SpongeBob PrestonPants

Preston's 5th birthday was a big hit with the inhabitants of bikini bottom. It was filled with lots of under the sea fun. We feasted on Crabby Patties and SpongeBob Macaroni and Cheese. We raced to build the fastest crabby patty and had a crab walk relay. The kids also got a little crazy making their very own "sponge"Bob. I love the creativity. And ended the party with the many faces of spongebob. Happy birthday to my amazing little butter. We love you!

This free scrapbooking design personalized with Smilebox

Our Happy Little Preschooler

Preston is in his 2nd year of preschool this year and he was so excited to start. He is in a wonderful preschool this year and already after meeting his teacher once, loves her. Emma had her a few years ago and she kept telling Preston all the fun things they would do and then just to help him feel at ease about his teacher, she would say, "Just pretend that she's me". She likes to play school with Preston and she's always the teacher although I don't know how that would help Preston feel good about his new teacher because when Emma's the teacher I am constantly getting notes from her that Preston needs to raise his hand and not speak out in class and sit in time out when he's told to. I'm surprised he wasn't scared to death thinking that his teacher would be like Emma. Anyway, he had a great first day and can't wait to go back.

This kid is so cool.

L-O-V-E, love this kid!!!

I have to say I absolutely adore this little boy. Maybe it's because he's the baby of the family, or maybe it's because he is the only one of my kids that I can still consider a baby or maybe it's because he is so stinkin' good and cute. It's probably all three. Well he turned four a few weeks ago and I just need time to stop right now. I don't want him to get any older but everytime he asks to play the wii or spells a new word for me or reads a new book, I know that he's getting bigger. sniff sniff! Enough of the sappy stuff, Preston Rules and we had a fun Monster party.

He began by saying he wanted a lego party, well after repeating the Hello Kitty parties, I wasn't about to repeat the Lego party so one day we were walking through Target (my favorite place to be) we found the cutest monster stuff and I was able to talk him into the monster party. His birthday is only one week before Halloween so I've always tried to stay away for the whole "halloween" party thing and make it "birthday" but they have so many cute things around halloween, this was the perfect solution for me. Here's how the party went.

The Invite
Designed {using digital scrapbooking} by yours truly. I love doing this kind of stuff.

The birthday boy


The decorations

I guess I dropped the ball on this one and these were the only decorations that I actually took pictures of. These were just some little stuffed monsters we found at Target too then we had balloons. I have been looking at some blogs that have pretty amazing parties and am starting to realize that I need to step it up a little. I guess I'll have a lot of years to get there.

Games





We played Monster toss where they threw the stuffed monsters into buckets and then we also played pin the eye on the monster. I was surprised at how close they all got to the real eyes. I guess they had a pretty good chance seeing as the monster had three eyes instead of just one. Well everyone except Braxton who we tried to trick. He figured it out quickly and got back on track.

The presentsHis best (girl)friend Avery. We love this girl too. They could grow up and get married and we would be perfectly happy with that.
Our neighbors and lego buddies Braxton and Carson.
Our cute cousins Mae and Elle.
Our other cousin Jaynie.

We started a new tradition because everyone at a party always wants their present to be opened first so we let the birthday child choose the first person and then we give that person a ball or something to toss, in this case it was a stuffed monster and they get to toss it to the next person. It kind of becomes a game for everyone and so far no one has gotten upset about when their present gets opened. I had a few people ask me what Preston wanted for his birthday and I don't know if I have said this before, but this kid is obsessed with learning (I finally got one of me). I told everyone that he loves to write and read and those were some of his favorite gifts. Of course he loves Legos too, but we have so many legos in this house I couldn't tell anyone to get him those. Again, took lots of pictures of Preston opening up presents with friends, but not one single thank you note has come out of them yet. The guilt is building now that I have let out my secret. Maybe next year...

The cake


So proud of this one. I didn't even do a trial run and loved the way it turned out. This was definitely a fun party theme. So many ways to go with this. We also had some extra time after cake and ice cream and I let the kids decorate their own monster cupcakes. Everyone loved doing this except Preston all he wanted to do was watch Monsters vs. Aliens (at least he stayed with the theme). The cupcakes turned out really cute and this kids loved doing this.

Our guests

Of course before the party is over I always have to take a picture of all the kids who attended. They got into their goodie bags first and accessorized for one of the pictures. I love it.

The Goodie Bags

One of my favorite parts of a party is putting together a fun goodie bag. Thanks again to Target for all the great ideas and products (I don't know why I am thanking target, they should be thanking me for all the money I spend there).

So one of my very favorite things about Preston is when he tells me "Mom, I love you never ending" Nothing can put a smile on my face like that can.

Maggie's favorite thing about Preston, their private hand shake. "High five, knuckles, skin, eskimo kisses, isses, loves"

Emma's favorite thing about Preston "he likes to watch movies with me and I like to build stuff with him and I like to play legos with him and I like to do our hand shake."

Happy Birthday little butter!

Random Stories

So I guess I have had other things keeping me busy lately. It's been a while since I've posted anything. I don't know if it's pure laziness, just a lack of activities now that Christmas is over or my new found love of Facebook. Well whatever the case, I thought I would write a few random things. 

First of all my little Preston. Growing up waaaay to fast. If it weren't for the fact that he wasn't potty trained yet I would call him a kid and I would no longer have a baby. sniff sniff. We were at Emma's school tht other day and I was signing him up for pre-school when one of the ladies in the office said to him. "Oh Preston you are so cute." He in reply said, "No, I'm just cool."

 He has also had a little obsession lately with coloring. At any given time he can be found with a crayon, marker and sometimes even a sharpie in hand. The only problem with this is, although he knows to only color on paper, he doesn't always stick to that. One day after 10 minute of silence I realized he was in the laundry room with the door closed this is what I found.

The Hulk...

Oh, by the way, it was all over the wall as well. Dry Erase Markers don't come off of skin  or walls as quickly as they do off of white boards.

Then the other day he was coloring with his new Christmas box of crayons and I happened upon this site.

What goes through kids' minds? I never would have thought that a three year old would take the time to arrange his crayons so beautifully before beginning to color. I swear besides the fact that this kid is a boy, he is ALL me!

Emma had a big first this week. I don't know how long I have been trying to teach this little one how to blow a bubble, but it's been a long time and she just couldn't get it. So the other day, she came up to me while I was on the phone trying to get my attention. I kind of waved her out of the way. She refused to move to leave me alone and then I saw it her first bubble. She was so excited I had to "Look" probably a hundred times that day.

And now for the whopper of my week. Justin and I were asked two weeks ago to speak in church today. Our topic was agency and as I always do, I put it off until the last minute. Justin and I were up late last night researching and writing our talks. Everytime he asked me to do something I would say OK, but that takes a minute off how long I have to speak. We joked back and forth but one thing I always knew was that he would go after me and have to fill up whatever time I didn't take so really I could make my talk as long or short as I wanted. Well I typed it all out and I think I was good for about 10 minutes. I was feeling good about it except for the fact that I always get so nervous right before I have to speak but I knew there was nothing I could do about that.

    Well we got up for our 9:00 church and we were ready to go. I folded my talk and put it in my scriptures (or so I thought) and then put my scriptures in my church bag (or so I thought). We then left for church. As we were getting to the end of the sacrament, I decided it was time to get my talk out as I was going first and would be getting up soon. I searched for my scriptures and they were no where to be found. I left all my kids alone on the bench and told Justin who was passing the sacrament that I left my talk at home. I rushed to the car rushed home and grabbed my scriptures and rushed back to church. I found Justin had already started his talk. There went all my hope for him taking up extra time. He did take a good share and I wasn't too worried until...the rest hymn was almost over and I decided it was time to get my talk out of my scriptures. It wasn't there. I was literally 30 seconds away from giving my talk and I didn't have it.

    I thought I would die. Justin rushed home to get it for me and I stalled.  I explained to everyone what had happened, I gave a long introduction and when he hadn't returned yet I knew I just had to wing it. Wow as if I wasn't already a nervous wreck. About 1/4 of the way into my talk, Justin came walking it I felt a little rush of peace until he came up to the pulpit and told me he couldn't find it. Well, fortunately he did find my notes and fortunately I was able to get enough from there to finish my talk. I really think with my circumstances I should have used my "agency" to just sit back down, but I pulled it together and gave about a 10 minute talk. Certainly an experience I will never forget. 

   And just a little piece of advice to all of you who will ever have to give a talk in church, make sure and double check that you have your talk with you when you leave. It's a very bad feeling to not know where it is. Of course I found it as soon as I walked in the door. I think I should be off the hook for a long while.

Keepin up with the Jones'

Actually the Dillons, Olsens and Parkers. We have officially joined the "Stitches" club. This was our first experience with stitches and kids. So today Preston was giving Emma (who is 2 years older but only 2 lbs heavier) a horsey ride. Well he decided to take her from the living room to the kitchen having to cross the entry way which is tiled. Well something happened and before I knew it, crying, screaming and then I saw it... the BLOOD. Initially I thought he just bit his tongue but then upon further investigation, I saw the deep slice in his chin. Luckily Justin was home because I panicked like any mother does in situations like these. He figured we could just stick a band aid on it and call it good, but after we stopped the bleeding and I calmed down a little, I decided to call the pediatrician. They said to bring him in cause cuts on the chin have a tendency to keep splitting open. So we took him in and WOW what a sport. No crying at all. He just laid on the table while they cleaned, numbed and stitched that little cut up. What a trooper. I don't know that I necessarily liked watching them stitch, but I wasn't about to leave my baby's side. He got a candy cane and a sticker and we were on our way.

All is well now and on Christmas eve we will be back in to have the stitches taken out. It seems that we aren't the only ones lately to have this happen. I guess I should just be grateful that it was only 3 stitches and nothing worse. Of course I am documenting this for my kids to read years from now, so there are pictures. This is a warning if you have a weak stomach. Too late though you've probably already seen them.

Emma was so sweet through the whole thing, so concerned for her little brother. Later after all the trauma, I found them like this.

Preston's Birthday

Our little boy turned three last week. We had a small family party for him to celebrate. He's funny, everytime we told him it was his bithday, he would say "no, it's your birthday" For some reason he just didn't want it to be his birthday. But when we finally got to the presents and cake, he liked it. Although, I think he is the only 3 year old I know that asked for help when opening his presents. He was also the only one year old I know who didn't even want to touch his cake on his first birthday. This boy must have an aversion to birthdays.These glasses were in the goodie bags. He would put these on and scare me and then when I would act afraid, he would take them off and say, "It's just me, Preston."
I could not get him to look away from his cake. He would put his head up, but would not take his eyes off that next bite of cake.
Cute!!!
Make a wish little buddy.

Preston is such a blessing in our lives. He is one of the best, sweetest, smartest kids I know. We all love him to pieces. Here is a little scrapbook of his life. Wasn't he just the cutest baby?

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Just wanted to see if I could figure this one out. This was last year right after he turned 2, but it makes me laugh everytime I see it.