Batman Birthday Bash

Little Man requested a Batman theme for his birthday party this year, which I was surprised because he still plays A LOT of cars and racing games. But this could be a year to break the mold... Pa, NaNa, and TaTa were gracious enough to let us have the party at their house and there were lots of activities for everyone! We started early with some horse rides....

TaTa was excited that Hannah was able to hang out for a little while.

We thought a group picture was a good idea before the treasure hunt and the special guest appearance!

Ax looks cute in this one and Little Man must be teething and checking his molars!And off to the treasure hunt....After a few clues we found the Treasure... .Nananananananan.... BATMAN!Little Man was a bit nervous about Batman, but I thought a family picture was a must (and Jen just for you I rolled my Buckle jeans, so they wouldn't get dirty!)

Happy 4th Birthday

Another year has past and Little Man is now 4! I cannot believe I have a child who is 4, where has the time gone?

One thing I have learned, among the many daily lessons, is that at the age of 4, a child knows exactly what they want to eat when you say, "you can have anything to eat for your Birthday"... So of course, Little Man requested french toast with whipped cream and sprinkles for breakfast, chocolate muffin for snack and pigs in a blanket for lunch with cake for dessert (I did strongly recommend that he eat three bites of eggs for breakfast, I had to control some part of the day!)

My mom, Marty, and TaTa were here to celebrate Little Man's birthday and he was really excited.... Ax was really excited to see the camera.

One of his favorte presents was a GIGIO.. Thanks Friends :)

As you can imagine he was a bit hyped up on sugar so we took him to ZooLights to burn off some of the sugar or at least crystalize it for later! And apparently they hand out 3D glasses to look at ZooLights in a whole new way. It made me a little dizzy and I felt like I was at a Grateful Dead concert, but these two seemed to like it.

It didn't take long to open the hot chocolate and enjoy the yummy snacks Grammie brought...

Happy Birthday Little Man. You are a tenderhearted boy who brings a lot of joy to our family! Thanks for your craziness and smiles that always brighten our day! We Love You Bubba!

Happy Halloween

In effort to get in the Halloween spirit, we started with some scary faces....Watch out these are pretty scary....

After a bit of the scariness wore off, we started making some desserts for the Annual Halloween Party. Ax was much more interested in eating the "nails" than helping make them.
Next on the agenda was pumpkin carving! The kids were not excited about touching the pumpkin mess, but with the help of spoons it sounded like a great idea!
And the finished product... Little Man is so excited TaTa is in town.
Then off to the best Halloween Party... TaTa was Alice and Ax was.......

This year Little Man could choose his own costume and from the beginning he said "I want to be a Ghost". For some reason, I wasn't satisfied with this and tried REALLY hard to change his mind... took him to the Disney Store, looked at any and all superhero costumes online, promised lots of candy, and his response was... "Seriously, I want to be a Ghost".... So alas here's the Ghost of Halloween (he's a scary ghost too), Ax the Dino, and Big Man!

And in order to get the true representation of Ax's costume, you have to see it from behind.

And what happens when you combine lots of sugar with a tired dino.... a completely zoned out toddler :)

Always an Adventure at the Zoo

Well, for those zoo lovers there is a new exhibit at the zoo that we discovered this week. Feeding the giraffes! Little Man was so excited and he kept telling us how his friend fed a giraffe from a car and he wanted to do it too. We waited in line and received the specific directions, not to step past the line and do not pet the giraffe. Little Man had fun and would not pose for any pictures, so I managed to snap some from afar.

And of course Little Ax wanted to feed the giraffe too. I thought he would be nervous, but he pushed past me and took the biscuit and walked right up to the feeding line....

Next my desire was to have a picture with me and the boys, but the preschooler would not coooperate; so Little Ax and I posed for the camera while the giraffe sniffed our snack pack... that 18 inch long tongue made me a little nervous.

Another sight was the random peacock that was strolling around the zoo. Little Man was excited to see the peacock from a distance, but would not get too close. Although some of those feathers would look great on a headband! Maybe next time.

And the last adventure that I wasn't able to catch on film (thank me later) was the frisky baboons and their game of tag. I'm not ready to explain that lesson, so we quickly walked past that exhibit.

First Day of Preschool

It's school time again for Little Man this year and he was more excited than I was. He is attending Risen Savior again this year and keeps reminding me that he is too big for Miss Debbie's class, so he will be in Miss Nancy's class this year. On the way to school this morning he told me how excited he was to be going to school and right before my very eyes I felt him growing up. Where did my Little Boy go? I was a bit misty eyed to drop him off and lingered around for awhile peeking in the window to make sure he was okay, then pulled myself away.

He was eager to take pictures before school for about 1 or 2 nanoseconds, so here is proof of him doing something ONLY because Mom told him to.....

Notice his cool hairdo, he did it all by himself, blow dryer and all :) Sniff Sniff.....

Here's my Little Pumpkinhead......

And as we were walking into the room he began to get nervous and ask, "So Mom we don't come here tomorrow, right, just right now." I assured him only on Tuesdays and Thursdays and he sat down at the table and drew this pretty picture. After I left the teacher said he asked for me a lot and a girl in his class sang him a song to comfort him. This definitely made me a bit more misty eyed :)

Montana Mountain Adventures

Surprise Surprise... we have ventured on vacation again. The heat in Arizona is a bit much this time of year, so we decided to take the family to NaNa's and Pa's for two weeks. We arrived on Friday night and have been having tons of fun playing outside (novel concept for us). The first item on the agenda was sweeping the barn... Little Man's request, I promise. He even convinced his brother to join in on the fun. I may have to start paying an allowance??

Up next on the agenda of fun and festivities was a mule ride. Adam and Dexter had some bonding time before the ride up to the round pen.Little Man was not shy about riding the mules, he loved Dexter, but asked "Why isn't Dexter a horse?" I said "Because God wanted him to be a mule. Why do you think he's not a horse" Little Man thought for a second and then said "Because he has small legs."Alex wanted to ride Dexter too after his brother, but wasn't totally sure he made the right choice...


The ATV has also been a big hit and an eye opening experience why Adam will not be allowed to buy a motorcycle anytime in the next 50 years!

And since it cools down here in the evenings, we decided to have a cook-out. Mostly because Adam wanted to roast marshmallows for his newest innovative dessert!
Alex really liked the pine trees and I couldn't resist taking several shots to capture how cute he is :)And Nana with her two favorite grandsons...
Jen's flowers have been such a hit that Alex even wanted to wear one... until Adam intervened!

And a vacation would not be complete without a little excitement and adrenaline rush. It started when Big Man, Little Man, TaTa, Alex, and I were heading down a little path behind the house and Little Man picked up this log for the next cookout. As soon as he lifted the log a swarm of bees were around his legs. Adam leaped over a mound of rocks and grabbed Little Man and ran up the hill screaming... Little Man was stung six times and alas is not allergic to bees. I resisted the urge to take pictures of the baking soda covered legs, but you can visualize it. Little Man was a trooper and now we can mark bees and scorpions off the allergy list!

Here's a picture of the hive inside the log.....

Everyone has recovered and we are heading to an indoor water park / resort for the weekend. Stay tuned for more pictures because I have started a new trend of only posting when I am on vacation!

San Diego Part 2

Okay, I'm a bit slow on the follow-up posting, but hold on to your seats you may see more than one post this week!!! Don't hold your breath, but there's a lot that has happened in the past few weeks to post about.... First, to finish up our San Diego vacation was the Smores on the Beach and Sea World. The overcast day was a perfect start to dinner and smores, but not in that order. We started with Smores because we are on Vacation, so we can eat dessert at anytime :)

Little Man was so excited about roasting marshmallows and was focused on the fire and making sure the marshmallow was roasted perfectly.

After carefully assembling the Smores, Little Man took a BIG bite

We tried to get Little Man to look at the camera, but his eyes would not leave the marshmallow roasting

So what was Ax doing while his big brother was roasting marshmallows??? He was either drinking milk posing for a picture in a seat made just for him or...

Engaging in a deep conversation with PaPa

Then off to Sea World the family went.... the boys loved all the animals and we spent most of the time at the dolphin interactive pool where the trainers continuously train the dolphins to perform in one of the shows. The park wasn't very crowded, so we were able to move through the park fairly quickly until Big Man harpooned Shamu....
Big Man won the Shamu in a Ring Toss game and PaPa also won Little Man a purple gorilla, so needless to say it was a good thing we drove to San Diego otherwise these animals would be forced to stay at the park. Ax was nominated to carry the whale and quickly became the topic of conversation among the visitors that we passed on our way to the car. We were even the subjects of several photo shoots..... fun fun :)

And who knew Elmo and Friends are now at Sea World??? Overall, we had a fantastic vacation. Thanks Grammie and PaPa for a great weekend! And the post would not be complete without the final beach and family shots :)