ROAR.....means Happy Birthday

James' favorite surprise for his birthday was having his Nana and Papa (with horses) from Canada come celebrate with him. They are some of his favorite people in his life. 

What we did:

Everyone made their own dinosaur birthday hats, with spikes and stickers

We went dinosaur fishing for prices

Mom did a dinosaur dig with all the kids. They loved it, it got messy, but it was well worth it.

We ate pizza, appetizers and some dinosaur grub

We all put on our big dinosaur feet and stomped to the Dinosaur song

Nana (with pokies) helped with pin the tail on the T-rex

Rachel helped me with holding James' favorite book out for all to see, while he read almost every word from it ( by memory of course)

 

James and everyone loaded up on candy

Papa made a volcano and set it off. All the kids were so excited and amazed.

Then we unwrapped all the presents. He sure got spoiled from all his friends and people that love him.

Then we made mini volcano drinks for all the kids. OWWW...... AHHH......

Meanwhile, it was time for James to blow out his THREE candles. He loved the dinosaur cake I made him. He even helped assemble all the dinosaurs around the volcano. 

Right before we tore into the cake to eat, I let them all pick out a dinosaur from the cake that they wanted to take home with them. They all got a early taste of the cake and got to examine the volcano go off too.

For the last activity we all got our own dinosaur eggs and got to open the veiny eggs up. I think some of the kids really thought they were actual dinosaur eggs, because they were all different veiny colors.

This was the first birthday I have thrown that was dedicated entirely to James. I invited all his friends (not mine) and I was just focused on him and his friends the whole time ( hardly any mingling for me). And it was a total success. He has been talking about this day for a long time, and now it is over and done with. He is still as obsessed with dinosaurs and plays with them everyday. 

Thanks so much to friends and family for coming and making this day so special for James. Thanks for the presents and love you gave him and give to him whenever you see him. 

It creates smiles like this, and these smiles are worth more than any words can describe.

During his birthday he was especially happy to have his best friend, Grace, his Nana with pokies and his Nana and Papa with horses (insider to distinguish the different grandparents) and his awesome cousins and fun friends. 

Prior to his big Birthday party which was thrown on the weekend, we celebrated his birthday with the family, doing his favorite thing. First off we had pancakes with  THREE candles in them.

 James was very excited to blow them out and was the biggest sweetheart when he even saved the last one for baby to blow out (without us even asking to include her). 

Then we went to his favorite place, The Bean Museum. He is a total animal lover and relishes every minute when he is around such cool animals. He could walk around that place for hours and play in the toy room full of animals all day long. So yes, we were there for a while. But is was his big day and he loved every minute.

To end the night out,  we went out for ice-cream, his favorite.

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY stud.
I love you to infinity and beyond and YES, even more than dinosaurs. And that's better than anything he cares about these days. 

Finally.......

James was Potty Trained 1 week before he turned 3!

A while back, right before he turned 2, I patted myself on the back because my little James was potty trained before his 2nd birthday. He was so excited about the buzz stool, his buzz toilet seat and all the Buzz Lightyear stickers he'd receive when he went pee pee or poo poo in the toilet. Sad to say.......it was only for a month though. We went to visit my family in Canada and help my sister, yet I was not persistant with him and when we returned he was not potty trained anymore and he didn't want to have anything to do with it either.

So throughout his 2nd year of life I probably tried 4 other times. Tried with excitement, stickers, games, even candy. But he would not budge. Everyone told me that when he was ready he would just be ready. I didn't believe it because I knew he had already done it and could do it. So each time I tried, I felt like I was on his case and he just hated going to the toilet, it was a little fight I finally would just give up on and hope for results next time.

Well his 3rd Birthday was soon approching, and I kept on telling James that if he wanted his Dinosaur Birthday Party he would have to be Potty trained. I told him this as far back as July probably and he really showed no interest but talked continually about his Dino party.

Well it was a week before his birthday and like everyone said.... HE JUST GOT IT. It was so easy. I bought new dinosaur stickers and he was able to decorate a dinosaur picture. He was excited and I didn't even have to put up a fight with him. Sure he had accidents, but he would have them as he was running to the toilet, so he knew what was going on. So I am now a mother that totally believes the tale said by many mothers that When your little boy is ready to be potty trained he's ready. I would have not been so persistanton trying to get him to be potty trained if I knew it would have been this easy at the end.

I must admit, it is so great not having to change two diapers and having a little man that will actually take off his pullup in the morning and change into his own big boy underwear. That's a proud momma moment. As all you mothers out there may agree. Plus, Little his little bum is just so dang cute in his little undies too.

James is 3!!

I am so proud of this little guy.

He is 3 and potty trained!

It wasn't the easiest thing, but like everyone said, "when he is ready, he's ready" and sure enough as I tried yet again, this time it clicked and he pretty much trained himself without me always on his case about it.

He is going to the bathroom by himself, dressing a number of times a day by himself and he is just super independent. He wants to do everything himself. He is a big guy now, he keeps on telling me.

And I completely agree, he is so big now. As I look at pictures just 6 months ago he has changes immensely.

 

One thing about James is that he is a super good boy. He never hit his terrible 2's and I just hope there are no terrible 3's. He makes really good choices and just is so worried about other people, especially his baby sister. He is her protector, and I love that he is always thinking about her. He always adds,"And baby too?"

 James is a very happy boy, unless he is tired. He is such a teaser too, and he really does have me rolling on the ground sometimes with what he says or does.

 I love how James is a total softy too with me. So many times if I am sitting or laying next to him he will just look at me and say "Mommy, I love you most!" and I know he means it so much. We often have Love You Wars where we tell each other how much we love each other and we always try to out Love each other. He's told me he loves me "the whole world and beyond". Almost everyday he will kiss me and just make me feel so special. I just treasure those moments where he stops for a second and realizes that I need to be told I am loved from him too.

He is my best friend and my complete buddy.

 I love how well mannered he is. He is very good at saying please and thank you. He is becoming a champ at cleaning up after himself and doing certain chores.

 Food is still only an after thought. He eats to survive, while Rachel eats all the time. Yet, if it's pizza, sweets or fruit he'll gobble it up.

 James never stops. He is such a busy body that is always going going going. There are only a few times that I have seen him fall asleep in the middle of building his mounds and forts of blankets and cushions, where he actually just falls asleep in the middle of it. That just tells you how busy he is. He has always loved books, and whenever we go to the library all he wants is Dinosaur books (and not the animated ones, the real ones)

 See even at the big dance party on main street during Fiesta days, he fell asleep on daddy's shoulders. And believe it or not, he was actually dancing just a few minutes before this.

 James and Rachel are great friends. If Rachel is not in the room, he always asks where Rachel is and she is usually sleeping. Some mornings I will wake up and hear noises coming from Rachel's room and sure enough, James has hopped into Rachel's bed and is just playing with her. He is such a good big brother and I totally trust him with her alone. He would never intentionally hurt her.

 He is awesome at eating by himself, even though he shovels it into his mouth at a rate to fast to swallow. It's as though he thinks it's going to disappear so he has to hurry. He does well with utensils most of the time. And he is still a total milk drinker. If he had it his way he would only drink milk for all meals, all day, every day.

 Outdoors is his favorite place to be. He's always in the backyard doing something. He is so curious and loves to collect treasures (rocks, sticks, etc). He is pure BOY!

He is very easy to entertain if you have stuff for him to do. But if you don't he WANTS something to do.

His favorite shows are Dinosaur Train and Diego.

 Hands down, his best friend is Grace. They play almost everyday with each other. They both love dinosaurs so much and have very similar interests. About 80% of the time they are best friends, while the other 20% they are worst enemies. They still don't share the greatest, but they are doing better then how it used to be. Almost every morning he wakes up and says "Play with Grace?"

Cousins are so much fun. He is blessed to have so many that love to be around him.

They love to rustle. But without a doubt.  James' favorite person to rustle with is Daddy.

James loves movie night, especially when friends come over, we make a fort and we eat popcorn.

He thinks he's so cool and so do all his friends.

He is a complete goof and has such an imagination. He is always talking to his toys and has them talking to each other. It is so entertaining to watch him play.

He's a total jabber box and loves to talk, especially on the phone. He'll go off and the person on the line will just listen and then he'll stop for a second and say, "You still there" and keep talking.

And even when he's bad, he's never really that bad.

I love this picture, just cause he knows he's in trouble while he's serving his time out...... But how could I really be that mad at him when his bum is just way to cute.

There are times where we have to be stern with James, just so that he will learn respect and understand what is right and wrong, but where Josh and I are kind of snickering behind his back because he is funny, manipulative or plain smart.

James is a pure joy to have in our family. We feel so blessed to have such a perfect little guy in our lives. Life would never be as enjoyable and wonderful without this cutie pie to wake up to, spend the whole day with and put to sleep.

Small moments, as well as big moments with in the long, yet so short 3 years are treasured with memories, pictures and thoughts of my growing boy who used to be just a small baby.

He is now 3 YEARS OLD, and such a big boy.

But he will always be my sweet baby James.

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always.

As long as eternity

My baby you'll be.

XOXOX

 

Happy Birthday Son

All my love to you James,

Mommy

Halloween was a WHOLE NEW WORLD for my little ones.......

This year James wanted to be a tiger, so I had to find characters for all of us to dress in themed costumes. So here you have it..... ALADDIN! Her is me, Jasmine, with my little tiger Rajah. Followed by Jafar, the most powerful  Genie in the world, and his side-kick Iago. Rachel and James made this whole Halloween experience so much fun.

This Halloween lasted a whole week and we loved every minute of it.
From decorating (even though I couldn't find all my decorations since they are in storage) with spider webs and home-made decor, to pumpkin carving with cousins, dressing up 3 times, trick of treating and eating way to much candy.

We had an awesome ward party with a chili cook-off and trunk or treat.

One reason I love  Spanish Fork is because of the little yearly fun things they do every year. They had main street trick or treating, where all the stores and businesses give candy out, scarecrows everywhere and some fun activities to do on the way. It's a pretty big deal with about 500 plus people trick or treating in the afternoon.

Even the fire department had a display. They took us into the ambulance truck and there was a mummy all covered up. James looked a little worried at first, until we explained to him what it really was.

 

Stopping off for popcorn. Kinda nice having something salty, rather then sweet.

                      This was our favorite scarecrows this year. Hands down, the potato heads win!

Rachel was the winner at the cake walk. Go girl, go!

Finally the big day came and I made a big deal out of it just by creating a new family tradition. Each Halloween morning I will make orange pumpkin shaped pancakes and the kids get to decorate them with fruit. They loved it and it and they were pretty much devoured.

                        

Then later on we went to Nana's house to show off our costumes. She went trick or treating with us to a few homes.

 James totally got it this year. He would slam on the door (kinda quietly) then he'd say "Tick or teet", followed by "Tank You" and smile. Then he was off to the next house.

As for Rachel she caught on too, she would just smile and everyone would comment on how cute she was. She held onto her trick or treat bag so tightly and would not let go even when it was getting pretty heavy.

Our kids looooove candy just a bit to much.
And my husband was such a great sport. I know he doesn't love dressing up, but I loved that he was more willing to then most years. It is just that it's much more fun for the kids and I when we are all decked out. I mean it's all about the kids right...... and I guess me!(Josh says I like Halloween more than the kids do, and that may be true. I just love Halloween, and I get so excited to dress up and plan for the big event).

We then met up with some really fun friends and ate some good grub at Pizza Factory.

Went Trick or Treating again cause James asked and then ended up going to our other friends Halloween party were there was awesome food and fun chit chat.

We won BEST COSTUME! That was exciting- $10 to Cold Stone.

Happy Halloween from my little tiger who ROARs all the time and my little Parrot who squawks A LOT.

Just had to add this picture, she likes dressing up in this kitty cat costume, so I took some pictures and this was my favorite.

 It's my little kitty with her prey (her favorite stuffed animal of all time).

I  know my kids wish Halloween was everyday of the year.

Free candy and the only day they can eat as much as they want (at least until we take it away).