Happy Birthday Ava!

Saturday morning we celebrated Ava's birthday at her house along with what seemed like 50 of her closest friends. That little girl is loved! Look at Matthew's face...it's like, do I get a cupcake and are people going to sing to me too? And then here he thinks we ARE singing to him. Goober.
It was a great time. They tackled each other, rolled down that hill countless times, jumped in the leaves, played in the dirt, decorated goodie bags and cupcakes, ate some awesome burgers, and busted open the world's most stubborn purse pinata.Ava looked rad in her new tutu, pink tights and Yo Gabba Gabba themed sweatshirt complete with a lovely bun.Matt was having so much fun I couldn't hardly convince him to leave. Finally I told him that we should go take his daddy some lunch & a birthday cupcake to Walgreens and he was at last compliant. I'm pretty sure Ava had a great birthday...we were certainly glad to be there to help her ring in year #3!

We've got a week planned around family, a fishing and hunting trip for the men, a morning at the Chuy's parade downtown, and some awesome Thanksgiving treats complete with leftovers that should hopefully prevent me from having to go back to the grocery store for a least a few days. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Whoa Chuck

Matthew is a big fan of Chuck E. Cheese's. I'm not sure why--it could be because we drive by the place nearly everyday and he enthusiastically waves to it and reminisces about how he & Ava have been there and have played games and laughed. That followed by a "I wanna go Mommy. Can we go?" In celebration of their birthdays, we took both Matt & Ava there on Wed. night. They blew through their tokens at an alarming rate, but that was okay with me because then we had time to go to Chuy's for dinner rather than dining on ol' Chuck's pizza. Upgrade.Matthew played his first attempt at air hockey and did pretty well, he still enjoyed climbing up to the top of the playscape multiple times, and he took a new liking to all the "rides" that were there. He and Ava rode the roller coaster ride together.For their mountain of tickets they both selected their prizes and walked away with a lollipop each. They had a great time. I don't know...we may have created a birthday tradition with those two.At Matthew's school today they held a Thanksgiving feast...turkey, stuffing, rolls, the whole bit. Matt was very excited when he saw Steven & I walk in to enjoy his feast with him. He ate a good amount of food on his plate, chugged not one but two juice boxes in quick succession, and polished it off with a sugary dessert. I'm hoping that all of that was the cause of his upset tummy right before we left and the nastiest diaper I've seen in awhile and not some stomach bug. We shall see. He had a great day until that mess happened. His teachers said that in music class today he told them he was thankful for his baby brother. Awww! We are too, but we are also so very thankful to God for our sweet big boy Matthew and what a joy he is. (He's on the end there on the right sucking down his juice...)

Mr. Lowes & A Visitor

Our son has discovered something a little curious. Steven had the Lowe's web page open a couple weeks ago, and once he abandoned his post there at the computer Matt took over. Matt has become a fairly proficient user of the mouse, and he some how clicked his way over to the Lowe's videos. He has learned how to winterize our home dozens of times. He will honestly sit there and watch it over and over again. One night he broke into tears and refused dinner because he wanted to keep watching Mr. Lowes. I'm not exactly sure why he likes it so much--could be the use of a candle or all the light switches or maybe it's Mr. Lowes' charm and confident voice. Whatever the reason, Matt asks quite frequently to watch him. And only the winterizing video. He doesn't want to learn how to do anything else yet. Too funny.Friday evening the Oliver family came into town and stayed with us for a night. Matt was thrilled to wake up from his nap to find Isa here. We had a great time visiting with them and watching the kids play. Matt & Isa even slept in the same room. We all expected to find Isa in Matt's crib with him, but she slept in Matt's new frog tent on the floor. There was all manner of giggling for a while, but they fell asleep at a decent hour so we called it a success! Before the Longhorn game on Saturday the kids painted with Matt's new paints out on the porch. He's been dying to paint since he opened it up on his birthday, so he & Isa painted some lovely pictures.That's about it I suppose. We moved some furniture out of Matt's prospective new room yesterday, so that's our newest project! Poor Matthew is going to get booted out of his crib really soon! I honestly can't believe he's still happy in the thing. He still has never even attempted to crawl out of it. Incredible.

3 Years Old

Matthew turned 3 on Sunday, but we had his big birthday bash on Saturday. He's been anticipating it for weeks now, so that morning he was so excited to get to actually attend his party that day. It was a beautiful, perfect day and the kids ran all over the backyard enjoying Matt's toys and his cool new sandbox he got from my Dad and Ann for his birthday. We played a game in the sandbox, ate some hot dogs and chili, enjoyed Matt's Thomas cake, and watched the kids pulverize a donkey pinata. Matthew had a blast & was thrilled to have his friends and cousins there with him.That's right, I put googly eyes on the cake. Happy Birthday Matthew!!!Yay for blue icing.Matt swinging at the pinata.Matt took a marathon nap after all that awesome birthday party action and immediately requested to open his gifts when he woke up. Tim & Pam gave him a candle with an LED light that flickers either orange or blue and snuffs out when you blow on it. How cool is that?? And for Matthew who is obsessed with candles, he was totally smitten. He kept that candle by his side while he opened all of his gifts. The boy got some really cool stuff.Yesterday after he woke up from his nap Steven & I gave him our gift, a nifty new train set. He was immediately in love with it. With another boy on the way, we figured a train track was a worthy investment. That is, if Matt will share it with his baby brother.Catzilla just made himself at home smack dab in the middle of the thing. Weirdo.Thanks to everyone who attended Matt's party and for making it a special, fun day for him! Hope you all had a great weekend, we sure did!

Birthday Weekend

It was an action-packed weekend for us...TWO birthday parties, lunch with my grandfather, a UT game I won't comment on, and church. Whew. Saturday morning we attended Brooke's 2nd birthday party that was located at a very cool little park. Here's Matt riding what we called the purple dinosaur with Noah and with Steven adding a little bounce.Holly said that Brooke is very into purple these days, so the place was all decked out in her color of choice. Matt & Ava scored awesome seats next to the birthday girl. I thought Matt would dive into his cupcake, but he was more taken with his punch. "What's dis, Mommy?" I think he liked the fizz. Brooke later opened her gifts and Matt wanted to take a few of them with him. Including the tent we had given her. We left there and went to lunch with my grandfather and his new bride. My grandmother passed away almost exactly a year ago, and earlier this spring my grandfather met this lovely lady. Bryan & I had not had a chance to meet Donna yet, and we were glad to get to sit down and begin getting to know her. She is so sweet, and she and my grandfather look splendidly happy.Sunday afternoon we went to Ryan Hampton's 1st birthday party. I can't believe he's already one year! We spent some time at the park to begin the festivities. Here's John, father of the year...And here's Matt & Steven racing down the slide:Baby meets cake:Matt was very excited at Ryan's new toys. Even though they were "baby" toys as he called them, he still was envious of the grocery basket full of play food and the shopping cart that Ryan scored. It was a great weekend with friends and family. Now, we brace ourselves for Matt's birthday this weekend! He woke up from his nap this afternoon and asked if he could go to his birthday. "Is it my birthday yet, Mommy?" He's beside himself in anticipation.

Ho, Ho, Ho Halloween

Okay, so when I first asked Matt what he wanted to be for Halloween he replied, "I wanna be Christmas, Mommy!" Hmm...okay, let's work with that. Then he came up with Santa Claus. A few other times I would ask him he would say he wanted to be a turkey, but in the end Santa Claus got the most votes. He knows that the fall is a very exciting time packed full of fun events and he said to me one day, "First it's Halloween, then my birthday, then Ava's birthday, then Thanksgiving, then the baby, then it's Christmas!!!" He didn't exactly get the order correct, but the look of sheer joy on his face about the approach of all these fun things was so adorable. So, I whipped up a little costume that will serve double duty for Halloween & Christmas!
Bryan & Sarah had an awesome Halloween party out at their house packed full of kids and adults, food and games. Matt was very excited to wear his costume so here he his after he first put it on checking himself out in the mirror. He ran all over the place and the kids played in the backyard and we all ate some yummy treats. As soon as it started to get dark the kids were getting antsy to go trick or treating. Here they go out into the cul de sac:
Matt did really well...it was really hard to fight his way through all the big kids to get to the door or to the candy, but he managed. I thought he might be scared by all the decorations people had put up, but he wasn't phased at all. Except for the legs. He stopped dead in his tracks. "Uh-oh! Whose legs are those, Mommy? Who lives under that garage??" He was very concerned and kept asking the rest of the night about the legs. He couldn't understand that they weren't real. The next morning Steven tried to re-enact it with a pair of Matt's pants & shoes and he still asked whose legs they were. So funny!!
Ava (who if you ask her is dressed as a princess even though she looks like a very lovely ballerina) & Matt in the middle of their trick or treating:After the kids scored their loot, we came back to the house and they began stuffing their faces with candy. Caroline was an awesome looking pirate, and Mary Claire was a black cat (same as Audrey was last year).
The sugar sets in...Caroline, keeper of the Halloween pinata:Everyone got a swing, but one of the bigger boys ended up busting it open. Naturally. I love how Matt's face is plastered with tootsie-roll remnants.
Sorry so many pictures, but there were too many good ones not to share! We had an awesome Halloween. Matt woke up the next morning and said he wanted to go to Christmas. The kid has moved on to the next event!