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!

Christmas Day 2017

This year, I planned so well, that I know I was on top of my game and I wouldn’t be able to repeat it. I had all my shopping done before Christmas! And then Thanksgiving was spent wrapping it all! All the presents hung out in my closet and I can now reclaim my closet space!

We had the cousins over for dinner and exchanging gifts on Saturday. That was a lot of fun with good food.

I bought a tablecloth for the kiddos that you can color. We had fun all throughout December filling it in. It was at the kiddo table, so when they were done eating, they had something to do while the adults finished their meal.

We had my sister come visit us from Florida, and we really enjoyed her visit!

It’s never long enough, but we soaked it in. She helped the boys decorate cookies.

And drew a picture for them before she left.

Aunt Logan gifted the boys Star Wars backpacks and action figures. They also got thermos that they love. Mister Pfitzer got some much-needed pajamas that turn him into a Star Wars pilot. We love it on him!

On Christmas Eve, we have our traditions. We bake a birthday cake for Jesus.

And we attend the candlelight service at church. Little JCrew’s choir sang in the service.

The birthday cake procedure was fun this year. All three boys were involved. Mister Pfitzer kept trying to steal ingredients off the counter, and Little JCrew read the instructions and kind of lead the process.

After the church service, we go home and get ready for bed. But at 7PM, our local fire department drives the big red truck with Santa on it!! They go by really slow and they drive right in front of our house.

It is then, that we set out the goodies for Santa, and race into bed! Santa gets a slice of birthday cake and his reindeer get carrot sticks.

We went to bed early on Christmas Eve, but I did not want to wake up the next morning! Little JCrew and Mr. Brigglesworth were up around 6:30. They saw that Santa had eaten his cake and drank almost all of his milk.

Santa gives one present at our house. The rest come from Mom and Dad. This year was a magical year for the boys. I had to make sure my game was perfect. I never knew if I would go along with the Santa thing when I had kids, and we didn’t have Santa until the boys started school. They came home one day and told me about this Santa guy and I asked him what they had heard about him. We had to be on the same page. We don’t talk about Santa at our house. I’m sure he is talked about elsewhere, but I don’t bring him up. And if the boys bring him up, I acknowledge, but shift the conversation. We do talk about St. Nick, though.

At a church event this year in October, the boys got to sit with Santa.

They were in disbelief. We have never sat on Santa’s lap before. I made sure that I paid close attention. Little JCrew asked for a smaller x-wing than he currently has and Mr. Brigglesworth asked for a toy elf version of Santa’s elves.

Later in the month, while shopping at Walmart, they had a booth set up with some toys to try out, their toy circular and a lined piece of paper to make your wishlist on. When the boys got home, they made a long list! They struggled to fill all the lines up, as they thought they were supposed to. I then shared that they did not have to fill all the lines. But, they managed to!

Little JCrew

Mr. Brigglesworth

The boys were so tickled that Santa got them just what they asked for. I then heard Little JCrew talking to Mr. Brigglesworth about how the Santa at church must have been the real one and not a fake Santa, because he only told the church Santa about the x-wing and that’s what he got!

Santa also wrote notes to the boys. They can recognize my handwriting, so we went with the magazine cutouts.

We made Mister Pfitzer’s note pretty funny for enjoyment from the boys. Mr. Pfitzer has entered his terrible two’s early and yells at his brothers. He also throws in a hit when he’s mad. His brothers are only trying to help him get out of trouble, but he’s not appreciative. We are working on this behavior and he’s getting better, but the boys now tell us when Mr. Pfitzer yells at them.

The boys also noticed their stockings were full and got excited. There were pencils, candy, ornaments and toys in the stockings.

The theme of this years toys were Ghostbusters! Playmobil made some cute toys for the Ghostbuster film and I had to get them.

My dollhouse is Playmobil Victorian and it is still going strong!

I made the good decision to open these boxes and put them together before wrapping them so that it could be pulled out of the box and played with immediately. If you know Playmobil, you know their attention to detail. No detail is left out, therefore there is a lot to put together. I didn’t put together the large firestation ahead of time because I was getting tired, but if that was the only thing I had to put together on Christmas Day, that was a good thing.

Poor Mr. Pfitzer wants to be big like his big brothers, and he wanted that Ecto car so bad!

We let him play with it heavily supervised. He loves cars so much!

Mr. JCrew got a popcorn maker! He loved it. It was in his favorite color, orange.

He also received other presents early; one of them being his car completely detailed. He was so excited about that!

Mister Pfitzer received a few things from my mom that were just for him! He now has his own rainboots.

And he has his own SpiderMan costume! He was always wanting to wear his brothers.

The boys also got art supplies from our neighbor. The boys have a sweet relationship with our neighbors. They always want to make things and take them to “Jack.” They think of him often and want to do things for him. The neighbors mentioned they wanted to do something for the boys and I mentioned "Something small, like colored pencils and paper. They love to craft." Well, that turned into an easel with paint, markers, paper, playdough tools, etc. It was fun to open and the boys went to town with creating artwork. It was a great present to occupy them while school is out.

We already had one easel, but it doesn't have a paper roll. We just cut pieces from the roll and clip them to the easel and it works. Thank goodness we have two! The boys team up. They both start out by copying each other, but then it moves into different directions.

Both boys are very artsy. I love seeing what they come up with.

We are so thankful for the time together. This Christmas has been so much fun and enjoyable. May all your Christmases be bright!