Making time for my marriage! :)

I love my husband more than anything! He is most definitely my best friend, my biggest supporter, the best person I've ever met and the only one I could ever imagine spending the rest of my life with. He's pretty dang awesome and I still don't know how I got so lucky by finding him. :)

As most anyone with kids knows, once you become a parent - it's pretty hard to still get time alone with your spouse. We never go to the movies anymore, we very rarely go out on dates together, etc. It was one of my New Years resolutions to work on that this year. I saw a few ideas on pinterest that inspired my Valentine's gift for Badi this year.

As much as we love to go out to dinner, or catch a movie, etc....it gets pretty expensive. Not to mention, we hate to always be asking for a babysitter when our parents already help us out with the kids for other things. Since I wanted to reinstitute "date nights" with my husband again, I had to get a little creative.

I made this "making time for you and I" jar.

I made a list of about 25 things for Badi and I to do together for our "date nights" on different colored slips of paper. The twist , though, is every single thing can be done at home - after we get the boys to bed, or on a weekend while they're napping. That way, we're not spending a lot of money - but, we're still consciously trying to make our time together more quality time and enjoying each other's company turning simple things at home into fun things done together. :)

The things vary from watching a movie and making popcorn, to eating dinner on the patio in the backyard, making coke floats, foot or back massages, going on a picnic, and other fun stuff. :)

Badi is only in charge of picking a time/night that he wants to do something and picking a slip of paper from the jar. He recently picked his first date! This was what he grabbed out of the jar..

I was soooo excited about this one. Ha. I LOVE watching home videos! Badi had fun with it, too. We started back when we first got our video camera. Right before we found out we were pregnant with Jacob! So, we watched some of that, we watched the video of telling my family we were first pregnant (we hid the video camera in our bookcase when we told them!). I am SO glad we have that on film. I was crying all over again seeing how excited my family was that we were pregnant. Especially my parents. Then, video of us bringing Jacob home from the hospital, him as an itty bitty baby and us saying how "huge" we thought he was. Oh, if only we knew at that time how big Jacob would get...and how big his brother would be!!! :)

Anyway, it was such a simple thing - but, I absolutely loved our special date. :) I can't wait for more "dates" with my amazing husband. I have enough for us to do at least 2 a month for the rest of the year. I love you, honey! :)

Jacob's 3rd Birthday Party!

Two days ago, on Jacob's actual birthday, we had his party at our house! We knew it would be a Cars themed party, because that's Jacob's favorite thing ever. But, we couldn't figure out exactly what we wanted to do. We're pretty low key and didn't want to do something at Chuck E Cheese or somewhere else just yet. Even though it was tempting because places take care of everything for you and you don't have to clean up! But, we stuck with having it at our house again and decided to rent a bounce house!!!

You never know what Texas weather in February will be like. We went ahead and reserved the bounce house a few weeks ago and were told if the weather was bad we could just have a credit to use it again another day. But, we were crossing and double crossing our fingers for nice weather since that's about all we've had this whole "winter". Of course a week before his party, it's snowing and sleeting in North Texas. Then the day before his party, it's pouring rain ALL DAY.

But, we must have been on somene's good list because it all cleared off by Jacob's party! It ended up being sunny and about 65 degrees by party and bounce house time! We were sooo thankful! :)

Here are some pictures of decorations first! Jimmy's sweet girlfriend, Amy, made Jacob's cake. We were all soooo impressed. Seriously, it looks professional. Thank you again Amy!!! :)

Party favors. Bags of M&Ms with Cars stickers and a note from Jacob.

Along with the M&Ms, I printed out a lot of Cars coloring sheets and passed out boxes of Cars crayons.

Jenny and I had made cars cupcakes with adorable cupcake liners!!

Then I made these Car toppers and put them on each cupcake with a lot of different car characters from the two movies.

To go along with the Cars theme, I also made another dessert with the cupcakes. These are 'stop light' treats'!! :) Rice krispie treats with chocolate icing and a few M&Ms. So cute and so yummy! :)

A sign I made for the door with the Cars logo, but, I changed it to 'Jacob is 3'! :)

We made our coffee table into a racetrack for the kids to play and race cars on. It turned out really cute! :)

We just ordered a ton of pizzas for lunch for everyone, had breadsticks and made queso for dip. Pretty easy! :)

We ended up with about 28 adults and 10 kids. It was nuts. But, so so so much fun! :)

And here's the infamous bounce house. Man, this thing was a total, raving, success!!! The kids loved and the adults loved it. We'll talk more about the adults later. :) It was HUGE! It was right in front of our house and so big inside. So glad Badi found this Cars one and it even had a basketball hoop inside. It was perfect!! :)

I so badly wanted a group picture of the kids. Do you know how hard it was to pull out everyone from this bounce house for a picture?!?! Ha. But, thankfully I got a few and this was the best one. Yay! We also had the 3 boys next door come by after this picture was taken. Glad you could stop by, Casey family!

Noah says "finally!!! they let me in here, woo hoooooo!!!!" :)

Time to sing 'Happy Birthday' and blow out his candle. Great action shot. :)

We waited for all of the kids to leave to open Jacob's presents. It was a lot easier that way. It was hard enough to convince the kids to come out of the bounce house for cupcakes and a picture. It would have been really hard for them to come out and watch someone else open presents. So, I'm glad we waited. We didn't have to rush anything. Jacob got SO much stuff. We are so blessed to have so many great friends and family members. My Aunt Jill even sent him new Cars bedding from VA. It was such a perfect gift!! :)

Group shot with my family and the birthday boy. (Noah was napping at this point.) Love them so much. So glad that Greg and Jenny drove up from school to be with us this weekend! :)

Mommy and Daddy with the birthday boy! :)

After all the kids and everyone left, Jacob and Noah both went down for a nap and it was time for the adults to take over the bounce house. Holy moly, it was soooo much fun!!! Badi and I went in first and had Jenny take some "action shots" of us jumping. It turned into a game to see who could get the best action shot. Such a fun day for all of us!!! :)

I love this one!! :)

Jenny and I's turn! :)

Then Jimmy joined in and we jumped towards Badi. Can you tell I had hurt myself in the pic before this one? I was scared to jump as high as they did, haha.

Jimmy and Jenny were doing some awesome flips!!

And Jimmy and Amy!

I love my brothers and sister soooo much. (and Noah!) They're the best. :)

We had the bounce house until about 8pm, so we went back in again after Jacob woke up. A few neighbors came back over to jump with us. :) I got this really sweet picture of Jacob and Badi with the sun setting in the background.

Jacob thought this was soooo much fun. Ha. :)

So did Noah! ;)

Then when Badi's cousin, Farshid, got off work - he came by to check it out and do some action shots, too! :)

Overall, it was such a perfect, perfect day. Everything went so smoothly and we had such a great time. Thanks to everyone who came to help us celebrate. We missed all of our family in Virginia, North Carolina, California, Arizona, New York and in Boston. But, a special thanks to everyone who sent Jacob gifts, cards, madae phonecalls and sent emails. Our boys are so very loved and we thank you so much for that. You're the best. And this has been the best 3 years of our lives. Pretty soon it's time to start thinking about Noah's 1st birthday party. Oh my gosh, how is that possible?!?!?! :)

Jacob is THREE years old!

Yesterday our precious first born turned 3!! I have no idea how that happened. I can remember exactly like it was yesterday all the events leading up to Jacob's birth and the eventual c-section. I remember being so terrified because he was six weeks early. I remember him coming out at 7:52 a.m. and me bawling when I first heard him cry. He had to be rushed to the NICU and I had Badi follow the nurses to watch him and make sure no one mixed up our little 4 pound baby boy! Ha. :)

It was incredibly hard leaving the hospital without our baby. It was even harder leaving him multiple times a day for the 19 days he spent in the NICU. But, thankfully he got big and strong and we were able to bring our sweet boy home and our family was whole.

I can't believe what an amazing boy you've turned into at the small age of 3. We are probably a little biased, but, you really are incredibly thoughtful, kind-hearted, intelligent, hilarious, generous, loveable, energetic and talkative little boy ever.

We have your 3 yr check up this Friday. But, our at-home guesses are that you're about 3'5" tall and 34 pounds!! You're still long and lean!

This past year we had a lot of big changes with your baby brother, Noah, being born. But, you've adjusted so well. This picture was at a Mavs playoff game last April, just 4 days before Noah was born. One of our last pictures as a family of 3...and a VERY pregnant Mommy! Ha.

You love to help Mommy and Daddy (and anyone that needs help) with whatever they are working on. You love music!! You will constantly break out singing Twinkle Twinkle, Wheels on the Bus, ABCs, Happy Birthday and most recently - Pops' infamous nighttime lullaby! Pops sang a lullaby to Mommy when she was little. He has always sung it to you and Noah. The other day you heard him singing it to Noah and you recognized it and even said "Pops, you sing that to me!" And joined in singing. We couldn't believe you remembered it from when you were a baby! :)


Speaking of which, you have an AMAZING memory. You remember everyone's names. You memorize the books we read. After a few times of us reading a new book, then you can read it to us!! We'll flip to a new page and you'll say exactly what's on it. I know you're not reading yet, but, you can definitely memorize! You also always remember details about people. You'll randomly say "Remember when we went to the aquarium with my cousins?" And it's something that happened 6 months ago! It's crazy.

Or, asking about your Granny, great aunts/uncles and 2nd cousins in Virginia. We unfortunately don't get to see them as much, but, you always ask us about them. Especially your 2nd cousin Jayden. You have so much fun when we visit them. You ask about him ALLLLL the time. Wish you guys lived closer!! :)

You are extremely independent and like things to be done your way. But, at the same time - you love to have someone around you, someone with you to do things and someone to play with. You're pretty much exactly like Mommy in this regard. :) We both are very social and prefer to be around people...a lot. :) 

You hate to be dirty. If anything gets on your hands, a sock, your shirt, etc. You like to clean it before moving on.

The two years after you were born and before Noah arrived, your BB (Badi's dad) offered to watch you for a little while so we could find a good daycare for you. We had one lined up that we were on a wait list for. When it came time to put you in, your BB had become so attached to you. You guys had so much fun together during the day that he couldn't imagine putting you in a daycare. So, he watched you every day for almost 2 years. Then, when Noah was born and Mommy decided not to go back to work. You missed BB. BB missed you. So, every Wednesday, you go spend the day with him. It's a nice break for Mommy in the middle of the week. You love it and he loves having you. It's a win-win situation for everyone and we are SOOO grateful for your BB. He's the best! :)

You can be a little OCD with a few things. You don't like things to be out of order, out of place or messy. There have been several times that I'm working on laundry in the living room and you get upset and tell me to clean up. Ha. Or, if I'm clipping coupons at the kitchen table and papers are everywhere..you don't like that at all. You're like Daddy in this way. You want everything to stay neat and orderly. Everything has it's specific place and needs to stay there as soon as we finish with it. :)

You've been fully potty trained now for about 4 months and we're so thankful. You very rarely have accidents anymore. I don't even remember the last time you had one. You just tell us when you need to go and go. Even during your nap you don't have to wear a pull-up anymore. We just potty before laying down and you always stay dry. Also, now almost every night you keep your pull-up dry overnight. Hopefully we can phase that out fairly soon, too! So proud of you!!

You can put your own shoes and clothes on now all by yourself! 

You know your numbers 1-40. (Although sometimes you call 30 "twenty ten" and 40 "thirty ten". Ha. :) You still know your ABCs really well and sing them all. the. time. You know a ton of shapes. You are constantly asking us questions. You always want to know how things work. Why they are a certain way.

You are an amazing conversationalist. We've had so many people, even strangers, tell us how incredible your verbal skills are. You're not a yes/no type of boy. You always answer with yes/no and then follow it up with a question. You love to ask everyone how their day is going. When people leave our house, you always tell them to drive safely. Haha. You know everyone as a pair. If we talk about Uncle Jimmy, you always ask about Amy (his girlfriend). If we talk about your BB or Pops, you always ask about Nana and Mimi. Same with your Ameh Martha, you always ask about Uncle Kevin and your cousins. It's pretty cool that you remember everyone's grouping and who "belongs" with who. :)

You love, love, love to be outside. You are incredibly active and energetic. You love to be driving your Lightning McQueen car outside, playing at the park, playing on your swingset in the backyard, feeding the ducks and going to the zoo! Or being inside playing basketball, playing with your train table, playing with your car tracks, etc.

Speaking of your trains, you love to sleep with trains or cars every night and for your nap. When I say sleep with them, I don't mean holding them. You like to shove them under your pillow. I can't imagine how uncomfortable this is, but, you can't sleep any other way. We bargain how many you are allowed each night. If it was up to you, you would shove 26 in there. Silly, silly boy.

You are the most loving and kind-hearted boy!! You are always hugging and kissing everyone and everything! Here's an example from the zoo over the summer. You requested to hug and kiss the baby elephant statue!! You're so cute.

You especially love to hug/kiss your brother. You talk to him just like Mommy and Daddy do. Ha. When Noah wakes up from his naps, you run into his room before Mommy and say "good morning, sweetie!!!! how was your nap?!?!" It's so adorable. :)

You have the best laugh and you use it all the time. It's hilarious. When you really think something is funny or you liked it..you always say "again, again, again!!!" So cute.

You love to say your prayers. You say 2 of your children's prayers before every meal and before bed. Sometimes you will even break out and say them at random times.

You still love your Curious George! You treat him like he's part of the family....a 2nd brother for you. George really gets the royal treatment at our house! You have to sleep with him every night. He has to be tucked in next to you. In the morning, you bring George, your Mickey Mouse and your blanket. They both get tucked in because as you tell me "they are cold and need a blanket". When we're driving somewhere, we'll point out something out of the window for you to look at. You always tell George and then point George's eyes wherever you want him to look. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. :)

Right now your favorite shows are Caillou, Olivia, Wonder Pets, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Bear. You're wearing mostly all 3T clothes and a size 8 toddler shoe.

You're still really great at sports and you enjoy playing them. You also had your first set of swim lessons this year. You loved going!! We hope to get you started in soccer or some other activity this year.

We really are so incredibly lucky with what a great boy you are. You're incredibly compliant (most of the time), you don't complain very much, don't have very many tantrums, you're very helpful, very loving, an excellent napper (you go down so easily, almost never come out of your room and usually sleep for 2 hours or so), but bedtime is a little different. Lately you've been getting up out of bed about 7 times before finally going down for the night. You're a great staller (and negotiator!!) ha. You always need just one more sip of water, one more kiss, one more tucking in, one more time to use the potty, etc. Stinker!

You are obsessed with Lightning McQueen and everything from the Disney Cars movie. You were Lightning for Halloween this past year and your 3rd birthday party was Cars themed. Everything in our house is Lightning...hopefully Noah likes Cars!!!! Ha. :)

I am so very lucky to be your Mommy and I know Daddy feels the same way about you being his son. You learned so much and changed a lot from 2 to 3. We can't wait to see what this next year holds for all of us. We love you so very much, Jacob. All the way to the moon!

1 year..

Two years....

And 3 years!! A big thanks to my friend Heather who made his 3 year birthday Lightning shirt!  :)

Happy 3rd Birthday. buddy!!! You are so incredibly loved. :)