Three is a Magic Number

Faith had her first birthday party with friends today. But before we get to her, first a story about about Emilee. Emilee was invited to her best friend's party.  The two parties just happened to fall on the same day.  Faith decided it was best for Emilee to go to her friend's party.  So Paul took Emilee/Samuel, and I did Faith's party here.  Last night, we still had not picked up a gift for Emilee's friend, so on my way home from work, I called Emilee and told her I was stopping for a gift.  I asked, "What does 'Jane' like to play with?"  She said, "Stuffed animals and me."  Super cute! Faith had a garden party.  Very ironic since I was driving kids home in three inches of snow.  We had a tea party using the tea set Grandma Cookie gave her.  Instead of tea, sugar, and cream, we had hot chocolate, marshmellows, and cinn sticks.  She loved it and the little girls were so cute pretending to be prim and proper.  The cups say Faith, Hope, and

When my kids were toddlers, I spent a lot of time wishing the time would go faster.  Looking back, those years were hard.  I was juggling many schedules, and while I loved my kids, the twos, threes, and fours were not my favorite years. Now, during the last two years, I have been spending a lot of time wishing time would slow down.  I want to keep my kids these ages forever.  I find them so interesting and fun.  They love being with us, but are beyond needing us to take care of basic needs.  I went with Samuel to a middle school field trip this fall.  It was just 5 months ago that I worked at this same middle school, so you would think I would know what middle school kids are like.  Yet, seeing Samuel among them made me so ... confused.  Where was my little boy?  Samuel was so great on the trip--he stuck by me and even when I asked him if he wanted to hang out with some friends, he said, "But I invited you to come so we could be together."  I wish I could keep him small--