drew's 3rd birthday party...pump it up...2.28

the birthday boy's shirt...

the kids listening intently to the instructional video...yeah right :)

pure joy!

griffin...

drew and walker...

cousin nicholas...

more happy faces...

daddy and drew...

happy little brother...

alison and her three kiddos...emma, claire, and walker...

smiley anna leigh...

amy and little mary mcrae...

mommy and her little drew boo...

nana loving on baby jacob...

rhett and anna...catching a lift!

the party favors...

the pull-a-part monkey cake...

a very exhausted big sister...

sweet mary mcrae...

miss mary gets in on the action...mason, ava, mary, and a helpful anna leigh...

daddy's socks got a hole in them, so he borrowed mommy's cute pink stripey socks...so stylish!

climbing up the stairs one last time...

daddy helping the birthday boy get his shoes back on...

a little sibling lovin'

a few of drew's friends...

drew in the inflatable birthday throne...

blowing out the candles...

surrounded by his "helpful" friends while opening presents...

where's drew?

jacob had the best shoulder in the house...

love the slobber covered fingers...teething much?
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the pictures really tell the whole story...

drew's party was SO much fun! this is our 2nd year in a row to have this rainy february birthday celebration at pump it up! its too much fun for our little "monkey" and his friends! and it definitely wears them out :) this year we had the added bonus of a winter weather advisory on the day of drew's party! it snowed 6-12 inches across the mid-south starting about 2 hours after the party ended! we were so thankful all of our family and friends arrived home safely after the party ended! pics of the snow to come soon!!!

drew's 3rd birthday dinner...2.26

we enjoyed a fancy dinner at cici's pizza for drew's 3rd birthday! as always, the volume/craziness level is already high enough that our family just blends right in :) we enjoyed a delicious dinner with mimi and poppy...we missed you nana and pop pop!!! the kids had a blast! jacob sat and took it all in...and poppy had a pocket full of quarters that kept sarah and drew happily entertained in the game room! we also spent drew's 1st birthday dinner at cici's...

we didn't make it to cici's last year...sleep was too important for our little birthday boy!!! we enjoyed celebrating our first son's 3rd birthday in style :)

drew's THIRD birthday...2.26

drew was SO proud of his birthday crown from his teachers at preschool...he asked me to take his picture as SOON as we got home...i wonder if he remembered this?!?

brothers...2.23

drew's 1st visit to the dentist...2.23

with the help of nana and mimi, i took all three kiddos to the dentist. a NEW dentist. drew's FIRST dentist visit.

ugh. our dumb insurance changed on december 1st...sarah went last january to MY dentist (at the time), dr. barton. i decided she REALLY needed to go to a pediatric dentist, so she went to dr. rowland in july for her 2nd dental visit. THEN, the dumb insurance change...

so, i had to start from square one and find a new dentist...through a lot of referrals from my sweet friends, we decided on this one...so poor sarah has been to the dentist three times at three different places.

anyway...so the reason so many people were involved in the trip to the dentist was sarah had spent the night at mimi's on sunday night, and drew had spent the night at nana's house. so, i just had to get myself and jacob to the dentist on time :) nice!

we had been talking up how cool the dentist is to drew since it was his first time to go...what a waste of time...he was as cool as a cucumber about it all! so passive and agreeable (not his normal personality by a long shot)! he did so well with his cleaning that they attempted x-rays! he did great with them, except he couldn't "get" the concept of keeping his mouth closed on the bitewings while the hygenist stepped away...so, drew got a GOLD STAR for his first dentist visit! and a great report for his teeth and gums!

little sarah was a different story...she was scared. really scared. she does NOT trust people in scrubs who lay her back onto tables/exam chairs. and i really can't blame her. she went through all the mess with physical therapy and her torticollis her first whole year of life...then she had that terrible anal fissure with surgery...THEN she has to go to the eye doctor 4x/year and get her eyes dilated 1x/year! she has A LOT of scary stuff in her little memory...

she did let the hygenist do her entire cleaning, and she let the dentist check her out, but they didn't even attempt x-rays because she was so tense and tearful. breaks your heart...

she did get a great report on her teeth and gums too. the doctor actually said her mild crossbite has all but disappeared and that her mouth doesn't look like she's a thumb sucker! what a miracle! i guess we are getting our "break" on her mouth! its about time! so, that was some good news!

the funny thing about the whole dentist experience was that when we got back out to the waiting room where mimi and jacob were, sarah immediately told mimi that she had not cried at all! not sure if she was straight out lying, or if her little reality was that skewed!!! anyway...i am hoping we can finally establish a little consistency with our dentist visits. and hopefully that will help sarah out a little bit. she is such a little habitual thing...

so, that's the story of, that's the story of...our dentist appointment!!!

p.s. sarah and mimi came straight from dance class...thus sarah's interesting ensemble of a leotard with pants :)

jacob and sissy part 2...2.21

its a shame nobody loves jacob...2.20

nana and pop pop came over to visit to bring the kiddos their valentines--and got in a little play time with jacob. aren't grandparents the greatest?!?

kids at play...2.19

"please mommy! please stop taking my picture and get me out of this swing!"
"no mommy...sticking my pacie in my mouth is NOT helping!"

"okay, i'll quit fussing. i'll just hold this pacie in my mouth by myself!" (what a big boy!)

oh no! dress up time at the woodard house! guess what drew is wearing?!? sarah's dance recital costume from last spring...he put it on and said, "mommy! look! i a girl!" nice drew...

sadly, he did look awfully cute...

back to back sonic attack...2.18 and 2.19

the week that jacob had pneumonia (poor baby!), mimi brought sarah home from school on wednesday so i didn't have to get baby jacob out in the cold...so sweet! a few minutes after they got home, we decided to hop in the car and hit happy hour at sonic! so so sweet! the kids mesmerized by their movie and apple juice slushes...
mimi enjoying her mocha java chiller...

drew in mid-slurp...

on thursday, i asked mimi to ride with me to the school and sit with jacob while i went in to get the big kids...a sneaky little plan that resulted in ANOTHER trip to sonic! happy hour two days in a row! what a treat! and because i bumped my head, the kids got the new jr. candy sundaes this time! and as seen above, mimi thought jacob might enjoy the sonic stop more if he hung out with her in the front seat instead of in his carseat...rotten little thing! he doesn't look like he feels too bad from his pneumonia in that pic!!!

exhausted children from a fun-filled day at preschool...