A Birthday Letter For Derek

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

You turned three years old today. I can't believe how fast these past few years have gone. You have changed in a myriad of ways and yet you are still the same sweet boy that was put into my arms three years ago today. You are such a good big brother and are so much kinder and gentler with your brother than I ever dared let myself hope. You keep me on my toes both for disciplining and for belly laughs. You've also developed an interest in reading! YAY! I love it when you bring me book after book and we sit and read. You tend to talk while I'm reading and ask questions about every single part of the illustrations, but that just means you're learning while we read. I hope you continue to grow and thrive in your love for books. Oh, and you've finally decided to use the potty! YAY! No more diapers! I am SO proud of you! You've only had a handful of accidents since Christmas-time and you keep improving. I can't wait to see what this next year brings you, Derek. I know you will meet every challenge head on and stick it out. You are a trooper and never let anything get you down for long.

Here is a list of your favorite things as of today. :) I love you sweet pea!

Love,
Mom

Favorite TV shows/Movies: Dinosaur Train, Curious George, The Little Engine That Could (2011) -affectionately known as Train in the Park. You also like to watch what we call "Mommy Movies" with me - usually documentaries or the sci fy TV show, Merlin. I let you watch that one because you like the CGI dragon and there isn't any blood during the fight scenes. :)

Favorite Food: Beans and Weenies, cereal and yogurt, fruit snacks, bananas/apples, chocolate chips, popcorn, Grandma Heath's cookies (you ask to go to Grandma's shop at least once every week or two)

Favorite Toy: trains (especially Thomas the Train, though you don't really like to watch the Thomas movies), dad's tape measure,  Bryce's toys

Favorite Activity: playing with your cousins, nursery (you always ask to go to church and I'm pretty sure it's because you want to go to nursery), playing in your turtle ricebox (supposed to be sandbox, but we use rice), running (you NEVER walk if you can help it), riding your bike

Favorite Color: pink (this makes your father nervous)

Favorite Letter: Q (you always ask me to draw a Q for you when we pull out the coloring books)

Favorite Number: 5 (when we do counting activities, you immediately count to 5, even though that may not be the number we're looking for)

Favorite shoes: your Lightning McQueen rainboots. You wear them as often as you can. Usually I can persuade you to wear your Lightning McQueen tennis shoes, but sometimes you insist on wearing those boots.

Other Random facts: you love to wear hoodies with the hood up, even if you're inside. You still want to sleep with two toy cars. Doesn't matter which ones. You love to have the big penguin blanket that I grew up with on your bed at night. :) You still love pushing buttons - literally and figuratively. You can be extremely well-behaved when you're in a good mood. Even when you're in a bad mood, you still help me out by grabbing a diaper for Bryce or turning on a light (or your favorite: turning on the xbox). You are the king of sharing. When I give you a treat (like a baggie of cereal or bag of fruit snacks) you almost always pick one out and say, "Here, want to try it?" Sometimes you say it to Isaac, sometimes to Dad, sometimes to me, sometimes to totally random strangers.

You say the funniest things: you stood on a chair this week clad only in underwear and socks and announced, "Mom, I a prophet." When I asked what a prophet does, you responded, "I don't know, but I a prophet." You absolutely LOVE the Dinosaur Train show. you walk around talking about completely random dinosaurs like Pachycephalosaurus, Parasaurolophus, and Amargasaurus. You like more common ones like Pteranadon, Triceratops and Ankylosaurus too, but I think Masiakasaurus, Stegosaurus and T. Rex are your favorites right now. You walked in on me in the bathroom the other day and noticed I had more pee in the toilet than you normally do... so you asked if I "pee-peed really hard?" Oh my goodness, I laughed so hard!

Derek's Third Birthday

We celebrated Derek's 3rd birthday this weekend at Grandma and Papa's house in Prosper. It was so much fun! Derek loved being the center of attention. He was more excited about blowing out the massive candle and playing with presents than stopping to eat cake. Funny little kid. But we all enjoyed ourselves and only wished Jared, Sereen, Preston and David could've been there to complete the Heath Family Celebration. Missed you guys! 

Tammy made Derek's yummy chocolate/vanilla cake with chocolate mousse filling! YUM!

 The cake was extremely tempting to everyone

 Derek was excited to see a REALLY big candle (we couldn't find any birthday candles so we used a full-sized candlestick)

 It totally looks like he just blew out a stick of dynamite

 Say "I'm three!" Almost got it guys... 

 Derek loved this stuffed hippo chair!

 We got some ham with this cheese!

 The hippo chair was forgotten when Derek opened the last present: a flashlight. Papa knows him well.

 CAKE!

 We're glad Uncle Colton is back!

 King Isaac sits on the Hippo Throne eating the royal Gummi Worms.

 Savanna has Uncle Mitchell wrapped around each of her tiny fingers

 Emeri couldn't have cake but she sure enjoyed her first bites of baby oatmeal!

 Pretty Savvie kept giving us the cutest smiles

 Poor guys were exhausted from Bryce's bout with RSV

 Not even 6 months old and Emeri already tries to steal Savvie's clothes

The two girls!

Mommies and Daughters! 

 Look at that precious pout! He was not happy to take pictures with the girls

 Derek didn't like seeing Bryce cry all by himself, so he laid down to fake-cry with him

Indoor Jungle Safari and Going Bonkers

Tammy found discounted tickets to a cool local indoor kids' playground. It was awesome!!Derek had a great time running free and wild and playing in the ball pit. I'm sure I would've had more fun if I wasn't so sick to my stomach. Ugh.

 There was a cool train that the kids rode on several times. This is Derek's oh-my-gosh-I'm-on-a-train face. Haha! Don't be fooled, he was really very excited about the train.

 Emeri and Liz are so cute!

 So are Sereen and Preston! That little boy has a great smile - just like his mom!

 This is the definition of chill - check out Isaac's fruit rollup. Now that's some serious relaxing!

 Oh the germs!

Thankfully, Derek didn't figure out he could play in this decorative pond. Ick.

Before Jared and Sereen flew home, Liz and I took them to Going Bonkers here in Lewisville. It's a little pricey for older kids but so much fun! Even adults can climb in and around the heavy duty mesh jungle gyms. There are a few super slick slides that are oh-my-gosh fun. Especially if you're trying to negotiate the lip of the slide with a squirming 30 lb toddler on your lap, lol!

Doesn't this look fun?! Let's play find Liz, Kadi and Jared!

Liz took a turn climbing with the boys

 

Thrill personified!

Oh dear, I'm afraid we're cultivating some expensive taste in cars... and he's not even 3 yet!

 

For some reason, the kids all loved this super slow-moving teapot ride.

Gotta pour this teapot out!

 Having a blast!

Isaac looks so old! Still has the same blank stare look that he was famous for as a baby. :)

 Andrew rocked his mom's shoes with some little man swag

The boys were fascinated with the candy crane so we spent a few quarters to get some smarties and nerds. Isaac was particularly fond of the nerds. 

Randoms from Christmas Vacation

Uncle Jared helped Derek decorate his gingerbread bear

 I think the adults were more absorbed in decorating than the boys. :)

 The best part of course!

 Look at these handsome boys!

 Andrew is very protective of his playdough. Derek knows this and takes his stuff merely to get a rise out of him. Little punk. Isaac and Andrew have special blankets that Derek likes to grab and run off with to make them chase him, too. Haha!

 Uncle Superman and Superman, Jr.

 It's happy to be eaten

Jeff deep-fried some AWESOME turkeys!

Baby Blessing

We blessed our sweet baby Bryce tonight. He did great! Not a peep while Mitchell pronounced one of the most beautiful blessings I've ever heard: full of wonderful promises and blessings. Some of my family came out to Prosper where we blessed three babies in Jeff and Tammy's new home. It was such a wonderful night with great food and awesome family. I hope we can make this a family tradition. 

Savanna - a week shy of 2 months

Bryce - 2 months and a few days. Our little brick all dressed up for his blessing. Aunt Sereen made the coolest vested onesie out of an old men's shirt.

Emeri - 5 months

 
Isaac adores his adopted Nana

All these kiddos were born in 2012! Crazy!

I'm so glad my grandparents, my mom and two of my sisters were able to make it!

My grandparents and Bryce. Bryce's middle name (William) comes from both of my grandfathers.

Gammy and Papa sure are loved!

Uncle Cool-ton

What a wonderful year 2012 was! I am so blessed with two wonderful little boys and the love of my life.