Here’s what we’ve been up to during the month of March (in between birthday celebrations).

Avery finished up a great season of basketball.

Silas graduated from his glide bike to one with pedals a couple months ago. He figured out pedaling pretty quickly, but had a hard time breaking the habit of stopping by putting his feet down on the ground. In March, he worked it all out, which meant we were ready for longer rides. I took this picture at the beginning of his first ride down the parkway, which is a long hill where you can gain quite a bit of speed. The little patch of grass is the only thing that separates you from logging trucks going 40 (or 50) mph. Silas took off pedaling like crazy, and quickly was traveling as fast as his little bike would take him. Meanwhile, Kieron and I sprinted along, imploring him to brake. This only made him pedal faster! I was sure he was going to lose control and crash, and I reached full-on Mommy freak-out mode. Somehow he managed to race down the entire parkway, pedaling like a madman the entire way, never braking once, and came to a nice neat stop at the bottom by the stop light. Kieron and I were breathless and Silas was grinning ear-to-ear! Oh boy!

Great news! Our school bond (finally) passed! They will improve our high school, middle school, and build a new elementary within walking distance of us! There was a ground-breaking ceremony in mid-March for the new elementary school, but little do they know, Kieron broke ground two days prior. Here he is with his little shovel. He will attend first grade here!

Playing outdoors

Cookies! We’re more than happy to support our local Girl Scouts!

At the CleanScapes store with Kieron

An excavation mission in the side yard/greenbelt. The boys unearthed this beauty which we placed in our front yard.

Walking over the Snoqualmie river (that’s the top of the falls ahead). As you can see, the water level is very low.

Climbing at a local park

Trying on hats at the party store. I think this one fits his personality!

Avery teaching Silas to catch a football

Playing with some of his birthday presents

Play date with Bode and Deacon at the bounce house

Sleepover in the playroom with all three brothers. Avery was an angel. The other two, ahem, did not do so well – up very late, and rose early. Parents were quite cranky the following day. It may be a while before we try this again!

Ninjas. Funny story, I was originally trying to make light sabers for Avery’s Star Wars themed birthday party with these long balloons. When I blew some up as samples, I realized they just weren’t going to work. They had little tips at the end that looked like condoms! Although this would have made for funny pictures, I just couldn’t do it! As you will see in a later post, I came up with a better plan that did not involve reservoir tips!

I love moments like these. Kieron and Silas reading books on top, while Avery writes a story below.

Our baby boy is three! Where have the years gone? Our baby boy is not much of a baby anymore! (In fact, according to babycenter.com, he’s passed through the toddler stage, and is now a preschooler).

At three years old, Silas’ personality is much like it was at age two – loud, outgoing, loves to be the center of attention. He is also cheerful, quick to smile, and full of sweet things to say. Unlike his older brothers, he’s pretty extroverted. He is social at school, but is also very observant and pays close attention. It’s like he know he’s one of the younger ones in class and understands the pecking order. Silas enjoys singing songs, riding his bike (fast), swimming, playing with cars, and doing anything with his big brothers. As we found out at his doctor’s visit, Silas remains our littlest, skinniest boy. He is 30 lbs and 37.5″ tall.

Lately he’s been doing this incredibly cute thing at bedtime, which I just have to share. He pretends he’s watching one of Avery’s basketball games. It first caught our attention one night when we heard a series of loud yells coming from his bedroom. We went upstairs expecting to find him in an argument with one of his brothers, but as we approached the door, the noises became clearer. Imagine a group of guys sitting on a couch watching football. When there’s a good play, there’s an eruption of deep-voiced “yeah’s” or other unintelligible cheers, or in this case, “yeah Avery!” Silas must have had a very exciting game going on in his imagination, because this went on for some time, and has happened several nights since!

We celebrated Silas’ birthday with a small group of friends. This little guy loves garbage, so we had a trash-themed party, which he thoroughly enjoyed! I think his favorite part was when we all sang to him and brought out his cupcake. He’s been asking for a cupcake with a candle in it ever since, sings happy birthday frequently, and also keeps asking how many days until his next birthday. I think he had a good time!

In the morning we opened family presents

Our big gift to Silas was this BBQ

Posing for pictures

Our attempts at a pic of the three of them in their cute plaid shirts.

Cupcake colors: blue for recycle, green for compost, grey for garbage

Time for some games. In addition to “trashketball” and balloon bouncing, there was lots of bubble wrap to pop

Ethan loved the balloons

Avery with his up-cycled cardboard box/robot

Time for cupcakes! Silas was thrilled! I love his expressions!

Party-goer Emmett helping clean up afterward

The following morning we let Silas have the last cupcake for breakfast. He asked for a candle in it again.