Ashlyn's School Dance

     Ashlyn's school is so amazing about having activities and extracurricular activities.  All kids at her school are taught Chinese from kindergarten on.  Ashlyn has seriously learned a lot of Chinese.  She is constantly impressing us as well as others with how much she knows.  She can sing different songs, count, name colors, etc.  She loves Chinese class.  As part of their Chinese studies, her school does a Chinese New Year's dance.  It was postponed for a week due to the weather, but they rescheduled it for last Friday night.  They put on a really neat event.  The dance started with dinner from Panda Express.  Not the most authentic Chinese meal, but good none the less.  Joey and I had a great time eating in Ashlyn's cafeteria with her.  She loved getting to use chopsticks.  They had a great turnout, I swear it seemed almost the entire school was there.  After dinner, the kids all headed to the gym for dancing.  Joey and I had a great time watching Ashlyn interact with her friends and dance the night away.  It was a really nice night.  We didn't take our good camera because we didn't want to lug it around, so we didn't get many pictures. 

All dressed up ready for her dance

Dancing

Having fun with her friends

Dawson's Birthday Week

     We decided to not have a big party for Dawson this year.  I still think he is a little too young to truly enjoy it the way his sister does.  He saw a commercial on T.V. for a dinosaur exhibit that was coming to town.  He was really insistent that he wanted to go. That Saturday, Joey and Dawson went to the Discover the Dinosaurs.  Joey had taken Ashlyn the year before and she had a good time.  It is not a cheap exhibit, so while the boys went Ashlyn and I went swimming.  Joey said Dawson had a wonderful time.  Joey said it was very crowded, but Dawson didn't mind.  He had a great time discovering the dinosaurs. 

Riding a dinosaur

It was a really nice day, so after the dinosaurs, Joey took Dawson to the park for some play time.  Dawson had the perfect day!

Joey has been working really hard to decorate Dawson's big boy room.  It is a mixture of trains and Back to the Future.  Joey ordered these prints and framed them.  Dawson loves having some Back to the Future in his room. 

Dawson Birthday

     I can not believe that our sweet, sweet boy turned 3!  It literally just seems like yesterday that he was born.  Dawson has been such a bright light in all of our lives.  He is truly an awesome little boy.  You can't be around him for more than 5 minutes without laughing at his antics.  He is one funny little boy.  He is also such a sweet boy.  He loves his mom and dad so much.  He is so loving towards everyone.  He gets along great with his sister.  As they have gotten older, they have really grown close.  They do have their moments where they argue and tattle on one another, but for the most part they are best buds.  He is so good at sharing with her.
        I have said this for a long time, but Dawson is such a boy.  He loves anything that is geared towards boys.  Trains, trucks, cars, action figures, etc.  His favorites still include anything Thomas the Train and Back to the Future.  Dawson is really good at entertaining himself.  He just loves to push his trains and cars around the coffee table.  It's one of his favorite things to do. 
       Dawson continues to do really well at his daycare.  Dawson is very polite.  He will consistently say, "No thank you", "Yes please" and "Thank you" without being prompted.  His teacher often tells Joey and I how impressed she is with his manners.  Dawson knows all his letter and sounds and loves to practice with his little Elmo letter cards.  I guess that means he will be ready to start working on reading before we know it!
       Dawson is a very good little boy.  I will admit, as a teacher I have had some really, really difficult boy students throughout the years.  When I first learned I was having a boy, I was terrified thinking of how some boys act and behave.  We are incredibly lucky to have gotten such a mellow and well behaved child.  He was a very difficult baby, but as I tell everyone, he is truly one of the best behaved toddlers in the world.  We truly lucked out with this one.
      Last week, I took Dawson to the doctor for his three year well check up.  The doctor did a thorough exam and said he just looks perfect.  She was impressed with how well he listened to her and followed directions.  She said she rarely sees that with kids his age.  He was just a little angel for her.  He now weighs 31.1 pounds (43%) and is 36.7 inches tall (33%).  He is growing great, but still on the short side which I am just waiting for him to shoot up in height like all the other men in his family. As I have said so many times, I can not thank God enough for blessing us with such amazing, smart, healthy children.  We are just so blessed to have both of them in our lives. 
      Dawson's birthday fell on a Wednesday this year.  I work a half day on Wednesdays.  Normally I would have taken the day off, but I have to save all my days for maternity leave.  Dawson went to daycare on his actual birthday.  His teacher does a lot of neat stuff for them on their birthday and we wanted it to be a day when his cousins were at daycare too.  He came home with balloons and treats and said he had a great day.  This year, we decided to keep things very laid back for his birthday.  His only request was a Gordon cake.  That was easy for me to do.  We ended up having his favorite, pizza for dinner.  I decorated the house while he was at school and he loved it.  After dinner, my family came over for cake and presents.  He got lots of great gifts and had a great time playing with his favorite cousins in the world.  That night, he kept saying, "My birthday is over."  He wasn't sad though, just happy he had such a great day.  Love that boy so much!!!!

He requested his favorite breakfast: waffles!

Our adorable 3 year old

Proud to be three

His birthday decorations. 

The cake I made for him.  It is very similar to last year's cake, but that is what he wanted.  He was so happy when he saw it.  He is very easy to please. 

Ella eating some pizza

Jameson really has a thing for pizza

Opening presents

Ashlyn was too cute and made Dawson a homemade present.  She made him a Back to the Future matching game.  She even made her own wrapping paper and card to go with it. 

His matching game cards

Joey and I got him two more Back to the Future cars.  He loved them. 

He was in heaven!

Ready to blow out his candles. 

Everyone enjoying some cake

Messy birthday boy!

Jameson also loves cake

The girls eating cake

My parents bought Dawson a set of Magna Tiles for his birthday.  We have played with them at a couple of different museums we have gone to and his daycare provider has a set.  He always just gravitates towards them.  After opening presents, we got them out for the kids to play with.  These things are honestly the best toy in the world.  They allow kids to be so creative and they love them! Any toy that can entertain all four kids for an hour is well worth it in my book!

Watching his dad build.  Ashlyn and Dawson have literally played with these Magna Tiles almost every waking moment since he got them.