Bronsons 3rd Birthday

So this year for Bronson's birthday present we decided to redecorate his room (in hopes to make him proud of his room & sleep in it all night long) The re-vamping included a lot of using things he already had, just making a theme out of it in his room....can anyone guess the theme? Yes... Cars. I'm not a fan of the whole TV show or Movie character theme idea, but it makes Bronson happy so I decided not to be selfish on this one. It ended up being really fun. We painted and put up shelves, got a rug and found a big body pillow and made a mcqueen patterned pillowcase, elevated his bed (brought up the box springs, lol) added a big poster of all the Cars characters and framed some special pictures. All we need to do now is find some perfect curtains, and paint his room if I ever find the energy. Right now Jeremy's college Footbal blanket is hanging on the window...it works being that it is black and red, fitting right in with the color scheme we chose. Did this work as far getting Bronson to sleep in his room? Surprisingly it totally did! He was so excited to show his room off to his cousins when they came to stay for his bday party. Its not like it completely "cured" him from wanting to sleep with mommy and daddy, but things have substantially improved and I'm not complaining :) He now only sleeps on his special bed in our room on nights when Jeremy isn't home. So on Fridays and Sundays Bronson and I have special Bronson and Mommy slumber parties.

his little reading corner

McQueen is everywhere!!! ahhh!!

We had another pool party for the little dude this year. Most of my family was able to make it, along with Jeremy's family and several of Bronson's friends from Royal made it as well. We did a Transformer's "Bumblebee" theme so everything was pretty much yellow and black. I'm not one to go all out and personalize every single, favor, treat, decoration, etc... but it still turned out cute and Bronson had a blast. My sister Nikki made him an awesome Bumblebee cake and carved the entire car out of cake. I don't know how she does it, the woman is insanely talented. We also splurged on ice-cream... 3 gallons of it. There is this little ice-cream shop in a "touristy" area about 20 minutes from our house and this summer we spent some time there for special family dates. Bronson quickly realized his favorite flavor was the birthday cake ice-cream. It basically tastes like ice cold confetti cake batter with blue frosting swirled throughout it. I have to admit, as sickeningly sweet as it sounds, its pretty dang delicious. I intended on getting tons of black and yellow balloons filled with helium the morning of his party, but the friday night before I had talked to the store manager in town and he informed me that helium...anywhere....was out. What?! That's weird, right? So I was pretty bummed but that night at the football game the cheerleaders released tons of black and gold balloons into the sky. I found out that the lady who did there balloons does her own business out of her home and she had one helium tank left so the morning of Bronson's party my MIL headed to her house and filled up all our balloons. I was so happy...the children probably could've cared less. haha. Here are some pics of the big day. Can't believe my little bubba man is 3!!!

Bronson is going to grow up remembering the great cakes his Auntie Nikki would make for his birthdays.... not the cakes his mom would make him. haha.

My little blondie taking a breather from swimming and  eating some candy

Unwrapping presents becomes a group effort :)

so...many...children... it was awesome!!

Singing Happy Birthday. Notice the enormous ice-cream bucket in the back. Credit goes to Jeremy, he was in charge of that job. ;)

My niece Teenie and my friend Marcy's little girl, Hali became quick friends. 

At the end of the day the kiddos took a ride in Bronson's power wheels :) Technically its called a Doon Racer, but Bronson is all about four wheelers so that's what he calls it. 

The party was so fun and and I couldn't have pulled it off without the help of the hubs (cooking the meat, picking up the goodies, moving tables...) my mother in law (making food, setting up, getting the balloons, cleaning, etc...) and my sisters Bonnie and Nikki who kept Bronson with them and their kids at our house while Jeremy, Averi and I stayed at Mike and Robins. Bronson's favorite part of that weekend was definitely spending so much time with his cousins. They are all best friends and it sure makes this mama's heart explode when I see my little man having the time of his life.

One day old

One year old

Two years old

Three years old

Things we want to remember about Bronson at 3 years old:

-He went through this phase where everything was "about 30 minutes"....Bronson, its time to put your cars away "I WILL!!! In 30 minutes!!" Bronson, did you go to work with Daddy "ya....for like, 30 minutes" Bronson its time to go to bed "IN 30 MINUTES!!!!"

-His absolute favorite song is Springsteen by Eric Church and he knows the entire chorus. 

-He is still in the 25th% for height and weight

-He loves puppies and kitty cats

-It is impossible to go to the store and NOT return with a hot wheels car or two. His hot wheels collection has hit and passed the 100 mark. Yikes.

-He is a big time cuddler these days and takes kissing very seriously. If he gives you a "very good kiss" this includes holding your face, ever so gently, closing his eyes and bringing you in for the real thing. 

-He still loves to dance. We took him to the Whitworth Homecoming football game in October and before the game started they were playing music in the stands/field while the guys warmed up. Bronson did some booty shaking and getting low and was honestly completely in the zone with his dancing. So much so that he was completely unaware of the nice little crowd of onlookers cheering him on. To say the least, it was awesome. 

-Whenever he hurts Averi (accidentally of course...ha ha..) he will say things like "its ok, you're tough Av. Its OK, you're just fine" in the sweetest, most encouraging voice. 

-He is really into lining things up, specifically his cars.

-He is terrified of slides...with one exception being the big water slide we went on together early this summer

-He insists on dressing himself, this has been going on for the last 8 months and he LOVES getting new clothes

-He is a very sensitive soul. This can be both good and bad. If the norm is shifted he has a hard time at first but adjusts after a little while. He will have a meltdown and be completely out of his element if his normal pace is rushed and he still does not do well with over-stimulation. He does really well if there is one person in whatever situation he is in (particularly around new people) who will give him special one on one attention, someone who will cuddle him and love on him. It makes me worry a little about him starting school... but that is years down the road.

And I had to steal another awesome idea from Lindsey because I just thought it was the cutest thing ever. She had her daughter Darcy answer a survey for her on her 3rd birthday. So we did it with Bronson and here are the results. 

How old are you? whispers "three"

What makes you happy? Juice!

What is your favorite animal?  Puppies!

What is your favorite thing to eat? Chicken nuggets

What is your least favorite thing to eat? Pizza! (ya, that's a lie)

What is your favorite thing to do? Crafts! (this surprised me!)

What is your favorite TV show? Dora!

What are you really good at? RUNNING....and pooping (ummm.... eww)

What is your favorite movie? Cars!... and not the other Cars movie (Cars 2)

What is your favorite color? Red

What is your favorite song? Woah Woah (Springsteen)

Who is your best friend? Tommy!

What do you and your mom do together? Go to the store!

What do you and your dad do together? Go to work... and wrestle!

What is your favorite sport? Football! I like to watch daddy's football.

Where is your favorite place to go? Tommy's house

What is your favorite book? The Mater book... 

What do you want to be when you grow up? Play Football! and go to work with daddy.

Last summer post

I realized well into my 2nd summertime post that I should probably break this up into 3 parts.

I always insert pics of us at the pool cuz that is honestly what we did all summer long. Here and there we would do other things, but for the most part we were camped out poolside.

and here we are...at the pool...again. Bronson found it
to spit water into my belly button.

I had to document this. How bad of a mom are you
when your kid falls asleep folded in half in a
shopping cart? It didn't help that a week
later we found out Bronson had strep
throat. The poor boy was exhausted.

and here's miss crazy face. I found it so strange
that my almost three year old was passed
out while my 5 month old was wide awake
 and ready to party.

Averi at the Grant County Fair. This girl is happy
as long as we are out and about and keeping busy,
I guess she takes after me in a few ways.

Bronson & Jeremy in line for space burgers.

looking at the sleepy, overheated bears...I found
this a little weird...poor bears.

Waving to the elephants. He would have been
perfectly content to just watch them all
day, but mama & Averi were hot and ready
to move on...we then introduced frozen
lemonade to Bronson....his life was
forever changed ;)

Another first for the Bubba man. Kinda sad.
But at least he will only have fond memories
of the merry-go-round. He loved it  :)

I convinced the carni (haha) to let me ride with
Bronson. This was by far his favorite ride.

Giving those piggies some love. 

Bronson and his lemonade

    The kids and I headed back to Seattle in late 

 August to celebrate my dad's birthday and I finally got to meet my friend 

        Holly's daughter Ava Jane. She is such a little 

doll and was so good the entire visit :)

Bronson's reaction when the first bird flew to
his feeding stick was hilarious. He pretty much
jumped out of his skin. But then he quickly
recovered and all the birdies became his
little friends. 

While in Seattle we took a trip to Point
Defiance Zoo in Tacoma with my sister
Tisha, and her girls.

they had camel rides and Bronson surprised me by
actually wanting to go on one. it was a first for
both of us :)

It was such a fun day and Av even cooperated & snoozed in her stroller. Wish this could do things like this more regularly but it does make it extra special when we do.

I was also able to get together with some of my good high school friends & their babies. We had a little play date at my parent's house. Four adults and 7 kids. We are officially outnumbered by our children. I love these girls and its always so awesome to get to see them even if it is just a few times a year.

Katie & Bo, Av & me

Mandy holding Averi with her son Keagan beside her. 

Red Robin run with Nikki, Jake & the kids.
Could that smile be any more genuine?!

after dinner we went to the bouncy house at the super mall 

Nikki & Jake, some of my bff's. lol. love these guys

Averi turned 6 months while I was over there so I snapped of few shots of her.

I have more fun dressing this girl up than I can tell you. Her eyes look so blue sometimes, but most days they look green. I'm assuming a brown or hazel will be in her future. Bronson's eyes were changing even up to his 2nd bday. We will see...

The day I was packing up to head back home Bronson passed out on this chair in my parent's living room at 10AM. Not normal behavior for this boy. So I took his temp and sure enough he was sick. It actually made the drive home really awesome because Bronson slept the whole time (with a brief intermission of a puking episode...yuck) but because he slept, Averi was able to take a few naps. Bronson usually tries to keep her up and make her laugh. lol.

And there you have it, Strep throat. So sorry if this picture makes you want to vom.  I find it kind of interesting...but yes it does give me chills too. Poor kiddo. Took him to the Dr's when we got home & got him on meds. 

The very next weekend we headed BACK to Seattle for my grandmother's memorial service.
We stayed at the Comfort Inn Suites close to the Southcenter Mall and decided to take
Bronson to the Rain Forrest Cafe for the first time. He was pretty impressed with the alligator  :)

Miss A and I waiting for our table while Bronson and Daddy shopped around... Something's a little backwards here... :/

There was a froggy wandering around so naturally I had to take a pic with it.
Bronson would not take a pic with the creepy frog by himself.

Bronson and Averi watching cartoons in the morning. They both surprisingly slept amazing
during our trip. Averi even took some great naps with Bronson jumping off the walls in that room.

Bronson working his charm on my Aunt Jill  in the hotel lobby :)

Bronson & Teeny all shnazzy after the Memorial Service. Love 'em

The first Grand-daughter holding the newest Grand-daughter. Girls gotta stick together. :)
Lai Lai & Av <3 

So, that was our summer. We stayed busy enough to keep me energized and the kids exhausted. Everything a stay-at-home mom could ask for :) The last event of the summer was Bronson's 3rd Birthday...but that, of course, gets its own post.

Sweet Summertime Part II

For the 4th of July this year, Jeremy and I headed over to Washtucna where my Dad's cousin's family live. I only have two first cousins and they live all the way out on the East Coast, so we've pretty much abandoned the correct labeling and have adopted the Baumann's as our Aunts & Uncles and cousins. My Uncle David (dad's cousin) and Aunt Karen have a beautiful country home on a huge wheat field that they farm, with an in-ground pool, huge aged gorgeous trees, endless green lawn for the kids to run around and they decided to host the 4th this year. My parents were able to make it out as well so it was fun to spend some time with them on this side of the mountains. The day involved lots of food, great wine, good conversation, lots of laughing, blowing up watermelons...literally... and NO FIREWORKS!! Basically my dream 4th now that I have kids. On the ride home however, with both the kids snoozing in the back Jeremy and I got to watch the Othello fireworks show from the comfort of our own car. It was a really great day.

My mom on the left (Nanna), my Aunt Karen on
the right holding Missy Rose

Kamryn and Bronson having fun with "Ammy" :)

Bronson and Kamryn (my cousin Kate's daughter)
had tons of fun playing in the slip 'n slide

Wagon rides and Bronson telling my Aunt Karen "I don't want to go hooooome!" lol. This kid is a charmer and has an interesting form of persuasion. I don't know why he was putting on the theatrics because we hadn't even mentioned going home yet and stayed for another couple hours. Silly sweet-talker :)

When the pool was finally available we spent
most of those 100+ degree days here. Jeremy
even moved his traeger over so we could
have dinner pool side. It was so awesome
not being pregnant this summer and
enjoying all the things I normally look
forward to :)

This is a very common occurrance with these
two and most of the time I'm yelling at
Bronson to get off of his baby sister....
although I don't know why because she
absolutely LOVES IT. I just worry that one
I'll hear the "I can't breathe"scream and I
don't want to lose that last shred of sanity I
still possess.

My high school friend Stacy & her family
own a condo in Crescent Bar, and she invited
the kids and I to come out for the day. We
had tons of fun lounging at the resort's
pool all day & Stacy & I even got to go
bikini shopping.  Bronson had a blast
playing with her 2 beautiful girls and
hangin' with "the guys". He made himself
very comfortable running around with Sloane
and saying "hi" to all the people
sitting out in the sun.

There is this awesome privately-owned water
slide in Royal City that is a perfect summer
activity for the kids. We were able to go out
once this summer and Bronson made a new
buddy Jett. They make a pretty adorable
pair, at least I think so

Going down the slide together. He was a little
skeptical at first but after that first ride
he LOVED it. I got my work-out in
that day walking up that dang hill a hundred times! :)

Bronson & Jett floating in the pond. Cuties.

Averi & Papa Wayne getting some one-on-one time

            Hanging on to my legs at the pool. He was 

            a little fish this summer. I couldn't believe how 

            comfortable he got in 

            the water. By the end of the summer he was taking

            his vest off and holding his breath with his 

            head under water, paddling and kicking from me to 

            the stairs, about 5 ft out. He was jumping off the diving 

            board with or without anyone else in the pool and

            he even attempted to DIVE off the edge several times. It

            was so fun to watch him figure out new things. He's

            growing up really fast and I'm so proud of him & the boy 

            he's turning out to be...ok, that was a bit of a lengthy 

            caption, haha.

The little Miss sporting the one-piece. Love
that cute little face!

he's starting to escape from my kisses...
NOT ok. ;)

Jeremy and I celebrated our...ok let me think, yes 4th
year of marriage this July. I think I am worse than
he is about remembering this day & which year
we are actually celebrating. I'm great with Birthdays,
but apparently not so great with this.

We both completely stuffed ourselves at dinner
and were adamant that neither of us needed
nor wanted dessert...however as the night wore on
visions of a perfectly caramalized creme brûlée
began to over-take my thoughts and when our
awesome waitress came back with the bill
I told her if they had a great creme brûlée I
would get one. And, imagine that, they had one!
It was well worth the "I-ate-to-much" tummy
ache afterward.

We went to one of the only "nicer" restaurant's
in Moses Lake for the big 4 year :) I was
honestly surprised Jeremy was able to do
anything considering how busy
this time of year for him is.  So to go out
to dinner in the nearest "city" (40 minutes drive)
and to be kid-free for a few hours was perfect.
Plus, the view, the sunset and the warm air was
like something from a fairy-tale. Love you
Jeremy. Here's to 4 more...lol ;)

My sister Bonnie & her kids were able to visit
us several times this summer which was so
awesome. Bronson is happiest when
he's with his cousins so, among many other
reasons, I get really excited when my
sisters come to visit. As a side note, Bonnie
likes to bring us all gifts when she comes.
Its like Christmas each time! :) haha. Thanks for
everything Bonnie!

Bronson had fun showing off to Cash & Mimi that
he could jump off the diving board, adding a
little flare arm action as he did! lol

Cash jumping of the board. He really loved the
water slide but no matter how hard we tried
Bronson wasn't convinced that it was safe.
Maybe next year...

Ruby, aka "Doobs" playing tug-of-war with Jaeger.
She is Bonnie's third & youngest baby. Such a cutie.

Ok, maybe this picture is totally inappropriate
but it seriously kills me. Cash and Bronson having
a brotherhood moment... and why is my son
so out of control? You can tell Cash is a little
weirded-out. lol. Gotta love having boys.

Bronson and I got to celebrate with his cousin
Darcy for her 3rd birthday. They are just 5
weeks apart and are pretty precious together.
It was a pool party at Jeremy's cousin's grand-
parent's place. Bronson felt right at home
and was jumping off the diving board like a
little maniac. Its cute seeing such a little
person be so fearless

Bronson giving the beautiful birthday girl kisses.
He looks like a midget, but I promise he's not
that much shorter than her! 

And then we went to Priest Lake: PARADISE :)

The fam on the beach the first day. Believe it
or not, this was Bronson's first experience
playing at a beach of any kind. I sort of
feel like a terrible parent.

LOVING IT

We were meant for this kind of life :)

Jumping like a crazy person!

Bronson making sand castles and an
un-flattering shot of me. I am apparently
married to a big kid.

back at the cabin getting ready to make s'more's :)

Bronson wanted to give Av a "ride"...she wasn't
all that impressed. Her face expressions are priceless!

roastin' marshmallows :)

our evening walk to the fire pit. 

Bronson's first encounter with the lake. Very
magical moment, I'm sure ;)

the little shaded fort we made for miss A

loving on my girly