The end of an era...

Well tonight we cleaned out the remainder of our "baby" stuff to donate to Purple Heart. This is a photo of all of it....so much stuff to care for two children who were so little at the time. And now who've grown so much, both physically and mentally. It was definitely sad to see it all go and know for sure that part of our life is done. I am thrilled with our two kids and don't want any more, but that doesn't make it any less sad to think our baby days are all done. The babies are getting all grown up. I hope our stuff makes its way to families that need it. On the good side, I'm glad we've gained a whole lot of storage space back! At the rate our kids are outgrowing their clothes, I need more space!

On a MUCH happier note, today is Miss Amy's third birthday! She's in the big time now. We had a party with about 12 kids at the house on Saturday – lots of fun! Today we celebrated with cake at school as well, and Amy liked being the special birthday girl. How the time has flown by, it's incredible. 

Here's our girl, then and now.

About to burst!

It is really funny how incredibly excited Amy gets over Kiki. Last night Kiki and Poppy watched the kids because Tod and I both had to work late. Amy talks nonstop (literally) when she's around her Kiki...and what's more, her mouth can't keep up with her brain. Amy stumbles over her words because she just can't get them to come out as fast as her head is thinking them up. She wants to report on every single thing that happened to her and everyone she knows too. It's really cute that she can barely contain herself.

Amy and I went to do her three year old birthday portraits today, then we had lunch together – girls' day out. She did SO great with her pictures, it was hard not to buy them all. Here are a couple of my favorites of our most precious girl.

Things that make you go "hmmmm"

Daylight savings time started early this year and we've been struggling all week. Each weekday we've had to wake the kids up at 7 (when we should probably already be headed downstairs, ready to go) and grumble and fight through getting ready for school, then grumble and fight getting them actually in the car and set to go. But oh, no, not on the weekend. Not a chance. Surprise surprise, there's Reed at 5:45 a.m., wide awake and ready to go. Amy was about 20 minutes behind him.

I just don't get it! It's mind-boggling how these kids can kill us with "But I'm still tiiiiiiiired" on weekdays but on the weekends they're up at the crack of dawn, bursting with energy.

Well I guess it's only a matter of time before they're sleeping 'til noon every single day they can, just like I used to. I am glad they enjoy the weekend time when we're able to do more things together.

Today we went to Bull Run Park in Centreville and did a nature walk. Cub Run is there and the trail follows alongside it, and we had a good time - especially CJ. Reed even ran about a mile (literally a mile, I swear) on the way back. Then we played a while at the playground and came home exhausted - everybody took naps.

A good day, even if it started too early.

Our Reed, way back in 2006

January 2006

• End of January 2006, Reed told me "Me and Amy get big, no we need Mommy and Daddy anymore" – heartbreaking!
• 8 = Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin
• Says “McGondalds” instead of McDonalds

February 2006

• 2/22/06 – Reed said he wants to marry Amy when he turns 6 (old enough to marry in his book)

March 2006

• 3/8/06 – Reed asked me to “turn the toothpaste on”

April 2006

• 4/12/06 – As he was laying in the tub, Reed said “I'm just going to lay here and watch the clouds go by”
• 4/15/06 – As he went to bed, Reed said he forgot to make a list of things he wanted from the Easter Bunny, then he asked how Easter Bunny gets around, whether he'd go to Amy's room or his room first, and finally he said he'd keep his eyes open just a bit while he slept so he could see the Easter Bunny.
• 4/28/06 – Reed sadly said “I don't want to have curly hair anymore” :-( Son, I sure remember feeling that way! But just wait until you’re older and the girls all think it’s dreamy.
• Late April – Reed says “you crazy nut” to people....thanks, Kiki, for that one!

May 2006

• 5/07/06 – Once again, Reed said when he and Amy get big they won't need help from us anymore. Then he added that Amy would live in our house and we could live somewhere else.
• 5/10/06 – While riding in the car, Reed asked me “Mommy can you turn the music off, please?” Amy proceeded to chat away, then he asked "Mommy, can you turn Amy off please?" with a big grin. :-)

June 2006

• 6/4/06 – Today we took both kids for their first movie! We saw "Over the Hedge" and both were surprisingly cooperative. Amy didn’t even sleep through a minute of it!
• 6/9/06 – Reed and I were going to the “Sneak Peek” of Fairfax Fair, where employees get to go before the fair starts, to check things out. Reed literally ran all the way over there and also yelled “the Fair! the Fair!” and “I'm so excited!!!” :) There weren’t many rides open, but we did go on the gigantic Ferris Wheel, which made me a little nervous, it was so tall, but Reed didn’t seem to mind.
• 6/27/06 – Well today at school during nap time, Reed found a stray bead on the floor….and stuck it up his nose. I was able to get him to blow it out, thankfully.
• June 2006 – Reed says "coffeecat" instead of copycat. It’s cute so we don’t correct him.

July 2006

• 7/9/06 – Cousin Seab Larson came for a visit, so we took him on a tour around DC. We had a picnic in front of White House, and Reed noticed a grove of trees in front of the White House and said “I think monkeys live here”. Ah, out of the mouths of babes…but I’m sure many might agree that George W. Bush is monkey-ish.
• July 2006 – Reed says “wild up” instead of “wound up”, which is really entirely more appropriate.

August 2006

• 8/06 – Reed likes to make up new words to familiar tunes and is very creative with them.
• 8/11/06 – I called you when you stayed overnight with Grandma & Poppy. You’d made lemonade and were telling me it was good and you’d save me some. You sounded so grown up!
• 8/16/06 – Reed asked when we were going to the woods to play with Bambi. I said something about Bambi being all grown up and you told me that was just in the story, in the world he was still little.

September 2006

• 9/5/06 – As part of our vacation, we went to the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, FL. You were so excited about seeing all the animals, you would finish up checking one out then say “let's go to the next animal!!” and run ahead.
• 9/13/06 – We were talking about your cowboy costume for Halloween and I suggested you could say “howdy, partner” to people when trick or treating. You said “Maybe we could bring my CD player downstairs and put it in the wagon and bring it with us trick or treating – we could play the cowboy songs and I could sing along!"
• 9/20/06 – Reed's class made cookies today and he saved one for me. I told Reed I’d eaten it and he asked “did you enjoy the icing?”

October 2006

• 10/22/06 – We were at the Wenzells for dinner and they had chocolate/vanilla ice cream...Reed said “Look at that two-headed ice cream!” – he was really really tired and kind of loopy, I think. :)

November 2006

• 11/1/06 – You were Woody from “Toy Story” / a cowboy for Halloween. Just like last year, you really seemed to get more of a charge from handing out candy than the actual trick or treating. If there were kids across the street from our house, you'd yell “over here!” and want them all to come.
• 11/2/06 – You are so sweet and proud of Amy when she does something new. And you always say “I love you”.
• 11/6/06 – You told your first real joke! “Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 ate 9!” Yay!
• 11/14/06 – We were reading a book about dinosaurs and there was a green one in some tall green grass, with a predatory dinosaur nearby. All on your own, you said that since it was green, the other dinosaur would think it was just part of the grass and so it would be safe. Wow.
• 11/24/06 – Reed can be so thoughtful. He really wanted to make a craft for Aly after she made something for him and even said “maybe we can make two - one for Aly and one in case she has a visitor”

Our little artist

Amy's fine motor skills just get better and better, it's so neat to watch. She's been drawing people with faces, arms, legs, hair - the works, since July - here is the first one I saw her do.

She also recently mostly mastered writing her name - wow!! For Valentine's Day, Amy signed "A" on all her friends' cards, and I filled in the m and y. Now she can do it on her own. I'll have to get a photo of that soon. She sometimes writes in really gigantic letters like a lot of kids do, but she can also do 'regular' size too.

She really enjoys drawing and can truly focus on it when she wants to. Every afternoon when we pick Reed up at his classroom, Amy finds a million things she wants to work on, since they've got lots of crafts things sitting out. She is anxious to move over to the "big kids" side of school, which won't happen until fall. My best girl is ready for it.