this is how we play . . .

Things around here haven't been terribly exciting lately but here are a few things that we have been doing:

Braden is totally into making ropes for his horses and cows - string or anything he can come up with gets used to rope his animals. He is kinda hard to play with because he knows exactly what he wants you to do, but I am a little slow to catch on. He is a much better rancher than me :)

Addyson has been busy cooking in her kitchen.

 We feed the dogs treats . . .

And it's been super nice outside so we have tried to squeeze in plenty of playing outside. We turned our air conditioner on - yes it was not even the middle of March yet.

Ryan has been having fun teaching Braden and Addyson how to play T-ball. He was pretty awesome as a kid (that's the stories I hear anyway) so they are lucky to have such a good teacher!!!

They both really like it, but Addyson is pretty feisty. I think she might be our little scrappy athlete - she has some attitude for sure. I don't know where she learned to trash talk but girl can bring it. Cracks me up!

And it might be March Madness, but these two are sporting some OU pride. See our little football player and cheerleader???

I was having a little bit of a hard time with the warm weather - spring is always a little of a transition around here anyway - Ryan needs to work later so is home less, the time changes (which helps the kids sleep in, so I'm not complaining about that one!), and this year we had hoped to be much further along in the adoption process. But God has different plans apparently, so we're trying to enjoy what we have! A certain little boy was having a tough, tough time with his daddy being gone. He finds me throughout the day and says, "I love my daddy" which really means that he misses him a whole lot too. A couple of times he demanded that I take him to his daddy. It's crazy to see how much he loves and needs his daddy - mama just doesn't cut it anymore. I still get my share of hugs and kisses but he prefers playing with daddy. So last weekend we went to Wichita and Braden got to go shopping with daddy alone and Addyson came by herself with me. They LOVED it. They were craving attention and time so this week we sort of slowed down and I stayed home with them as much as possible to just give them time. It still amazes me how important that is. They seem much, much more content and we're looking forward to some time with daddy all to ourselves this weekend! I hope you enjoy your weekends too! I hear giggles so naptime must be over . . . better go see what is so hilarious!!!

Three

Addyson and Braden turned 3 on Saturday!!!

They have been excited about their birthday for over a month. We made paper chains about 3 weeks before their birthday to try to help them understand how long they had to wait. They were having a tough time waiting!! Every morning they reminded me to tear a paper off and they were counting down the days.

But finally it was here!!!! Addyson was excited from the time she woke up until they fell into bed at almost 11:00 p.m. on Saturday! She kept telling me I so "cited" (excited) for my party!!! And she told me over and over how much she loved her cake, her pinkalicious napkins, pink candles, pink plates, and on and on and on. She can be so, so thankful!!! I really feel a little strange, but she daily thanks me for something that blows my mind - like doing her laundry, brushing her hair, making her lunch, buying her clothes, etc. I hope she keeps this beautiful thankful spirit (don't get me wrong - we spend plenty of time dealing with whining and temper tantums too). It was fun to see them really understand what was happening this year and them be excited for all the decorations and cake and stuff that we took the time to do. I really felt like they appreciated some of our hard work this year which makes it even more fun!!! And the random "I love you mommy"s have been pretty awesome too lately.

We started out the day with balloons hanging from their doorway. Addyson was completely excited, but Braden was wondering why things were different and he told me he didn't want his birthday. Silly boy takes a while to adjust to anything different but he had a fun day eventally!

Then daddy brought home donuts and we made a donut cake and all ate breakfast together. We tried to blow out candles, but the kids are not pros at this for some reason. Oh well. They got their first happy birthday song of the day and Addyson chomped away on the sprinkles!!!

We spent lots of time playing and then they picked McDonald's for lunch. We picked up balloons for their party and then after naps the guests started arriving!!!

We had a fun party and were so glad for all those that came!!! I had asked the kids what they wanted me to cook for everyone for supper and they kept saying noodles, so lasagna it was! Salad, jello jigglers, and garlic bread finished off the menu.

Then it was time for presents (actually Braden met me with his plate and napkin well before suppertime because he was ready to get the eating out of the way so he could open presents). Boy was completely pumped for his presents, Addyson too atually. The night before we were at cousin Kylee's birthday party and as the kids were saying their goodbye's Addyson was sure to remind everyone to come to her party the next day and "bring presents". Nice.

Addyson was super excited to open each one. Her present from us was in an old box of Rubbermaid containers - there was a picture with some food on the box. She looked at me and thanked me for the corn excitedly. I really think she would have loved any gift she got. She made us all laugh while opening the presents - she just says the funniest things!!!

Then it was time for cake!!!

When I asked Addyson several months ago what kind of party she wanted she would always say pink. She got the book Pinkalicious for Christmas and immediately loved it. She can read it with me - pretty much knows it by heart. So we attempted to make a pink cupcake like the one from the book. It was entirely pink - from the strawberry cake mix to the different shades of pink frosting.

And Braden was excited about a tractor cake. So while browsing ideas online I saw someone had done a tractor and a trailer with hay bales. Since loading and unloading hay bales is probably Braden's most favorite thing to do on the farm, it was perfect!!! Ryan helped me a bunch on Braden' s cake this year. It was fun to work together again!

So our "theme" was red and pink. Plenty of pinaklicious for Addyson and red for Braden. Here's a peek at some of the decorations.

lots of fun paper bunting and tissue pom-poms!!

and balloons of course!!!

I saw this balloon wreath online last year and thought it would be so fun to make! Addyson and Braden had fun helping me and now we have a fun party wreath to use over and over again!

We had a great time celebrating them. God has done so much in three years! I still can't make it through singing Happy Birthday to them without getting choked up. And it was super sweet to see them singing Happy Birthday at the top of their lungs to each other!

Ryan and I were laughing as we headed home from their three year well check at the pediatrician's office this morning. Dr. Patron mentioned how far they've come since the days of monitors. We were remembering our first visit to his office, just a day or two after the kids came home. We had gotten up at least a couple hours before we needed to be there and still barely had it together enough to make it somewhere close to on time for our appointment. We were tired; I'm pretty sure I had no makeup and wet hair and threw on some windpants or something. We must have been a mess - half asleep toting around two preemies in carriers with all their stuff and monitors. I know we still don't have it together a whole lot of the time, but we've all come a long way. So glad to have a day to celebrate Addyson and Braden. We're so thankful they're part of our family!!!

Oh, by the way here's the measurements from our visit this morning:

Addyson weighs 23 pounds (in the 0%) and is 34 inches tall (in the 3%).

Braden weighs 34 pounds (in the 77%) and is 37 inches tall (in the 39%).

They are looking great!!