Three

Simon turned three months and Charlotte turned three years this month.  It also turned 2013 and we had a big New Year's Eve party at our house. It was so nice to not have to travel this year.  A bunch of our college/tailgating friends came over with their kids and some even stayed overnight. The kids had a blast playing together. No one was majorly injured so it was all good.  The night almost fell apart when we couldn't find Charlotte's pinkies, but they were found before she needed to go to sleep.  

 Simon got to snuggle lots of people.  He enjoyed that.

As usual, I haven't blogged for a while so this will be a mish mash of pictures and activities.  

Charlotte has been making this face when she's a monster. I hope you're terrified.

Simon loves getting a bath.  He doesn't splash too much yet so he's staying in the baby tub for a while longer.

 Mina loves showing off the gap in her smile. She knows how cute she is.

 Jon got a bonus check at Christmas time so we indulged Bubba with a new sofa. He's getting old.

Mina just loves Simon. I've had to make up a new song called, "Don't touch my head. Don't pull my legs."  She's not catching on to that one.  Simon was putting up with the head snuggles in this picture, but he really doesn't like it when kids go anywhere near his head. Poor guy.

 I can't believe I'm lucky enough to have these three kids.  They're awesome.

 And a little bit crazy...

The girls look so old in this picture. Mina loves to play Star Wars Angry Birds and Charlotte loves to do puzzles and mazes on the iPad.

Simon is so smiley and alert.  I just got him to start laughing a couple of days ago.  He's much more pleasant than he was last month.  I can lay him on the carpet and talk to him and this is what he does.

We went to the Yo Gabba Gabba! concert in Des Moines on January 15th.  It was a fantastic time for all five of us. Jon had originally only bought three tickets, thinking I'd go with the girls and he'd stay home with Si.  With nursing, that was going to be really challenging, so he bought a couple more tickets and we were able to all go.  I hope it's one of Mina's first memories.  It was Charlotte and Simon's first concert.

Confetti paper flew out at the kids at the beginning and Charlotte clutched a piece she caught in the air for most of the concert.  I loved seeing her so happy.  Mina is more like me and sat quietly taking it all in.

 The Gabbas!

 Charlotte danced and danced and danced.

 Jon bought the girls toys during intermission.  What a sucker. :)

Simon was happy during the whole thing.  I wore him in the bjorn for a while, then Jon held him in his arms until he fell asleep. Yes, he fell asleep.  It was amazing how the timing all worked out perfectly. He nursed while we ate supper before the concert and then nursed in the van while we sat in the parking garage afterwards.  I love it when things work out well like that.

 Charlotte and Mina collected some papers. They wanted to get it all, but my pockets weren't big enough.

I got out from behind the camera for a second to show off my YGG! shirt with the girls.  I felt so cool since multiple people asked me where I got my shirt.  Delia's.

We were so excited and surprised when the girls got asked to go up on stage.  I didn't have the camcorder and rushed around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get pictures and video of everything. Jon was busy holding onto Simon.  My cell phone was full of pictures and videos already so I missed a bit, but got the most important stuff on either picture or video.

Biz tried to get Charlotte to do some beat boxing, but she was too shy.  The audience seemed to think she was cute though.  My phone died about 30 seconds before this so I don't have it on video.

 Mina wasn't afraid to beat box with Biz.  Yay!

They got to stay up on stage for a while and danced. I do have that on video that I linked up on Facebook.  It's on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRs9YaP4D8I

One night we went to Target so Mina could spend her dollars on something at the One Spot.  She picked out a microphone so Charlotte picked a microphone also.  Not good.  Not good at all.

You might notice that Charlotte wears this same outfit all the time.  The only way you can tell one day from the next is by looking at how faded her tattoo gets.

 Mina showing off her hilarious smile once again.

 I asked Charlotte how old she was turning and this is what she showed me. Oh my.

The girls played together really nicely on Charlotte's birthday.  My rule for the day was "Charlotte always wins."  That greatly reduced their squabbles.

 They built a huge castle for the princesses with an enclosed walkway.

 Charlotte made the princesses walk in the walkway and talk with funny voices. Mina was the builder.

We held Charlotte's birthday party at the hotel so we could swim and so I wouldn't have to do as much work. Mina practiced "swimming on top of the water."  She's getting pretty good. I'm glad she'll be old enough for real swim lessons this summer.

Charlotte was so happy to be able to reach everywhere in the hot tub. I couldn't believe her ability to go from cold pool to hot tub and back and forth without issue. Brr!

 Here she is showing off how she can reach if she walks on her tip toes.

 We had pizza, fruit, and veggies before it was time for cake and ice cream.

Charlotte was all about blowing out the candles. She knew just what to do (though she had to blow harder than her first try).

 Mina made a wonderful card for Charlotte, complete with a picture of them together with appropriate hair.

 Charlotte was such a happy girl at the party. She loved having all of the family there.

Now that Charlotte is three, she's old enough for story time at the library. We hadn't been to the library since this summer.  I've been lazy about it.  It's a lot of work getting all of the kids in there together and we have a lot of books at home.  I use up all my energy getting them in and out of the gym instead. Anyway, Charlotte had a couple of friends in story time. She held hands with Nicole while they were waiting to get their name badges.

 At least one kid cooperated for the story time picture.

 Typical.

So that's what's been going on with us.  Simon is probably going to be baptized next month and I'm going to have a few days without Jon. Those should make for some interesting photo opportunities and chaos.