Fireman frenzy!

Ever since he got a fireman costume for his birthday, Clayton has been obsessed with dressing up like one.

First big boy haircut!

Clayton got his first big boy haircut! (Up to this point, I have been trimming his hair in the bathtub!)

We also said "goodbye" to pacis. (We've been telling him that when he turns three, he has to stop sucking pacifiers so his teeth will grow correctly.)

He was very mature about it and we went over and over this for weeks leading up to the big day. Then when the day came, he helped me put them in a box and put them in the mailbox for the mailman, so he could pick them up and take them to a new baby that needed them.

He asked about them a few times that day...if they were still there in the mailbox. He asked for them again at bedtime...even cried a little. He fell asleep without them and seemed to do okay. That was day one. Since then, it's gotten much worse. He's been extra whiny, clingy, and fussy. I hear "I want PACI!" probably 100 times a day. He has even gone into nasty little tirades where he rants "I'm gonna go TAKE them from that baby. I want my pacis!" The saddest moments are the tearful laments "I don't WANT to be three!" Poor kid...he's now hating age three all because of its paci-less existence. It's been about a week and it hasn't gotten better yet. Hopefully next week he'll forget about them? (I couldn't throw them away. They are hiding in my car. Lord, please give me the strength to not give in and give them back to him!)

Clayton's Birthday - the party

Since Clayton has loved brooms since he learned to walk, we held a "birthday broom bash" for his 3rd birthday.

In addition to the five of us, we had BB, Papa, my sister Meredith and her baby Kellan, my brother Taylor and his girlfriend Jess, my Aunt Liz and Uncle Jim, Cousin MaryBeth, her husband Ben and Baby Gracie, cousin Susan, and God parents Erica and Rick and their twins Sofia and Eva.


We had beef, chicken and shrimp shish-kabobs, bread salad, and a green salad. Mmmmmm...

and "broom" cupcakes or dessert...

Clayton was very excited to have Happy Birthday sung to him...

and was even more excited to dig into that cupcake!

Austin loved the cupcakes too...

The kids took turns whacking our "broom shaped" pinata...(with brooms of course)

Clayton opened his presents with little Gracie looking on...

Caroline was all smiles too!

The party favor for all the kids was a chef's apron...(I missed getting a pic of everyone in theirs, but here are my three with them on...)

Clayton's Third Birthday!

We celebrated Clayton's third birthday a few weeks early with Kevin's side of the family.
It was so cute. Since they know he LOVES vacuums, they got together all of the vacuums and wet vacs and tied balloons to all of them as a surprise for Clayton. He was in heaven and got to play with 10 different vacuums/wet vacs for the night!

Bring on the Lobster!

My Dad treated us to a delicious lobster dinner at Westmoreland this past Friday night. It was SO good!
I can't remember the last time just the five of us were together. It was definitely a wonderful evening.
Thank you Dad!!!!!

Fun at Independence Grove

We went on a family outing to Independence Grove last weekend. We rented a row boat and rowed around the lake. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and everyone had a really good time.

A few summer videos...

Clayton eating a popsicle and trying to get every last drop...


Austin trying to sing Happy Birthday

Brad Paisley!

Kevin and I got to go to the Brad Paisley & Darius Rucker concert at Tinley Park. It was a great concert. Of course, we are total concert virgins...the tickets said that the doors opened at 4:00. So we showed up with plenty of time to spare at 3:30. After a LOT of waiting in the hot sun, surrounded by wasted teenagers, we learned that the doors open at 4 so people can grab good lawn seats surrounding the pavillion. The concert didn't start until later. Much later. 9:15 to be exact! We felt like such idiots. We could have dined in the city first and still made it in plenty of time. Instead, we sat around for a LONG time and ate very expensive, quite disgusting stadium food that made Soldier Field fare look like Emerill Lagasse's. Once we got over our mistake, we had a good time talking and spending quality time, just the two of us. Darius Rucker was really, really good; and Brad was AMAZING!