Yay Elias understands what birthdays are all about! I have to apologize to him because I didn't think he would quite comprehend it all so I didn't worry about a party or anything like that. But then the week before his birthday he was invited to his first birthday party and he went and had the best time and told me all about it. I felt so bad we were just going to have a day of Elias again like last year so at the last minute we had the Rodgers and the Jensens over for lunch before the 2nd session of Conference and then afterwards we all sang Happy Birthday to him and he opened a few presents. He LOVED the attention and later that night he wanted another cupcake and he made me and Emma sing the Happy Birthday song to him again!
Turning 3 brings on a whole new world for Elias. I will attempt potty training again - I don't want him being the only kid in sunbeams with a diaper on! We have to start paying for him everywhere we go now - dang it. Elias also graduated from AZEIP and we had to say goodbye to our dear speech therapist, Chris. Right before Chris left for the last time I asked for a picture of her with him and very fitting...Elias ran away and did this
which was exactly how he started out with speech. He didn't cooperate very well for the picture but he did cooperate with her on the last day so we ended on a great note! Here is Eli and Chris trying to get a picture with him, bless her heart.
The night before Eli's birthday Emma and I stayed up and wrapped his presents, decorated the house and made more cupcakes for him. We left the presents out like we do every year and for whatever reason Eli thought it would be awesome to wake up at 630am and start opening a present. I heard him so I went out to the family room but couldn't convince him to wait but I was able to get him and the gifts into our room on our bed and we watched him open them up there. He must have thought it was Christmas morning. I don't have any pictures of that though because it was to early for me to think about a camera.
Grandpa Rodgers showed up about 10am to watch the twins (for 7 hours, thank you Grandpa Rodgers) so we could take Eli and Emma to the Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium - Eli is on an animal kick right now (we have gone from Buzz, to cars, to dinosaurs and are now on amimals - although he still sleeps with all of them at night). On our long drive out to the zoo we made a quick pit stop at In-N-Out Burger and had a great time watching him eat his french fries and strawberry shake.
We finally made it to the zoo and were able to use 2 buy-on-get-one free coupons thanks to the lovely Richelle! In no particular order here are some of the highlights...Eli peeling the star fish off the side of the tank
takin' in the beauty of the fish aquarium
Look! Sharks!
When we were done inside the Aquarium part we went back outside and Eli shouts, "Ow, my eyes, my eyes!" Pansy had to use his dad's glasses to protect his eyes from the sun.
Very content after just feeding the ducks
Emma feeding the birds but to scared to let them land on her, she was only brave enough to hold the apple
Eli's 3rd attempt at feeding the birds, each time they would come close he would get scared and drop his apple
When we lived in Oregon the last time we only had 1 TV and Jared would make us watch Meerkat Manor...anyone else feel my pain of watching that show?!
Emma feeding the Giraffe
Eli and the Giraffe in a staring contest
Elias wouldn't take his eyes off his Zebras - he LOVES zebras!
The happier Elias gets the more he plays with his tongue
Elias feeding the ducks quarters (or at least that what he says but he did use quarters to buy the duck food)
The twin baby white tigers named Tyler and Tyson (Eli named them). Ask Jared about the Leopard that almost attacked him and Eli
The kiddos loved watching the Sting Rays but none of them were brave enough to touch them
Using the old addage of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" we decided why mess with a good thing. Elias loved setting up the tent last year for his birthday and hanging out in there so we thought we should do it again. And again, it was a hit!
Pizza and Rootbeer - does it get better than that?! (I know what you are thinking, nice healthy meals mom)
Blowing out candles again
Messy face Tyson
We were laughing at how cute Tyson was with his messy face so Eli got some frosting on his on purpose so we would take a picture of him too! Happy Birthday Elias - we sure do love you Bubbas!!
Thank you to everyone who called, text, emailed and stopped by with gifts for him - he loved it all!
Eli's 3 yr old stats:
weight: 37 pounds - 90%
height: 38 inches - 74%
head count: 52 - 90%
Emma rockin' it
Emma and her sassy sister Liberty
Her competition "Working at the Car Wash" dance (notice the crown clip in her hair, that's one of her favorite parts about making the competition team - I could have saved a couple thousand dollars and just bought her a dumb crown clip - ha ha!)
This was the first time the boys came out to watch Emma dance. They enjoyed the beats from the songs but they mostly just wanted to run around and play or sleep in the stroller during nap time. Emma was very lucky to have her Grandma Jensen and Grandma and Grandpa Rodgers come out and support her and she was even honored by her 2nd grade teacher coming out and watching her as well. What an amazing teacher Emma has!!
After her dancing was all over with, we hung out at Schnepf farms for a bit but didn't last long, Jared was grumpy, the twins were tired, Jared was grumpy, Eli was kicking dirt everywhere, Jared was grumpy, Emma wanted to hang out with her friends and Jared was grumpy so we left but we did grab a pumpkin to carve and the twins created their own "pumpkin throw game" by picking up all the little ones and well, throwing them (sorry to anyone who may be purchasing one my child has thrown but they thoroughly enjoyed themselves!)
And finally, the best group shot we could get, nice!
