Harrison at 3!

Happy Birthday Harrison!

Dear Harrison,

Happy third birthday to you sweet boy!  On this day I am flooded with incredible memories of you and the immense joy you have brought into our lives since even before the moment I laid eyes on you when you were doing summersaults in my belly.  

How lucky are we to have you in our life and to get to experience all of the ups and downs of life now at three.  You are so thoughtful, creative, curious, intuitive, sweet and rather silly.  Your infectious grin and laugh makes me smile even at moments when I'm not supposed to (like when you are supposed to be taking a nap and you are rearranging your room).  You still love to cuddle and we love that you still want to sleep nestled in between us when you wake up in the middle of the night.  You are also an amazing big brother to Lucia and love making her laugh.

Things you love at three:  riding your bike- you are getting so fast, digging in the sand at the beach, helping pack your lunch on school days, asking questions about everything, blowing bubbles, swimming with Coach Michael, eating almond butter sandwiches, riding the big bike with Dad in your blue seat, playing with friends at the park, building with legos, getting the mail, trains, UPS trucks, giggling with Lulu, and shouting "toot toot all aboard" at the top of your lungs.  

We love you endlessly and so look forward to watching you grown and the adventures together to come.  

XOXO

Mom & Dad

And here are a few photos from your birthday....

Birthday waffles 

Walking up to school with Gigi

Delighting in making your birthday crown 

Working hard at school 

And trying on your new artist apron

A Visit from Gigi

Gigi came to visit the week before Harrison's birthday for some fun adventures and much needed help with preparations for the big birthday celebration.  We loved having her here to share in silly mornings, fun outings, and experiments in the kitchen.

Gigi and her sous chef making muffins 

Story time

Fun adventures at the zoo

Mesmerized by dancing hippos

I'd like to be, under the sea...

Dropping off H at school 

G and L at Sandy Hill 

And the massive play dough project for H's party:

30 mini play dough party favors 

and some other sweetly wrapped gifts for friends.  

Thanks Gigi for all of your love and support! 

September snapshots

 Nice ride in Del Mar 

Splashing around 

 Ride on 

 Testing out our new batch of homemade playdough 

The little daredevil: A table is for standing 

 and so apparently is a bike. 

Harrison teaching Lulu about lemons

and a few favorites from a morning on the patio:

Exploring 

 Happy at Hapi Fish 

 Beautifully asleep 

 The artist at work 

 Roxette concert at Universal Studios 

 Harrison and friends 

 "Up"

 Harrison and Lucia's favorite game, turning the stroller into a rocket ship

Learning down dog from the master

Preschool!

Editors note, January 8, 2013: The past four months have blown by in a whirlwind of wonderful activities, adventures, friends, family, holidays, and the day to day moments that make our life so full.  While I have taken perhaps too many photos of these happenings, I have yet to add any of these beautiful moments to our blog...in quite some time.  So, I'm finally sitting down to what feels like an overwhelming collection of photos, and highlighting a few that capture the magical moments that have unfolded for our family over the past few months.

Preschool!

It's hard to believe our little boy started school this week!  This momentous step brought with it mixed emotions of joy and a tinge of sadness as our little boy ventured into the new and exciting world of preschool.  We feel so fortunate to have discovered the incredible Sandy Hill Nursery school, located in Solana Beach.  Set in a magical, outdoor setting, this play-based parent cooperative school is the perfect, loving environment from which Harrison can learn, grow and blossom.

The first day was full of anticipation as Harrison cautiously checked out the new environment, new little friends and his sweet teacher, Ms. Susi.  I was excited to be one of the parent volunteers that first day, so Harrison and I both were able to sink into the school at our pace.  Within the first twenty minutes, Harrison found himself happily playing with trucks in the sand, painting outdoors, and making a very cool set of binoculars.

And a few more photos from the first few weeks of school:

Walking up the path to school

 Water table fun

 Harrison in front of his class sign, Footprints

 Lucia and Mom enjoying dropping off big brother at school

Putting the binoculars made on the first day of school to good use