Halloween Festivities

What a whirlwind of activities we had starting a few days before Halloween leading up to it. It started out on Thursday with a Halloween party at Junior's school complete with a parade of all the kids in their costumes, games and a snack.

*Side note...Junior actually really wanted to be a trash man for Halloween and after I told him that I did not know how to make that happen, he had to choose between two other costumes we already had from my aunt. He was going to be spiderman up until the last minute when he decided that the SWAT team costume, to him, looked like Luke Skywalker. His best friend from school is really into Star Wars and teaches Junior all about it. His friend was going to be Yoda so therefore, Junior thought he could be Luke Skywalker. So this is what he really thinks he was for Halloween!

Saturday after a morning t-ball game we headed to the pumpkin patch and Nana joined us. We took pictures, rode a hayride, rode a train and bounced on a few bounce houses. Then went to my parents house to put Gaga down for a nap and then on our way home stopped by my company's "Family Day at the Park", same as we had done last year. We met up with one of my co-worker's, her husband and one of her kids. We played a few carnival type games, trick or treated in the suites upstairs, went through a bounce house obstacle course a few times, ran the bases on the field and watched fireworks at the end of the night. We were all exhausted by then! What a day!

Then on Sunday, Halloween, we enjoyed having our good friends, the H family, over for lunch and to watch a little football while all the kids played. For a while they all played baseball outside with the dad's and gave Mrs. H and I a chance to talk. It had been too long and was great to catch up! :) Later that night the same co-worker that met up with us at the ball park the night before, invited us to go trick or treating with her in her neighborhood. Junior was a pro saying "Trick or treat, please" and "thank you" at every house. He also was extremely good about asking when he was able to pick out his own treat if a certain piece had peanuts in it or not. I'm so proud of him! Gaga caught on quickly and you could just see her thinking, 'this sure is easy, all I have to do it go up to a house and they give me candy!' She never missed a beat wanting to walk all the way never wanting to be carried! I was able to get her to say "trick or treat" and "thank you" about 90% of the time and it sure was cute to hear! A couple of times her pumpkin was getting heavy and she was dragging it on the ground. We asked if we could take it from her to help her carry it and she replied "Noooo." Then we tried to at least take some of the candy out and put it in another bag to lighten her load and she replied "hey, hey, hey!" and was very worried she wouldn't see it again! Too cute!

All our pictures from the festivities are below!

Halloween 2010

Heard Museum

We all took our first trip to a local museum, actually it was Daddy and Junior's second trip. We enjoyed seeing different snakes and frogs (yuck!), unusual animals you don't find in your local zoo, and walking a trail that had movable dinosaur replicas that also made sounds. We took a picnic lunch and although the weather got cloudy at one point, it never rained on us while we were outside.

Picnic lunch (we needed our energy before the walking trails)

Walking trail with our very own 4-year-old tour guide (he studied that map intensely telling us where we needed to go at all times)

One last photo stop with the T-rex (could not get Gaga to look at the camera, she was too busy making sure the dino was not going to get her...she did NOT like the trail with dinos).

Finally, got her to look!

Baptism Day

We celebrated Junior's baptism day with a gift from his Godmother, reminiscing with pictures from that special day and the lighting of his baptismal candle. Happy 4 years, Junior!

Thanks Godmother, Aunt K!

Looking through pictures from his baptism. Love Gaga's expression!

Lighting his candle

And blowing it out

Courtyard Carnival

Our parish holds a carnival every year in the courtyard full of games, bounces houses, food and music. The kids really enjoyed it this year because the older they get the more things they can partake in.

Bean bag toss...one of the only games Gaga could really participate in...well, this and the duck pond, but she didn't want to put the ducks back after she picked one.

Gaga and Junior in the bounce house. She did NOT enjoy this.

Junior did though.

Junior in action at the football toss

Getting help from Daddy at the 'free throw' booth...notice his arms are forward and the ball is above his head? The next throw actually went forward!

Junior showing off his snake he won at the 'go fishing' game.

Junior, snake and fire truck

Happenings around here

Washing the car

Everyone helping

These kids love taking showers. They would stay in for hours if I let them.

Another shot of Junior always having to touch Gaga while riding in the car. This time they both fell asleep.

Gaga's infamous pout face

Great One brought this over one day for the kids to see what he had found. We kept it all of two days before taking it back to him and letting him find a place to set it free. The kids enjoyed watching it walk around our back yard in the early mornings. During the day it would just dig a small hole in the corner of the yard and set up camp.

Gaga trying on Junior's bike helmet

Bedtime stories on the couch

4 Year Stats

4 year old stats:
43 1/2 inches tall

39 lbs.

Getting ready for his 4 year check up, I thought I would let him know a few weeks before hand that he would be getting shots at his check up and see if it helped make him less apprehensive. I was not thinking clearly that day because it was of course the wrong thing to do. Anytime we talked about the doctor whether it was for him or not, he would get all worked up again about getting shots and not wanting them. The day of his appointment I didn't even mention to him that we were going until we pulled in the parking lot of the doctor's office building. He quickly asked if he was going to be getting shots and I pretended I didn't hear him and for the moment it worked and we went in to the office.

He was very good about answering the nurses questions about his development and had his blood pressure taken for the first time. I think he was excited to be treated like a big boy! He had his hearing tested and passed with flying colors and also his eye sight tested. Before the eye sight test began the nurse had him up close to the eye chart to make sure he knew what all the symbols were that he was going to have to repeat later. The last one on one of the columns was a plus sign (+). He told the nurse that it was a cross. But later when the eye test was started and he was rambling off all the symbols, when that one came up again he said it was Jesus! The nurse smiled and said she had never heard that one before! Too cute! I wish I had my camera at the appointment because halfway through the eye test, Gaga had been standing by me off to the side and decided that she wanted to play the game Junior was playing also and walked over to the line, stood side by side with Junior, covered one of her eyes with her hand and repeated everything Junior said. Ex: Junior would say "star", she would repeat "dar" and so on. It was hilarious!

After the doctor examined him and gave him a clean bill of health and an A+ for Mommy, I told him that all we had left to do was get the shots and we could leave. You could see the fear in his eyes. :( The nurse wanted him to lay down on the table with his legs over the edge. He refused to lay all the way down and only did partially so he could still see the nurse giving him the shots. Usually they have both nurses give them all at once, but the other nurse went home sick after lunch so it was just one giving 3 shots. The first one was just an "Ow." The second one was a little longer "OWWWWW" and the third was the "I can't stay still on this table I am going to fly off it hurts that bad, OW"! Poor guy was stiff legged and walked with a limp out of the office crying big alligator tears. The doctor came out of his office to give Junior a small bag of cookies to help calm him down. It helped a little, but Junior was still racing to get out of that place. Thank goodness it's a LONG time until we do that again!

Passed out as soon as we got back from his 4 year check up...poor guy did not appreciate the shots that were given :(

Tee ball time!

Besides garbage trucks, another passion of Junior's is baseball! (Daddy loves this!) We had his first practice on Friday night (postponed because of rain) and his first game the next day. Of course he looked so cute in his gear, but the smile on his face the first time he stepped up to the plate, hit the ball and started running to 1st base was priceless! He was on cloud nine!

He was at 3rd base for the first inning and never had the chance to get the ball. All the balls were being hit to the pitching mound or more towards 1st base. Junior must have caught on to that because in the second inning he was ready to head out to the field and asked his coach where to go. The coached asked him where he wanted to go and he pointed to the pitching mound. Smart boy! The coach said to go ahead and Junior was on cloud nine again running out to the pitching mound. He was able to retrieve about 80% of the balls hit and throw them fairly accurately to 1st base. I was one proud mommy! During the second inning Junior must have seen the coach's son all geared up as catcher behind the plate. This sparked his interest because the next thing I knew Junior was talking to the coach before the third inning and then the coach was suiting him up to go behind the plate. He looked hilarious! He was supposed to shag the balls thrown back to the plate and put them on the tee. Although he never did this because he couldn't move with all the equipment on him. After about two batters, he started to walk away and tell the coach that he was DONE!!! Can't blame him for trying.

First Tee ball game

Birthday boy turns 4!!!

Now would be as good a time as any to explain how much Junior LOVES garbage trucks/trashmen. I know many little boys can become obsessed with one thing or another, but I never though mine would be head over heels for the garbage man/truck.

1. He wants to be a trashman when he grows up!
   
2. He can hear them coming from 5 blocks away.
3. He knows what day of the week they come (Friday). When he asks what day it is before we leave to go somewhere and I tell him it is Friday he is then upset for the chance that we might be gone when they come by our house.
4. He knows they do one side of the alley first and in about 10 minutes will be back to do the other side and will need the garage door left open so we don't miss it.
5. When we visit my grandparents or parents and he sees trash bags on the side of the road when we turn on their street, it brightens his day knowing that he will be able to see the garbage truck.
6. One day he asked me how many seats a garbage truck had. I told him probably just two. He was quiet for a little bit and then said, "Well, then Daddy will ride with me in the front and you and Gaga can hang on the back." (I don't think so, buddy!)
   
7. He likes to play garbage man at the grocery store and will JUMP onto the side of the cart as soon as we get there, JUMP off to grab an item I point out to him, THROW it into the cart and proceed to JUMP back on the side of the cart ready for the next "bag of trash". (Our garbage truck has the forklift on the side to pick up the cans, but the one at my parents and grandparents house has the men that stand on the back and jump on and off to get bags of trash. That's where he gets this from.)
   
8. All he wanted for his birthday was a garbage truck, not a toy one, but the real one. When I asked him where we would put it, he replied very plainly, "the backyard". Like that was a silly question for me to ask. Well, he did get his garbage truck, but just the toy one and it even had the forklift on the side to pick up a trashcan just like the one that comes to our house does. He pushes the lever and up goes the trashcan and forklift, dumps the trash and then pushes the lever back down. He loves it!
9. The only other request I had was a garbage truck cake. WHAT?! Are you kidding me...well, I got that done too. I am no artist, but I was pretty proud of that cake and so was Junior!

Happy 4th Birthday sweet boy! We love you!!!

Junior's 4th Birthday

First day of school

This year Junior is in the 4's class going three days a week. He has 4 classmates from his 2's and 3's class the past two years so it made for an easy transition to start a new year. He is still attending speech twice a week for 30 minutes at the local elementary school. He's doing so well, that I don't think he will be doing that much longer, which I am so happy about. First because he's doing better, but second because it sure is hard to get up in the morning!

Ready to go!

Silly face

Gaga had to get in on the action

This picture was actually from his second day, but it was his birthday and he was sitting next to his friends.

Houston Trip 2010

We decided to take a trip and drive to Houston to visit Aunt K and our college friends from Tech. Junior and Daddy had not been down there in over a year. Gaga and I had flown there last year for a "girls trip".

Aunt K had fun events lined up for us almost the entire weekend. We drove in Thursday night and got started early on Friday morning making it out to the Children's Museum. The kids really enjoyed themselves. There was so much to do and see. Later that afternoon we made it to our college friend's house to visit with them and of course meet the newest member of the A family. As from the pictures below, she is just beautiful!!! I couldn't resist buying her and Gaga matching shirts to wear that day. They were too cute! Then we went to dinner and met up with more wonderful college friends and headed back to Aunt K's house ready for another fun-filled day.

Saturday we managed to fit in a tour of Minute Maid park and take a short train ride around Herman park, but not before Gaga fell asleep in the car and slept through the whole train ride in my arms. It was so incredibly hot that we had to stick an ice pack from the lunch we had packed in between our bodies. It was completely thawed by the time the 20-minute train ride was over. Minute Maid park was exciting! I have never been on a major league baseball's field before. Then if it wasn't enough, attended mass and went out to eat.

Sunday before heading home we went to visit Great Granny (she always loves to see us and especially her great-grandkids) and then had lunch with Aunt K's good friend, her husband and their adorable baby boy.

Thanks for the hospitality Aunt K, can't wait till next time!

Houston Trip 2010