Richard's Birthday Celebration with Poppa and PatPat!

The weekend after Richard's birthday we headed to see Poppa and PatPat since Poppa is not up to travel these days. When we drove up, they had a Mickey Mouse birthday banner hanging on the garage and when we walked inside there were balloons and birthday cupcakes. Richard opened a few presents and then turned in for the night....Yes, he lines up all of his night time friends too....

I love the picture of Richard and Poppa walking hand in hand to the mailbox too...

Richard's Birthday Party at Mrs. Beth's House...

I made some cupcakes for a birthday celebration at Mrs. Beth's house. I learned my lesson from his actual party and did NOT have colored icing: ONLY white with Cars and WallE decorations and cupcake wrappers. None of the pictures of Wes showed his face (I don't think he was in a picture taking kind of mood) and poor Claire was half asleep. I love that the puppy is waiting to see if any of the kiddos drop a crumb or smuggle him a bite to eat: no such luck.

Birthday Fireworks.

I married into a "fireworks" family - I was not raised in a family that shot fireworks on any of the holidays or on special family occasions. After getting home from GattisTown, Ty got all the "pyro" fun together and ready for a mini birthday show for Richard. My camera is AWFUL at shooting fireworks, but he was absolutely delighted that his daddy shot fireworks off for him!! Afterwards we came inside and opened family birthday presents and ate a cupcake. Yes, I know that he has all of his cars all lined up...and NO my floor under the table is not spotless...whose is? His huge smile sums it all up: Turning THREE is absolutely GRAND!!!!

P.S. As you can tell, I couldn't find his hat so I just stole the hood off of my ski jacket!

Richard's Family Birthday Celebration!

It was so much fun having Richard's birthday fall on a school holiday this year. Richard and I headed to MeMe and DD's house to play and feed the ducks. That night, the three of us headed to GattisTown for pizza and gametime fun. Richard was quite a pro by the end of the evening and could swipe his own card. I was so glad that I rediscovered his little race car sweater vest while cleaning his closet that day (it has a number 5, but I think it kinda looks like an S). The crowds didn't seem to be so bad (probably because we went right after Ty got off of work). Richard had fun as always playing basketball and bowling....what is it about boys and playing games with balls?!?!?! Of course at the end of the evening he just had to take a picture with his little treasures all lined up neatly in a row! This poor little cake only had a couple of bites out of the icing when I threw it away, but it was yummy.

Play time with a friend....

It seems as if it was a million years ago, not just a little over a month....but Cindy had been telling me that Emma kept asking about Richard (she was at home right after her baby sister Emily was born)...one afternoon Richard and I had been home for just a few minutes when Cindy texted me this simple message "Mommy I wanna see Richard" - after a few quick texts back and forth and some reassurances that I would not make an offer I didn't mean, Cindy, Emma, and lil Emily were pulling up in our driveway....the visit was shortlived as Cindy didn't have any extra formula or diapers for Emily - but we had soooo much fun and look forward to them coming back really soon for another play time!!!!

We Sure Do Love Library Time. . .

Richard really looks forward to Thursdays. If he has had a good day at Mrs. Beth's he can go to see Mrs. June at the library....I'm not sure which part he likes the best - singing the songs - playing with the shakers - listening to Mrs. June read - arranging the magnets on the board - reading the board books - playing with the balls - or checking out videos to take home: it is all just plain ole kid fun!! HOWEVER, I could NOT be Mrs. June - I do NOT have the patience - seems the secret is out and it is now beginning to be very crowded - I think we are considering switching to a different day. Anyway, most days all of "Beth's kids" go - today Kate was sick so she and Claire were not there, but we had a new member in our midst: today was Emily's first day to go - thankfully she slept through most of the ruckus....Mrs. June even had mats out for everyone to sit on...now only that worked as good in reality as it does in theory! LOL Thanks to Amy, Cindy, and Robin for always adding to the fun by going on Thursdays....we look forward to next week.

p.s.haveno idea whytheone picturned itselfsideways while uploading - sorry.

Weekend Fun . . . .

When the children woke up Sunday morning we decided to let them have a treat - jumping on the air mattress before it was deflated and packed away - wow - permission to actually jump on the bed!!! of course they had to play with the trains and cars one last time as well. We had so much fun with Michelle, Shawn, and Emma - I wish there was a way to GREATLY reduce the distance between here and Memphis....it is always great to spend time with great friends - we promise to make the next road trip.

Birthday Fun at Home. . . .

After our party at Pump It Up, we headed to the house with MeMe, DD, and our friends from Memphis - the Fyes. We all enjoyed a bite for lunch and then watched Richard and Emma play. Soon it was nap time and once the kiddos were down, Michelle and I headed out to run a few errands and to take Manze's bday present to her (can't believe I forgot to take it to the party). Emma LOVES Richard's trains and they enjoyed his new cars as well. We headed to Ruby Tuesdays for supper and the kiddos were SUPER well behaved - wahoo - you win some and you lose some - it was nice to have a peaceful dinner and have time to catch up though.

Birthday Buddies. . .

Manze Ball turns three on the eighteenth and Richard turns three on the nineteenth. . .last year we celebrated together at the PlayPlace and this year at Pump It Up. We had so much fun!!! Since Richard and Manze both go to Mrs. Beth's house they share a lot of the same friends (in one way we are trying to spare the moms two birthdays in one weekend, but really we have a LOT of fun and t is very economical - we can do a much nicer party than we could otherwise do if separate). One of Robin's friends made Richard's "smash" cake - he LOVED that it had Lightning McQueen on it. We had the staff at PIU alternate the Cars plates and cupcakes with the Pink and Princess cupcakes - too funny! Thank you to ALL of our neighbors and friends that made Saturday so much fun.

P.S. Notice the cute shirt that Robin made for Richard - she made the navy one AND the one in the next blog - check out her work - go to my friends (the ball family) and then go to her link for her business - BallPoint Designs - yes one of these days I will learn how to link things.

Happy Birthday Emma...

Thank you for inviting us to your party - it was great practice for our party in two weeks...note to self - wear something comfy and shoes that can slide off when you need to "retrieve" your child out of the jumpy. Richard had a great time, although we had to go have a "talk" twice for being impatient with other children playing. He didn't know how to navigate the climbing part at first but quickly figured it out....he was totally frustrated at the tall wall that he wanted to climb to the top of with his ball, but that isn't the point of that inflatable. It was GREAT to see Wes, Claire, Emma, and Manze - we will see y'all Monday at Mrs. Beth's - poor Mrs. Beth with having to get them back in routine, but hey hopefully she will parade them all to the potty to keep going with what we have all been working on during the holiday. It was also nice to see the Holloway crew and the Killough's (Kara, I really do want a tutorial session)...thanks for the fun time Emma. We are excited that you will be back at Mrs. Beth's this week.

Visit With MeMe and DD...

After meeting Ty for lunch, Richard and I headed to mom and dad's for the rest of the day -I was hoping it would make Richard not realize that Daddy didn't come home from work. Mom and Dad are always good to save "duck food" for our visits - Richard had a great time. He even crawled up in MeMe and DD's bed and took a long nap with MeMe. Thanks for the fun times MeMe and DD.

One Perk of Being a Teacher. . .

It is such a treat to see Ty in the middle of the work day. We met at the mall and had a quick bite to eat and then Richard rode a few of the rides...it wound up being quite a traumatic trip because Richard did NOT want his daddy to go back to work, but I really wanted him to see his daddy since Ty was heading to his parents for the weekend to help out with Poppa. We love you Daddy - you are the best daddy Richard could ever want!

New Year's Eve 2008!

Well, it didn't go exactly as planned...mom and dad were going to keep Richard overnight so that Ty and I could go out, but my brother and his family decided to come in a day early so there went our babysitter... we decided to head to Chili's because Richard is usually fairly entertained there because of the TVs and if you sit in the right booth you can watch the traffic lights...well, we weren't even down Old Fannin when I glanced back and saw Richard sound asleep..we continued on and just took him in with us and amazingly he continued to sleep no matter the noise of everyone watching the bowl games. He did wake up and have supper with us and we went ahead and left at half time since LSU appeared to have no way of losing. We came home and watched "the ball drop" and then waited for "our" midnight and Ty shot fireworks for us to enjoy. Thanks hunny - you always make the holidays fun and memorable.

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