Three Years Old!

My little buddy turned THREE on Saturday!  So proud of my so big boy - he's turning into a little man right before our eyes!  We're having more of a birthMONTH celebration since his birthday party is next weekend.  So the day itself was kind of anticlimactic.  We actually began celebrating early in the month when we saw his name come up on the PBS Kids Club birthday list for the month of May!  (His is the third one down - click to enlarge.)

That was pretty cool seeing his name on the TV - they put up the list every Tuesday and Thursday for the whole month, so we still have a few more chances to glimpse it before birthMONTH is over.

He didn't actually open any presents on his birthday - we like to spread them out so he can appreciate and enjoy each one rather than getting them all at once.  He did open a few cards, and he received one from my Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary that he just LOVED!  He always likes cards that play music or make noise, and this one fit the bill!  He's never seen Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but he knows the characters.  He just sat and listened to this over and over again for hours!

So thanks to Jim & Mary for knocking it out of the park with the card!  :)

For something special to do on his big day, we blew up our little inflatable pool and went out "swimming" twice that day.  He loved splashing and playing in the water!

Doesn't he just look so BIG??

And speaking of big, we had his 3-year checkup today, and he's still ginormous.

Height: 41.5" (99%)

Weight: 43 lb. (99%)

We've had friends warn us with things like "If your twos weren't very bad, your threes will be!" and "When he turns 3, it'll be like a switch flips and he completely changes!"  And it may be looking like they're right!  Not really - he's still my precious buddy - but he's thrown a few MASSIVE tantrums the past couple days, including at the doctor's office today.  Seriously, all they wanted to do was measure his height, and he FLIPPED OUT.  It took 4 adults to restrain him.  Lord have mercy.

So anyways, we've embarked on the journey of having a preschooler in the house - new phase, new adventures, new developments!  Bring it on!

Elias' Best Day Ever

A few weekends ago, Elias apparently had his best day EVER.  We didn't know it was going to be so special to him, but he's STILL talking about it.  So I thought I'd record the day to remember it forever, since apparently HE will.

It was the day of the City Wide Garage Sale in Bolivar, so Justin got up early to hit the sales and see what he could find.  (Justin is a way better garage-saler than I am...  He must have some kind of radar to know where the best stuff is for the lowest price!)  Elias and I ate breakfast together while Daddy was out.  Saturdays are already great days for Elias, because that's the only day Thomas comes on TV, so we get to see new episodes.  Then Daddy came home with some new toys & clothes for the little man, and Elias was just over the moon over two toys that cost us 25 cents each!  There was a little toy James (the red engine on Thomas) and an inflatable beach ball.  Those two things don't go together, but since Elias got them together, he associates them in his mind and tries to play with them together.  So James often will drive on the ball.  Whatever, dude!  Here is a video of Elias playing with James on the first day he got him.

Seriously, he did this for like 30 minutes at a time.  I'm dizzy just watching him!

Then after lunch, Justin had seen in the paper that there was going to be a dog show in town to benefit the local Humane Society, so he took Elias.  And since Elias loved his new toys so much, yard sale James went with them to the show.  I didn't go, so I can't tell you much about it.  But apparently at one point they pulled a kid out of the audience to compete against one of the dogs to see who could do a trick faster.  They told the kid to pretend he was a dog, and they said he was a dachshund mixed with a yorkie, which would make him a "dorkie."  Har har.  I think that's funny, but there's no way Elias would get it.  However, that must've made an impression on him, because to this day Elias still talks about Dorkie the Doggie!  LOL!   

(One day last week, Elias grabbed yard sale James and ran to the door asking to get in the car and go see Dorkie the Doggie!  It was a shame to have to try to explain to him that Dorkie the Doggie was just a one-time show, so we won't be able to go see him again.  The child cried.)

So then to top off a perfect day, Elias had his first experience with the Ice Cream Truck.  We've watched them go by many times before, but we had never bought anything from them until this day.  So when we heard Mr. Jack's music approaching, we ran out and got some ice cream that E and Daddy split after dinner.  He was in heaven, and although the weather hasn't been nice enough for Mr. Jack to be out much since then, Elias still talks about getting ice cream from his truck!

So we didn't plan ahead for this day to be so special to Elias, but it turned out to be his Best. Day. Ever!  Justin can fill in any blanks in the details, since most of the stuff was with him.  :)

Birthday Anticipation

Plans for Elias' 3rd birthday party are in full swing around here!  I cannot BELIEVE my baby is going to be THREE in less than 2 weeks!  He, however, seems to have a full handle on the situation:

You may note that Elias is making goofy faces as he's talking.  One of his favorite things on earth to do is get on the "iPad & say hi to Elias John!"  He loves seeing himself smile like a goof on the iPad.  Ah well, easy entertainment!

Branson Getaway

Easter weekend we took a little family getaway to Branson, and we had a fun time! The weather didn't cooperate very well, with storms and rain pretty much the whole time we were there, but we managed to have a good time anyway. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but I'll show you what I got!

We arrived there on Friday afternoon, and we knew that was going to be our only good weather day, so we went to Branson Landing, which is an outdoor mall right on the lake. We enjoyed walking by the water, and Elias loved watching the geese and playing in the fountains.

Saturday morning the rain had begun, so we tried to think up something fun to do indoors. We decided to try wandering a little mall, and the mall turned out to be pathetic, but the fun part was that they had live entertainment all day there! So even though it was only 9:30 in the morning, there was a lady on stage singing and tables and chairs so we could sit and watch. Elias really got into this, and for one of her songs, he got up and started dancing! I didn't the camera out fast enough to catch his real dancing, but here he is running around with Daddy to the music.

*Note: The singer LOVED that Elias enjoyed her music so much, and she said that Justin must be a great daddy to be willing to dance with his son. Then she asked us a trivia question about the song she had been singing, and Justin knew the answer. So then she said to me, "He'll dance with his son, and he's smart too! You've got yourself a keeper!" Yes, yes I do. :)

Then Justin went to a John Denver Tribute Show while Elias and I did some shopping. Then in the afternoon, we had planned our one big splurge for the trip - we went to see Noah: The Musical. This is a really neat stage show of the biblical story of Noah's Ark, and it was really cool because they used live and animatronic animals in the show. We thought Elias would enjoy that, and he did. I did too! :) The show was 2.5 hours long, so we didn't make it til the end, but we really enjoyed what we saw! Here are Justin and Elias outside the theater.

So then Sunday we visited one of the biggest churches in Southwest Missouri - we'd been wanting to try it ever since we moved here, and of course it was great. I already talked about that some here.

So anyway, we had a nice little family trip!  It's getting more and more fun to travel with Elias the older he gets!