Happy Big Three!

I worked on this entry late last night, but had to go to bed after an hour! It's taken a while to put together pictures and thoughts, but I'm glad I was able to finish it today.

Well, even though it's impossibly hard to imagine, Josiah and Lilly are officially THREE years old today! From their unexpected arrival to this weekend when we played in the snow, they continuously and beautifully amaze us every day.

Although it's difficult to narrow down, here are our (top) favorite three things about the big kids:

Josiah-

• Strength of body, mind and character- a leader and problem-solver. We delight in your independence and ingenuity. 
• Love and affection. It's important to you that no one be left out. You love when everyone is together and constantly seek people out to play, snuggle or be with you. Hugs and kisses from you are priceless. 
• Best big brother. Josiah, you are so good to Noah. I love that you and he were playing with your new Buzz Lightyear tonight. You are gentle to him when he has something he's not supposed to, and helpful when he needs something. 

Lilly-

• Tender and sweet...with a little bit of rockstar. You are the best of both worlds! You have such a deep compassion for others and are so gentle and loving to those around you. We love your snuggles and kisses and totally melt when you say, "I love you." With such a sweet side, it's awesome to see that you can also "hold your own" and not let yourself be completely led by others. 
• Creative and persistent- Any time you learn something new (golf, basketball, softball, tennis- on Wii, arts/crafts, job around the house, etc. you stick with it until you get it right. Even though things can be complicated, you are focused and can remember everything that someone said. It's hard to pull one over on you! 
• Best big sister. Lilly, no one loves on Noah like you. We love to hear your "Noah" voice as you talk to him when he's sad, or share your toys, or give him bites of food at dinner. Thank you for being SUCH a great helper! 

Birthday weekend pictures!

It hasn't snowed a decent amount in our area for a few years, so we did a quick bit of scrounging for snow gear and were thankful that we had enough to get by! It was a great way to start the weekend together :)

Did your parents ever put plastic bags on your shoes? Growing up, we used to and I'm glad I remembered that trick since thekids didn't have snow boots!

Mr. Snuggler.

How we kept in contact with Noah and daddy inside.

He loved it, of course.

Trying to smear snow on mommy...

Buddies :)

We spent their birthday morning at Little Sport for a few hours. It's a clean and cute place to let the kids play freely. We enjoyed it thouroughly.

About 5 min after this, they passed out for a few minutes on the ride home.

After their nap, we took them to the Disney store so they could pick out a special gift of their own. We're very much into Toy Story these days. Josiah picked Buzz (after a little convincing that Zurg was too big for our house-and scary!) and Lilly choose her beloved Jessie.

After dinner at Famous Daves (Lauren was able to join us since she can't be there for their birthday party on Friday) we went home and played "late" into the night with the newest members of our family (as Josiah and Lilly lovingly refer to them).

        

...and videos...

Love those lemons! 

Happy Birthday dessert at Famous Daves!

...and a few pictures from my phone...

Silly Noah at dinner.

Steve and I try to take each of the kids on a date once in a while. A few weeks ago, Lilly got to have dinner and dessert with daddy at Panera, Noah had a lunch and shopping date with mommy and daddy, and last weekend Josiah and I went bowling and ate pretzels at the mall. We love these moments.

We love you little ones! Can't wait to celebrate Josiah, Lilly AND Noah's birthday this weekend with family!