Amber Turns 3

Happy Birthday to Amber yesterday (May 19th). What a year. She and I had an enjoyable time looking through her scrapbooks reminiscing over the past three years. So much has happened in her short little life. I have two scrapbooks full of pictures just from age 0-2, and nothing of the past year. Sad how quickly things change when more kids join the bunch. Ok, so anyway, we started out the morning with balloons, Breakfast Cake (a family tradition) and Amber's birthday present, her scooter. That's what she wanted. We let her pick it out. She hasn't let it go since. It has to be in her room when she sleeps, in the bathroom when she goes potty, upstairs, downstairs, EVERYWHERE! It's cute.



So this is the infamous scooter, and her new nightgown. She wears her old one from last birthday that looks five sizes too small and is practically rags. She loves nightgowns, so thank you Grammy & Grandpa for the new one! She loves it!








These are just a few of the visitors Amber had yesterday at her party. We haven't done a "friends" party yet, we're still in to family stuff only. Maybe next year! She got a lot of fun presents, so thank you everyone!

This next part deserves its own post! Thank you Mandy for the many, MANY hours I'm sure it took (and that you won't admit to) to make this cake. It was a hit! Amber was speechless when she saw it for the first time, and walked around the yard saying "it's so beautiful" over and over. As people came over she'd take them straight to her cake. Mandy is so talented. She asked Amber what she wanted, and Amber said "A ballerina cake with pink polka dots" and Mandy came up with this. Isn't the little tu tu cute? I'm so impressed. Thank you Mandy for making such a memorable cake. I hated cutting in to it. And just so you all know, it was DELICIOUS! Thank you so much!






It was a fun day. I asked Amber what her favorite thing was, and she couldn't give me just one answer. Matt and I sang "Happy Birthday" first thing when she woke up. I tried singing it to her later in the day and she said "no mom, you already did!" Grammy tried to over the phone too and Amber said, "no, my mom and dad already did." I guess she only needed to hear it once! She loved the whole day. When we all sang happy birthday to her last night she was a little embarrassed I think. She was looking at me like "why is everyone staring and me and singing to me?!" she obviously knew why, but was a little overwhelmed by it all. Her facial expressions were priceless. One of the presents she opened and said "what the heck?!" It cracked me up. I wonder where she's heard that phrase before.

Thanks to all that came. We sure have a wonderful family!

Here are a few silly things Amber has said in the past few days that have made me laugh:

I was running so hard all my breath ran out
You're not listening Mom
she's a good listener, huh Mom
Today I have dance class, huh Mom!
Please bless Captain Jack (Amy & Anthony's Cat)
Please bless Parker when he goes "EH" (that's pretty much all that Parker says)
Mom, how was your run today?
Dad, nice bike riding


I love how sensitive Amber is. She doesn't like it when I'm sad or when anyone else is sad.

I love it when she sings songs, her favorites are "Doe, a Deer" from Sound of Music, and all Disney songs, and anything from "Mary Poppins"

More will have to come later, I need to get to these crazy kids!

Jake The Crazy Man

Poor little Jake got stitches last week. The crazy kid was climbing on an unstable chair and fell. He had to get 14 stitches! The poor kid! Carrie and I went to visit him last week which was tons of fun. He is so active and in to everything. I can't believe he's only an hour away and I've only seen him a handful of times (he lives with Stu's Brother and sister in law while Stu finishes his residency). It's always so great to be around him, and his little smile makes me so happy. I told Matt when I got home that he looks 100% like his dad! I see little Stu running around. Joan swears she sees a little Joyce in him, but I guess I'm not around him enough to make that observation. I've thought so many times I hope he doesn't think we're this crazy family that goes to all his soccer games, football games, school performances, etc. We all love to be around him so much, and he brings so much joy to our family. What a miracle this little guy is.

As Mother's Day came and went, I thought of how sad Joyce only got one Mother's Day with Jake. It was a hard day for a lot of us I think. I wondered if I even called her last year to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. It's odd to see this gap between our lives together and apart become wider. My mom mentioned on Sunday she feels that as time passes by, she longs to hear more of Joyce. She loves when we talk about her, or when anyone talks about her. I totally have to agree. It really brings more comfort to talk about her and her life as time goes on. I can't even begin to convey what a wonderful sister she was. As I was taking these pictures of Jake and his stitches, he was being so darn cute. He would giggle and smile and run away from the camera as fast as he could. He was jumping on the trampoline and having a grand old time. It made me miss her so much. I know she would have been laughing with him with a huge smile on her face as well. I could just picture Joyce saying something like "you crazy kid, get over here!"

We all have this New Year's Resolution to "Remember" Joyce. It's so easy to continue on with our daily activities and forget the influence she had in our life.
This post is one that possibly belongs on a "private" blog, so perhaps I should head that route. I need to do better at posting more about Joyce, because my memory sucks and the more time that goes by the more I'll forget. I feel like I'd let loose if I knew exactly who was reading this!

Does anyone from high school remember the surprise party Joyce & Joan threw me for my 18th birthday? How cute was that!? I was reading in my journal the other day that Joyce & Joan sent me balloons in 1st period that I had to carry around all day. We had Carrie's wedding the next day, and I was concerned my birthday would be forgotten. Joyce and Joan did everything possible to make sure it was a memorable one. What a fun party! If I was as talented as Mary, I'd scan some of the pictures in from that momentous occasion!



This is a picture of Parker, Andy and Jake (Carrie trying to hold them up and make them happy!). Carrie, Joyce, Joan and I were all pregnant at the same time, so we have kids all within a few months of each other. We'll save that post for another day! What a fun experience!

Minivan?

So Matt and I are in desperate need of a new car. The Jetta is on it's last leg. I was determined to wait until we either had our third kid or until the Jetta literally fell apart and could go no more. When Matt bought his truck, I was super upset. It didn't feel like a "family" car. I was hoping we'd go the Sequoia or 4-Runner route, something a little more "me" (so selfish, I know). Matt won the battle and bought the truck. So I told him the next car we bought was entirely up to me, he couldn't have one little say in it. I also told him I was going to buy a minivan just to deepen the blow (we, as I'm sure many of you, refused to ever think about buying a minivan BEFORE we had more than one child).

Well, mysteriously Matt the past few months has been super excited about the whole minivan idea. Suddenly he thinks it's a brilliant idea. I was warming up to the idea as well, thinking how much easier it'd be, how roomy, better gas mileage than a Tahoe/Armada/Sequoia. I was also excited about the thought of more room, an isle to get to the back row, key less entry, sliding doors, etc. So we started looking. Not too seriously, but just looking. Matt was 100% sold on the idea, and I was about 99.9%, until I saw this:



Is that the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?! I am freaking out wondering how long it is before that can be my car! It's now back to "wait until the car is completely dead" before we buy, because this car is not in the budget, but it's fun to dream, and hopefully one day!!

Sometimes I wish we leased cars. I LOVE cars and would be in Heaven if I could have a new car once a year. As Matt and my mom would say "you love the Acadia now, but give it six months and you'll be on to something else." Perhaps back to the minivan.