Mr. Brigglesworth's 6th Birthday

Mr. Brigglesworth turns SIX today! He loves his birthday time rolling around every year. He talks about it months in advance.

He knows what things we have planned for the month of October and thinks it is all for him! (Pumpkin Patch, Fall Break Trip, Halloween, etc)

He's a boy that likes tradition (aka he doesn't like change!)

He is a very loving brother. He may know how to pick a fight with his older brother, but he adores his little brother and cares for him as his own. (Side story: Mr. Pfitzer got in trouble and I made him go sit in the corner for the first time ever. Mr. Brigglesworth then brought him a pillow to be more comfortable in the lonely corner. Mr. Brigglesworth then attempted to bring Mr. Pfitzer toys in the corner and I had to stop him to explain the corner was not to be made comfortable! He can't help the urge to take care of people!)

He is so willing to help, that I caught him holding a Minecraft book open so that Little JCrew could read the book while playing the game. I told Mr. Brigglesworth not to because that was a ridiculous request of Little JCrew, but he did it anyways.

Mr. B has the thickest of hair. It is a lot like mine. I have to cut his a certain way to manage all that thickness. The same style of Little JCrew can't be done on his knoggin. But it brings me back to the days when his hair stood up as a baby.

Mr. Brigglesworth is our soccer player. He loves it and we tell him he is faster than his dad (which he loves to hear!) Mr. JCrew says he will one day be faster than him. I don't think so, because I think Mr. JCrew is a sprinter, but we will see! Mr. Brigglesworth definitely has good touch skills with the soccer ball. He will follow in his dad's footsteps.

For his birthday, Mr. Brigglesworth asked to make his cake and chose strawberry flavor. This is the second year for the choice, so I think he has a favorite.

We sang the song and ate the cake last night while we Facetime'd with my sister.

For his actual birthday, Mr. Brigglesworth will be all over the place. He has a piano performance and a meeting at church to go to with me. My poor homebody won't be home for his actual birthday. I tried to make up for it this weekend by staying home.

Mr. Brigglesworth is also your typical second-born and learning from the mistakes of his older brother. He is watching when Little JCrew gets in trouble and he takes notes of what not to do. It is definitely helpful!

Love you Mr. B!

Little JCrew's 7th Birthday

This boy made me a mom seven years ago! It surely doesn't feel like it was that long ago when I realized, "Oh my, there is no turning back! I will have a life dependent on me!" It was a scary realization that I had right before his birth. I remember being nervous to take him home. That car ride home, I was a ball of nerves. And I was a babysitter! I knew kids and loved them, but having my own was going to be different.

Little JCrew was a great baby and has stayed that way for seven years. He has such a sweet spirit and wants to be everyone's friend.

He is my social butterfly. He wants to be around people, learn their names and make them feel welcome. It is great to watch! He goes right up to people without hesitation. You should see him in the lunchroom at school! He flags EVERYONE down to tell them "hello!"

He is also my animal lover. It's his goal to catch the animals. He has always chased after birds. Still thinks he has a chance!

Little JCrew is my bookworm. He loves to read so he can learn more things.

Little JCrew loves to build, which of course pulls at my heartstrings. Recently, he mentioned he wanted to sell animals to make money so he wouldn't have to spend mine (I think this was a result of him being tired of telling him "No" for things he wanted.) To sell these animals he needed a table. He went to my scrap wood pile and pulled all the pieces he needed and told me how it should go together. I used the nail gun and followed his instructions. He never caught any animals to sell, but he sat at his table wanting people to stop by.

Being the oldest he also likes to control his brothers. His brothers don't like this. But he continually tries to be the boss.

He loves art and creating things. He has quite the imagination.

In May, he had a big moment for him, when he asked God to live in his heart and be his guide.

He loves to play the piano and currently wants to start learning to play the violin.

He's not the roughest boy, but he likes to do all boy things. Keeping his hands to himself is a struggle. He just wants to get in the middle of it all.

He makes being a mom so easy. No wonder he was the first one... made me confident I could have more kids!

Happy birthday, Little JCrew! You are so special.

Mr. Pfitzer Is Two!

Happy 2^nd birthday to Mr. Pfitzer! It is hard to believe he is two, but then again, I can see it. 

I’ve thought every single one of my babies was a good baby, but he really takes the title of "Good Baby." He is so go-with-the-flow because he has to be with older siblings. 

He’s so cute, that I catch myself staring at him, but if he catches me staring, he quickly shakes his head, “No” and I have to stop looking. 

He loves animals and especially baby animals. With all the baby birds right now, I hear him saying, “Baby,” “awe,” and “cute” a lot. 

He still is my best eater out of the boys. He will eat anything… except for Pumpkin Pie and Green Beans. Those are the two foods we have found he won’t eat. But he will eat Black-eyed peas as if they were candy!

He is a great sleeper and transitioned to his toddler bed at 20 months easily. The older boys and he share a room right now and he doesn’t have an issue. Although, he likes to be the first one up and wake them up. Only Mr. Brigglesworth has an issue with the new “alarm clock.”

Speaking of milestones at 20 months… he got his first tooth at 20 months! Finally! And the order of teeth breaking through did not make sense. I will list the teeth numbers in the order he got them. (Primary Teeth Numbering System) G, D, P, O, F, B, I, S and just two days ago E broke through the gum! His smile is definitely unique right now. I miss the gummy smile already!

When he runs, he pulls those arms in tight and lets those feet go. He hauls it across the room or down the sidewalk.

He LOVES being outside. He wants to be outside all the time. He requests it by saying, “Owside.” I remember walking him outside during his infant “witching hour” at night and it never failed to quiet him down. It is his and my happy place.

He loves to play hide and seek. His favorite spot to hide in the house is behind the art easel. He will get behind it and pull the easel up against the wall. And if he’s playing the game by hiding his face behind his hands, he says, “I don’t see it.” 

He also puts his hands up to his face when he cries. Don’t know where he learned this move, but I think it is cute. And he loves a shoulder to cry on. I try not to give into the cuteness when he cries, so he knows he can’t turn to me for consoling. But he knows big brother, Brigglesworth will lend a shoulder. There are many times Mr. Brigglesworth hears Mr. Pfitzer cry and hugs him while Pfitzer continues crying and Brigglesworth rubs his back. I love the brotherly love.

In August he will start pre-school and we are all excited. He has had to watch us all leave the house and want to go with us this past year. He will put on his clothes and ask to put on his shoes so he can go. Very soon he will be part of that morning routine.

His personality is coming our more and more each day. He’s got some organization tendencies on how he does things, but he has his daddy’s humor! He loves to be funny and goofy and make us all laugh. He knows how to make the appropriate sound effects for swords and guns. 

He still loves to cuddle and will let me hold him. He is such a busy body but makes time to be held. I love hearing him breathe into my neck as we cuddle. 

He loves to hurt his brothers and then turn around and ask, "Are you okay?"

He likes his alone time. This is both good and bad. We give him alone time, but he has been known to take advantage of it and write on the walls or stamp his lips!

I love how all three of my boys are different, yet have similarities. They also have a love for one another that is so encouraging. They are a pack that love each other. 

We celebrated Mr. Pfitzer's b-day with cake last night. He was so tickled when we started singing to him! His face lit up!

Happy birthday, Mr. Pfitzer!!! You are so loved!

Pumpkin Patch 2017

It is becoming a tradition to go to the Pumpkin Patch each year.

This year, our favorite patch had a terrible fire one month before opening day. The fire destroyed the animal barn and many of the play area. The farm promised to rebuild and be better than before. On opening day, they were 80% there, and continued improving for the next month. They will be 100% by next year.

The play barn is cute. I like the new design. You can see through the barn, so you can keep an eye on the children without going in.

Of course, my favorite are the animals. They had some cute piglets. I held the smallest and he just fell asleep.

The boys also held the piglets and bunnies.

There were even some puppies.

Pfitzer was very interested in the animals. He likes them all. He sweet talked them.

But he was really interested in the young boys building. Construction was going on even during operating hours, so while we were there, they were building the enclosure for the bunnies. We stayed over there for a while so Pfitzer could watch. One day, he'll be able to help!

The corn train is always fun to ride, but it was destroyed in the fire, too. But they got new trains, so we didn't miss out!

And the boys like the race track. Mr. Brigglesworth went many laps practicing for his turn to beat Daddy!

I can't forget to mention the corn bath! Pfitzer was too little to really play last year, but he really enjoyed it this year. We end up finding corn kernels in pockets for a long time!

Pfitzer also tried to push around his own pumpkin in the cart. He tried, but was just too little.

We love going to the Pumpkin Patch. We pick out our pumpkins and wear ourselves out. This year, we did not go out on the hay ride into the actual pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins. We cheated and picked out ones that were already picked.

We will see you again next year!