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!

A little like Christmas

It is consignment sale season and this first one was this past week! I am not a big consignment sale shopper. I find if I go with any expectations I usually end up frustrated and disappointed, but the sale is good for some things. I browse the toys just to get something new and different for the kids to play with and maybe a few clothes as well. This year I was surprised to find a kitchen with food and uteniles for $20. What a score!



Perhaps I would be a better mommy if I put all these new toys away and brought them out one at a time as needed. I have done that with a few of them because somebody's birthday is next week! But I like to leave them out in the morning and listen to the boys be surprised when the see their new treasures. Yes, it is a little like Christmas.

Andy's first day of school

With my current schedule, it just worked out to put Andy in daycare on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We started him this week and here are some pictures of his first day.



He was pretty excited when we first got there. I think he was definately ready for SOMETHING. He had watched James get dropped off too long. It was his turn.



James made himself right at home. He is also ready to go back to school...but not for a couple more weeks...sigh.



Here is Andy grabbing my leg as I was trying to leave. Poor guy.



Just a cute picture at the park later that day.

Sim Wessons

Oh, sorry, I mean, swim lessons. I guess after mainly talking to an almost three year old you tend to drop your L's.

James completed his first set of real swim lessons. It was Mon-Thur from 5-5:40 for two weeks. Tough shift. Well, at least James would enjoy it and get a lot out of it.

WRONG!

So my normally always happy child who loves EVERYTHING and thinks everything is GREAT and LOVES the water and to sim...I mean swim HATED swim lessons. He would literally cry about it all day for those two weeks. And it wasn't even one of those things where he would have fun once he got going. That first week he was still crying when it was over. Those poor lifeguards. Towards the end, he would tolerate it better. Here is the class lining up:



I told James that when they lined up like that it kind of looked like a parade. That image helped a lot. See, that is James in front. You just have to know how to talk to these kids.

For most of the class, the kids would stay on the steps waiting their turn with to work on their skills.



By this time, Andy would have tried to crawl in about 20 times, so we went into the lobby and had walk lessons. This is Andy's new look. He is smug:



But he really would want to get back to the pool, and this guy hates swimming!



For the last class, my parents kept Andy so I could watch the whole class. James seemed to swim well with his noodle.



Although, did not like jumping in:



We got a little piece of paper with James's evaluation and he was able to complete all of his skills. He is ready for the next level. Um....I don't think so!