Turtle Party

Hard to believe my big girl is three! 

(And that I am so behind, nearly a month and a half, in posting about her birthday!) 

That little girl is about the most amazing little person I have ever known. 

And she is growing up into a beautiful young lady. 

She also happens to really love turtles. Which made for a very fun birthday party theme! Mama got to bring out her crafty/creative side. I made her turtle cakes. It was so fun! Though credit must be given to my wonderful husband, because without his help and problem solving abilities I wouldn't have pulled it off. 

I had an idea for the turtle cakes. Did a lot of research. Saw a lot of ugly cupcake "turtle cakes" that I didn't want to resort to. And a lot of over the top, professional style cakes that I don't yet poses the skills for. Decided to try my own way. Ran into a bump, literally. How would I make it rounded for the shell? Really didn't want to cut and carve and such. Hubby to the rescue! "You could use your Pyrex bowls. They are oven safe, aren't they?" Yes, yes they are! Had to guess on the baking times, don't recall what they were.

Round shells, a whole cupcake for heads, halved cupcakes for the legs. And a bit of the excess, that was removed to make the bottom flat, cut into a triangle for the tails. 

Coming to life...

Turtle cakes! So fun to make! And the birthday girl got to help, which made it all the more special. 

On to the important stuff: the party! 

We didn't lollygag much, straight to the cake! Yum!

Daddy bringing the cake. And my dear friend Denise, aka Super Mom, holding her baby and mine. :)

She made sure it was front and center for her.

She wanted the turtle head. Haha. And, in true toddler fashion, ate only the frosting.

Presents!

Always lots of helping hands when its present time. 

She was quickly crowned princess of the party. 

Audrey helping her figure out a new toy. Audrey is quite knowledgeable about princesses. Whereas there is rarely princess talk in our house. For this gift, it was good she had a subject matter expert available. :)

She was wonderfully spoiled. And loved all her gifts. 

She was especially excited about having her very own lip gloss. Which she, of course, later tried to eat.

Coloring and playtime

After gifts came coloring. She loves most anything artistic. And coloring is something everyone could enjoy.

The long curtains for our sliding glass door are always a favorite among littles!

Here are a few of the turtle coloring pages we printed out. We had many more, some more difficult and more lifelike for the bigger kids, but also a lot of fun simple ones like these. Turtles are just fun and cute! 

As a belated birthday present, she finally got her blanket... 

that I started working on before she was born! Ahem... I was busy...

She loves it! It was a long time coming, but so worth it. 

My sweet three year old! Such a smart, helpful, creative, loving, fun, sweet, incredibly responsible for her age, beautiful little lady. A great big sister to her little brothers. A much loved, and truly wonderful, daughter.

My Big Girl! 

Welcome Baby Garrett!

Well, things have certainly been busy since we became a family of 5! Our sweet little man is 6 weeks old today. He has added so much joy in our family and his big brother and sister think he is pretty amazing, which he is. :)

Here is a photographic look at his first six weeks:

He was born October 2nd, 2013 @ 12:32pm

He weighed 7lbs 11oz, and was 21 inches long.

Labor was fairly short and was free of complications. 

Aside from some expected jaundice (it runs in the family) he was a perfectly healthy little boy. And perfectly precious too.

Proud daddy. :)

My boys, meeting for the first time.

Going home, three days old.

Three days later, we ran into some issues. Poor little man. He was such a trooper. We spent two days in the hospital this time, and left with peace of mind that all the issues were worked out.

We got released just in time to pick up Nana Tilda from the airport! We sure had a fun time with her!

He is very alert and full of personality. :)

Nana took some pictures of our family of five.

I am amazed by how much the Lord has blessed our family.

Aren't they just too stinkin' cute!

Garrett's baptism.

Saying bye bye to Nana Tilda before she flew back home.

Garrett enjoys going for walks with mommy...

and with daddy. :)

He makes adorable faces often. :)

Our little old man :)

And is simply precious!

He enjoys his big brother and sister. And they love him.

He gets lots of snuggles

Handsome fellas

And LOTS of kisses

So sweet.

He got to join in on Halloween festivities.

And get dressed up just like big brother and big sister.

Our little police man.

I am so thankful.

Sweet little baby Garrett, 6 weeks old. 

Getting ready for Baby!

                     Hard to believe we are so close to meeting our little boy! This pregnancy has gone by very quickly. Chasing two little ones may have had something to do with that. ;) Here we are, a month from our due date, a week and a half from full term. And seeing a lot of signs that my body is preparing for the big event. 

We have been preparing a lot as well: 

We have our hospital bag packed and ready.

Plans made for the kiddos and the pup.

Car seat, diapers, and all that jazz.

 And... we have a finished nursery, which is a wonderful feeling!

We started with a lovely lavender room. (Pretty color. But not what we were looking for in a nursery for a little boy.) 

And we turned it into vibrant rolling hills and beautiful blue sky. Which, I might add, was a lot of fun to do!

Daelynn is so excited about her baby brother!

 We are very happy with how the walls turned out. I am so proud of, and thankful for, my hubby and all the hard work he put in to get this done. It was his first time painting! Though no one would ever know because he did such a great job. 

After the painting was all finished, we added some fun wildlife wall decals. We let the kids help us put them up, and we all had such a fun time with it!

The turtle was one of my favorites, and Daelynn was all about the bunnies.

The "angry fox", as I call him, cracks me up. Another favorite of mine.

The decorations add a lot of fun to the room. And the contrasting colors on the walls should be fun for baby as well.

His adorable teddy bear bedding compliments the room pretty well, it makes me smile every time I see it, and the kids cant help but pet the blanket every time they see it. :) It has full family approval.

Also, in the getting ready department, I am trying hard to keep moving, even in the exhausting third trimester. Me and my morning walking buddy try to get out before the heat sets in and the rest of the house wakes up. He is a morning person, just like mommy (normally) is. Which makes for a very pleasant walk. We talk about the birds and flowers and just enjoy the fresh air and calm of the morning. 

And such a handsome buddy he is!

 The kids are preparing as well. 

My big girl is so excited about being a big sister again. She talks about the songs she is going to sing for him, the books she is going to read him, and she is always eager to help us get things ready for him. She has been such a great big sister with Blake, we know our new little guy will have the best big sister.

Blake, being younger, doesn't quite understand whats coming like his big sister does. When we ask him "whats in mommy's tummy" he will answer "baby". But, as far as really comprehending that... well, lets just say, we are expecting him to be pretty surprised when we bring his little brother home. :) Even still, we are sure he is going to be a great big brother. He can teach his little brother all about Baseball! (One of his very favorite things, and daddy's as well.)

I am so grateful that these two have such a good playmate in each other. I am so thankful for the love they have for each other. And I am excited to see them share that love with their new baby brother. 

Well, I do love orange.

I was recently made acquainted with a wonderful blog: The Orange Rhino Challenge. It follows the fantastic journey of a mom who made the decision to stop yelling at her children for 365 days straight. Any yelling at all would set her back to day 0. She is currently on day 559, so I'd say she has been successful, and has worthy advice to offer.

This topic really hit home with me. As much as we would all like to hide our unpleasant sides, sometimes we need to own up to them to make a real change occur. I have certainly done my share of yelling; and likewise had my share of guilt, shame, and regret at my actions. No one enjoys being treated in such a manner, especially in their own home by someone they love. And no one deserves to be. I have been working on said vice for a long time now, and have made some measure of progress. However, not enough to cause me any great satisfaction. I believe this new resource will be a wonderful asset to me, and in turn, to my family. And, knowing that I am certainly not the only Mom to have problems in this area, I thought I would share the resource.

The first post from the blog that I read was "10 things I learned when I stopped yelling at my kids". It is short and definitely worth a glance.
http://theorangerhino.com/10-things-i-learned-when-i-stopped-yelling-at-my-kids/

Here is the link for the "12 steps" to getting started. Thinking about my triggers has occupied my thoughts a lot today. There were some very obvious ones for me, including pregnancy hormones, the heat and humidity, and tiredness. But it is a bit surprising what some others might be. Its a good chance to get to know yourself a bit better.
http://theorangerhino.com/12-steps-to-stop-yelling-at-your-kid/

She provides a wonderful list of possible alternatives to yelling. A handy little 'get started' tool.
http://theorangerhino.com/alternatives-to-yelling/

I do not intend on turning my blog into a narration of my journey to stop yelling. I still intend to fill it with the adorable pictures, accomplishments, and general awesomeness of my wonderful children. Though I admit to having neglected doing so recently. Third trimester, a family sinus infection, our missing dog (still not found, prayers for his safe return are appreciated), and having family visiting have all played their part in being a higher priority than blogging. I anticipate being a bit more attentive to the blog presently, and look forward to sharing pictures and stories of our ever growing, completely precious (no bias, I'm sure) children. Including, we expect in about 4-6 weeks, our newest precious addition.

And yes, I really do love orange.