Noah's Trans-four-mers Rescue Bots Party

Several months ago I had started planning a Wild Kratts 4th birthday party for Noah because that was his obsession at the time. Then a month or two ago he found a new show that he loved; Transformer's Rescue Bots. It's basically a Transformer's show geared for younger kids so they do more rescuing and less fighting. The main characters are Heatwave a Transforming fire truck, Chase a transforming police car, Boulder a transforming construction vehicle and Blades a transforming helicopter.  Ever since Noah saw this show it was love at first sight, and as soon as his friends started showing up with Rescue Bot toys he became even more enamored with the characters and show.

I tried and tried without success to talk Noah into a different type of birthday party but he was set on Rescue Bots.  So Rescue Bots we did.  Since the show is fairly new there aren't any Rescue Bot party decorations on the market, but two transformers characters (Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime) also make appearances on the show so I found plates and napkins with those transformers on them.  The rest of the decorations were simple and I designed and printed them with clip art from the internet. 

For the favors I made felt masks of the characters.  An artist I am not, so I had Jeremy draw and design the templates for me and then I took it from there executing and sewing the masks.  Noah loved them all!!!!

For the food  I came up with a bunch of Noah's favorite foods that I don't ever buy that I could use to represent the Rescue Bot characters so they would be special for the party.  So we had oreos for Bumblebee's wheels, and twizzlers for Heatwave's hoses, carrots for Blade's blades, red and blue m&m's for Chase's sirens, and cheese balls for Boulder's boulders.

For activities I had the show playing, some coloring sheets out and basically let the kids play and have a free for all in the backyard and house.  I think that everyone had a good time (kids and adults alike) and I know the birthday boy had a blast and was super excited!

3 years old

Happy Birthday to my fun, sweet, energetic boy!  I can't believe that you are 3 years old!  The time has flown by!

It is such a joy to be your mother.  You brighten my world.  You help me to play and have fun.  To enjoy the journey and not just the destination.  You teach me so much about life, myself, and God.  About patience, grace, and forgiveness.  

You are such a fun, energetic, funny, enthusiastic little kid.  You are brave and fearless.  You are sensitive and thoughtful.  

You are such a good friend.  You share really well and even find joy in bringing snacks and toys for the playdates we have with your friends.  You pray for your friends every night before bed and want to see them every day.

You are a great big brother.  You never get angry or impatient with your brother, even when he cries a whole 20 minute car ride.  If anything you love him too much and are constantly trying to play with him and invading his personal space bubble (which he actually seems to enjoy).

You are so smart!  You know the alphabet, shapes, colors, how to count to between 20 and 30, and can recognize many letters by sight now.

You love trucks and know every type by sight.  Even more than you love trucks, you love dirt.  Pretty much every time we go to a playground you choose to play in the dirt rather than on the actual playground equipment.  

You are potty trained.  You sleep by yourself in your big boy bed with Lightning McQueen and Mater sheets.  Soon your little brother will also be sharing your room with you.

You nap some days and not others.  You enjoy life way too much to interrupt and miss it by sleeping during the day.

You are a fairly picky eater.  You eat most fruits, raw carrots and cucumbers, cheese, any carby snacks, pb&j and grilled cheeses.

We let you watch a few shows before bed each night, and first thing each morning.  Your current favorite is the Mighty Machine Series, especially the Harvest, Car Wrecker, and Machines go to School episodes.

You no longer answer to Noah, and have informed us (and anyone who asks your name) that your name is Hard Hat Harry.  You got this from the character on All About Helicopters.  You also have an alter ego known as Tom Tom Bane.  We have no idea where this name came from, but when you start calling yourself this you get pretty wild and rowdy.  You have also started calling your brother Eck-o-loo.  It caught on and kinda stuck and now our whole family calls Elisha Eckoloo.

Although you are such a rough and energetic little boy, there is a softer side to you.  You are sensitive, empathetic, and discerning.  You are going to be a leader.  You will be able to feel the hurts of others, and your heart will go out to them.  You will care about and love people.  You will love Jesus.  If you marry, and have kids, you will be an amazing husband and daddy.  You will make disciples of the nations.

Your daddy and I are so proud of you, and love you lots!  You have changed our lives for the better, taught us how to play and explore.  You give us a reason to be a man and woman of God, to lead by example, to do the things we want to see you do, to provide a stable, loving, Christ centered home.

Construction Party

For Noah's 3rd birthday we had a Construction themed party.  I thought it was the perfect theme for him because he loves trucks and diggers and is obsessed with playing in dirt.  In fact, anytime we go to a playground he chooses to play in the dirt rather than playing on any playground equipment.  So for the party we basically turned our whole backyard into a construction zone.  We had sections of pine straw, rocks, and dirt, and plenty of trucks and shovels for the kids to dig with.  It was a really fun party, I think the kids had a blast playing and since the kids were happy and occupied the adults got to relax and chat.

Huge thanks to my hubby and his parents for getting our backyard converted to a construction zone, y'all are amazing!!!!!

 since the focus was the dirt and digging, the decorations were fairly simple and easy.  some caution tape and a few constuction-y looking signs

 for the cake, I made a plain chocolate sheet cake, with chocolate frosting, and then used graham cracker crumbs to top it and make it look like dirt

2 1/2

It has been a long time since I've done a post about Noah, probably since his 2 year old birthday.  I feel like so much has happened and changed since then that I want to record some of it here so that I don't forget all these little things.  He's growing up so fast.

Since he turned 2 in October we have put Noah through a lot of changes.  We transitioned him to a big boy (twin) bed (and out of the crib) in January.  It was as smooth as it could have possibly been.  He continues to blow me away with how flexible and adaptable he has always been on things like this.

Around January we also started potty training, and now have him solely in big boy underpants except for when he's sleeping.  Not sure when I'll work on taking away the diapers for sleeping, but probably not for a while.  He rarely ever has any accidents, and has just started transitioning from his little kid potty to using the big potty as of this week.

We think Noah understands that a lot is going to change as of tomorrow, and that he will have a little brother, but as of now he's in denial/ avoidance mode.

He is such a good communicator, it blows us away.  He forms and spouts of sentences on his own and almost never stops talking, at least when it's just our family, he's a little more shy in public.

He knows all of the basics... the alphabet, can count to somewhere in the teens, shapes, colors, animals, etc.

He is amazingly good at puzzles... a few weeks ago we gave him a 100 piece/ 5 year old and up puzzle, and he has been able to complete it by himself on several occasions.

He is all boy, and all energy.  Constantly running, jumping, and wanting to hit everything with a stick.  He wants to squish bugs, and play in the dirt.  He loves trucks and announces every truck that he sees... he knows all the varieties from tankers, to cement, to flat bed, to mack, to bank and UPS trucks.

He is such a sensitive, discerning little boy.  He cares about people's feelings and emotions and frequently asks us if we're happy or sad, or why we are happy or sad.  He does the same for most people and animals in books.

He LOVES to be the center of attention and have all eyes in the room on him.  He is definitely an extrovert, and would definitely rather have people around than play by himself.

He's still a pretty picky eater... not eating much protein, maybe a few bites of turkey burger, or slices of turkey pepperoni here and there.  He'll eat a few veggies... mainly raw carrots (sometimes dipped in hummus), cucumber slices with salt on them, and steamed broccoli.  He loves most fruits.  Carbohydrate snack foods, pb&j, and grilled cheese are his definite favorites.  And he loves our weekly family trips for frozen yogurt... his specialty being strawberry and chocolate frozen yogurt with m&m's, strawberries, and cherries.

He watches a show before bed every evening, and when he wakes up in the morning, since we don't have tv he's limited to a laptop and netflix for this.  His current faves are Go Diego Go, and Guess with Jess.  He's a very sensitive little boy and doesn't like any show that has any kind of villain in it, which excludes most Disney stuff, and even Veggie Tales.

He is a fairly big kid, in the 80-90% for everything from weight, height, and head size.  Most people who don't know him think he is 4 years old (or older) because he is so big, and so communicative.  Neither Jeremy nor I are tall people, so he must get this from some of his aunts and uncles.  He's already wearing 4T clothes, and doesn't give any indications of slowing down in growth.

I love this little boy and the excitement and energy that he has.  Every day is an adventure around here.  I'm so thankful to get to learn from him, and shape him into the man that he is quickly becoming.