Charlie's 4th Birthday

Charlie is 4 years old!  I can't believe it.  He is growing up so much and way too fast.  Here's how we celebrated his birthday this year (excluding his party--that gets a post all for itself!)

We started birthday celebrations with a special family dinner at my parent's home.  Charlie and my sister Hailey are a day apart in birthdays so we had a combined birthday dinner.  Happy birthday to Hailey too!  We love you!

Charlie requested batman cupcakes from Nana

birthday morning

On his actual birthday, Charlie woke up to his room filled with balloons and a special doughnut for breakfast! He also got to go to preschool!  He brought a special birthday treat for his class and got to wear the birthday cowboy hat.  His sweet teacher even sent him home with a birthday gift.  He had fun celebrating his birthday at school!

coming home from preschool

After school we had lunch and opened presents.  Daddy had the day off since he had just come home from India a few days before.  Happy he could be home on Charlie's special day!

super cool new pajamas!

That night we went to Cornbelly's and spent 4 hours riding trains, sliding down slides, playing in corn, etc.  It was a kid heaven! We can't wait to go back next year!

 Can you turn an entire backyard into this?! Because that would be awesome!

 

 being buried in corn

Happy birthday Charlie!  

We love having you in our family!

Our 3 Weeks

saying goodbye at the airport

One of Tony's new job requirements is taking a 3 week trip to India, once a year, to work with his team.  He left the end of September and came back mid October. Those 3 weeks were a long 3 weeks for us!  We missed him so much!

8:45 PM waiting at the pharmacy for meds (for the 2nd time that day)

We survived, but I swear we had a years worth of sickness and weird stuff happen while he was gone.  Which is funny since a lot of my friends warned me that happens to them when their husbands are gone as well.  Well, they were right!  All of us got sick multiple times, both boys had croup and Joey's was so bad we had to go in for breathing treatments (so thankful for a wonderful pediatrician), a power outage, broken garage door...it was almost amusing.  On the bright side, we should have a long stretch of good health from here on out.  We've had it all!

We were stuck at home for most of the time, but we did have some great experiences while he was gone!  The first was definitely spending time in Southern Utah with Tony's parents and sister's family.  We got to see my niece, Cambridge, play in her championship soccer game & band concert.  We went to the movies, spent time with grandparents, cousins had a sleep over & I got to enjoy their help while being there :)  Charlie is still talking about the time he spent with his cousins.  We can't wait to see them again next month!

The last few days of Tony's trip were great!  The weather was nice and we were finally able to get out and play!

Thankfully daddy made it home safely and had a wonderful trip.  I'm so happy he has a job he loves and he is looking forward to going back to India next year.  Maybe I can have him do an India trip post here?

First item of business once we got home?  Wrestling, of course.

We love you, Daddy!

An Update

Here's a look at our lives last month!

We get together for a Messer family dinner one Sunday a month.  It has been fun to have a constant time to see family.  The last few months have been birthday dinners and this week the Sunday dinner is centered around celebrating Hailey and Charlie!  Nana is making batman cupcakes and Charlie is pretty excited about it.

Now that we live so close to temples our goal is to attend every other month together.  Then every other month one of us takes a turn going by ourselves.  It is working out good so far.  It helps having my parents so close to the Bountiful temple and the boys love to go play with family.

Plus the Bountiful temple is right by the Mandarin and that place is awesome.  So...win win, right?

My blog so as many pictures of my cute husband as I want :)

 after his first primary party

Charlie loves primary and had his first primary party last month.  Can you tell by his face that the party was a success?  Happy and grateful to have such an enthusiastic primary and great leaders & teachers.

Joey is my sweet mama's boy with a streak of fire.  He knows exactly what he wants and will not stop until he gets it.  I keep telling myself this is going to be a great trait to have as an adult :)  Right now his favorite things are: play doh, fruit snacks, water--he LOVES water, jumping on the trampoline, bugs, tractors, the movies Cars & Toy Story, toy helicopters & planes.  He is quite a tease and I'm starting to realize he teases poor Charlie more than I realize.  He knows just how to push Charlie's buttons and look completely innocent.

M:y boys love super heroes and Uncle Jack is that in Charlie's eyes.  Uncle Jack is very tall and holds Charlie up so he can walk on the ceiling.

 I love this view from our walks

Last month I broke my thumb by shutting it (completely shutting it-- door latched and locked) in the sliding door on our van.  I got to wear this lovely cast for a week and have had a little brace on it ever since.

 waking up daddy

I broke my thumb while we were shopping for...Halloween costumes!  We have a Captain America and Ninja this year.  Every year I want to do a cute family themed costumes or make homemade trick or treat bags.  Sorry boys, but mom is not crafty that way.  Maybe next year :)

 I don't think Charlie minds having a store bought, non coordinating family themed costume, do you? 

Charlie enjoys preschool, playing make believe, super heroes and being with friends.  He is very excited to turn 4 next week.  

 brothers going to church

A daily ritual and favorite around here is wrestling.  Sometimes mom gets in the action, but I'm not as fun as dad!  Can you believe we'll be adding one more boy to this mix next year?  The wrestling is going to get crazier and I'm thinking about all the eggs we'll need for scrambled eggs in the morning.  

 I love these boys!

I buckle the boys in the stroller on preschool mornings and we walk down to preschool.  After dropping Charlie off, I give Joey a fruit snack (to help him not freak out that he can't go to school too) and we go down to the walking path.

I walk as fast as I can because Joey always wants to get out and walk a bit himself.  That walk is very slow since we have to stop for every bug, dog, truck and plane that goes by.

We are getting ready for Charlie's super hero birthday party & the holiday season!

Oh boy!

Last weekend we went in for an early gender reveal ultrasound!  

Joey was not going to do a picture.  No way.

We're having a boy!!!!

I was so excited to find out because this pregnancy is flying by and I often forget I'm pregnant at all.  As soon as I found out it was another boy, I felt this rush of love come over me.  There is a baby in there after all!

I'm imagining all the boy craziness we're going to have in the future.  I'm stoked about camping, backpacking trips and hiking.  I've been searching for all the variations of bikes families with kids can have. I'm dreaming of biking trips and canoeing... I'm not dreaming of scouting and eagle projects, but we will do it and do it well!

3 boys within 4 years!  Life is going to get a little more rowdy, but I think we can handle it ;)

Family Update

I haven't done a full family update for a while so I guess it's time!

Tony took Charlie on the ward camp out last month! 

 They are "camping buddies" as Charlie says.

Tony is working so hard right now.  His company is new and exciting.  Being able to wear shorts & flip flops everyday is a definite bonus too.  He is newly working in the Elder's quorum.  It will be a great way to get to know the men in our ward so I'm excited for him.  I'm proud of everything Tony does for our family.

In Park City for my birthday-still need to post about this!

I'm now serving on the RS board and am loving this area.  I think it's a good sign to love where you are within two months!  There are 5 new homes on our street that have young families in them. We all moved in within two months of each other so we're all in the same boat--learning the area, husband's starting new jobs, etc.   All of us moms stay at home so we get the kids together for playdates and are starting up weekly lunches so us moms can get a little more adult interaction :)  Having good girl friends is such a blessing!
As far as baby news goes, I'm 15 weeks along so we'll find out what we're having in a month!

This is Charlie's Hulk and Captain America costume.  

Charlie is loving preschool.  He comes home with songs and phrases he learned that day.  

"I can spell red!  I can spell red!  R-E-D red!  R-E-D red!"

He has a few boys his age that he loves to play with.  I'm always trying to set up new play dates so we can meet more boys his age.  He is becoming quite social.  It seems like almost everyday we have some play date going on.  It's a good thing.

Charlie still loves to pretend.  His imagination is wild and sometimes I have a hard time keeping up with his games when we play!  I'm always stepping on some imaginary dragon or don't see the bad guys coming ;) Right now his favorite people to play are Iron Man, Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear, a cowboy, firefighter, father (he started saying this after he had a girl friend come over and she had him play house. Boys and girls play so differently!) and a puppy.  I'm always being corrected as to what name he is currently going by. Charlie is affectionate and kind.  My favorite thing he says is, "mom, I love you.  Mom, I like you."  This phrase melts my heart!

Watching his favorite movie: Cars.  He is completely glued.

Joey is talking so much now!  His words still sound like a minion, but I can understand a lot of what he is saying and it makes life a lot easier.  He is very head strong and knows exactly what he wants!  He loves cars, trains, pretending his hands are guns, playing doctor and fighting with lightsabers.  He loves to sing and has incredible pitch.  I can always tell what song he is singing, not by the words I hear, but because I know the tune.  He is always asking to "help."  He wants to help with the dishes, making dinner, laundry, etc.  He is a fantastic cleaner!   After cleaning each category of toy he pumps his fist in the air and yells, "I did it!"

Joey wants to do everything Charlie does, including potty training.  

We aren't there yet, but maybe soon?

Charlie says he and Joey are "best buddies."  They play so well together at home. I'm glad they have each other.  I have a friend with a 6 month old.  Watching them with her makes me excited to have another baby in the family!  These two will be great big brothers.

Always a Wrestling Match

I love these rowdy boys!

Labor Day Weekend

 

We had big plans to go camping in the canyon over Labor Day weekend.  Last minute we decided to stay home and do some much needed yard (still lots more to do) and sleep train Joey.  This mama was about to lose her marbles from him coming in our room and waking me up 4-5 times a night.  It's a good thing we stayed home because our friends went camping there the day before we planned on going.  All the campsites were full for the whole weekend!

Saturday we worked all morning and afternoon in the yard.  That night we had a babysitter come and put the boys to bed while Tony and I went out.  It was a much needed break!

On Sunday we went to my parents to celebrate Chloe's 17th birthday!  Happy birthday Chloe!

Monday we had some fun by going to Thanksgiving Point.  The boys and I go often, but daddy hasn't been with us yet.  We first went to Farm Country to see the animals before it got too hot outside.  The boys loved showing Tony around!

We left for lunch and afterwards Tony took us for a little tour of his office since it was Labor day and empty.

 

In each room Joey would say, "oooh!  This is nice!" They loved exploring around the office!  Charlie says he is going to work in an office like daddy when he gets big.

We came back to Thanksgiving Point for the dinosaur museum.  Charlie loves to tell first timers, "the dinosaurs are scary, but they aren't real.  They're just pretend!"  Good thing he is around to keep us all from being scared :)  We went to the little candy shop and let each boy pick out a candy.  They both picked airheads-Charlie picked blue & Joey picked green.  Surprise, surprise.

It was a good weekend!