The Scotts: Birthday Party and Wedding Anniversary and Fishing at Deanna Rose

Nathan and I go back and forth discussing whether we were insane or geniuses for having our three kids in three years. On the tough days we were clearly insane but on the good days where they're running laps around the house and are all cackling with laughter we're looking pretty much like geniuses. So it's a toss up.

Speaking of running, watch Patrick go!

We're spending most of our time outside these days, where Patrick makes good use of his new mobility.

Flower child

The kids love running into their sweet friends Gracie and Natalie at the park. Eleanor appreciates not having to walk when they are around.

I love how much these guys enjoy cuddling up together.

And on me ...

Cloud gazing

We try to keep it classy when we go out. Ironically, Eleanor is the reason I got rid of our double strollers because she refused to ride in one after she learned how to walk.

The poor children are often so so tired from all the hard work they do running around and having fun.

I'm torn on whether the best word to describe Patrick these days is "adorable," "squishy," or "naughty."

Okay, it's probably squishy.

He plasters himself to Nathan every day when he gets home from work. Someone loves his daddy!

Whootwhoo!

At 13 months Patrick is fairly adept at climbing up to the top bunk of Bradley's bunkbed. Wonderful and exciting for a baby, less fun for Sookie.

We had a blast at the boys' joint birthday party. Balloon room remains a hit.

Our one year old!

Bradley is a rather big fan of his friend Cooper

Opening presents. Not a calm time.

Bradley's friend Addie from preschool. Bradley is a big fan of her as well.

Our four year old!

We were so happy that Grandma Colleen and Kerry were able to join us for the birthday festivities. The kids were very enthusiastic about getting to plant some strawberry plants with their grandma. Nathan tried to keep Patrick out of the dirt at first, hahaha.

It was also very fun to have a cheering section for Bradley's soccer game.

Donuts at church!

Group shot, courtesy of Nathan who is very well trained in the importance of regular family photos. Well done, honey!

Bradley and Eleanor have gotten so great together in the past few months. There are still fights but they are few and far between.

And if we're having a tough day I've learned an amazing parenting trick: build a pen for your children and they will cage themselves.

I love how snuggly this crew is. Although at times it may be a bit much for one parent to handle all on their own.

Nathan decided to bring Bradley and Eleanor to Take Your Child to Work Day.

Mostly they ate treats and watched shows. They've been begging to go back. Work is the best!

And then we went to Chick-Fil-A and Nathan and I unlocked a parenting achievement by making this moment happen for Bradley. It worked too! He got three different milkshakes at once.

Imp Eleanor is ridiculously cute. Lucky thing.

Bradley made me this instant classic mother's day card at school. I don't know if that's supposed to be me or him on the front of the card, quite frankly I'm afraid to ask. And come by for one of my world famous peanut butter and jelly sandwiches sometime!

He also learned this Bible verse at school. Precious!

Bradley is super into puzzles these days, which is so much fun.

And Eleanor is super into lecturing her Sofia doll while I'm trying to sing her to sleep for a nap. This kid.

Imp

We thought we were going to potty train Eleanor a few weeks back. We were wrong. She has zero interest so for the sake of parental sanity we decided to put her in pull-ups so she could get used to the idea and the only time she would get any treats would be after she uses the little potty we got for her. However, even this is annoying for our little girl and the other day we were justly put in our place when she told us she wasn't going to be nice to us for a whole week!! Nathan and I need to stop laughing at her crabby voice.

So cute in underwear! So not interested.

Once in a blue moon these guys have trouble going down for their naps and I have to help them. It's a tough job.

It's especially tough when I have to cuddle a kitty to sleep as well.

I started the kids on nightly share time before bedtime a few weeks back so they could share the best and the worst parts of their day with Daddy and having a bit of a sweet heart to heart before bedtime. Bradley tolerated it pretty well for a few weeks but has grown tired of all the dumb talking that was taking away from time that could be spent reading books. So now we share feelings at dinner time and the boy is much happier.

And out of nowhere Bradley has been asking a lot about bodily functions in heaven.
Bradley: Do you poop in heaven?
Me: Um. No. Because there are only good things in heaven.
Bradley: So do you pee?
Me: ......
Parenting books didn't cover this particular issue.

He's such an adorable goober. We told him how he used to hide by closing his eyes really tight so he thought it was pretty funny to try it out once again.

Strangers come up to me and tell me how cute Patrick is (usually while he's flinging himself head first down slides and grinning the whole way down). I always tell them I'm biased but they're right, he's adorable.

I don't know why I thought things were going to be so much easier once Patrick turned one. Mostly I think I was looking forward to sleeping through the night. Which is mostly happening, but the daytime hours are no joke with our mischief loving little guy. Here's what Bradley and Eleanor look like when we go to the library:

And here is Patrick:

Mostly he likes to run around and pull books off of shelves and try to get into the drinking fountain while we are there. Toys have limited appeal.

I decided to have some picnic lunches at the library which I thought was a touch of genius. And it was ... at first.

But then we decided to play outside a bit before heading into the library on our next visit and Bradley got a pretty good scrape on his arm when he was attempting a rather long jump from giant rock to giant rock. He cried and accused me of putting a poison bandaid on him. Eleanor kept matter of factly saying "I have an owie too you know" and pointing at her old bandaid on her knee. Meanwhile, Patrick got into some mud while I was comforting Bradley and rage cried when I took him away from it and kept trying to run back to the mud when I had to put him down while walking away.

We don't go to the library anymore.

We also can't go to a good number of parks because Patrick just wants to eat sand and find water to play in. He hates the swings. I spend a lot of my time carrying around a tantruming Patrick.

Two seconds tolerating the swing

And back to the dog water fountain we go

As a matter of fact, I joined a gym. For the childcare. With the membership I get two free hours per day for all three children! It's the deal of the century. And I know that the kids like it because Eleanor had the worst tantrum of her life the first time we had to leave. Like - I had to have one of the workers help carry Patrick out for me because I was carrying a screaming, kicking, snot covered little girl to the exit. No amount of bribes/threats of taking away her favorite blanket worked on calming her down. And the next time we left she was hugely crabby and yelled at me a bunch. Now we discuss how we aren't going to cry OR be crabby when it's time to leave the gym. Still worth it.

Would this sweet face be the crabby business when she doesn't get her way?

They asked me what my fitness goals were and I said to read by the pool while other people watched my children. They laughed like I had make a joke ... but I'm already back down to a seven minute mile (I do actually do something athletic while I'm there) and I think it's going to help me be able to swim with Bradley and Eleanor a bit this summer because I'll be able to drop Patrick off at childcare and get some time in with the big kids. A big win all around!

More winning. This time with cupcakes. For health.

We've been trying to do more fun weekend outings now that soccer is over and we did Scheel's last weekend. It's a sporting goods store but it has a ferris wheel, mini bowling, and lots of cool toys.

Bowling was interesting because ball obsessed Patrick could not believe he didn't get to play and tried to find other balls to chuck in the bowling lane.

Scheel's also has statues of presidents. Look at all the culture our children are getting!

Nathan took Bradley and Eleanor to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead this morning while I stayed home with Patrick. Patrick loves Deanna Rose but mostly tries to get in the pond, kiss goats, and climb into the bunny pen.

Saw the bunny and decided it was climbing time.

Daddy and the big kids had a blast trying to adopt goats, fishing, and making funny faces for photos. Daddy time is the best time!

Look who caught a fish!

Not so sure about the flowers

That much fun could tire some sweet fellas out.

Speaking of fellas, Eleanor has somehow started calling Patrick "little fellow" most of the time when she's talking to him and it's both adorable and hilarious. I must have called him that once and she picked up on it. He rather adores his big sis.