Birthdays

Cullen has been three years old for over a month and a half now. I have been writing this post for as long. I am having a really hard time capturing in words everything I want to remember about Cullen at this age. I wish I could just follow him around with a video camera for a week, but I don’t think that’s very practical. So I’m going to do my best to express the very best things about this little boy.

I asked Cullen what some of his favorite things are, and these are his answers:

Favorite Book: Little Blue Truck Leads the Way

Favorite Thing to Watch: Curious George

Favorite Toy: Puzzles and Plus Plus Blocks

Favorite Food: Frosted Mini Wheats 

Favorite Place to Go: the park

What makes him laugh the most: silly noises and silly faces

In addition to his answers, he also still loves helping me in the kitchen. He will cook any chance he gets. And he likes helping take care of Macey. He fills her dog food bowl up almost every day; though it takes about 10 minutes because he fills it up five pieces at a time and asks “is this enough” over and over. I love how much he wants to help around the house and be involved in whatever we are doing.

But he is also into typical boy things. Its all planes, cars, bugs, and dirt around here. I can’t even count how many times I’ve had to tell him to put a dead worm down. We have to stop and watch every plane that flies overhead. There are currently three dump trucks in our living room, and at any one time there are no fewer than fifteen Matchbox cars parked in our floor. And if he is awake he is going ninety miles an hour, jumping off furniture, and bouncing off the walls. I am now fully immersed in life with a boy and I wouldn’t trade it for anything! 

Then there are those little things at every age that I want to remember forever. Small quirks or things he says that make us laugh every single time. Like how he says something is “degrossting” when he means disgusting. And the way he puts his hand on his chin and looks up when he thinking. How he walks around with his hand in his pocket like gown ups do. And how opinionated he is about what song is on the radio. The best is when he says “I look like a penguin” in a long drown out silly voice, most often when there is tension in the room. 

Cullen has fully embraced his roll as big brother. He takes his job very seriously and keeps a close eye on his little sister. He picks her up and moves her if he thinks she is going where she might be in danger. He tries to pick her up and put her in the stroller. He does his best to soothe her when she is upset. And he even shares his toys with her, almost always willingly. I knew from the first moment her saw her that he would love her with all of his heart, but it has been so much fun to see how he much fun he has taking care of her and playing with her. He definitely has those first born, take charge instincts, but in this case, it just melts my heart.

We love you so much Cullen! These past three years with you in our lives have been absolutely wonderful. I am so excited to see what God has planned for you and where life takes you as you grow!

We celebrated Cullen’s third birthday this past Saturday with a Monster Bash for family and his closest friends. 

We decorated with monsters and googly eyes everywhere. Monster invitations, googly eye chandelier, monsters on the chandelier. I made all of the decorations and games, and spent way too many hours with a stack of cardstock and my glue gun, but I think it was totally worth it.

The kids had fun playing Feed the Monster and Pin the Eye on the Monster. We also had a photo booth set up so everyone could dress up like a monster. Side note, when I first painted this blue monster, I left off the black of the eyes, and the nails. Cullen thought it was the silliest monster and loved looking at it. As soon as he saw the eyes and nails for the first time, he ran our of the room crying and scared to death. He quickly got over that and realized it was still just as silly, but for a moment, I thought I was going to have to cancel the whole party. Oops!

I think Cullen and his friends really had the best time sticking eyeballs to the monster and each other and throwing bean bags into the monster’s mouth (and at each other.)

We kept the food simple but really enjoyed some eyeball cookies, monster snack mix, and a three-layer monster cake. Yep, even the desserts got eyes. The real theme of the party was, lets see how many things I can stick an eyeball on!

After blowing out the candles, playing all of the games, and opening gifts, Cullen thanked his guests and sent them home with a kit to make their own playdough monsters. We filled the favor bags with playdough, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, pom poms, and feathers: everything needed for silly monsters.

On Sunday, Cullen’s actual birthday, we celebrated with a doughnut cake and gifts from us. Stickers, Monsters Inc. and puzzles. He even got a surprise visit from his Uncle and hopefully-one-day-to-be Aunt!

A few hours after his party, Cullen started feeling sick and had a fever for the rest of the weekend. Despite not feeling his best, he had a great weekend with friends and family. Loved playing with all of his new toys and puzzles, and even made it outside for a little T-ball.

Happy Birthday, Cullen! We loved celebrating you this weekend! Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us!

A couple of weeks ago, we had friends and family over to celebrate Cullen’s 2nd birthday dinosaur style. Our little two-a-saurus had a blast!

Much like last year, when our guests came in, we asked them to sign a book with a little message for Cullen. When they left, we sent them off with a favor of dino crayons and mini dinosaurs.

We decorated with tissue paper tassel garland and paper garlands that I put together and spray painted plastic dinosaurs. Our dinosaur themed food included Herbivore Food (fruit, veggies and dip, 7-layer dip and chips), Carnivore Food (meatballs, dinosaur shaped sandwiches, dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets), and cupcakes.

By far, the best part of the party was when we sang Happy Birthday to Cullen. Before we could even start the song, he sang it to himself. Several times. Hilarious! After a few tries and a little help from his Daddy, Cullen blew out his candles, we got to enjoy this super simple (and super yummy!) vanilla cake.

Cullen, I still cannot believe that you are already two years old. I love the little boy you are becoming. You are smart and funny and always find a way to make us laugh! I am so glad God has blessed us with such a sweet little boy. I can’t wait to watch you grow and see what He has planned for you. Happy 2nd Birthday, Cullen!!!

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate! It was a great party and Cullen had a blast!!!