This year, Grandma and Papa Dreher bought the boys matching suits to wear to church for Easter. I never dress my boys in matching clothes...because I just don't even think about it. But I might have to start because this was the cutest thing ever.
Tough guys:
Had to do some ninja poses:
I told Ren to give Sutton a hug. :)
Then they started being their normal selves and running around with sticks and crawling on the ground so we had to put a stop to that since we needed to stay somewhat clean for church.
That toothless grin won't be around much longer! You can see his top two teeth starting to come in!
And our Easter family photo:
At church, we had our regular service + Sunday school for the kids, and then there was a glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt in the gym. It was so cool! Here's Ren waiting patiently in line to go into the gym. They let the 3-and-unders go in first, so Ren got quite a few eggs before the big kids came in and got the rest.
My parents had been camping for Easter + my dad's 60th birthday, so the boys and I went to visit them Friday. The plan was to go back on Saturday but the looming weather made us cancel those plans. We had an Easter egg hunt with Adam's family Sunday afternoon. The weather dropped about 20 degrees right before we started so it was a little chilly!
So afterwards, the kids played in the foam pit downstairs, and Jessica and I made supper. Adam's parents weren't feeling well so unfortunately they couldn't come. We ate and then we all got in the foam pit and of course had to take a foam pit selfie!
Our baby boy turned 3 years old yesterday. In some ways, it's hard to believe my baby is 3. In other ways, I can't even remember what our life was like without him.
Ren, at 3 years old:
*You are definitely a threenager! You are so hilarious, I don't even know how to describe your comedic timing. But you are MOODY. You love to yell, to grrrrrr when you get mad, and to say "I love to hit," when we tell you not to hit. Or insert any number of words for "hit" when we tell you not to do something.
*You love to tell jokes and to be funny. If you get a positive reaction from us, you keep doing it.
*You drink chocolate milk like no ones business. If you were getting chubby, I'd make you cut back, but for now I think we're okay.
*You do really well at your Kids Day Inn class on Mondays. We never hear anything bad from your teacher!
*You wake up around 7am and have just recently started coming out of your room on your own. Instead of laying in bed saying "Mommy" til I came to get you. You come out of your room and walk over to the bottom of the stairs and say "Moooooommmmmy??" I usually say "Come upstairs!" And you climb the stairs and get in bed with us and watch something on my phone til I'm ready to get up or til I need to get up. This is sooooooooo amazing in light of the fact that you've always been an early riser which has been tough on me. I'm liking this new routine. :)
*You eat lunch around 11am, and go down for your nap around 12pm. You sleep anywhere between 2-3.5 hours. That's Mommy's work time, so it's a good thing you take a good nap every day! After your nap, you always come out on your own and toddle over to the office where I'm working. You climb in my lap while I'm sitting at my computer and we snuggle for a bit. Then you usually ask for a snack, or to watch a show on Daddy's computer next to me.
*You go to bed at 8:30pm. We just took your wah-wahs (pacifiers) away yesterday. You only used them when you were sleeping, but we told you that big boys who are 3 don't use pacifiers. You tried to tell me last night when I put you to bed that your mouth was tired and needed wah-wahs. :)
*Your bedtime routine is: you get a squeezie (baby food pouch), then we brush your teeth. We go read a book in your bed. Then I turn on your sound machine, turn off the light, and I lay in your bed with you and sing a song. It's either Jesus Loves Me, Amazing Grace, or You are My Sunshine. You get to pick each night. When I sing to you, I play with your hair. Then I give you about 10 kisses on your face and you say "Just one more." I give you one more kiss and ask if you're cozy. Then I say "Goodnight baby. Have a good night!" And close the door. You usually go to bed pretty easily.
*Sometimes you still say "Mommy!" several times throughout the night. But you seem to be saying it in your sleep because you don't cry or need anything and you just say it once and then are quiet. You do get upset if we forget to put socks on you at bedtime. Or if Shadow is meowing to loudly outside your door.
*You and Sutton are best buddies. You look up to him so much and he looks out for you so well. That brother relationship is one of my most favorite things.
*You also fight with Sutton a lot. You two have trouble sharing, and Sutton gets mad when you say you'll play something with him but then you're done after 2 minutes. Or when you mess with his stuff. The fighting is one of my most frustrating things.
*You love to take baths and naps. Your favorite thing to eat is Mac n cheese. You love to say "thank you," "you're welcome," and "bless you." Your favorite color is purple. You are CONSTANTLY asking me to play with you, or more specifically to play a game with you. "Games" means anything from checkers to stamps to play do to blocks.
*You love to tell me I'm the best mommy ever. You will randomly pull that out and it melts me. You have also recently told me that I'm beautiful and that I'm "so skinny." Wonder where you got that from, haha. You also like to tell Sutton that he's the best brother ever, and sometimes you call him Brother Sutton. Daddy is the best daddy ever. And you like to tell us all that we're your "best friend in the whole world" at different times of day.
*For being so sweet, you can also be very naughty. You do things on purpose that you know are wrong and then look at us to see what our reaction will be. We tell you to go to your room and you say "no way" and just stay where you are and stare a blank stare at us. You are just like your brother was at your age, and he turned out to be such a good kid, so I know it's just a phase, but I also know that we are just on the beginning end of you testing my patience.
*We sing Daniel Tiger songs a lot. Instead of just saying "thank you" sometimes you say "thank you, for everything you doooo, you're welcome." Because that's a line/song from Daniel Tiger. You're actually not watching that show as much lately. You still love your Daniel toys and songs, but you'd rather watch Blaze, PJ Masks, Magic School Bus, Diego, and Team Umi Zoomi.
*You give the best hugs.
*I taught you to tell people your age like you are in the photos below. It took lots of concentration to get it right the first few times, but now you're a pro. Though, when they ask you to actually SAY your age, you still say 2.
*You are just such a goober. I love that you're goofy just like your daddy.
*You always want me to hold you. I hear "Hold me? Hold me?" 20 times a day. Sometimes it's "Hold you?" which is super cute.
*We still call you Baby. I think we probably always will. :)
*You love to help. You always pull a stool up next to me when I'm in the kitchen and ask if you can help. You tell me "I'm a strong boy" when you help carry groceries.
*You did SO well during these photos. I would tell you where to sit or stand, and ask you to smile. You would do that, and then say "Now what you want me do?" You were just waiting for more directions. I had told you that if you took good pictures in your nice shirt, that we could change into your birthday shirt (below) and take some. That was incentive enough because you were so excited to wear that shirt!
And this year we got to start the birthday video like we do for Sutton each year. It was fun to look back at Sutton's 3-year-old video and to see how similar (and spazzy) these two were at this age!
And here's the deciphering:
1.How old are you? Two! Three! What's your full name? Ren! Ren Ren Ren Ren. Ren Adler Dreher.
2.What is your favorite color? Um, that's my favorite color...purple (pointing to my phone case).
3.What is your favorite toy? (Thinking, sucking on his lip.) Daniel Tiger toys, no. (Binoculars?) Yes.
4.What is your favorite fruit? Babble babble. I like bananas. Those on it.
5.What is your favorite movie? What you just said. What do you like to watch? Ummm...scary ones! Happy ones! Diego! Can I watch that upstairs?
6.What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Umm, like a cheese sandwich!
7.What is your favorite outfit? (Thinking)...um, that!!
8.What is your favorite game to play? Uhhh, checkers.
9.What is your favorite snack? Umm..I don't know. Yeah, chocolate bears.
10.What is your favorite animal? Um, a giraffe.
11.What is your favorite song? Jesus Loves Me.
12.What is your favorite book? You! Um you are a book.
13.Who is your best friend? Ummmmmmmmmmm....I like you cause you're my best friend. Aw, I love you too Renny. Thank you! 14.What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Umm...oatmeal. Aaaalll the parts.
15.What is your favorite thing to do outside? What you just said? Um, play on the swingset. That's all the choices.
16.What is your favorite drink? Chocolate milk...and poopy sand.
17.What is your favorite holiday? Poopy sand.Um, the hot one...I like Easter. I like Easter. Aaaand Halloween.
18.What do you like to take to bed at night? I don't know probably my giraffe. Um my Elmo. Yeah he's my best friend.
19.What do you want to be when you get big? Make toys.
20.What do you want for dinner on your birthday? I don't know. Like, a cake.
11. What's your favorite thing to do with your brother? Build a fort.
Then at the end, he said Uhh..Jesus loves me. Bye!!
