Another Bounce House Birthday

The birthday party at the bounce house is kind of our thing.  It's a private room, a definite time frame and very little prep and clean-up.  It's pretty much party perfection in my book, and so, for the third year in a row, the bounce house was booked.  Noah was pretty pumped when we started talking about the theme.  I suggested a rocket ship party, and he jumped on board.  "I'm having a rocketship party at the bounce house.  I'm going to be five days old."  Sweet boy!

 

The boys are back.  Pre-party.  Noah is so ready for party time.

Noah was nonstop and had such a great time.

 

So many friends were there.  Playgroup friends.

School friends.

Even his teacher and therapist stopped by. Noah and Mrs. J.

Noah and Ms. Mer.  So blessed to have family and friends to help celebrate our sweet boy's milestone birthday!

The rocketship cake.  Ordered from our favorite local bakery.  We went with white on white this year.  Next year we're back to the chocolate with chocolate ganache filling.  To quote a friend on her RSVP, "will you be having 'the' chocolate cake?"  We didn't realize how much it would be missed.  Definitely next year friends.

Happy birthday dear Noah!

We added a pinata to the party this year.  Kudos to Blake and Zak for holding it up.  Noah did so great taking and waiting his turn.  So proud of how he did at his party this year!

The party loot.  Thanks friends for the great gifts.

This was the first year that Noah was really into the presents.  What they were, who they came from, and how many he had.  All lined up and counted for.

Yay for super fun parties and happy, happy birthdays!!

Birthday Girl

Happy 4th Birthday Noah!

Four. Where has the time gone? Well, sweet boy this is your last birthday as the only child. In less than three weeks, baby sister should arrive, and not only will you have to share your home, you will have to share your birthday month. The fun factor for the month of June is going to double from here on out.

What a great year you have had! You finished up your first year at a new school, and it was such a great experience for you. You've become more social, and I've loved watching you form relationships with the teachers and friends in your class. Your teacher, Mrs. F, told me that the kids see you as a leader and love to follow you around. It made me so proud to hear that. Your other teacher, Mrs. I ended the year by telling me how smart and happy you are and that she sees so much potential in you.  She also complimented your direction following skills. 

You continue to have such a happy and easy-going temperament, although there are times when you want what you want when you want it, but I guess that's every kid. You are really good at compromising. We spend a lot of time saying, "first this, then this." And, also a lot of, "if you want 'x,' you must do 'y.'" We are both pretty good at holding up our end of these bargains, and this usually keeps things running smoothly at home.

The days of wondering when you would talk are finally over, and your functional language is constantly improving. You have mastered receptive language, and I often have to remind myself that little ears are listening. You talk non-stop, and "quiet mouth" is used quite a bit in our house. Echolalia is still a large part of your language, and you pick up phrases from everywhere. You speak with a lot of inflection, and Daddy and I giggle at some of the things that comes out of your mouth. Just this morning you told us, "I'm thirsty... in my tummy.  In the past week, you've started adding "Mommy" to the end of phrases, and it melts my heart every time. 

Your favorite color remains pink. You love chocolate ice cream. You love Cheese-It's. I mean really love Cheese-It's, and you could probably eat a box a day, if I'd let you. You always request them the same way, "cheese-its for a cup." Same thing goes for water and chocolate milk. "Water for a cup with a straw." Chocolate milk in a sippy cup." We're still working on prepositions. Pencils are still your favorite thing to carry around, and Momma is especially thankful to the Target Dollar Spot for keeping some fresh ones in the rotation. Your memory continues to amaze us. You can count by 2's, 5's, and 10's, you know all the words to your favorite Dr Seuss books, and any electronic toy that says ANYTHING has been committed to memory.  You have a bit of a sensitive side, and strong emotions usually make you upset. You don't like sad.

You are such a big boy and are moving into age four weighing about 45 pounds and measuring 43.5 inches with a size 12 shoe. You are at least a head taller than most of your friends, and I am sad to report you will soon be in big kid clothing. And, speaking of friends, you still give the best hugs, and I sometimes have to cut them short before you knock over your buddies. You love hard, little man.

Some of my earliest memories come from around the age of four, and I think of that sometimes as we go about the routines of our day. I wonder if you'll remember us lying in bed at night while I sing you "Same Voice" as you fall asleep. Or us making muffins together in the early mornings. Or you and Daddy hitting the cupcake house on Saturdays. Both Daddy and I are looking forward to making tons more memories in year number four. Happy birthday sweet boy! Daddy and I love you so very much, and we are so proud of all your hard work this year.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from year number three.

Your third birthday - June 2010

First day of school - August 2010

Love to swing - September 2010

Love the park - September 2010

Field trip at the Pumpkin Patch - October 2010

All dressed up for school Christmas program - December 2010

Big news.  It's a girl! - January 2011

Trip to Disney - February 2011

The rodeo - March 2011

Easter - April 2011

Last day of age THREE - May 2011

Four

We celebrated your birthday today. Daddy took the day off of work, and your cousin Blake was in town visiting.  Momma thought long and hard about our agenda for the day.  When school is in session, our days are pretty routine, but since summer break has started, I've started making little picture checklists to help you know what to expect from our day.  Today was a special number 4 checklist. Here is how it went down:

Cupcake House. Our first stop of the day. This is something you love that you do every Saturday morning with Daddy. The ladies behind the counter love you, and Daddy orders you three mini cupcakes (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry) with a purple lollipop on the side. Everyone got a treat for breakfast, and then we headed out the door. As we walked out you waved and said, "bye ladies."

Washing down your cupcake with some delicious milk.

Reviewing the checklist.

Considering you were up at 5:00 AM this morning.  We were more than happy to let you squeeze in a quick nap between locations.

The Castle. Our next stop was the play castle at the mall. You love this place, and I knew you would have a blast.

Lots of running going on here.  Momma was glad to have Daddy and Blake there to chase you around.

Build-A-Bear. It's amazing how easy the checklist made it to transition from activity to activity. We left the play castle and headed to Build-A-Bear. It was Noah's first experience there, and although a little jumpy, I think he liked it. Since they were all out of rainbow bears, Noah settled on a pink bear. Aptly named, pink bear.

Putting in the stuffing.

Giving Pink Bear a quick bath.

Aunt Mo was wondering why you got a pink bear.  Ummm... they were sold out of the rainbow ones. 

Swim Lessons. We squeezed a regular activity into our day.  Again, Momma was very happy to have Daddy there to help you get dressed out and then changed back after lessons.

Lunch. By this time, our crew was pretty hungry, so our next stop was lunch. We opted for some Tex-Mex where you are a fan of the chicken and French fries and the machines/games near the exit.  You left with a bouncy ball. 

Presents. Our final activity on the agenda was opening presents. This year you picked your own gift from a Fisher Price mail order catalog. Camping gear. You were so excited when you tore off the wrapping paper.

What is it?

Roasting hot dogs over your campfire.

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy! I hope you had a super fun day with Momma, Daddy and Blake.

A Bouncy Birthday Bash

Today we celebrated Noah's 4th birthday with a party at the bounce house.  Same as last year.  Same time.  Same place.  He LOVES that bounce house, and you know what they say, "if it ain't broke, don 't fix it." 

We even had to boys here to celebrate... just like last year.  

Here's the invite.  I ordered it from a cute Etsy shop called SquigglePrints. You know I love me some Etsy.  Check it out here.

Here's the cake.  I ordered it from a local bakery, but I got the cookies from... Etsy and decorated it myself pre-party.  So cute and yummy!  Here's the cookie shop.

Here's Noah loving the bounce house. Notice his super cute party shirt. Not from Etsy, but from my good friend Judi. She makes the cutest custom tees. Check her out here.

Here's a little sliding.

Here's a little running.

Here's our family picture.

Here's Noah listening to all his friends singing "Happy Birthday!"

Thanks to all our everyone who came out today to help Noah celebrate!  What a super fun morning!

Happy Birthday Monique

About a year ago, I had this great idea to start a blog and countdown the days to a milestone birthday by writing about a person a day. Ok… it really wasn’t my idea. I saw it on the internet, but it was a good one, so I borrowed it. And, since I was floundering along in my early thirties with no milestone in sight, I conned my 39-year-old sister to make a list and get to writing. Amazingly enough, she did. And, whereas I am pretty sure I would have given up say somewhere around January, she plowed through with a blog a day for an entire year. And, if that doesn‘t scream first born, I‘m not sure what does.

And, today is day 365.

Happy, happy birthday Monique!

Thanks for being such a great big sister. Well, except for that time age 5, when you wanted me out of your room and threw a hammer at my head. I know, I know... It was an accident. The top flew off. Whatever, I've heard the story. I do remember you teaching me the dance moves to all my talent show dances. I'm pretty sure Erica and I killed to Electric Youth in 7th grade. I also remember riding shotgun in the green lizard hoping you'd let me bang the dashboard to start the 8-track. I do know that, when you moved off to college, I took over your room and inherited the clothes you left behind. The details are a little fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure it involved lots of reconstructed denim, pink heart appliques, and a fuzzy blue beret. I know you and I really became close as adults, and it is so awesome to have a sister as a friend. I appreciate all the advice over the years.  You suffer through my occasional bouts of tears, laugh at me when I say ridiculous things, and always remind me to put on my big girl panties and "toughen up." I do believe that the sisterly support is not one sided.  I will take credit for breaking your habit of wearing Gap classic fit jeans.  Yes, there was a reason they were only sold online and were always on sale.  I also will take full responsiblity for your strong skills on the computer.   I am glad we are finally done with the whole, "ITunes is a just shortcut.  The files are saved under My Music" conversation.  I really appreciate you still giving me a ring with the occasional Excel question. It helps to slow down the brain atrophy of my stay at home mom-ness.  You are such a great mom and juggler of all things. And, I know it's cliche to want to be like your big sis, but it's true. I love you, and I pray your 40s are filled will lots of happiness and love. You deserve it!

Now, for the photos. Is it really possible to embarrass you with old photos since you’ve been putting yourself out there for an entire year? Probably not, so I’ll just put the ones where we look our best. Don’t mention it. That’s what sisters are for.

1980-something.  Looking oh-so-sassy.  I'm pretty sure Dad put us up to these poses.

1980-something.  I'm wondering if this was taken sometime around the hammer incident?  It might explain the super mad face.

1980-something.  Enjoying a freakish snow storm in Mom and Dad's backyard.  Love the tight rolled jeans.

1993 - Your wedding day.  I'm pretty sure you were married at the height of the Garth Brooks craze.  That would explain my awesome shirt.  We are not going to even talk about how neither of us should ever where those particular shades of pink on our faces. 

1996.  What do you get when you mix a terrible backhand and a horrible forehand?  Umm... only the best double team ever.  I wonder if we won this match.

2000.  Waiting at the hospital for Brooke to be born.  Notice the aforemntioned classic fit jeans.  I really have no room to talk since my large feet should never have graced a pair of Doc Martens. 

2007.  Nanny Aunt Mo and Noah meet for the first time.  I think he's crying because Momma didn't burp him.

2009.  Vegas, Baby.  I told you I would post a pretty picture.

Happy Birthday MaMa Gladys

There is longevity among the women in my family. Need some proof. Today is my grandmother's 90th birthday. Nine-zero.  And, I know at some point today, she'll get on her computer, check my blog, read this post, and probably check my grammar. Oh yeah, she's online.

MaMa (at 88) with a newborn Noah

She does a ton of stuff at ninety.  She drives, plays cards with friends, watches all the Saints games, does crosswords and sudoku, reads.  She even takes road trips to visit Noah.  Last time we talked, she was telling me a story about how she was having a craving for ice cream, so she stopped at McDonalds.  She went inside, ordered, and sat down to eat her ice cream.  For her, the point of the story was that she spilled and a nice young woman helped her with some napkins, but for me, I thought... how awesome to just be driving and think, you know what I want so ice cream, so I'm going to go get some, and I'm not going to eat it in my car just because I'm by myself.  I'm going to sit right here and enjoy it.  That's my grandmother.  She's indepenedent and strong and smart.  And, I am proud to be her grandaughter. 

According to reports from back home, she's starting off her 90th year with a bang, dinner out, lunch, cake. Lots of family and lots of celebrating.  As for me, I hope her birthday is filled with a win at the casino, a yummy lunch out, a win from the Braves and maybe a good book.  Happy Birthday MaMa Gladys.  I love you!