Where has the time gone? Our little Guy is THREE!!!

Oh Garrett, what fun we have had this past year!  Oh my goodness each year with you keeps getting better and better.  You are certainly making up for your first year of pure fussiness and zero sleep!  You had a TON of firsts this year!  You gave up a paci (might have done that before 2, but I think it was after), really took off talking, you moved to a big boy bed and you are no longer in diapers to start with!  You went to the zoo, loved the beach and had your first swim lessons!
You love school.  You have some of the most amazing teachers this year and we feel so blessed to have them in your life.  They love you so much and remind me how good you are and how "all boy" you are as well!
You are very smart (I know every parent says this, but you truly are).  We have to be careful what we tell you because you catch on FAST! We only have to show you something one time and you know how to do it.  Daddy showed you how to change a tire and the next day I found you with the tools to change a tire and had them on my tire trying to change it. 
You have developed quite the personality.  We laugh on a regular basis.  You also are a bit on the stubborn side (you get this from your mama for sure).  Your dad and I are always amazed at how much you talk.  He didn't ever think that he would find someone that would out talk me, but you take the cake.  We have decided that there is not a thought that goes through that noggin of yours that doesn't come out of your mouth.  It kills you to be quiet.  Not sure how you do in school, but at home it is non stop chatter. 
Recently you told me your favorite songs are Jingle Bells, ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle are your favorite songs.  Other activities that you love are:  Art, playing with cars and reading.  You also love moving whether it is jumping on one foot or dancing like a crazy one.
I call you the enforcer.  You always are correcting people on their manners.  You like to be the boss.  You have awesome manners and make us proud.  You must have learned about compliments recently too because this is one of your favorite games:  You give us a compliment and then tell us that we have to say "Awww" afterwards.  So it goes something like this:
"mommy, I'm going to say you are bootiful (aka beautiful) and you say awww".  Me "OK" .  Garrett: "Mommy you are bootiful" then you look at me with anticipation and I say "Awww" and you just smile so big!
We had your birthday party at an indoor pool and it was so much fun.  You love the water and would stay in the pool or bath all day if we let you.
Garrett you are a sweet little boy and we love you so much.  You teach us daily and I could just hug you all day long! 
Here are some pictures of your birthday:

Birthday breakfast with CRAZY hair

Waiting for his gifts (please don't focus on his PJ's, not sure what happened) I just LOVE that smile!

ALL BOY...loves monster trucks.  I swore I would never buy clothes like this, then I ate my words.  He loves them and it makes him so incredibly happy.

Table is set for a birthday!

Cars theme cupcakes

Grandparents, Uncle PJ and Aunt Nicole and us

Love the hats!  Cheers

To say we are obsessed with Batman is an understatement

Birthday party cake...all things boy

We went swimming and this birthday boy LOVED it

He has no fear and this scares his mama!

Picking away...bless

My little swimmer

as I said, no fear

My heart!

Oh Garrett!

Let me tell you, this boy is keeping us on our toes.  He is a hoot.  His teachers are working on manors with everyone apparently.  The normal saying please and thank you, etc.  He has surprised us with other things and it just makes my heart warm! 
The other night at dinner he was done with his food and all of a sudden his hand shot up and he said "May I be excoosed?"  It took a minute to realize that he was asking to be excused.  PRECIOUS.
He also has learned to compliment and let me tell you he loves to give as much as receive them.  He started a few weeks ago and said, "Mommy I going to say you pretty and you say Awwww."  I looked at him and smiled and he gave me the sweetest little look and then said, "Mommy you pretty!"  Then I said "Awww"  He was grinning ear to ear.  Then a few days later he said, "Mommy tell me I handsome and I will say Awww".  So I did and he said "awwww".  We do this almost daily.  I love it and look forward to it.  This morning he just looked at me and said "Mommy you are bootiful and pretty"  he smiled and then said "say awww"  HA...LOVE HIM!
He is doing such a good job eating too lately.  He was not a good eater for about 2 years.  It was a fight to get him to eat.  Well now he is doing such an awesome job.  It is so nice for dinner not to be so stressful!
We have also been working on his sleeping.  The child did not sleep the first 8 months of life.  Since then he has always been an early riser.  I can count on one hand how many times he has slept past 7:00am.  He goes down at 8pm every night, and usually wakes between 5:15 and 5:45.  URGH.  So a wonderful friend of mine recommended this night light:  http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Childrens-Alarm-Clock-Nightlight/dp/B002RNKOM2 .  It turns green when it is time to wake up.  I was not for certain it would work.  IT DOES WORK!!!  We set it for 6:00am and have been using it for the past 3 weeks.  He has stayed asleep until the green light goes off for all put two mornings!!!  We are going to start increasing it by 5 minutes every so often so maybe (just maybe) we can make it until 6:30am!  A girl can dream right!
We have also had some issues with some bad behaviors.  The other night in the bathtub I heard him say the word "stupid".  It hurt my heart.  He doesn't know what he is saying, but it still hurts to hear.  I explained to him that it is a really bad word and we don't say it.  I thought we were cured of the word until he went to SuSu's house and said it.  Then he went to timeout at school for saying it.  I had warned him that if he said it again he would have a spanking and timeout.  So we had to follow through.  It hurt me more than him.  His little lip was sticking out so far.
We are also working on no shoving, hitting, tackling.  Oh boys!  So every night after school he gives us a full report of what he did not do. 

Well this is what has been going on with Garrett lately...

Happy New Year...12 days later

Wow it is already 2012, I can't believe it!  Everyone says that your years will go quicker and quicker when you have children.  I thought that they were all LIARS the first year of Garrett's life.  That year took at least 2 years to get through!  Shew!  But these past two years with have flown by!  We are having such a fun/challenging time!
I've been thinking what my "resolutions" are going to be for this year?  First off I would like to continue to work on my relationship with God.  I joined a new church this past year and LOVE it.  I had the honor of being asked to do a bible study with one of the church staff.  It has been wonderful.  I have learned so much and can't wait to keep on learning. 
Well a big focus of last year for me was running.  I had run a bunch of 5K (3.1 mile) races.  I wanted to do something a little bit more and so in 2011 I ran my first 8K (right at 5 miles), 10K (6.2 miles) and to end the year I ran a 10 mile run.  CRAZY.  I had always wanted to do the 10 mile, but NEVER had the nerve to actually do it.  Well I did do it and if I say so myself, I was pleased with my results.  SO what do I do for this year?  Well I'm going to do my first 1/2 marathon.  I might even be driving around with one of those 13.1 stickers on my car!  Ha!  I also want to beat my times from last year!  I have a WONDERFUL running group and I know that we will get there!
I would like to make time for me this year.  I took my first day off for me ever this past month.  It was amazing!  I plan on doing it another couple of times this year.  Maybe 3 or 4. 
I would like to read some more books.  By "more" I mean more than one!  ha! 
I hope to cook more.  We get in a rut here and end up eating the same thing all the time.  I am looking forward to cooking new and healthy stuff!
I am going to try and get a new word into my vocabulary...BUDGET.  Ewww.  I really want to work on my finances.  I believe that the end of this year will involve a new car.  I don't want a car payment because it has been SO NICE not to have one for the past 6 years.  It will be an adjustment.
I know I had thought of some other thoughts on what I want to accomplish this year.  I look foward to 2012.  My brother is getting married in June to an amazing girl.  I really like her and look forward to getting to know her better!  I just have to get rid of the weight that I collected in December!  Whoa.  Hopefully it will be off soon!

Christmas

Shew, it is two weeks past Christmas and I'm just getting around to blogging about it!  We have been SO BUSY.  We have 6 Christmas events to go to including our own.  We start with Josh's grandparents LeLe and PaPa.  It is a great way to start out the Christmas celebrations.  We went over for lunch and Garrett was SO spoiled.  We had a fabulous meal and Garrett loved his gifts.  He got a Buzz Light year scooter, clothes, movies and cars!  Not a bad way to start out!  Here are a few pictures:

Check out all the gifts!!!  Wow!

   

Getting some sugar from LeLe!

Do you think someone loves his new Scooter??

Helping PaPa open his gift

Pure Joy!

Kaysey and Garrett playing!

After LeLe's we start the busy busy time.  We did LeLe's the week before Christmas.  Saturday was Christmas Eve.  It was so nice because I actually had it off this year!  This is extra special because this happens to be Josh's birthday!  We spent most of the day hanging out as a family.   Garrett and I baked cookies for Santa, and spread the ground with glitter so that Santa could find his way to our house!  He loves throwing things, so it was just awesome.  We had church services starting at 5:00.  We went to a new church this year.  We went to a church in Farmville to hear Rick Bailey sing.  He is so amazing!!  It will bring you to tears.  Rick's grandson and Garrett go to the same school and are friends.  Garrett did really well during the service.  Last year we started doing Christmas as an entire family.  What does this mean?  We go to Susan's house on Christmas Eve.  We all do.  My parents, my brother and his fiance and us.  It is so nice that our families get along so well that we are able to celebrate as an entire family.  We don't use the term "in-law".  We are just family!
Susan fixed Chicken and Pastry and my parents brought beans.  We had a birthday cake for Josh.  Here are some pictures from Susan's house:

We get to celebrate Josh's birthday first!  Yummy cake

This is how G attacked any bag with tissue paper.  It was fun to watch!

First pair of skates!

My brother Preston and my future sister-in-law Nicole!  Love them

The kids, minus Josh

My mom, me and Nicole

SuSu and Garrett

Josh, Garrett, SuSu and Me

Getting some sugar!  I'm not sure who is having more fun :-)

Christmas morning we woke up and did Christmas at our house.  It was just awesome.  He loved all of his gifts and it took about an hour to open them.  I treasured this since I know that it will soon be a race to see how fast he can open all the gifts.  All he wanted this year was 3 Monster trucks.He would change the colors of what he wanted occasionally, but all in all he wanted 3 Monster Trucks.  So we went on a truck hunt and found some good ones!  He also got an art easel and a lot of arts and craft stuff.  He also got other goodies and we loved it!  Here are some of our Christmas pictures:
Well, it's giving me an error, so no pictures!  Sorry!

 We had a good time playing with gifts and then went to my parents house for breakfast and celebrating Christmas again!  Did I mention I LOVE Christmas?  I also love breakfast food.  We had a bread pudding (which I didn't think I would enjoy, but was SO YUMMY), bacon, egg and sausage casserole, cinnamon roles, and more food that I can't remember.  All I remember is that it was delicious!  Susan also came over with us.  It was great to have everyone together again.  Here are a few snapshots of the Joyner's Christmas:

G loves his Pops!

everyone has a stocking!

The Godfather...kiss the rings!

G loved his dump truck to deliver all the gifts

Seriously does it get much cuter?

The Dails 2011

Grandparents and Garrett

We had such a fun Christmas.  It was very quick and wonderful all at the same time.  I love spending time with family.