Dylan's birthday was on Monday. Normally, he goes to school on Mondays, so I told his teacher we would bring the morning snack, but probably wouldn't stay. I made cupcakes with lots of icing, some sprinkles, and super hero toppers.
Isaac was happy to sit and eat along with the other kids. He can't WAIT to get to go to school.
Noah got to hang out with us for the day. He didn't want a cupcake though. He doesn't like to eat with me for some reason, even cupcakes!
Then we went to Jake and Brent's house. Brent gave the boys masks. Dylan liked being the Silver Surfer! They called Isaac "Gold Man."
And what's a birthday without some games like wrestle-twister?!
It was a pretty day for once, so we went outside. See Isaac's cookie crumbs on his chin? The Szasz's grandma makes delicious cookies!
Look at Dylan's slam dunk!
While I was sitting there taking some photos enjoying Dylan's relaxing day, Steven called from work and said he wanted to take us all to the fair - right then! I was thinking he would want to meet for lunch, but he one-upped that idea :).
So the Silver Surfer Spiderman crown Superheros shirt birthday boy got to go to the Florida State Fair on his birthday!
And how fitting is the logo for 2010!!!!
The symbol on this superhero's chest is french fries. That's fair food for you, not exactly healthy:)
Isaac wanted to go on the big slide. Dylan and Noah didn't.
They all got to go on horsies!
We even got an expression out of Noah!
We watched an aligator show which was better than I thought it would be.
The boys were being so good, until right before I clicked my camera, uh hem, Isaac!
Noah was staring at the cars ride. He LOVES cars like Dylan used to love Nemo. They weren't exactly tall enough for the ride, but since it's the last day of the fair and the board worker didn't care what happened, we walked right in.
Before we left, we decided we should see what all the hype is about the fried butter and got some. Just kidding! Sick. We did get fried cookie dough and fried Reese's. Um, not that good. I'd rather just the dough like in a funnel cake or something.
Here's our family photo of us right before the exit.
The poor boys were exhausted.
Isaac was the first asleep. Noah was a close 2nd. Dylan didn't nap.
After they took naps in the car, we went outside. See Dylan's sweatshirt we got when we were pregnant with him? It was President's Day too.
Before their combined birthday party, after loading the balloons, the POW, SPLAT, KERBLAM, WHAM! and BIFF" signs, the Publix cake, the cooler filled with juice boxes and hot dogs, and the ready-to-assemble-capes, I took a couple of quick photos of my super hero boys in thier birthday crowns before loading them up too.
I love that they felt in character, they wore their superhero bracelets, and they love their crowns.
(SOOC, no crops, no retouches, just an attempt to sharpen for web; 1/1250s, F/5.0, 1600ISO)
I love you so much! You are such a good little boy. And it's not just me saying that. Your teachers at school and church, our friends, other moms, and Daddy say so too. You still can use a nap, and take one almost every day. If you don't nap, then you can get pretty whiney. It's usually short lived though. You're a good big brother to little Isaac.
You are a peace maker. When both you and Isaac want the same toy, you will often let me know, but are often willing to give it to your little brother. It's funny that you figured out that I want you to wait to give it to Isaac only after he is nice and stops crying b/c crying isn't the way to get what he wants. Once he is happy, you will share the toys with Isaac and tell him that it's only because he is being good. Then you turn to me and say "right, Mom?" Yes, you're right my little man. I don't remember myself saying that, but it seems that my actions speak louder than words.
You love super heros.
You get soooooo excited when we get you something new. You tell me how much you love it, even if it's a cheapo Happymeal toy.
You get so happy and start jumping around with glee. The other day, when I was getting you and Isaac a treat or something, you asked, "Mom, why am I jumping, what's making me jump up and down?" I said "your excitement," to which you agreed.
You love going places and being active. I asked where your favorite place to go is, and you said "the three dollar store, to get toys, and sometimes just to look at toys." When I tell you that we're going to a store just for a birthday present for a friend, or for something not for you, you understand, and can verbalize it to Isaac for me as well, but of course you still tell me the things that are your favorites and that you really really really want and need. In the morning, you ask where we are going today. You are excited no matter what I say. You like to go to school, but you love friends' houses the best. When it's the weekend, you beg to have Malia over or ask to go to her house.
They get to see each other M-Th, and often on the weekends. Sometimes they're together too much to be excited to always be together. Sorry Dylan, but Malia is your Valentine. I decided:)
One night, when tucking you into bed, I asked you if you knew what we were going to do the next day. You informed me that 2Dylan was going to come over. We had played over at his house that evening, and apparently you and he had made big plans. You two had agreed upon it, so you insisted that it was so. The next day, you kept asking when he was going to come over. It was pretty funny.
You would rather play with toys than color or write. You do like to use siscors, and when I get a package in the mail (usually Fishy Face Photography related), you go get your siscors, show me how you're carrying them the safety way, and help me cut upen the tape. You can draw by connecting the dots and I had you write your name 25 times on the backs of each Valentine for the kids in your school and your school teachers. I love how you asked which one was for teachers you had when you were 2 as well.
You like your picture taken, which is a good thing for me! You sometimes ask me to take your picture.
You're a Sunbeam now! You're the oldest one, and know how to sit still and really do sing in singing time - you even know more of the words to the new "I Know that my Savior Loves Me" song than I do.
You like to sing. You will sing to yourself and to me, which I love. Singing is a way for me to redirect you and Isaac. You know some articles of faith and some other songs.
You like to pick out your own clothes, and if you could have it your way, you would wear these red shorts and a superheros shirt every day. You wore gloves from Lacey all the time (and told everybody they were from her), but they've since been lost or hidden to be washed. You went to school in this outfit you put together all by yourself. I told you that you looked completely rediculous, but I figured why not?! It's so silly and makes me laugh, and it made the other kids and teachers laugh too. I warned you that people would tell you that you look funny and would laugh. You said "I KNOW!!" You thought you looked good. You did take the hat off at school, but left the baby legs on!
You like to wrestle Isaac. You watch your uncle wrestle, so you try out the starting position and how to win. You try to teach us in this following instructional video:
I don't want you to wrestle. It's unhealthy how JT has to make weight, and he always has a fat lip, bruise, cut, and abrasion on his FACE at church on Sunday. Matt, another of your uncles, finally figured out that boxing wasn't for him b/c win or loose - he got beat up! (Then he still did wrestling after that, maybe not so smart after all.)
So we're starting you in Tee Ball next month. You're pretty excited about it and while I make dinner (yes, it happens on occassion), Daddy goes in the back yard with you to practice. Sometimes you'll even tell us that you need to practice! We took you to run the bases at a park, and you ran them again and again. We're excited for you!
You know what rhymes, and tell me out of the blue, you also like associations. You are proud of yourself when you say words correctly. You say "Mom, I can say TRR-uck now, I used to say [it differently]." And I can say GRRR-ass now, I used to say rass." You, like I, are a people pleaser.
I love it when sometimes you call my name, and when I say "yes," or "what," all you have for me is a smile and an "I love you Mom." I stop what I'm doing and give you hugs and thank you for that. You are smart and know what makes my day. I love you little man, happy 4th Birthday!
Love, Mom
Kat Gille said...
Wow, after reading all those details about him, who WOULDN'T love Dylan? I can't believe he's 4. That seems so grown up and non-toddler-ish. And what a good big brother! It's fun to read how you can watch what he does and learn what he must be observing from you. Smart kid! And what a good mom you are to have a son who is so kind and helpful and intelligent!
Happy birthday, Dylan!
Oh, and the wrestling video wasn't working so I found it on YouTube . . . and it's one of the cutest videos ever! It may just be my new bragging-rights show-off-my-nephews thing to show people. :) I love how Dylan gets in the stance and then Isaac comes up and . . . jumps on for a horsey ride! :)
From Aunt Kat
February 15, 2010 7:54 PM
Lindsay said...
That was the cutest post ever! You do have amazing kids and have done such a good job raising them (so far...hehe). I love the video, that is too cute!
February 16, 2010 8:13 AM
Holly Beckman Morris, Amy Palmer, Christi Newman, Lisa Sichel Shroyer, and Jarren Klemm like this.
· Sandra Dragosz Pittman · That note is so nice... Happy Birthday Dylan!
· Sonnie Benson Happy Birthday Dylan, He's a very handsome Little Man.
· Kim Dowdy Awesome, as always Tiffany! Happy Birthday Dylan!
· Debi Crane Schweikert Too sweet! You're a great Mom,Tiffany! BTW, does Dylan look like JT or what??!!?
· Dori Langston Fagan Darrin and I loved reading this.. We are both wiping tears away.. So sweet. Thanks for sharing.
· Carolina Coates Ohh that's soo sooo true! He is a very sweet and gentle boy. I miss him. I wish Nalani still have him around. They used to play very nicely. Please send him a big kiss from me :)
· Shannon McNeill We have got to get together!! Miss you all. :) Happy Birthday, Dylan. Wow, 4 years old.
· Willy Schweikert Dylan, I agree with your Mom. You are the best. Happy Birthday! Bishop
I started having Dylan hold my pocket in my jeans or scrubs when I had to hold Isaac's heavy car seat and I didn't have a free hand. Of course little kids need to hold a big person's hand when crossing the street, but because evolution hasn't yet granted moms a new set of hands per new child, my pockets work. I always think it's so cute and want to take a picture, but again - not enough hands. So last weekend, when we went to the Saturday Morning Market, I snapped a photo of them holding onto Steven's pockets. I love it. Steven was pushing the stroller, which we mainly took to hold our jackets and potential purchases. Isaac has gotten so tall in the last couple of months, or maybe he just started walking early b/c he couldn't reach my pockets for the longest time. I still have to either hold Isaac, or push Isaac in a shopping cart, or look for my keys in my purse, and love it that I can trust my kids to hold onto me to be safe when I can't hold their hands myself. All I have to say is "pocket time!"
Oh, and the Saturday Morning Market is delicious! It's not fair food, it's organic, or ethnic, or fresh squeezed, or fresh blended, and I wanted one of everything! We settled on organic smoothies, kettle popcorn, bread pudding, and New Orleans Jumbalia, and Matsa [goodness]. That sure sounds like a huge lunch now that I type it out. We haven't been since moving out of the area, but we'll be back soon!
Time to cover it with an Incredible birthday crown!
Their birthday party is going to be a super hero party (as you already know), and the Incredibles are superheros, so why not make Isaac an Incredibles crown?!
Dylan and Isaac got to eat "cupcakes" for breakfast. They're really mini muffins that Steven bought for them. Don't tell them though!
And after I took a picture of the crown, I let Isaac eat some of the marshmallows off of his crown. I had put them on there the night before with gingerbread house icing. They're his favorite food right now, and the bit "I" is supposed to have a white dot in the middle. I think it was the perfect crown for the little guy.
Then Isaac opened his present from us. It's a Discovery Toys marble race track! I used to love that thing when I was a kid back in Oklahoma. I'd play with my sister and brother and we wouldn't let the rolling noise of the marbles stop. I was waiting 'til Isaac was old enough to not worry as much about putting the marbles in his mouth. He's finally ready! My mom actually still has that same set at her house, and today, we combined the two! There are a cople of new pieces, but both sets still fit together. It says a lot for the company that my mom liked it enough to save it for all of these years, and that it's still as good as the new one! That's a toy that lasts. (Marcie sold me the set I got for the kids, so email me if you want to get a set for your own kids!)
Then, sadly I had to go to work. Luckily, the kids love going to Corrie's house. Isaac still wore his crown most of the day. Malia and Noah gave him his gifts! He opened a Diego DVD which has been in our van ever since. He loves that thing! Corrie took pictures for me:) She also gave him a motorcycle b/c he's really been into those lately.
And they took the marble race track to play with.
I was able to leave for lunch, so I got the kids healthy happy meals:) They may not be healthy, but at least I got to go hang out with him:)
This is Isaac back at home, still with the crown on, still holding onto his motorcycle. Still happy. We had cupakes (real ones this time), then Steven took them to Chick-Fil-A so they could play in the play place. It was kids' night, so they got balloons, got a Groundhog Day book read to them, and a guy did magic tricks for him.
Today is 2/2, and you're 2! How fun! Please forgive me because I have to work all day then have a PCDHA meeting tonight (where we're offering 2 credits of continuing education instead of 1 b/c of your birthday, and don't worry, I have a picture or two of you in my powerpoint!) To make up for it, we're throwing you and your big brother, Dylan, a fun super hero party another day!
I love you so much. Some of my favorite things about you are your silly faces and your sense of humor. Sometimes Corrie or I ask you if you are stinky, and even if Noah isn't in the room, you smile and say with your head cocked to the side in a low voice, nooooooo, NOAH! Then you crack up. You love to dance. Your dance moves consist of jumping around, usually with your feet tight together. You move around the room while jumping and if you're in an extra silly mood, you make yourself turn and fall over and over every couple of hops. You love books. Your favorite books are the big Look and Find (Where's Waldo type) books that we got from the Szasz family. They gave us about 6 Disney books and you're so good at them! Some pages are really dificult with the caracters being not exactly like the examples and diferent sizes, but you find them more quickly than the rest of us some times. Now you have some memorized, so your speed even more impressive. You like to go to sleep with a book. I remember my mom and dad letting us sleep with the book we just read if we were really good. The punishment would be to not get to sleep with a book and we would be so sad.
You like watching movies in the van, probably just because you know you can. Your favorite DVDs and show on TV is Go! Diego Go!. You shout aloud and do the actions as directed by the Diego characters. I really should get you some more and some educational DVDs b/c of all the car pooling we do.
You go to bed pretty easily. I warn you that it's almost time so you can prepare yourself. We brush/floss (you love to floss after my turn flossing your teeth), say a prayer, occassionally read scriptures (I do it without you and sometimes with just Dylan), read a book or two or more, get your water and blankets, and Daddy takes you to bed. You like to "cover up, cover up" and although you start on your back or side so you can see us, you end up on your tummy. You still use the little pillow I made in the pillow case from Chrissy, Lacey, Aunt Tina, and Uncle Afton when I was pregnant with Dylan. You like a lullubys CD, and we usually kiss once again. (I easily kiss you 1000x/day. I counted 30 just going up the stairs with you, and that was after a bunch of neck and cheeky kisses.) Sometimes I pretend I'm going to get in your crib with you and I lay my head next to yours with my leg up next to you and my arm over you (if the crib side is down), which just makes you laugh and giggle. Sometimes I want to stay in there - if you're in a good silly mood.
You can climb in and out of your crib, but you usually only do it when it's play time. You have climbed out of your crib after resting (reading books to yourself) when I put you down for a nap premateurely. I was okay with it because you were in the BEST mood, and after doing some bed jumping, you, Daddy, and I took a nap on my bed together. I love to cuddle with you! You don't nurse in the mornings any more (which was actually oddly and unexpectedly harder for me to give up than I'd like to devulge here), but you do come in when Daddy hears you (around 7am-ish) and will come "cover up, cover up" next to me until Daddy tells you he will go get you cereal or a banana or milk down stairs.
You like to sing and are pretty good at some of our regulars. The ABC song has been your favorite, not now when I ask what song you want to sing next, you do that same silly sideways look and laugh "NOah!" Then you start singing "No-ah, NO-AH, NO-AH, No-aaaaaah. no-ah no-ah, no-ah, no-ah. . ." to the tune of the ABC song.
(2 weeks old, taken by my Aunt Robin)
You love marshmallows. I'm going to say it's your favorite food. Speaking of food, you love to play with your food. This is new for me b/c Dylan would still love it if I spoon fed him each meal. You use utensils fine, but then you finger paint and have little wars with army guys in your mashed potatoes. It keeps baffling me that I will find your pasta in your water cup, and sauce smeared on your belly. I usually only get mad if you start throwing or dropping the food. I'm caught off guard that you find so many ways to be creative with the food.
You will be a leader. You take the initiative. When we were picking up sticks and seed pods from the front yard, you started climbing the tree! It's not that the tree is particularly dificult to climb, but you had the idea to climb it all by yourself, and were quite pleased with your accomplishment. You asked me to help you get down, but by the time I picked up sticks along my path to you, you had gotten down by yourself. Of course I wish you had been filling up your grocery bag with yard debris like Dylan and I were doing, but it's fun.
You are into the "Rays Shorts" craze that Dylan finally grew out of - literally. Remember Dylan wearing those short shorts?! They're actually too small for Isaac really, but he loves them. He wears them - or any gym shorts type shorts or pants under or instead of clothes and over his footy PJs. He reminded Dylan about the fad, and it's huge at our house right now. I pick my battles.
You know how to irritate the heck out of people. You want to wrestle calm little Noah who wants nothing to do with physical contact. You throw a fit for any toy that is in Dylan's hand. You get your way in church b/c you are loud and I don't want you to think that your ticket out is your vocal cords. We're pretty good at redirecting you b/c it's not my first rodeo. Last Sunday was the 2 hour family session of Stake Conference, and I packed enough activities, snacks, and books to keep you occupied. You are stubborn, and it is dificult to not just give in, but Daddy and I are really good about supporting the other's decision even though you know to go try the other if you don't get a "yes" from the first parent you ask. It's tough for you, but once you officially hit the "terrible twos," they should only last a year.
You love to laugh, wrestle (with your shirt off), play outside, dig, swing, throw, piddle on the skate boards and trike, and play with others. You're a cute smart little boy and I love you so much. Happy Birthday!
Corrie and I were pregnant together twice and we watch each other's kids so the other can work part time. It's perfect. She asked me to talke some photos of her kids for their birthdays. Of course! We drove those kids to 4 locations, poor babies. We got lollipops and smoothies after, so they're okay:) See some more on the fishy face blog!
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