Trey's Birthday

It seems like I just posted Trey's birthday party from last year, and here we are again already! I was just thinking about how Diana Bullock, my cousin and long time friend, posted some old birthday party pictures of hers on facebook and how fun it was to see everyone and try to remember everyone's names. Some of the people I haven't seen in years and others I have lots of contact with. Someday these pictures will be that same thing for Trey. It's fun to think about.
So Trey had another birthday, March 12! And we actually got to do it on his actual birthday this year, it was great! Usually his birthday is midweek, so we end up celebrating at home on that day and then again when his birthday party happens on the weekend. So only doing it once this year was great! We had it at the church, where there's lots of space and a big gym. We played some games in the gym, you know the good ones that we used to play when we were kids like freeze tag and red light-green light, a balloon relay and a pinata. Then we came in the room we had decorated for pizza, cake and gifts. It was simple and fun. And everyone had a blast.

I made these easy cupcakes that look like ice cream cones. You bake the cup cakes and put the cones on top before you put them in the oven. When it's done and cooled, frost and put some sprinkles on. So easy and cute.

Okay, I forgot, we did do a little bit more celebrating. For several months, ever since we went to Chevy's and Trey saw the hat that you get when it's your birthday, he has asked if we could go there for his birthday dinner. So the next night, we went to Chevy's. He loved it. I don't know how much he loved his food, but he sure loved his sombrero!

Mud Party

I LOVE the time change! I love having longer evenings, especially as it starts to warm up a bit. We went for a late afternoon stroll last Sunday and found ourselves a mud pit! At first we were trying to avoid it, but then Trey rode his bike through it and got his feet all muddy. Then Justin wanted in. Sometimes I just have to let them do it, after all, they're little boys, and that's what they love! So we put Justin in there and then Seth wanted in too, why not!

Seth put his feet in and quickly decided it maybe wasn't for him. The problem was there were little rocks that hurt their feet, but it didn't stop the other two.

This is the picture I love the best. If you can see, Trey is holding Justin and helping him get around. He is so good about that. Justin's balance isn't very good and the terrain was difficult, but Trey was right there to help. Of course Ryan or I couldn't help because we didn't want to get our feet all muddy! :) This picture reminds me of this little statue that my mom gave me that sits on Justin's dressor. It's a little boy carrying his little brother and it says, "He ain't heavy Father, he's my brother!" My mom had it and I actually asked her if I could have it because it reminded me of these two so much. Trey lifts and holds and carries Justin so much without being asked, it's just part of him now. He really watches out for him. It is so sweet.

Justin and the potty

So as I explained in an earlier post, Justin is now potty trained and doing great! Some funny things happen along the way that I want to write so I always remember. The other day we were in the car and Justin told me he had to go "pee pee." We were headed home, so I asked him if he could hold it until we got home. He quickly put both hands over his crotch and held on tight! I realized he only understoond the literal meaning. Another funny happened the other day when Justin was sitting on the potty. We figured out a great way for the pee to actually get into the toilet and not shoot right out and completely miss; he leans way forward and tucks his head down so he can watch everything that's going on, and it makes the pee go down instead of straight forward. Well he did this one particular time and it came out hard and fast this time and because he was watching, he yelled out excitedly, "bubbles!" Most of the time it comes out slow, but this time he had a lot and he was right, there were tons of bubbles! He was super excited about them.

Big Things Happening in the Dickman House!!

Yes! Two great things have happened recently here that we are thrilled about!
#1- Justin got potty trained! Yippeeeee! I am ecstatic about it! Not too long ago he had some doctor visit his preschool that looked at him and said that he probably wouldn't be able to be potty trained until he was about 8 years old! Well we proved her wrong!! Justin's muscles are hypotonic (loose) and this had been difficult for him. We've tried the last year on and off to potty train but with not too much luck. But a few weeks ago I decided that we needed to stick with it, and apparently he was ready too and it worked, in fact pretty easily! We've had less accidents than when Trey was potty training! Anyway, he's doing great and he's only 4, not 8!! Yipee, less diapers!

#2- Seth is walking! We're so excited about this too. It took him until about 16 months, but it's happened, and it's wonderful. So many people say, "oh, now he's going to get into everything!" But I think that's a wonderful thing. I love going out and about or even just in the back yard and he can walk now, instead of crawling everywhere in the filth and dirt.

Valentine's Day

Last week for Family Home Evening we talked about love and Valentine's Day and we each made a little Valentine's box/envelope. Throughout the week we were each supposed to write little notes to each person and put them in their box. So tonight for FHE, we do FHE on Sunday nights instead of Mondays, we took turns reading what each person had written to us. It was really sweet and special. Justin needs help with what to write for each person, but Trey did his all on his own and it was so sweet to read his notes to each person. It brings such a nice feeling into the home when we're focusing on loving each other. I loved it. I think we'll start that as a yearly family Valentine's tradition.

I couldn't ask for a sweeter little family. I feel so blessed to have each of my 4 boys in my life. Each brings so much joy to me. And Ryan if you read this at some point, I love you so much. You are the love of my life and I'm so glad you decided to marry me. Everything we have together is wonderful and good and we have the sweetest 3 little boys in the whole world. I love you, happy Valentine's Day! (You'll probably be reading this in May!)

Glasses

Ever since Seth has come along, he loves to grab at Justin's glasses and pull them off. Well yesterday the funniest thing happened. Justin and Seth were playing and Seth grabbed Justin's glasses and instead of pulling them off, they just slid down and ended up on the tip of his nose. I waited for Justin to get mad, but instead he paused and then looked up at me and said, "Grandma!" It was hillarious! That's how Grandma wears her glasses so much of the time and he knew it! I laughed so hard and called Grandma.

Catch up time!

Wow, I have not blogged in a very long time. And now I'm so incredibly far behind. But I pretty much missed all the holidays, and you can't just miss that. So I'm going to have to back up, and catch up. I'm going to "try" and blog almost every day and get caught up this week. I'm tired of being behind.




But first, I have to share this. You know you have all boys when boy #3 at only 15 months is laughing at his own burps and farts! And then after he burps, makes sounds as if he's doing it again and again and cracking up at himself! The other two did not start that so young, but this one has some good examples of this to follow!

SAN DIEGO-Visit with old friends

This summer in August we had a Dickman family reunion in San Diego, which I posted about months ago. Well, what I didn't get to was what we did afterwards. Our best friends from Madison, Wisconsin moved to San Diego two months after we moved from Madison to San Francisco. So at least we're still in the same state! The Price's are amazing people. And I actually think they liked us as much as we liked them. I shouldn't say "liked" because of course we still like them! Trey and Nathan hit if off when we first moved in, and they were best friends from the start. And it wasn't long after that Amber and I followed suite. We hung out almost every day. It's not every day, in fact almost never, that you find a friend like that. We each have three boys, and they're all about the same ages. When we moved in we each only had two, but currently we each have three. Anyway, that was one of the hardest things about leaving Madison, leaving the Price's, but luckily they sort of followed us! So when we went to San Diego for the reunion, we of course decided to stay a few extra days and hang out with our friends. Here's a picture of all the boys. Guess which ones go together? Isn't it obvious? Hint: look at the shapes of all their heads. Three roundies/squares and three ovals. Maybe not as obvious in this picture as in real life.

Trey and Nathan

Justin and Jack

Seth and Dallin

They loved playing the Wii. Especially Trey because we don't have one.

Amber--aka motor butt! She can't sit still, she's always doing something. This woman knows how to get things done and is just amazing.

It just happened to be my birthday while we were out there! And my husband went home to go back to work and her husband went out of town to work. So it was just us and all the little boys. It was nuts, and so much fun. So we went out to dinner to this little Italian place. As soon as we walked in this older woman was gauking and talking about us and how many boys we had! She did not know how to be quiet, we could hear everything she was saying! It was hillarious! And she didn't stop, she just kept on saying things to her husband, nothing bad, but she was just stunned. So finally she said something and I decided to correct her, so I turned around and corrected her, and she was so embarrassed that we could hear her! But what do you expect when you're practically yelling! So later she came over and talked to us, and she was very sweet. The whole thing was just hillarious. Dinner was crazy with 6 little boys. Amber was happy to get out of there! I do think it's odd that every time I leave the house with all three boys, I get so many comments about my boys, like no one has ever seen a person with three kids, or all boys!! Of course when I'm visiting Utah that doesn't happen, but everywhere else.

The best part of my birthday were the candles on the giant chocolate cookie that Amber made for me. They said "29!" LOVE THAT!! (Note: I turned 33)

It was a great visit and we loved catching up with our friends. Can't wait until this summer's reunion!