Loving Life: Paper Flowers and a Birthday Party

Zander is growing up so fast, and I love how he is talking more and more and learning new words. And I love this age where they are injquiring about almost everything. This morning, I was putting on my wedding rings, and Zander asked "What is that?" I told him, "This is mommy's jewelry, it means mommy is married to daddy." Then I asked him, "Do you know who is getting married very soon?" He didn't really know so I told him, "Auntie Aubrey is!" Then I asked him, "And do you know who she is marrying?" And he stated, "ummmm me!" What a cutie! Of course I told him "no, Uncle Keith." But Zander is in the wedding. He is the ring bearer. Aubrey and Keith will be married in 2 weeks, and I can't wait! I am so happy for them! This morning Zander and I headed over to someone's house from church to help make paper flowers for morning grace. Morning grace is a bible study at our church that meets every morning throughout the school year. There were 3 of us ladies making paper flowers, Susan, Mary Elizabeth, and I. Zander played with all of the kids. Susan has 4 children and Mary Elizbeth has 3 children. And Zander had so much fun with them. Zander is a very social boy and loves getting together with other kids. Yesterday morning before we left he kept saying, "I see kids, I want to go play with kids." Susan has a son Clayton that is just weeks younger than Zander. All kids played really well together, and got really dirty. After playing inside for a while, they went outside and played in the sand table. The sand, was more of mud because of the rain. And most of the kids were covered with mud. Zander had it on his face, hand, and jacket the most. I tried to get pictures of it, but Zander did not want his picture taken. But it was so cute to see mud splashed up on Zander's forehead. I love that my son get's dirty. Sometimes the dirtier he gets, the more fun he is having. Zander on the other hand is not one to get dirty. He often starts fussing if he gets syrup on him when he is eating breakfast. So I was a little surprised when he had no issues getting muddy this morning. After we had fun at Susan's house, we headed to Micheal's store to get some things for a last minute gift I wanted Zander to make for his Auntie Abby. I bought 3 canvases, some paint, and a paint brush, and we got home we had Zander paint his Auntie Abby some pictures for her 40th birthday. I also painted a tree trunk on one of the canvases, and then had Zander put paint on his hand and put it above the trunk as leaves. This part showed me how Zander does not like getting messy. He was not happy when I dipped his hand in the paint, and couldn't wait to get it off his hand. I was hoping Sophia would help with the paintings, but she was napping. Then later we went to Abby's 40th birthday party. It was a nice party. I wish we could have stayed later, because they started a fire in the back and watched a movie in the backyard. But our kids needed sleep. It is so different when you have kids. You have to leave parties early or go to bed early out of pure exhaustion. But it is so worth it. Being a mom is my favorite job. This is one of Zander's paintings .