On the Hunt

Our friend Tricia has hosted an Easter Egg hunt for the past few years and JD was looking forward to it all week last week.

Unfortunately, Meg caught a pretty severe virus that left her with a high fever and a rash.  Poor baby girl.

Thank goodness, the fever subsided on Thursday, so that we were able to get the kids looking cute and at the Easter Egg hunt on Friday!

 They were both pretty excited about the party.

 The kids all lined up and ready to go.  Can you believe this is Tricia's backyard??  Beautiful!

 Of course, Meg's first egg is a pink one.

 JD was very proud of his haul of eggs.

 Meg was pretty excited about the whole egg concept.

 Meg and Tricia's son Nolan enjoyed sharing some bunny crackers and a chair together.  They are about 6 months apart in age.

The party ended with some tears from JD because he lost his favorite egg prize and thought that meant the Easter Bunny wouldn't visit him on Sunday to teach him a lesson about losing toys.  JD gets such vivid ideas in his head!  He is a thinker!

We are ready for the Easter Bunny to make a visit this week!!

4 Years and 15 Months

We made it into the doctor late last week to get the kids checked-up'd and recorded.  It was the first time that both kids went in and neither was diagnosed with ear or sinus infections while we were there for a well check.  Of course, both kids have had a virus since then, but whatever...

And to mark such a momentous occasion, we took the kids for bluebonnet pictures...okay, not really, but I wanted to show off my pictures on the blog!

So my big 4 year old measured in at

42 inches tall (yes, he can ride the slide at the Broadmoor Hotel now!) - 85th percentile

42 pounds - 75th percentile

The doctor still says JD is tall and skinny, although that weight percentage always throws me!  He always impresses the doctor with his vocabulary.

My sweet 15 month girl measured in at

31 inches tall - 35th percentile

23 pounds - 50th percentile

Meg is doing great with all of her physical milestones and can pretty much run from A to B.  She can lift her arms over her head when you say "hands up" and loves to say "doh" or no when you ask her to point to her nose, ears, head or mouth (all things she can do but refuses to when asked).  She also stubbornly says "mam" instead of mama, but says a very cute "dada."  She will point to the tv in the car every time and say "Deedles" so she can watch her favorite video of the Wiggles. 

Meg will babble a blue streak and then look at you as if you should know what she said and she will actually get frustrated when you don't respond.  She also likes to color and flip through books (two things that my son was not fond of at that age). 

JD has always loved the "doctor house," mainly because of the toys and the lollipops.  But the 4 shots that he got this time changed his mind.  JD was downright livid that he got those shots and started to cry every time he thought about it for almost a day.  Poor guy!

Meg got her usual 2 shots and screamed, but got over it pretty fast.  But she is always leery of the doctor and hates to have ears, eyes and nose examined.  JD has never really cared about that part.

I'm proud to see my two kiddos growing, thriving and learning new skills with every visit! 

Partyin' with the Potato Heads

For JD's 4th birthday party, he REALLY wanted a Mr. Potato Head party.  Little did he know that most kids his age were into Spiderman, Diego or just about any other character out there and that there hasn't been Mr. Potato Head party goods on the market since around 1989.

That didn't stop me though!  First, we decided that it would be fun to share a party with his cousin Kenna who is just about 1 year younger than him.  Second, we had to go about convincing her that Potato Heads were pretty awesome.  I got her a Mrs. Potato Head as an early birthday present to kind of warm her up to the idea.

Then, we had to decide on a location.  After much deliberating between McDonalds, Bounce Houses and Gymnastics, Gymnastics won, since Kenna had newly started and JD has always enjoyed the parties at the gym.

Next, we enlisted Heather's friend Kristi to design our party goods.  Since she was looking to expand her party portfolio, she offered to help us out! 

Check out Kristi's blog for more of her party design services!  http://kristiskringles.blogspot.com/

The invite...

The favors, which included a Potato Head coloring book, crayons, Toy Story stickers (with Mr & Mrs), Fruit Snacks, and a Mini Potato Head!

 The birthday boy!

 Such a cute cake, designed by a local bakery in Allen

More cute party printables for the cupcakes

Both birthday kids in their potato head shirts!

 

And oh yeah, the kids LOVED the gymnastics part!!

JD couldn't decide what he liked the most about his party - the potato heads, gymnastics or all the friends who were there!  Sounds like a success to me!

Thanks again to all the friends and family who made it to this special event!!

Birds and the Bees and Babies

Yesterday, JD and I had "the talk."  That's right, my four year old wanted to know where babies came from...specifically, Baby Meg.

It didn't really start that way.  My son, always the thinker, asked me if Meg would get bigger. I said, "Yes, at her next birthday, she will be two."

JD thought about that and said, "But she won't be as big as me. She will still be a baby."

I said,"No, she will not be as big as you, but she won't be a baby anymore.  She will be a toddler."

JD pondered for a moment and then replied, "Yes, she will be taller, but not as tall as me!" 

Ha ha.

About 10 minutes later, JD asked, "Did you eat Meg?"

I was kind of taken aback by that one.  So I asked what he meant by that. 

JD said,"Well, I remember that she grew in your tummy.  So you must have swallowed her and got her really big."

I honestly didn't know what to say to that one, so I just said, "No, I didn't eat Meg."

Then JD asked if I had a big mouth.  Again, I needed some clarity on that one.

JD said, "Meg was pretty big when she was a baby, so your mouth must have gotten really big to get her out."

Hmm...

I did let him know that my mouth didn't get as big as a crocodile and that the doctors helped to take her out of my tummy, but not through my mouth!

I think we will wait for part 2 of this discussion for a couple more years!

Four is More!

Today we celebrated the fourth birthday of my sweet baby boy (who is most definitely not a baby anymore) Jonathan Douglas.

We started off the day visiting Thomas the Train in Grapevine.  This was a total surprise for JD and I wasn't sure if he was going to be that excited anymore about riding a train.  I am happy to say that I was totally wrong and he LOVED it!  He was so excited about seeing Thomas and boarding the train.  He was completely overwhelmed with the excitement of it all!

Next was a lunchtime trip to McDonald's for a cheeseburger happy meal.  He got a superhero in the meal, so he thought it was a great birthday treat.

Then he got to open his birthday present from us (well, actually he will be getting a bike later, but we are having trouble finding a 14" bike right now).  JD has asked for nothing but Mrs. Potato Head for the past few months, so he was pretty happy with this present.

A little later in the afternoon, he received a fun birthday call from Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Mercy all the way from California.  Then JD's other Grandma brought over a birthday present that he was beyond thrilled about...

For dinner, JD got his most favorite meal of spaghetti and meatballs.

And of course, we blew out birthday candles in honor of his birthday.  Too bad he doesn't like cake all that much...oh well, more for me!

I am so proud of my little man at the ripe old age of 4.  He has such a sweet energy about him with a genuine enthusiasm for life.  JD creates such elaborate playtimes with such fun characters.  I love to play Bat-Mommy or Space Mommy with him.

JD knows how to write his name and has greatly improved his drawing skills - he can now draw people that really look like people!  He has a huge vocabulary and I love his funny way of putting together his thoughts.  He can create great bedtime stories with all sorts of twists and turns in the plots.

JD still has his go-to favorites when it comes to food, but I'm very proud of him for being more open to trying some new things every once in awhile.

JD has become much more loving with his sister, family and friends.  He does more hugs and kind actions and he is starting to become a "pleaser" to a small extent.

I love my sweet big boy and can't wait to see all of the twists and turns on the road to turning 5 this next year!

Who Needs Help?

I'm totally loving JD's latest playtime obsession!  Batman!  Let me explain how we got here.

Just to make me eat humble pie from my last entry, JD showed me up and had an absolutely STELLAR week at school.  He actually had 3 days of school this week since we had a snow makeup day on Friday.  And each day, he seemed to be progressively better at school until we hit Friday, where his teacher made a point of saying that it was his best day all year!

And on Friday, JD came out of school talking about Batman and how he needed a cape, Batman gloves, Batman boots and Batman "gobbles."  So I decided it was time for a reward for his wonderful school performance.  I remembered where I had seen a Batman play cowl...in the place where you would certainly expect to find something like this...Tuesday Morning (yes, I was being sarcastic)!  But there it was, so JD was thrilled!

When we got home, I fashioned a black Batman cape out of an inside-out black t-shirt and Buzz Lightyear costume gloves became Bat Gloves.  Black cowboy boots were a good stand-in for Bat Boots and of course, he had his new cowl mask that just made the whole outfit come together.

 I think it is funny how Meg thinks the whole thing is hilarious...

My sweet superhero!!

Yesterday, we made a Bat Cave out of blankets and tunnel system. 

But today, I stumbled upon a perfect Bat Cave solution at the place where you would certainly expect to find something like this...Walmart (okay, not really as sarcastic here)!  They had tables all lined with clearance items and we found a Toy Story bed tent marked down to $11!  Then when we checked out, it rang up as $3!!  Deal! 

So after setting up the new and improved Bat Cave, the day went a little something like this:

Batman (JD):  Who needs help?  Who needs help?
Me:  I do, I do!
Batman (JD):  Be right there!  (Swooping down the stairs from his Bat Cave).  What do you need?
Me:  I need help putting the silverware in the drawer Batman!
Batman (JD):  I'll help!

We got the entire living room picked up, JD's room cleaned up, dishes unloaded and other assorted tasks all from the help of Batman!

I love this game!