4

I can't believe that this little fellow is four years old!
Here he is, all grown up and Livin' la Vida Loca at Chuck E. Cheese! (I hate that place, just for the record.)
We ended the day with a good hour of playing Uno. Sam lives to play Uno. Happy Birthday my boy!

Free

On the morn of Bubba's birthday*, he greeted me at the side of my bed saying "Hi Mama, I free". (three).
*It wasn't his actual birthday morning, but it was the day he believed to be his birthday.
(His actual birthday was the day before....I decided that it would be in his best interest to make him think that his birthday was today instead of yesterday because he would not understand why he could have neither cake or presents yesterday. All of the festivities were planned for today since Jared and G had school all day yesterday. He can't read a calender. He won't remember or know. Right?? But on the other hand, what kind of a mom doesn't tell her kid that it's his birthday!?)

He is a good sweet boy and I'm so confused about where the time has gone since he was born. Some things I'm loving about him lately:
1. When people called to sing him happy birthday, he sang it to them instead.
2. He gets sad when his daddy goes to work and says, "But, I Yuv him".
3. He likes to ride the bus on Tuesdays. (Or so he says)(?).
4. His prayers every night go something like this: "Thanks we can watch T.V., thanks daddy can work on the ladder, thanks mom can clean the mess, thanks we can play team geotrax, thanks sissy can watch strawberry shortcake, thanks we can open the fridge....."
5. He loves to give compliments on a job well done. example: "Mommy went potty in the toilet!"(shouted loudly in the target restroom).
6. He likes to yell at other drivers who sit too long at stop lights or signs. "Go Dude!"...hmmm, wonder where he's heard that one...
7.He loves all things naughty. For example, I don't like my kids to say "hate". Ever since he's figured that out, this is what he says to me with a smile on his face, daily: "Hey mommy, I hate".

Low Expectations = Complete Satisfaction!

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday great! I had absolutely no expectations for this birthday. Basically, anything above the stomach flu would have been a success in my eyes. So, I was pleasantly surprised when not only was I able to keep the birthday shambles at bay, I actually quite enjoyed myself!!
My morning went something like this:
8:15 am
(I am sleeping soundly and cozily in my bed with no plans of changing that.)
j: vanessa, you need to get up, i want to take you somewhere.
me: (groggily and with eyes closed) i don't want to go anywhere. i'm comfy.
j: yes, get up.
me: if you're trying to take me to breakfast, i don't want breakfast. i want to sleep.
j: it's not breakfast. just get up.
me: but what about bubba, he is still sleeping.
j: bubba will have to get up.
v: but, he's a baby.

8:30 am
me: what am i supposed to wear?
j: doesn't matter
me: (in my pj's) can i wear this?
j: (longish pause) do you feel comfortable in that?
me: depends on who's going to see me...does this have anything to do with my friends?
j: (no pause) you don't have any friends.

wow, long story short, (well, i guess long story long since it already is) my friends came to pick me up for a surprise breakfast! what a great way to start the day! thanks guys!!


Next, Jared's fabulous mom came up to watch the kiddos for us so that we could spend the day doing whatever I wanted to do! We spent the afternoon thrift store shopping, and then regular shopping. The sun was even shining. It was so fun.


oh, and also, i found out that my celebrity love match is Will Ferrell. The Love Machine told me. How does the Love Machine know me so well?

The Birthday Boy!

Today is S's 2nd birthday! He had a rough go of it being born 7 weeks early, and weighing in at only 3lbs 12 oz, but today you wouldn't be able to tell he had such a crazy beginning to life! He is the happiest boy...he smiles at anyone and everyone!

Here he is in the hospital when he was only a couple of days old.
The day we brought him home from the hospital, he was 2 1/2 weeks old. He looked so tiny in his car seat!
1 month old
3 months old
6 months
9 months
1 year old!
18 months
These two were taken this morning, he's 2!
Happy Birthday Bubba!

THE Party

So, In case you didn't know, High School Musical is the coolest movie ever. And in direct correlation to this fact, was selected by G as the theme for her party this year. I thought that i could probably pretty easily pull that off since every aisle you turn down in wal-mart these days seem to contain HSM themed products. And don't get me wrong, this did work to my advantage in terms of paper goods and party favors, but not so much in the party-game-ideas-for-4-year-olds area. So, I turned to the information super highway in search of ideas. Apparently, normal 4-year-olds are not the target audience of HSM because every thing I found was ideas for a 'pre-teen' party, which G may think she is, but in fact, is not (refer to the last pic on this post). So, I turned to my sister, Alicia, who has no children, but I think might be actually be a child trapped in an adult's body. I went to the right place because she had about 50 ideas for me in a matter of minutes. I couldn't have pulled it off without her. This is a little game I like to call "get your head in the game". All of you HSM fans will know what I'm talking about. The idea was that they divide up into teams by color and whoever gets the most balloons of their appointed color into the 'b-ball hoop' (aka trash bag taped to hula-hoop) wins. Well, that was my idea anyways. Their idea was a)popping balloons and/or b) shoving balloons (and not their appointed colors, mind you) into the basket until they could get it filled so that J would dump them back out onto their heads.

G and D getting down during a round of "freeze-dance", my personal favorite of the party games.

Oh, the cake. This was the big stressor for me. Which I mostly brought on myself. I could have easily gone to any grocery store and ordered a perfectly made HSM cake. But for some reason, I feel that my children's birthday cakes must be homemade or they will think that I don't love them. Here's how the conversation went with G when I presented her with her homemade full-of-love HSM birthday cake:
Me: (enthusiastically) What do you think G?!
G: (short pause)What do you think, mommy?
Me: (Nervous laughter) I think it's great!
G: (long pensive pause) Well, it doesn't look very good, but I think it will taste really good!
She's very concerned about others feelings. She almost always follows a put-down by a compliment. Gotta love her for that.

If I learned anything from this experience, it's that you need more than 2 games at a 2 hour children's party. Here they are playing a variation on ring around the rosies to fill time.

Wow, they were excited about opening presents. I mean, wow.

G and a few party-goers in front of the HSM banner that i painted for them to do their HSM karaoke in front of. Took me 10 minutes to paint, yet got better reviews from G than the cake did. I would attribute this to the massive amounts of glitter glued to the banner. She likes sparkly things. Maybe that's what my cake was missing, a little bling.

So, overall, I think the party was a success. However, my mom emailed me with a bit of advice today. She said that you should invite the number of guests according to the child's age. In this case, 4. Last count I had was 13 party guests. And yes, I said today she emailed it to me. Seems like the kind of advice you give someone before a party.

Happy Birthday G!

Today is our little girl's birthday! Time has gone so fast, i can hardly believe that she's 4 years old already! I don't know what it is about birthdays that make me feel so sentimental! I just love the idea that everyone has one day a year that is all about them, it reminds you how important they are to you and how much you love them. And I am definitely reminded today of how much G means to me. Here are some of my favorite photos of her...1st day home from the hospital
2 months old
5 months old
7 months old
9 months old
Her 1st birthday
What a pretty doll!..18 months

Just being cute..2 years old
Holding Baby S the first day he was home from the hospital
last year's Halloween costume, an Ohio State cheerleader
Looking way too grown-up
Working it

It's so fun to see how much she's grown. From a tiny helpless baby to a 'big-girl' who thinks she no longer needs my help! It is an honor to be her mom, she is such a blessing to me. She is so smart and funny. I couldn't imagine my life without her, she makes each day a little more interesting!