting for our table.

Catie and Michael were too cute and lovie during dinner.  It was heartbreakingly sweet to see how grown up they were acting.

 That's one way to get the kid to eat his salad.

Pushing his friend Rachel around.  (Or as her parents call her "Boo" after the little girl in "Monsters Inc."  She even sounds like her.)

 We had some visits to the farm:

Fun in the sandbox.

Checking out the farm and its equipment with the flowers he just picked.

Mmmmm!  The bounty!  He loved picking strawberries!

 Tyler Arboretum with Nate:

 In the Makin' Music Treehouse.

The cute little leprechauns.

What it would be like to be a bird.

 Father's Day weekend at the shore with the Kiles:

He LOVED playing with Baby Ainsley!

Ready for the beach!

Baby's first Oreo.

He was not too thrilled with his first roller coaster ride.

Ice Cream with the Kiles

Tell me you can't see what MP3 as a 12 year old will look like by looking at this picture.

Some other stuff:

Dada's packing for another trip.

First time "riding" in a cart car.

Baby Ainsley's Christening party.

1st time working up the guts to climb this thing.  (But I had to get him down.)

Alpaca!!!

Diner at Bertucci's

Trip to the paint store.

Meet Baby Alex.  He's 11 months old.  MP3 is 31 month old.  This day they were wearing the same size pants!

"Look how tall he it!"

He wanted to go to Dining Under the Stars like this.  He thought it was the funniest thing!

Michael's first time on a big boy swing with his friend Maya.

"All bunggled up in a cucha"

"I look like a Chewbaca"

His new trick

The kid loves to be dizzy. 

Look at the big boy jumping!