Matthew's Birthday

 On Matthew's birthday we had a family party and celebrated Matthew's birthday and Rachel's birthday.  Matthew LOVES tractors so everyone wanted to buy him one.  Grandma and Grandpa R. gave him a Bulldozer when they were in town a week prior, Grandma and Grandpa D. gave him a crane, Rachel picked out a backhoe, and Jeff and I bought him a dump truck and front loader.  Matthew now has a fleet of tractors.  Maybe it seems like overkill, but not for him.  The crane and bulldozer are inside tractors, and the others became outside, dig in the dirt, tractors.

 Rachel wanted to buy Matthew a birthday present, so she bought him some pez candy, paid for part of his backhoe, and gave him a medal for being the best little brother.

And of coarse Matthew got a tractor cake for his birthday! (It was an easy one to make because the messier it looks the better!)

Rachel received some gifts too and has enjoyed her dolls, horse legos, and a rock climbing harness to rock climb with Aunt Sara!

Matthew is 3!

 Matthew is 3 years old!                                

Height: 38 inches (50%) Weight: 32 lbs (53%)

Favorites:
Color: Red
TV show: Mighty Machines
Wii game: I spy
Toy: black steam locomotive (according to Matthew)
To do: Play tractors and trains, throw the football with dad
Snack: rice krispy treat and fruit snack
Song: Timber (from kids bop)
Outside activity: play tractors and ride on his wagon
Loves planes, trains, and tractors!

Cute phrases Matthew says:
"Oh darn it!"
"Oh my stars!" (He picked that up from Grandma Dunbabin)
"The clouds fell down!"  (when there are low clouds)

Matthew LOVES tractors!  He know the names of them all: from backhoe to front loader, from bulldozer to dump truck.   He loves watching Mighty Machines on Netflix and steam trains on youtube.

Matthew loves to vacuum! He won't let me vacuum.

 We love this cute little boy!

Rachel's Birthday

Rachel loves parties!  She asks when her birthday is months in advance and imagines and talks about it.  So we let her invite a few friend over for a "low key" birthday party.  A couple days before her party I asked what she wanted to do for her party and she said she wanted to bake.  So we decorated aprons to wear, made mini pizzas, decorated cupcakes, made flower chocolate candies, and chocolate covered strawberries.  It ended up not being as "low key" as imagined, but the girls all had fun.  While we were making the mini pizzas one of the girls said, "If this is the best birthday party you've been to, raise your hand!"  All 4 of the girls' hands shot up in the air.  That made me feel good that I planned such an awesome birthday party. :)

Rachel is 7!

Weight: 54.5 lbs (about 65th%)     Height: 50 inches (about 82%)

Rachel's Favorites:  

Snacks: She can't choose....cupcakes, ice cream, and chocolate!

Ice cream: Chocolate, bubble gum, and mint chocolate chip

Color: Gold

Number: 7

Thing to play with: Horse legos and shopkins and shop kin dolls

TV shows: My little pony, Gravity Falls, and Team Titans Go

Movie: My Little Pony Equestria Girls and My Little Pony Battle of the Band

To do at School: Friday Fun Day

Favorite thing to do at recess: swings

Friends: Brielle and Kenzie

Songs: Centuries, Timber, and Happy (from Kidsbop)

Rachel is kind and very giving.  She loves to give things to others.  When she was young she loved to give pictures that she drew and colored.  Now she loves to pick out birthday cards at the store for other's birthdays and buy them a gift (if she has enough money).  For and Sara's birthday last month she bought her a set of mini plastic dinosaurs with her own money (because Sara loves dinosaurs).  Rachel also loves to give things to her friends.  She's asked me if I could buy candy at the store for her to give them.  Rachel has a heart of gold and finds joy and love in giving to others.

One day Rachel exclaimed, "Being a grown up sound so fun to do!!  Baking! Making clothes if that is your job! Teaching school!"  Hopefully she keeps that enthusiasm when she is an adult.

Rachel plays well with younger kids and has enjoyed playing with her little cousin, Alyssa, and with Matthew.  I love that they can play together even with a 4 year age gap.  Rachel has played school with Matthew a few times and he's been a very good sport (especially for a 2 year old).

Christmas in Utah

This year we decided to head to Utah for Christmas.  Jeff was working the 7 days around Christmas, so I planned to fly stand-by with the kids during those 7 days and meet him in Salt Lake City after his trip for our Christmas.  Unfortunately, EVERY flight from Atlanta to SLC during that time was almost sold out and the non revenue standby list was horrendously long!! Being new at Delta there was no way we would get even close to the top of the standby list.  As days went by, flights would continue to sell out...even Christmas Day sold out, which is the day I traveled standby on in the past.  We never went to the airport because I new it would be useless. Most of the Christmas presents were ordered online, sent directly to Utah, and waiting for us there....along with Grandparents, Cousins, Aunts, and an Uncle.   Finally, we broke down and bought employee discounted tickets from Atlanta to SLC.  The price was still crazy expensive, but we had to save Christmas!!  

When we arrived in Utah we played in a big pile of  snow. It was Matthew's first time to see and play in snow.  He didn't know what to think.  Later we made a mini snow man.

"On Christmas Day I got a bike from Santa.  I also got a back pack and an elephant dress.  I love to wear my new pink cowgirl shoes and play with my shopkins." -Rachel

"On Christmas day I got lots of presents and my favorites were about football. I got a Patyon Manning Jersey, football gloves, and a football. I also got presents like lots of books and an Ihop gift card. I also got legos and a 3DS. As you can see we had a great Christmas." -Tyler

 Santa brought Matthew his own tractor tricycle!  He also got a tool truck, fuzzy kitten, a nerf gun, his very own snow shovel, and more tractors!  This kid loves tractors and knows the difference between a excavator, a back hoe, front loader, etc.

Matthew loved the snow and put his shovel to good use.  He never wanted to come in.

Christmas day wore this little kid out.  We found him tuckered out on the chair after the day's festivities.

Tyler is 10

Tyler's Stats:

Weight: 88 lbs (85%)
Height: 4' 10" (91%)

Tyler's Favorites:

food: pizza

sport: football

candy: Reeses

things to do: play sports and electronics 

friends: Preston, Joshua, Max, and Dylan

color: red, blue, pink, and orange

I some times like school. I like to play football. I also love my bother and sister, and I really like to play with my friends.