Cookie Monster Party!

Considering Gunnar's love of Cookie Monster...I was so excited to make these for his birthday... I think they're so fun!

And he loved them! He helped me bake them in the morning... ...then luckily he took a good nap that day so I had a chance to decorate them. And it took the entire 2 hours that he was asleep. Squirting on all that fur was time consuming! When he got up from his nap he was so excited to see them all done and loved that his eyeballs were chocolate chips! Lars brought home pizza for dinner, then we had Gunnar's party. He'd been waiting and waiting for March 28th to come, so he was excited when it was finally party time. He of course wanted to open presents first...and luckily didn't mind that Ashton pretty much opened them for him all the while saying "I'm just helping him."

He got lots of fun new toys, but the one he couldn't wait to dive into (from Grandma and Grandpa Harry) was the Moon Dough.

It is weird stuff...but all the kids loved it!

Then it was time for our one game...Pin the Cookie in Cookie Monster's Mouth (so original I know). Gunnar didn't want anything to do with it and I think the rest of the kids could see out of the blindfold. Oh well...it looked cute on the door!

Finally time for cupcakes! I love when we all sing Happy Birthday to Gunnar...he gets so shy :)

He loves blowing out the candles though...

Then we got to dig into these guys...and man were they MESSY! All that fur just crumbled everywhere. But what is a birthday party without a mess!

As I always say...time is just going way too fast. I find myself thinking...No! He just can't be 3 already!

Some of the things we love about Gunnar at this age...

His happy, fun, silly personality that keeps us all entertained.

His sweet smile, adorable freckles and cute red hair that everyone, everywhere comments on!

The cute way he talks and all the funny things he comes up with everyday.

The way he adores his big brother and tries to please him & of course copies everything he does.

How he pretends with everything and especially how he talks to all of his stuffed animals and makes up voices now of them talking back to him.

How he is still so snuggly.

His sweet sensitive side...always worrying about everyone else.

His love of dancing and music.

I guess I could go on and on...

Happy Birthday little boy! We love you so much!

Gunnar's 3 year photo shoot....

I cannot believe this little munch will be 3 tomorrow!!! We had a nice day a couple weeks ago and my sister was here to help me, so we decided to take Gunnar out while Ashton was at school and try to get some fun pictures of him as an almost 3 year old. He did pretty well and we got some cute ones :)

Here are my faves...

Party Invitations :)He is so excited for tomorrow! Stay tuned for the party post :)

Funnies...

Before I forget all of these recent funny things Ashton and Gunnar have said, I need to write them down :)

Most recently...(about 5 minutes ago) when I was putting Gunnar to bed, we were starting to say prayers and I was telling him that it's always good to talk to God and how God loves him and how He made him. So he of course asked me "How did He make me?" And I think I said "Oh He just did, He made all of us." And he said, "But where did He find all of my pieces?" Then after I quit laughing, I said "He made your pieces." And I started naming some of them and he said "Yeah like my pupils, and my eyebrowls...and what's that thing called, oh yeah my uvula!" "Did He put that back where it belongs?" Oh my gosh...he cracks me up!

Earlier today I was finishing his birthday invitations and he came and picked one up and said "You made these on the computer for me Mommy?" I said "Yep", and he said "You're a good Mom." Really...he said it and I didn't tell him to..hahaha! Love him!

Yesterday I was downstairs on the computer and amidst a bunch of fighting between Ashton and Gunnar upstairs, I hear Gunnar stop and say "You know what Ashton? I love you." And very quietly I hear Ashton reply "I love you too Gunnar." It made my day.

A couple weeks ago I asked Ashton if he thinks that you just keep getting bigger and bigger the older you get and he said "No...you keep getting littler, and littler because Yoda's like 1000 and he's really little!" Funny Boy!

Also a couple weeks ago Ashton brought home his weekly library book from school and it was all about magic. He went to school that day specifically looking for a book about magic and was SO excited to come home and show me that he'd found one. He immediately wanted me to start reading it with him and it didn't take long for me to realize that he thought now that he had a book about magic...he could just "disappear" anything, or make anything he wanted appear! I don't think I've ever seen a more sad look on his face than when I had to tell him that it didn't work that way :( He was devastated and completely shocked! I felt so bad for him and I imagined what was going through his little mind. I found myself wishing that he really could do it! I love things being magical for little kids...

Anyway he got over it pretty quick and had fun practicing the little magic tricks in the book.

For awhile I noticed when Gunnar would talk to Ashton about me, he would always say "My Mom..." and each time Ashton would say "It's OUR Mom Gunnar." So after a few times I thought it was so cute to hear Gunnar start to say "My, then hurry and correct himself and say "Our Mom said this, or Our Mom did that." He always wants to please Ashton. This past week or so, if he thinks he's said something wrong, he'll quickly say "Nevermind..."

Oh and he's SOOOO excited for his upcoming birthday, he goes and points to the day on the calendar off and on and asks "Is that gonna be my Birthday??" And says over and over...I'm gonna be 3 on my Birthday...hu, all while holding up 3 of his cute little fingers.

I got him all signed up to go to preschool in the fall. It was so weird to walk in with him and imagine him going there in 6 months! How can he be almost 3 already?? Sad :(

On the bright side, I did take him out for his 3 year photo shoot the other day and got some super cute shots...stay tuned!

Dance Party & Legos...

Two things I can't not blog about...so much time is spent doing them at our house! Ashton loves legos and Gunnar has even started to really sit down and build with them lately... I love to see them getting creative :)They also spend a good part of their time dancing! They get out their little cd players & put in their silly cds that Lars made for them, then... dance, dance, dance! It is so entertaining...Lars and I can't help but join in lots of times :) Ahhh...to be a kid and dance like no one's watching :)

Lucky #11...

Lars and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary this past Saturday, Feb. 26...I really can't believe we were in Vegas a year ago celebrating the big 10!

Or that we've been married 11 years...we're getting old!

We had a fun day playing with the boys in the new FOOT of snow we got the night before... Then we got their favorite babysitter Olivia to come stay with them while we went out that night to dinner at Elements, then to the Aggie game with our friends Shelly and Shane. They offered us tickets at the last minute.

(Gunnar took this picture of us on our way out :)... It was a fun night out!

Here's to 11 more!

Oh and when we were talking about where we'd be in 11 more years...Lars said "Just imagine, Ashton will be 17!!!" Then we immediately ended that conversation. Can't think about it.