Halloween

Daddy enjoyed a special birthday treat... as Peter Pan! Evan was in love with his Captain Hook costume. The boys have recently become enamored with everything pirate. 

My birthday

The kids helped me bake and decorate a cake. I think they have a promising future. The rest of my celebration was solo -- at a prenatal massage appointment. Win!

Happy 5th Birthday, Evan!

Evan is finally 5. He's only been asking me about his birthday (and planning his party) since before Christmas. This year's celebration will span 3 days -- we had a special birthday meal last night (ribs & corn on the cob, per birthday boy's request) since Jason is gone tonight; today was a birthday pancake breakfast & presents followed by cupcakes and friends at the pool; and tomorrow will be the big party at the jumping place with all of Evan's friends. Whew! Turning 5 is a lot of work. Next year will be more low key, you can bet!

Happy 3rd Birthday Grant!

Today was Grant's 3rd birthday... and what a whirlwind day it was! Prepping for his 3rd birthday was more work than his birth day! He celebrated first with cupcakes at school and then we had a mini-party at home with our friends. The theme this year was Wonder Pets... a Nickelodeon show that was created to drive parents nuts, I'm convinced. The hit present was a toss up between a Matchbox airport set and a garbage truck. The toughest part of the day was explaining to a certain older brother about birthdays and how they work. ie, you don't get to help open half of the presents; you don't get to play with the present first; and you don't get to stick fingers in the cake.

Happy 4th birthday, Evan!

Today was Evan's big 4... and what a day it was! We were brave and hosted a backyard party that included 9 kids ages 1 through 4. The goal was to keep the kids well entertained with the bouncy house and slip-n-slide so that they wouldn't run around inside the house. That nearly worked... they stayed outside most of the time, played in the bouncy house, slip-n-slide and the sand box; we managed to avoid large quantities of sand and cake in the house except for a pile of sand at the bottom of Evan's bed (no idea how or when that happened). Judgding by the testimonials -- "Mom, Evan's party is FUN!" -- we think all of the kids had a good time. The slip-n-slide turned out to be the biggest hit... for little kids and big (in spite of the 110 lb. weight limit). And I'm happy to report that there were no casualties or boo-boos of any kind... not even a dropped piece of cake! For history's sake, here are a few fun facts about Evan at age 4:

Favorite colors: green and blue (he not only likes them, he's obsessed)

Favorite drink: chocolate milk (everyday for lunch)

Likes to: talk, dig in sand or dirt, dance, listen to music, read

Favorite song: Tempted (by the fruit of another) or Break Your Heart (by Ludacris)

Favorite book: Don't Forget the Oatmeal

Favorite food: hotdogs & beans

Favorite animal: do worms count?

Favorite phrase: "See you around like a doughnut!" or "Mom, I have to ask you something..." or "Guess what!"

In case you didn't get enough...

Here are more pictures of Grant's birthday saga.

The train cake (yes, those are trains). Mary-- thank you and curses to you. While it turned out ok, the cake was a PAIN to make! ;)

New picnic table to enjoy in the back yard -- thanks Grandma Soon & Papa!

And, last but certainly not least... pictured below is a gift from a certain Aunt & Uncle (you know who you are) who thought it might be ha-ha-larious to bestow upon Grant (and in turn, Evan) the Little Tykes Mud Pie Makin' table. Oh yes, it's everything you would ever imagine it could be. Am thinking of the perfect gift for my sweet little nephews in NYC... ant farms are fun!

Happy 2nd Birthday Grant!

Dear Grant,

It was your birthday today and boy, did you have a rough one. From the minute you and your brother woke up, you were annoying each other, teasing each other and just having quite a day. Turning two is tough! But, like we usually do, we made the best of it (despite it raining ALL day long). There were waffles for breakfast, play time with friends, a fantastic nap, your favorite dinner of chicken fingers, fries and broccoli (well, I'm pretty sure that broccoli isn't your favorite, but you ate it nonetheless), and of course, cake, ice cream and presents! You successfully thwarted most all of the attempts from your older brother to con you out of your new toys and instead shared some of them during bath time. Then, of course, what's a long birthday day without getting up from your bed approximately 5 times before you finally fell asleep for the night? A tough day for my tough, but so sweet, full-of-personality little boy.

Grant's pre-birthday fun

For Grant's 2nd birthday (tomorrow), we took the boys to Thomas' Day Out in Chattanooga. The boys had no idea where we were going until 2 minutes before we arrived. A note to novice parents: Never tell your kids you're going to do something/go somewhere until you're actually, physically onsite. Trust me on this one -- I've been burned too many times. They were excited and we were thankful that the impending 70% chance of rain held off. Turns out though, threat of rain wasn't our biggest problem. Two minutes after this picture was taken:

Grant fell, face down on the asphalt, looking like this:

Once Grant stopped crying, we meandered through the festivities, including a giant tent filled with train tables as far as the eye can see.

Shortly after this photo was taken, Evan stumbled out of the tent, turned pale as a ghost and nearly collapsed into my arms. We think he got dehydrated (he has a little cold) and overheated. We quickly remedied the situation with a sugary neon blue juice drink from the concessions. Nothing that a little high fructose corn syrup and blue #6 won't cure.

Next stop: Petting zoo! Which was really fun, since the petting zoo at Thomas' Day Out features attack donkeys! Some well-meaning donkey bit the hand that fed him and unfortunately that hand (thumb) belonged to our little Grant. Grant's interpretation of the event: "Horsey eat!"

Thomas' Day Out is FUN! No really, after those few fiascos, we took a real train ride, ate lunch, stopped at the gift shop and all was right in the world. The following pictures feature the more enjoyable moments of our day trip. Fair warning: there are lots of pictures included in this post, so go ahead and take a moment to grab a cold beer, pull up a chair and enjoy.

And this is what you get after a face plant, a near fainting, a donkey bite and an otherwise fun day with Thomas. It's what I call "Success."

Happy Birthday Papa (Terreri)!

Happy Birthday Daddy (Jason)!

Woman turns 30, and lives to tell the tale

30th birthday party. Enjoyed lots of friends at the house, Jason's great cooking and crazy, crazy kids. Thanks to Jason for sweating over a hot grill and playing referee to five children under 5.



The kids really didn't care whose birthday it was, as long as there was cake.

Evan's birthday... and a note on turning 3

Well, let me start by saying that Evan had several wonderful birthday celebrations over the course of the weekend. Let me also say that turning 3 has been tough. Apparently, since Evan skipped the "Terrible 2s," fate would have it that he hit the "Turbulent 3s." It had to come at some point, right? I won't go into details, but I'll just say that we had some very high highs and many low lows. For your sake, I'll only show pictures of the former.



Birthday morning: the present that almost ruined Evan's birthday. After some quick thinking on my part, wire and electrical tape, all was better. If you would like to join me in my boycott of Fisher Price, please contact me for details.



The birthday shirt!

Lunch with dad at a restaurant that overlooked the runways at Hartsfield-Jackson.





The birthday dino cake!


Birthday celebration at the bowling alley with best friend Tai. We opted out of the multiple children party and kept it sweet and simple.




Post-party, the boys came back to our house and played outside in the sprinkler... they had a blast!

And, for fun, a sweet picture of little Grant who was a trooper throughout the birthday celebrations.