James's first day preschool!

James started 2 and a half year old preschool. Of course, he is three, but that is neither here nor there. I am happy that there are a handful of other boys all with September birthdays in this class. They can beat each other up. James ends up being there all day so it is a new thing for him. Here is James and John outside the school:



And another one of John in the hallway:



Unfortuately, James and John are not in the same class. See, John is three and he is in the three year old class. However, they are together during the extended care time.

One more of James in his classroom. We did a "yay preschool! Yay for Mommy cheer!"



And Andy just looked cute in his little jersey:

Game and more birthday!

After the party, we had The Theoretical Naptime, and then headed out for tailgating and the game. This was James's first football game! These were taken in the car on the way to park. I explained to the boys that this was "traffic":



James was in his "princess gear". For some reason, as the weekend went on, he started saying he was a king. A promotion. Better!

Andy was just fascinated by all the goings on:



Mark and James went to the game, so the pictures aren't very good, but James had fun. Here he is listening to the radio broadcast:



They had really good seats! It helps if you know the right people, and they know the right people, and it is a game that no one else really wants to go to!



Mark and James. I should mention that they made it to the start of the 2nd quarter.



The next day, Granny and Opa came to visit, and James FINALLY got to open his presents. Mark and I got him a guitar. I think James was disappointed that a rousing sing a long did not just occur. Maybe next time!

Pirate and Princess Party!

For James's third birthday, we ended up having a joint party. The other girl's birthday was the day before James's so it just made sense. To celebrate, we had a pirate and princess party. I got the idea for the pirate party from this post on my sister's blog. We had eye patches and pirate hats for little pirates, and crowns and wands for little princesses.



Most kids did both.

We had a treasure hunt with clues, and James was the one to find the treasure. (ARGH! THE TREASURE!)



In lieu of gifts, we had everyone bring a gift to exchange. This was very successful.



The cake was a cupcake cake and James's expression when everyone was singing to him was priceless!



Just a picture of Andy. He loved the cupcake, which is funny because 3 months ago he couldn't have cared less!

First Friday

Last weekend was super duper busy and I had in mind to do a really big post about it all, but all my pictures are divided between two cameras, and I have already upload the pictures from one, so we are going to break it up.

It all started with the First Friday parade. Note to self, next year, stop at Subway to take with and eat dinner picnic style! Really and truly, I have been looking forward to this all year. Isn't that sad? I am sure that James was as well, but he forgets. Here is James all geared up and ready to go:



And here is James with the Tiger, but to be quite honest, the band was his favorite part!



We had high hopes for Andy. We really weren't sure who was going to have more fun: James or Andy. Turns out Andy is "slow to adapt".



But once he adapted, he was ready to hop on down and join the parade. We let him walk in the street after it was over. It made him happy!

Public Service Announcement

We have recently had a new children's museum open up nearby. Unfortuately, it is pretty expensive, $12 for ages 1 and up. As a service to others, I thought I would tell you about the experience. I took James on a day that Andy was in school, so that saved us $12 right there. Actually, it probably saved us $24 because if Andy came, I would need to have brought Mark also.



Pictured above is when we were paying. James and John probably had the most fun right there. Really, the whole thing was ok. Yes, it was fun, but maybe it was geared to slightly older kids. They had race car simulators, which were cool, but James didn't quite get it.



I wonder how it works when the museum is crowded! The shuttle simulator was also a little much.



The climbing was fun:



James spent a lot of time with the cars:



And of course love the music room!



There really wasn't a whole lot for Andy's age. I am glad it was just James and Mommy!