J's Real Birthday

We celebrated j's birthday the weekend before his real birthday. On his real birthday, Granny picked up a cake for him and decorated it with ocean animals. As you can see by his face, he was absolutely thrilled. I love that smile!

Happy 6th Birthday, Doodle!

On the Fly

When we went to New Orleans in February, we learned that a long time friend was planning a trip to Austin in March. She was coming for South by Southwest for work. One of her clients, Firefly Vodka, had some events during the music/film festival.

Firefly has an RV traveling around the country promoting their latest products (sweet tea vodka among other things). The best part is that there are college-ish kind of guys driving the RV and blogging about their adventures. They are calling it the "On the Fly Tour." Actually that isn't the best part. The best part is that Allison is supposed to be partially responsible for these young men. This is quite humorous if you actually know Allison.

Back to the story...we were excited to be able to squeeze in some more time with Allison (third time since October for me). She is ALWAYS tons of fun. This time certainly was no different. We met her in Austin for some adult time. We were able to meet her "RV guys." We really liked them and decided they were not at all what we expected. They were way better. They are two of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. So...we decided to have them all over for dinner on Sunday.

We weren't sure how the neighbors might feel about the Firefly Vodka RV showing up on our street. I'm sure they weren't pleased, but we didn't catch any grief for it.

Our little guys loved the RV guys. They were wonderful about playing with our boys and even took a trip down the zip line. K kept laughing about this warning on the side of the RV. I'm not really sure he understood, but maybe.



Mighty, Boppy, and our RV friend


Allison hanging out with the boys on the RV



The fam in front of the RV

K's Flight Suit

Aunt Brooke and Uncle Simon know and appreciate K's love of all things military. This year for his birthday they planned to take him to "the base" to do some shopping. Things got a little crazy for all of us, and it was beginning to look like that might not be possible for a really long time.

They surprised him with this flight suit. Needless to say, he LOVES it! He put it on and didn't want to take it off.

It didn't take him long to line up some military guys in the backyard.

Art Party

This year we celebrated j's 6th birthday at the art studio. We were able to combine his two favorite things: art and ocean life. The boys were able to play with balloons, do an art project, and play a few games.




Our party coordinator filled the floor with balloons for the kids to toss around. The boys were thrilled and the adults were nervous. We were just waiting for an accident to happen.

Simon found other uses for the balloons.



The rest of us decided it was time for a balloon time out. We just couldn't take it anymore!



On to the project...







Mom and Dad

Mer and Nan

Finally...our birthday boy with his cake

Bear Snacks

Spring Break is always a fun time for us. It kind of gives us a sneak peek at what summer will be like. I try to find some neat and different things for us to do, even if we don't go on a real vacation. One afternoon we made these bear snacks. We were inspired by our trip to the Farmer's Market where we bought local honey and a trip to the dentist where we were able to steal this idea from a magazine. We added chocolate chips for eyes and a belly button. The boys enjoyed dipping their bears in honey for an afternoon snack. We'll have to remember this one!




K really did have fun. It's hard to believe, I know. I keep telling him that one day he'll thank me for all of the pictures I make him take.

If you're hape and you know it...

When we can't find j, we look to the playroom. Usually he can be found sitting at his desk drawing. Not everything is a masterpiece, but sometimes we come across something really cool. At first glance this picture may not seem like anything special, but it really is.

When we asked j about it, he told us something like this...

It says "Happy Holidays" at the top and the illustrations below show all of the holidays. Each character is identified by the beginning letter of that holiday. The mummy has an "h" for Halloween. The bunny has an "e" for Easter. Santa has a "c" for Christmas. Cupid has a "v" for Valentine's Day. The turkey has a "T" for Thanksgiving.

He even made a key at the bottom so he wouldn't leave any holidays out. We only had one question. Who is the boy with "JD?" How could we forget his special day? I'm guessing J Day is his birthday.

Hang Time with Uncle Ben

Over Spring Break we made a playdate with Uncle Ben. We met at the Farmer's Market in Austin. We figured that it would be fun to hang with Uncle Ben as he examined food...one of his favorite things to do. He did, in fact, have lots of good tips for us about what to buy and what not to buy. He even got J to try some interesting things. That child will eat just about anything...especially if Uncle Ben recommends it. Why does that not hold true at our own dinner table?


This picture is pretty typical of our boys these days. K is always grumpy for a picture. J is ever happy, and Mighty is questionable.


Uncle Ben teaches us about green garlic.

After the Farmer's Market, we decided to go to Phil's Ice House for dinner and playtime. The food is always pretty good, and the ice cream is amazing. The boys played outdoor shuffle board with Uncle Ben and Daddy. The play area wasn't as big of a hit with them as it has been in the past. Unfortunately, Mighty decided to literally hit two strangers while we were there. You would think after the first time out in a place like this that he might learn a lesson. Not our stubborn little friend! The second hit was delivered to an 11 year old boy. On that note, we left.