El Numero Tres

This little boy just turned three.  It seems he has become a toddler overnight.  I love this age because he is so excited about everything - balloons, cake, presents.  It was all a huge deal for him and he was so excited all day long.

"I'm three!"

Opening presents.  I love how the other boys are always hovering nearby.

Andrew loves trucks, trailers, and especially motorcycles.

His own set of Star Wars Legos!  He kept stealing clone troopers from the other little boys, so he was pleased to finally have his own.

And this is the best.  Andrew loves sports like the other boys.  He loves to play soccer, football, and basketball with them and likes to follow their favorite teams.  Matthew is a big fan of the San Francisco 49ers, so Andrew has decided that they are one of his favorite teams too.  A few weeks ago we asked Andrew what he wanted for his birthday and he kept telling us a football helmet.  I was in the store one day and happened upon this this little football set and showed it to Andrew.  He thought we were buying it for him that day and was very disappointed we had to leave it at the store. So of course his last birthday present had to be...a football helmet!  With matching jersey!

Our little football player

Andrew decided to take off the outfit long enough to blow some of his bubbles outside.  I love those cute toddler cheeks!

We came back inside for the building of the Lego set.

And cake and ice cream of course!

And this is how we ended the day.  Love it!

Some fun things about Andrew right now:

His favorite joke:
-Knock, Knock
-Who's there?
-Crab.
-Crab who?
-Crab your towel, we're going to the beach!

Color: blue or turquoise

Things to play with: Legos, balls, cars, trucks, motorcycles

Outside: He loves to ride his trike.  He used to go at it Flinstones style, but recently has long enough legs and skills to pedal.

Siblings known as Mafoo, Wyan, and Za-twee

He is a great singer.  He picks up on songs quickly and can sometimes outdo his brothers in Family Home Evening. His current favorites are Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus, I Stand All Amazed, I Will Follow God's Plan.  He also has a very strong opinion about what songs he would like to listen to in the car.

He loves to pretend.  He is always a baby monkey, a puppy, a cat, a tiger, or dressed up as a knight, a Jedi, or sports guy.

He can also be very particular about his outfits matching together - ie gray shirt, gray pants, and gray socks. He has been known to change his underwear as well.  One night we had to make sure he was wearing Superman underwear to coordinate with his Superman pajamas.

He still likes to play with my hair, especially if he needs to be comforted.  I love that he reaches for it when I pick him up to give him a hug or dry his tears.  It is such a tender memory.

Andrew is such a fun boy and we love him so much!

St. Patrick's Day

The boys had fun with St. Patrick's Day activities at school.  We had our green dinner of chicken pesto, green jello, and broccoli.  I will have to think of some tricky things to do next year. 

Warmer Weather

The warmer weather has been such a welcome change.  Today the boys decided to go on an expedition in the backyard.  They packed their bags with tools (ie lightsabers and other weapons), water bottles, and snuck some food from the kitchen.  Luckily their mom was fast enough to catch them in the act.

Flying away

Andrew the pilot

Attack plans

One of my favorite pictures with my hubby. 

Second tooth

Zachary finally lost his second bottom tooth, this time while eating a cookie.  Not a bad way to go I have to say.  He was a little disappointed that the Tooth Fairy didn't come right away, but he was glad that he hadn't been forgotten on the third night.  :)

All dressed up

Andrew loves to get dressed up.  This was his version of a police officer.

Tigers!

I was in my room folding laundry when I heard mischievous giggling in the kitchen. These two little artists decided it would be fun to color themselves, although from the pictures it's evident who the

 responsible party was.

Andrew didn't seem to mind.  "Look mommy, I a tiger!" he said.  

Matthew Jr. Jazz

Matthew did Jr. Jazz again this year and he loved it.  He got to play with some boys that he knows from his soccer team, so that made it extra fun for him this year.  He is getting better at dribbling and made some really good shots throughout the season.  He is a good guard too and has a good sense of where the ball is going to go.  He had a lot of fun and can't wait to play again.

Nap with Daddy

Another Sunday nap for Andrew, this time snuggled up with his daddy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The boys look forward to Valentine's Day every year, mostly because of the increase of candy around the house, but also because of our yearly dinner of strawberry pancakes.  We are big fans of having breakfast for dinner and what could make it better than having strawberries and whipped cream?

Zach's First Lost Tooth

Zachary lost his first tooth today!  His bottom front teeth have been loose for awhile now, but he was too afraid to do anything about it.  Today one was really bothering him, so I offered to "look" at it, as all good moms do.  One good yank and it was out.  :)  And believe it or not it didn't even hurt. 

He was especially excited to put it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. 

I can't believe how fast this little guy is growing up.  I had to register him for kindergarten yesterday and when I first got the email a few weeks ago I almost had a panic attack.  I honestly started to cry when I realized I would have three kids in school.  I am excited to watch them grow up, but I sure do wish my kids would stay little for a while longer.

Sunday Nap

We have the 1:00 - 4:00 pm block time at church this year, which means that Andrew doesn't get his nap.  He does pretty well most days, but sometimes he comes home and crashes around 5:00 pm.  Today he cuddled up with me on the couch and I knew he was going to fall asleep, but I just couldn't resist being able to snuggle with my baby boy.

Home Depot Cars

When we lived in Provo we were fairly close to a Home Depot and Kevin used to take the two oldest boys to their Saturday projects all of the time.  We haven't been very good at taking the youngest boys and we decided we better be more aware of what projects were going on at the Home Depot so we could get the younger ones involved.  Kevin was at the store today and noticed they were building race cars. Perfect!  He grabbed some and we built them at home.  

Kevin helped all of the boys spray paint them and put the stickers on.  They were excited to have a fun project to work on with their dad.

Ryan's 100's Day

Has anyone seen Ryan?  All I see is a 100 year old man.  He was super excited to dress up really old for the one-hundredth day of school.

Andrew and His Carwash

Andrew is such a funny little guy.  He absolutely hates the carwash.  We usually go to one by the Smith's near our house, and just about every time we have to go to Smith's Andrew nervously asks, "We don't need to wash our car, right?"  He does not like the spinning brushes and the blasting water and will even cry if we have to go through when he is in the car.  We try to avoid having him with us, but seeing as how he is with me all the time sometimes he has to endure the torture.  That's why I found this so funny.

We had gotten out the big bucket of baby toys for one of our neighbors and the boys decided to keep it out to play with it for another day. (I guess it's one of those instances when you don't see them for a while they are a novelty again.)  Andrew found these gears and what did he decide to build?  Yes, that is a car going through the carwash spinners.  He was very intent and played like this for a long time, making sure to wash all of his cars.  I guess the pretend version isn't as nearly as scary.

Forts!

These boys are really into building forts all of a sudden.  Every day they lug all of their blankets and pillows downstairs to create a new set of structures.  Today they combined them all together into one megafort.  It was pretty awesome.

On the drive home today....

I had just picked up the two older boys from school and we were on our way to pick up Zachary from preschool.   I asked the kids how class went and we were having our usual conversation about math, recess, lunch, etc. when the topic somehow to changed to girls.  Yes, girls.  Out of nowhere Ryan said he had a crush on a few girls.  Matthew responded with, "Really?  You like girls?" To which Ryan matter-of-factly replied, "Sure.  I like millions of them."  He then went on to tell us about a couple of girls that he liked and one that apparently has a crush on him but of whom he's not so sure about.

I just had to document this little conversation because 1) Girls are never discussed in our house (at least not yet).  I'm not even considered a girl very often - I'm just Mom.  2) This is coming from the same kid who shuns just about everything girl-related, i.e. almost dry-heaving as we walk past the Barbie aisle in the store. I thought it was cute to hear him be so casual about it too.  I guess you just never know!

Happy New Year!

I know I am super behind on the thrilling life and events of the Tams family, but it seems the more I try to get caught up the further behind I become.  In the meantime I am missing out on current everyday moments.  I am hoping I can work from both sides and meet in the middle somewhere, so grandmas and grandpas be sure to check in from March 2013 forward every now and then.

For today, just some funny things the kids said that I wanted to record.

At dinnertime:

Ryan: You don't need hair or underwear to survive.

Kevin: Well, you may not need hair, but you definitely need underwear.

Ryan: You need underwear?

Kevin: Yes.

Ryan: Because you might die of embarrassment?

Kevin: Exactly!

We have spent a lot of the Christmas break playing football on the Wii.  The boys have had a blast playing tournaments against their Dad.  Andrew is a little too young for it, but recently he has started insisting that he be included in the club.  This was our conversation right before bed:

Andrew: Momma - tomorrow I going to play Wii booball wif Dad.  

Mom: You are?  That sounds like fun.

Andrew: Yeah.  And I will be da 49ers and Dad will be da Colts.

I have to admit that I was only a little surprised by his declaration.  My little baby wants to be a big boy so fast and tries to do everything his brothers do.  It makes me a little sad, but it's also fun to see him so excited about growing up.

And to finish up the evening, we FINALLY made gingerbread cookies today.  The kids were very excited to decorate and eat theirs before going to bed.  Happy New Year!