Happiness is A Little Boy in an Orange Shirt

Little Guy - Big Sword

The Warrior and His Weapon.

(Thank you Nerf for making a durable, non-pain inflicting sword.)

.

Seeking His Prey. (Love the look on his face.)

.

The Attack.

.

No Mercy.

.

What would a birthday be without swords and light-sabers?

Because I Love Taking Pictures of My Boys...

...and my boys love playing soccer.

My Baby is Three

The day my little man performed his duties as ring bearer in Dustin and Erica's wedding, he also turned three. How can my baby possibly be three? I have no idea how that happened. Time is a funny thing.

Grandma Harms was wonderful and bought this awesome Scooby-Doo cake, and we celebrated Lewis' birthday in Fremont, Nebraska the day after the wedding. We will have another little party this weekend; a froggy party is what Lewis is calling it, so I guess I'm making a froggy cake.

.

A Few Notable Things About My 3-Year-Old

• He is funny. I know all kids say funny things, but he is a genuinely funny kid. He makes us all laugh; especially at the dinner table where he has a captive audience. Our meals were almost too quiet the weekend that Lewis went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Britt.
• He can be a little too aggressive. It is so hard to explain to him that the little girls in the nursery at church do not want him to wrestle with them or hit them or in any other way be a bully. He is used to playing with older boys all the time (you may recall we have almost 20 boys children on our street, most of whom are older than Lewis), and they like it when he attacks them.
• He loves to rock on a chair in the living room and make up songs. We must have a recessive rocking/singing gene in our family, because this is exactly what Owen did at his age, and still does now and then.
• He is an early riser, but he likes his sleep, so he is happy to go to bed most of the time.
• He sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and sings very loudly to himself.
• He calls Owen, 'oh-nee'
• He loves Scooby Doo and Ben 10.
• He loves swords and sticks that can be used as swords.
• He has to show his brothers his butt cheeks every night when I'm changing him into his pjs.
• He loves people.
• He sleeps with a blankie. It is the same blankie Carter used to sleep with. We did not in any way encourage it. It is just the blankie he became attached too. Needless to say, after two children, the blankie is not in very good shape.

I think the thing I adore most about this child is the joy he brings to our household. We waited longer than I had hoped to wait for him, and I am just blessed over and over and over by his existence in my life. He is a daily reminder of just how much God loves me.

The Wedding - The Ring Bearer

How do you keep a ringbearer happy before the wedding? Let him eat plenty of chocolate and drink Mountain Dew. It worked for us anyway.

The Wedding - The Little Ones

When it was time to walk out at the end of the ceremony, Lewis headed straight for the broken columns on the ground right beside where the wedding took place instead of walking down the stone path like he was supposed to. The little flower girl decided to follow him, and then she turned to the guests and shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes. It was super-cute.

The Wedding - The Bride and The Brother

Who is that beautiful girl my man is dancing with? It's just one of his many sisters. At Erica's bridal shower, when asked what her favorite toy was growing up, she answered, "Corey."

The Wedding - The Album Cover

The next boy band?!? This one reminds me of an album cover.

The Wedding - Family Photo Attempt

Okay, so the family photos didn't go so great. But we all looked pretty nice anyway.

Wait...who's that extra kid? Last I checked, we just had three. Our nephew Shaan decided to join our family.

Bubba Teeth

Lewis has been wearing these teeth around the house. It's a bit difficult trying to have a conversation with him.