Willybird turns 3!

Will has been excited about his birthday for a LONG time. We've probably talked about it daily since Matt's birthday back in Nov. when he was reduced to tears that the bounce house was going away. That's when I told him he'd have to wait until his birthday in January to see another bouncy house in the yard. Oh mercy, it's been a long wait. He would mention his big day and say, "sing happy birthday, William??" I'd tell him we'd sing to him on his birthday which was months, weeks, or days away and he would lose it. If I sang him happy birthday right then and there he would get so mad--"no Mommy!!! Don't sing it!" I think he really wanted me to fast forward time and miraculously make it his birthday.

Praise God the day finally came, and he was overjoyed! He & Matthew began bouncing before the party began. One traumatizing moment: Steven decided to switch the cord that plugged in the bouncy house to a different outlet, and he unplugged it while Will was still inside bouncing thinking that he would be fine. Well, the castle walls began to slowly fold in on him and he LOST it. He was terrified. Steven made it all better by laughing hysterically at him. Poor Will. He recovered, thankfully, with the help of a bowl of Cheetos and greeting his friends that were beginning to arrive. The rest of the day though he would point at Steven and say, "Daddy, you not turn it off!!!"

We had a Chick-fil-a nugget tray for lunch along with the typical fruit, veg, and chips. Yum!

It came time for cake, and Will was super excited. All along he told me he wanted a "race car Lightning McQueen birthday". Ok. So, I did a very fun #3 race track cake.

And a Lightning McQueen cake. And guess who's been eating the leftovers all week? Me!

His big moment came. We all sang happy birthday and he grinned the entire time looking all around the room at all the smiling, singing faces.

The McQueen pinata received a beating from almost every kid in attendance. Matt was the one to give it the final blow this time. You can imagine the pleasure he got from that. "Mommy, I can't believe I busted open my first pinata ever in my life today!!"

Cousins. They love each other they do.

The party eventually came to an end, and Will took his nap. He woke up and we had more family bouncing time. It took a major effort to get my pregnant self up that thing, but hey, I did it!

What, you don't pile up at the bottom of an inflatable slide and eat potato chips as a family? You're missing out.

After we'd jumped all we could and formally said good-bye to the bouncy house deflating it after gaining Will's permission, we came inside and watched Will open his gifts.

Tuesday was his actual birthday. He went to school that day, and I sent him with cupcakes to share with his class. Before school he opened the gifts that were from us. A super sweet Strider bike! And helmet. It's funny, he won't get on the bike now without wearing the helmet. With that helmet on it looks as though he could topple over at any moment. He's been striding around the house on that thing all week.

We gave him some new Cars cars as well. He absolutely loves them. His gnarly crashes have resulted in some small, delicate pieces breaking off his precious cars.

Tim & Pam came over that afternoon and gave Will this awesome ukulele. That boy loves to make music.

Matt got his turn with it and Will shouted out some indiscernible lyrics on the mic. Boy band! It was a pretty fabulous birthday for Will. I think he even understands that it's over now and hasn't asked for "happy birthday William" since. I gotta say, it's been nice! We are so thankful for our Will. He spices up life around here and keeps us either laughing hysterically or negotiating his often ridiculous demands. He intensely loves his brother and adores playing with him. Tonight we tucked Matt into bed and Will said, "I want to sleep with Matthew!". He got all snuggled under the covers with him. Not tonight, son, but soon. The bunk beds have been ordered!

Stats

This morning the boys both had well check appointments at the pediatrician's. Matthew weighed in at 49 lbs. and is measuring 46 in. tall. He's in the 75th %ile for both weight and height. He answered the questions Dr. Brown asked of him and then was also very vocal in answering for his little brother.

William, delighted to get to stand on the big scale just like his big brother, weighed in at 25 lbs. and measured 32 in. tall. He's in the 10th %ile for weight and remains off the chart for height. He continues to stay on his own curve, and the Dr. was pleased with his weight and height gains over the past year. Will gladly told Dr. Brown that he does not go potty...he said, "no, I don't have to." Mmmhmm, your days are numbered, kid.

Both boys performed admirably, and no shots were needed for either of them today, so it was an easy visit. I am more than grateful for growing, healthy children!

January Birthday Madness

January has turned out to be another popular birthday month. We're celebrating 5 different birthdays this month, crazy! First up was Will's friend, Pierson, who turned 3. These two are in the same Sunday School class at church (and have been since they were born) and have become little buddies. Pierson had a super cool birthday at a place called JumpStreet. I was really wishing my belly wasn't protruding because those lanes of wall-to-wall trampolines looked like a ton of fun. Both Will & Matt loved the place, and ran from the trampolines to the inflatables to the maze to the rope swing, and then all over again.

Then there was this little tea cup carousel that was broken, but Will still insisted on sitting in it. The comedian that he is, he thought the cups looked like toilets and made up a very catchy song about toilets that are stinky.

After all that good fun we went back to Pierson's house for lunch and cake. He's an Angry Birds fan just like Matt, so Matt was super excited. It was a beautiful day and a great party!

The following weekend, I picked up the boys early from school on Friday and we drove up to Dallas to be there for all the fun that is Josh's birthday! It's become a very important tradition that we are there for his big day. We've been to all of them except for his 2nd, which was the year Will was born. Matt & Will were beside themselves with excitement that it was finally time to go see Josh. In fact, Will has been so full of excitement and so lacking in his understanding of time and having to wait for weeks and days for the actual even to occur that it would bring him to tears for days on end. It's adorable and maddening at the same time. He just doesn't get it. I got to where I would forbid Matt to utter the word "birthday" or "Josh" or "Dallas" in high hopes of avoiding a Will meltdown.

Party day came, and it was fantastic. Josh's party was at a gymnastics place, and all the kids got to participate in all kinds of fun obstacles, trampoline fun, and games. Matt's competitive side burst forth that afternoon, and he was dead set on beating the other kids.

Will was determined that he was going to do whatever it was that the bigger kids were doing. I was impressed at how well he was able to keep up. Those little legs were churning, and he was having SO much fun.

If ever he had a moment of doubt he would look around for his brother and say, "Hey Mommy, where's my Matt?" So cute. "I need to find my Matt!" And he would scramble around until he found him and stand by his side.

There was a moment when the kids could decide between the rope swing and bouncing down a long trampoline lane. Will immediately set his eyes on the rope swing and waited patiently in line for his turn. I thought...no way he can do this, but I'll let him try. His turn came and he held on tight to the very bottom of the rope, his little body all balled up and legs wrapped tightly around the rope. It was so funny. I wish I would have taken a picture but I was unprepared in that moment; too struck with amazement. He held on tight for 3 swings and then dropped into the foam pit just as instructed. He crawled his way out all by himself. Matt, of course, was a pro and swung like a champ.

After all that good fun we got to enjoy some cake! Y'all, look at this crazy, cool R2-D2 cake! My friend Alison is an amazing cakist...skilled in the art of delightful homemade cake creations. As part of the tradition of our stay at the Browns for Josh's birthday, we stay up late the night before the party to construct the work of art that is the cake. Alison had the vision, Chris had the spacial skills, and together we transformed 2 large sheet cakes into this awesome robot. There was much giggling, maybe more than usual with the addition of Nicole in the room. Good fun!

We said goodbye to the family Brown on Sunday morning and drove back to Austin in time to make it to my niece Caroline's 10th birthday party! It's so weird to me that she is already 10. Wild! There was a great moment where all the kids were playing Just Dance upstairs. Watching Matt dance is highly entertaining.

Sarah had up several top 10 lists about Caroline in the house--her favorite foods, favorite things to do, and photos of her for each of her ten years of life. So sweet. We all got to write down what our top 10 favorite things about Caroline were. I had a lot to say because she's an incredible young lady--she's giving, patient, compassionate, creative, musically talented, obedient, and so loving and caring with her cousins. I just love Caroline.

She was surrounded during present opening time. Matt was trying to explain his card he made for her in which he drew special games on the back for her to do. He's a big fan of Caroline too.

Up next I'll give the report on my favorite boy birthday of January...Mr. Will!

Happy New Year!

I can still say that, right? The new year is here and took to the ground running. On New Year's Eve we had a little birthday celebration for Ken. Tasty dinner, apple pie, and sparklers out on the patio.

Will had fun with it until some of the fiery hotness landed on his foot. He didn't trust them after that.

Look at that good lookin' Jones family! Impressive that we managed to get a family photo.

We've had some beautiful, unseasonably warm weather lately, so we've been enjoying lots of park time.

I took the boys to Zilker park one Saturday Steven was at work and they had a ball running around and getting to ride the train. Matt wanted to pose on the fire truck.

After Christmas we spent a lot of time assembling Legos. For the most part, Will hasn't completely destroyed them. His favorite and most annoying thing to do with Legos is take the wheels off (and complain) and also remove the little visors from the tiny little minifigs' helmets (and complain). Matt has combined his Lego structures, blocks, Playmobil people, train track, signs, and coin collection to make one humongous city structure. Maybe he's a future city planner?

And Will has found a new way to beat on those drums...while bouncing up and down on Rody. Happy new year indeed! 2012 is going to be a big year.

Christmas 2011

Our Christmas was delightful. I love having lots of people together and all the kids running around in excited anticipation. The fun began on Christmas Eve. Here's a nice shot of the kids' table. They of course ate pretty fast so they could then run off and play together.

The rest of us enjoyed our yummy, traditional ham dinner before heading to church for the much loved Christmas Eve service.

After church, everyone headed back to our house for dessert. I may have gone overboard with the dessert display this year, but I couldn't help myself. Tell me, is cupcakes, brownies, fudge, chocolate peanut butter balls, and two kids of cookies too much? Nah. And we enjoyed another performance from the kids. No introverts in this group!

This time they performed some classic Christmas carols and songs they had learned at church.

Will was a great little drummer boy and kept a steady beat. Seriously, that boy has skills.

Matt chimed in with some more awesome dance moves.

And this was Matt's Christmas list this year. It all began when we received the Little Tikes catalog in the mail at the end of November. It reads: Playmobil restaurant kit, town center playhouse, neighborhood market, race and refuel playhouse, cozy pumper, stomp rockets, and Cars 2.

Did Santa deliver all those items? Well, no. But, he did bring some pretty awesome stuff that he knew Matt & Will would love. Legos, Playmobil, and things with wheels were the theme.

And they scored this cool grocery market. Will took to it right away bringing us ice cream and bananas.

Later, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Tim & Aunt Pam joined us for more gift opening and reverie. Steven giggled at one point and noted that it's not a Jones Christmas until everyone is sitting around looking at a book.

Matt got a super sweet Atlas.

And this is the gift that Matt made for me at school that he wrapped and everything. He was so excited when he brought it home and carefully put it under the tree and instructed me I couldn't open it until Christmas. That boy is sweet.

Matt has really loved his Angry Birds game.

After we polished off a yummy brunch and cleaned ourselves up, we headed out to Mimi & Papa Rener's for the rest of the day. The cousins were thrilled to be reunited again, and they spent the evening playing, opening gifts, and watching movies.

Kids table! Yes, but where is Henry?

Oh wait...there he is!! Erika served some amazing homemade manicotti and one delicious Italian dinner. We had a very Merry Christmas indeed! I realize that Steven was somehow not photographed on Christmas, but I assure you he was there! We are grateful he was able to be home both Christmas Eve & Christmas Day this year. Such a treat. Getting to be around so much family made the holiday so special, and we are so thankful that we were all able to gather together. Thank you, God, for your outpouring of blessings upon us; I am amazed at your goodness and grace. But most of all, thank you for the gift of your Son on Christmas.