Birthday Fun, Part 3: The Aquarium

Although we go to the zoo all the time, we had never been to the Dallas World Aquarium so we decided to go on Sunday as part of J's birthday celebrations. We didn't know what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised. We all thought it was really amazing! I haven't been to a lot of aquariums in my life, but I don't think this is a typical one. There is a rain forest theme and there are lots of non-aquatic animals like birds and monkeys. It's arranged in three levels and you start at the top above the trees and work your way down until you're next to tanks looking at animals underwater. There is a huge waterfall and it was amazing to see all the different animals interacting together--birds, monkeys, manatees, etc. in the same multistory habitat. There is also an area where you walk through a tunnel and sharks and rays swim above your head. Lots of neat animals and most were ones that J had seen on Go, Diego, Go so he was thrilled. Expensive, but worth it. We had a blast!


B's parents are in town for J's birthday.

Look at that! J was so excited!

See those two big gray things? Those are manatees.


N and I both fed these birds blueberries by sticking our hands inside the enclosure. It was really cool.

N. This was the bottom level where you could walk up to the wall of glass (floor to ceiling) and watch the manatees, giant fish and turtles swim by. This is the below view of what we saw from above earlier.

J. "Manatee!"


There were only two penguins out swimming around because the rest were molting and couldn't swim.


B took these last few pics because my camera battery died. This is the shark tunnel.


At the end of the visit, next to the jaguar. What a beautiful animal!

Birthday Fun, Part 2: Party at School

J, B and N all made cupcakes for J to take to school last week. J picked out all the details: yellow cake, chocolate icing, soccer themed cupcake liners, star sprinkles. They were delicious!


Everyone enjoyed them.

Especially N.

Birthday Fun, Part 1: Birthday Party

J had his birthday party early, on the 6th. It was J's first "real" birthday party. It was a Lego themed party. J invited 4 friends (1 from the neighborhood, 2 from school, and 1 in from Austin). N was also there with another little brother.


We played a "find the block" game with Duplos,

Then built towers with the blocks we'd found,
Then built Lego vehicles (that everyone got to take home as their goodie),

Ate hot dogs and mac n' cheese for lunch,

And had a cake decorated with Lego block candy.
All around a ton of fun!

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Happy Birthday, J! I can't believe you are four years old today. I love you so much and I can't wait to spend many more birthdays with you. I'm still a little in shock that you are four already. At the same time, I sometimes have trouble believing that you just turned 4 today. I expect so much of you sometimes as you are my "big boy." But don't worry, you'll always be my baby too.

I love it when you get sweet and snuggly with me--even if you do seem to do it when I really should be doing something else. There is nothing in the world that feels nicer to me than holding you in my lap and feeling you relax into me like there is nowhere else you'd rather be.

I love it when you get so excited over the little things like the fact that your uncle called you Big Al or the mac n' cheese I made is the spiral kind that you "always like." I love the joy in your voice when you tell me all about the latest Diego episode or the Lego vehicle that you built.

I'm so proud of you when you do the little things like put on your own clothes, help N play with a new toy, or help take let Pepper in or out.

I love that you like to play with Legos and that you are so good at following the picture instructions. I can't wait until you start designing your own vehicles and structures.

I love how you can tell me about all the different animals on Diego and what they like and what animals they are afraid of.

I love watching you make new friends every time we got to a park or playground or McDonald's play area.

I love that you have finally realized that you can climb and slide and everything else when we go to play areas and playgrounds. The smile on your face when you do just makes my heart happy.

I love that you still love books with a passion and that you are continuously finding new books that you love. Books have always been such an important part of my life and I love sharing that with you. Our story times at rest time and bedtime bring me such joy.

I'm sad that you no longer want to nap, but I love that you are growing up and becoming more independent and adventurous. I can't wait until that carries over to your eating :).

You bring such joy to my life. Please know that the reason we butt heads is because we are so much alike. I hope you will one day decide that that is a good thing. In the mean time, please remember that I love you so much and think that you are one of the sweetest, smartest, most wonderful little people I know.

Happy Birthday, Little Man! I love you so much!

Those Four Magic Words

All Yarn Half Off.

Just kidding.

As you may have guessed from earlier posts, J has been going through some rough times these days. He's almost 4 and he seems to be hitting the teen years a bit early. We've already discussed the napping situation which was really fun when he decided to add emptying his dresser to the mix...4 times. In other fun, he's been basically doing the opposite of what I say. If I say don't do it, he does it. If I say please do it, he doesn't. If I say no, he just tries to do it anyway. You get the drift. Needless to say there have been some less than pleasant days and nights recently. But things are getting better.

Tonight when I put J to bed, I told him "I love you" on my way out of his bedroom as I do every night. And, as he used to do every night, he said, "I love you, Mama." Ahhh... Those four magic words. It's amazing how they soothe my soul. All the butting heads and arguing and feelings of frustration are washed away by those four glorious words. Motherhood. It's an amazing thing.

Life is Crazy...No Time to Blog

I have a lot to blog about, but no time to blog...partially due to J no longer napping :(. Anyway, hopefully I will slow down long enough to blog soon. Just know that life is crazy (mostly in a good way...like birthdays and house guests) and that I will post pics when I get a chance. Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Oh, and I am still knitting...currently working on a Slanting Gretel Tee for my sister.

Dear Fellow Moms,

Do you ever feel like your children are plotting against you? That they are purposely making your life as difficult as possible? Okay, so that may be a bit, just a bit, melodramatic, but that's how I'm feeling these days.

Just when I'm in the throws of doing crazy things like trying to knit a sweater in 17 days while my husband is out of town for all but five of them, J decides to give up taking a nap. He's been fighting it for a while--only sleeping during nap time maybe two or three times a week, but he was at least staying in his room during nap time. Now he's fighting me tooth and nail even to do that. For the last two and a half weeks (starting with the first day of the Ravelympics/Knitting Olympics), he has only slept maybe once. For many of those days I had to fight to keep him in his room including resorting to putting the child safety knob cover on one day. That day, he proceeded to empty the entire contests of his dresser (his entire wardrobe of clothes) onto the floor. He then stripped his bed down to the mattress and added all of that to the pile. He then got a roll of toilet paper and unrolled it and added it to the pile. He then cried hysterically for about 40 minutes when I made him clean it all up. Since then, he's emptied his dresser three more times. Will he ever learn? Will I?

I have SO much to do right now. On top of my regular cleaning, laundry, ironing, cooking and attempting to exercise again, I am busy trying to clean the house for upcoming guests, get ready for J's birthday and do a bunch of organizational things for my neighborhood moms group. I am feeling CRAZY about this whole no nap thing. I'm fine with him not sleeping, but he needs to at least listen to me and spend an hour in his room. To make matters even worse, because he's not napping he's really tired and keeps falling apart over EVERYTHING.

Sigh..... SIGH. This too shall pass. But in the meantime, I am mourning naptime as I once knew it. SIGH....