Happy Birthday, Jenny Kate!!!

My baby girl turned ONE on Saturday!  ONE?!  Wasn't she just born a few months ago?  In true Shannon fashion, I didn't get her birthday post up on her birthday, so I'll have it in a couple of days.  I haven't gotten satisfactory pictures yet to go with it.  I mostly don't have pictures because the birthday girl has been a HOT MESS for the last week or so.  I've taken her to the pediatrician and she's been cleared for everything except teething.  And I think that's the culprit.  I sure wish babies could just get all of their teeth at one time.  There would be an awful week or two and then we'd be finished. I think everyone would be happier that way.  Why don't I get to make the rules?  

Anyway, since Jenny Kate's birthday was on the same day as her party, and since her parents are total procrastinators and had to do a million last minute party preparations the day of the party, we went to her special birthday place on Sunday after church.  I chose this one for her and I hope she likes it because she's stuck with it. :)  Since Derrick goes to Krispy Kreme on his birthday, we had to go a little more girlie for our girl...

What's more girlie than Cupcake?

 We decided on four different flavors that we could sample.  Super yum!!!

 Strawberry Waffle Cupcake

 Turtle Cupcake

Chocolate Chocolate Cupcake

And a Red Velvet Cupcake.   *My favorite!!*

Jenny Kate enjoyed her bites, but all she really wanted to do was run around.  Even the sugary goodness wouldn't keep her in her seat for long.

Since she's one now, she prefers to feed herself.  Always.

The only way she was semi-content was by sitting on the floor eating her cupcake.  I know, I know.  It looked pretty clean???

Bubba was pretty happy licking the cream cheese icing off of his red velvet cupcake. 

After about 30 seconds of eating her cupcake on the floor, Jenny Kate decided that was boring too.  Who wants to sit around and eat cupcakes when you can bolt to the door over and over while your mommy and daddy chase you?

I used to wonder why in the world parents would keep letting their toddler get down when they kept running away.  I'd watch: put baby down, baby runs away, go get baby, baby bucks and fusses, put baby down, baby runs away...and the cycle continued.  

Well, NOW I KNOW!!  It's much easier to chase a baby than try to hold her still while she stiffens her whole body and throws herself around until she makes her way down.  

It's definitely easier to chase baby.  

She's not a bad girl, just a busy girl.  She's oh, so busy!  

She's sweet, though.  Especially when she wants another bite of her cupcake!

Happy birthday, girlfriend!!  I hope you like Cupcakes! :)

Wordless Wednesday :: Diggin' Up the Dirt!!

Trying to sneak in a quick HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!  (Without getting busted)  Honey we love you more than you know.  We appreciate you taking care of us.  I love how you are raising our children in a Godly home and with love.  Thanks for everything you do.  We would be lost without you!!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!

LOVE,

Jenny Kate, Derrick, and the best husband ever (I think so anyway!!)

And I thought two was hard!

I want to go back and point to myself last year and laugh.  I thought having a two year old was challenging.  Ha!  A three year old...now that's TOUGH!  

Yesterday morning Derrick was the most helpful little thing ever.  I was trying to finish working on something and he wanted to help Jenny Kate drink her bottle then he went to the toy closet and brought her favorite toys out so she could play.  He was so sweet and gentle but then out of nowhere he was whining and screaming and yelling for no apparent reason.  It was literally like someone had flipped a switch.  Where did my sweet boy go and who is this little thing who sounds like he's had no home training?!  

In spite of the crazy tantrums and everything I do being wrong, we do manage to sneak in a few moments of three year old happiness.  One way to keep a smile on his face is to take him outside.

He enjoys being a total daredevil.  So much that he will eat a few more bites of food sometimes if we agree that when he gets bigger he can jump off of his monster truck tire by himself. 

Hours of happiness are added when you throw water in the mix. 

Even when that well water is extra cold,

 it's still tons of fun!

When he's stuck inside, Derrick is often happiest when he's taking care of "his" baby, Anna.  (Or Ay-nah, as he calls her.)  She cries a lot, so he has to hold her and burp her often.  He's a good little daddy.

He always makes sure she's well fed by asking for a snack for himself then feeding it to Anna.  I've had to do the finger sweep on Anna several times for goldfish and banana.  He understands that he has to ask before feeding Jenny Kate anything, but Anna...poor girl.

He has been teaching Jenny Kate how to play with cars.  She is actually very good at driving this little car around and has been seen scooting all over the kitchen floor driving this little car around.  He's also trying to teach her how to hand the car to people instead of throwing it, but he hasn't been so successful with that.  It's adorable to watch these lessons and he's a very patient teacher, he just has to duck while she's learning.

Derrick loves to "do a project" and his favorite thing to do right now is use a glue stick.  He doesn't mind if there's nothing to glue; drawing on paper with the glue stick makes him quite content.  We need to invest in more glue sticks.

He also still loves to paint!  He decorated my mom (Nona) a luminary for Relay for Life.  She's a breast cancer survivor and he was so proud to "paint a bag" for Nona. 

I really am enjoying how independent (oh, so VERY independent) my little three year old has become.  I love that we can have real conversations and that he loves to help us do things.  This really is a fun age, but it definitely isn't without it's challenges! :)


We've struggled through tantrums for the past few days and I'm really hopeful that they leave as quickly as they came!  I don't even want to hear about it if four is any worse because when he's four, JK will be two and...