E at 3

It is hard to believe that our little guy is now 3. Here are some of the fun things he says/does.

Opening presents on his birthday

~Can count to 10. Always skips 4. And then says 16, 17, 19

~"That would be silly"

~"That's better"

~Is OBSESSED with swords. OBSESSED. Everything that resembles a sword has become one. I'm not a huge fan of swords, but we are rolling with it and teaching sword safety. :)

~Loves to hide (under blankets, pillows, etc.)

~Loves to build "ports" (forts)

~wears a hooded towel on his head so he can "run just like a hero!"

~weighs 29 pounds, 4 ounces (with clothes on) (25th percentile)

~is 38.5 inches tall (51st percentile)

~terrified of bugs (more on that in another post)

~loves his friends and is always wanting them invited to our house

~favorite toys are cars and trains

~enjoys stories

~prefers to be without clothes on as much as possible

~talks all of the time. In full sentences.

~likes to drum

~all "L's" in the middle of the a word are pronounced "Y's" (Selah = say-yah)

~calls his bottom his "body" - "you have to down the slide on your body"

favorite birthday present - the 1$ velcro ball thing at Target

~adores his sister

~loves to play "crash" where he tackles Selah to the ground

~favorite food is pancakes and he asks for them all of the time

~favorite color is green

~still wakes up once a night and crawls into our bed

~loves to snuggle

~only naps once a week, if that

~is usually asleep by 8PM

~is up anytime between 6:30 and 8AM

Dairy free ice cream sundaes

~is still very lactose intolerant and understands that he has special "Ephraim butter" and "Ephraim milk"

~can tolerate ranch dressing (to dip veggies in) and Kraft macaroni and cheese (but not Annie's - that has real cheese in it)

~loves to play basketball

~loves to jump

A Cowboy Birthday Party

From April 2nd,

Since the kids birthday's are only 3 weeks apart, we decided to have a combined birthday party for them. The theme was cowboys - since Ephraim loves "Cowboy" aka Woody from Toy Story.

Here is my rendition of Woody for a little game of Pin the Hat on the Cowboy.

Dairy free cupcakes. Yum. I think that in preparing all of the food for the party I used the equivalent of 8 tubs of Earth Balance.
The cupcakes had little sweet tart candies in cowboy shapes on them. We also had brisket and pulled chicken sandwiches, chips, veggies, lemonade and root beer.
Every kid was greeted at the door and given the option of wearing a cowboy hat. Elisa is modeling it for me.
Selah wore the leftovers.
Decorating paper bags for cowboy vests.
Playing pin the hat on the cowboy.
Digging into her first cupcake.
Ephraim just ate the candy off of his.
Selah thoroughly enjoyed hers.
Raina.
Kids playing. There were 16 kids 8 and under at the house. It was a little crazy.
Lots of fun.
But a little crazy.
Thanks to everyone for celebrating our kiddos with us!

The Zoo

From March 17th,

I had planned on taking the kids to the Point Defiance Zoo on Selah's birthday, but the forecast was for showers. When I saw that there was going to be a break in the rain, we went the following day.

I am showing these next photos - not because they are good (they aren't), but because they document that I am a complete moron. We have been members of the zoo for 2 years. I really like it, the zoo is pretty small, so it is a great 2 hour excursion and my membership lets me bring in guests so friends can join us, but not have to pay.

Until March 17th, I had no idea there was a South Pacific Aquarium at the zoo. No idea. For some reason today I followed the little path to see where it went and voila! It was probably Selah's favorite part.
This smaller tank holds tropical fish. The picture is blurry, but you can see the delight in Selah's face.
The bigger tank has sharks. Lots of them. I think this one is a Lemon Shark - but don't quote me.
Selah loved being able to be right next to the giant sharks.
The tiger twins. They turn 1 in May. Ephraim was making kissy sounds and saying "Come here Tigers. Here tigers." We talked about why we wanted the tigers to stay over there.
Daddy tiger laying on a heated rock.
Going into the Pacific Northwest Aquarium (I did know about this one.) a zoo keeper was standing outside with this little owl.
The polar bears are my favorites. I like to go the zoo early in the morning because they are usually being fed and are more active.