Weekly Wednesday first day of pre-school style...

So...I guess some of you might not have known. Today was Boog's very first day of pre-school and we somehow managed to survive it. I mean...it was only one hour today. Tomorrow he goes for 2, then Friday up to 3. That will be the true test if Mommy can make it.

Mr. Cheesetastic

He really has to be in the mood for pictures, lately...he is not.

He has such a beautiful smile, not that you would know lately. He would rather make goofy faces. Mr Goof.

This is better. We found a fish pond over to the side of the school entrance. Just by luck I think. I thought it made a nice place to take our "First Day of Pre-School" pictures!

He had a great time today. He was a little teary when we arrived. We assured him we would not actually be leaving today because he was only going to be there for an hour. It was nice, they had half of the kids there today for an hour, tomorrow they will have the whole class but for only 2 hours. When it was time for us to leave, we told him we would be outside and not leaving, I think that helped.

When we went back in to get him, we looked in the one way glass in the door for a few minutes. He was having a good time. We walked in and watched him play for a few minutes and he was in no hurry to leave. He was full of stories from his adventure. I think he will love it once he is used to the whole Mommy and Daddy leaving thing.

He has several friends that go to his school but the 2 that are his age go on opposite days, one of them does afternoons and one of them is a year younger so he does not get to have them in his class. This might work out to our advantage. He will be forced to make new friends. He loves other children. Granted, he would be just fine staying home and playing with Mommy and Daddy until he was 40! We are so lucky. He is an awesome little boy. We love him so much!

This was from when we first arrived. He ran off to play with the other children.

Of course, since it is Wednesday, and Wednesday's are generally about this little fella, we could not leave him out.

We got a few shots of this cutie pie while big brother was in class.

Look closely...do you see the third tooth? That is the cause of our ugliness lately! It finally broke through and there appears to be another one close behind it!

I swear...this child has such an attitude. Look at that pose!

Is this a better shot for Mr Toothy?

You can see the attitude! We love it!

Is this not the sweetest picture ever? He has decided lately to be a Daddy's boy. Yesterday, he would not come to me at all! He pushed me away and held on to Daddy. He would lean in for kisses though. So sweet.

Long overdue birthday pictures...lots of 'em too!

Wow...these are way overdue. That is the main reason I decided today just to not worry about editing all of them. I just picked some of the ones I really liked. There were way too many of them for me to finish before I put them up. So...here for your viewing pleasure...pictures from Tutti-Frutti's birthday. These are from his actual birthday. I have not started on any from the party yet. I promise I will get that done this week!


We gave him one present to open that morning.

I think he had a good time opening it!

He was particular about the way he opened it too.

Ah, and here comes the cake.

It started off rather neatly. This was the first time he had ever had cake, much less a cake just thrown down in front of him. I was worried. My other kids were each different in the way they dove in/did not dive in to their's on the big day. Both of the older boys were completely opposite so I was not sure what would happen. Sour Apple dove into his, hands, feet, head and all. Boog...not so much. He wanted nothing to do with it.

At this point, we were still very unsure what was going to happen.

Still being very neat about the whole thing. One finger, maybe 2 at a time.

He was starting to get the hang of it and decided that it was really tasty.

He was loving the cake.

Boog had all he could stand. He had to get in there and help his brother out!

Ah yea, here we go...now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Get your hands and feet in it. Oh yea. This is great stuff!

Put some in your pocket for later.

Pick it off of your feet. Do not waste a drop!

Oh yea, and the forehead is in it now!

Work those feet in good. By the way, have you ever tried to clean cake icing off of a baby with only baby wipes? Well, word of advice...it is not an easy job! Slimy, sticky and sweet goodness for the rest of the day!

After we finished the cake (and cleaning) we headed downtown to the Houston Children's Museum. We had a great time!

He carried the yellow ball around the entire time we were there. He held it in his hand everywhere he went.

He loved the sun catchers on the window.

He even got a birthday smooch from a baby girl! *and even a lick on the forehead, maybe she smelled the cake!

Trying to figure out how to get into the car.

Toys, I see more toys. Humm, now if only I could stretch a little more.

After the museum, we had Sour Apple's first jr high soccer game, went to dinner at Carino's then headed home for, you guessed it...more cake. Daddy made this cute monkey cake for our little monkey!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday Dear Tutti-Frutti. Happy Birthday to you!

NO! We do not touch fire!

Wheew...glad someone blew out the candle. Who's great idea was it to actually light the thing...oh yea, that was me.

One more present for the birthday boy.

Woo hoo! This thing plays music. Look at me dance! We had a great day and I hope Tutti-Frutti had a wonderful 1st birthday.

Weekly Wednesday, I am 1 now!

Well, we survived it. Our baby is one. Yesterday we went in for his (and Boog's) well check. At one year old, our mighty munchkin is a whopping 18 pounds 8 ounces and 29 inches tall. He's a big one!

I am one now...look at me. I can drive!

Hoping the ladies like my new ride.

You know, they say that the number one cause of vehicle accidents is due to the driver texting...I beg to differ, I think it has something to do with hanging out the window getting your ball back while you are driving.

He would rather stand in the seat than sit, or...well, there is hanging out the window too!
Or just plain standing and driving.

Had to throw one in of this sweetie too, yogart covered face and all. We had his meet the teacher day today. I think he liked them, of course he would never admit to it! As for his well check, at 4 years and 4 months, he is 41 pounds (only 2 pounds different in over 2 years) and 40 inches tall.

Still alive. Barely.

Wow. What a long few days it has been. Last Thursday, as you know, was Tutti-Frutti's very 1st birthday. To celebrate, we baked a cake just for him. We took him to a lake side park and turned him loose with it. I had my camera ready and we got some fantastic shots (part of why I have been MIA) of him (and Boog) destroying the cake.

After he finished, (read: after we took it away from him) we cleaned him up nicely with all of the fresh clean running water baby wipes we had on hand. Not promising he was not sweet smelling and sticky for the rest of the day! We loaded up in the car and headed downtown to the (newly renovated) Houston Children's Museum and played for a few hours.

We then headed out to Sour Apple's very first Jr High Soccer game, in Baytown! Yikes, is this what school sports is going to be like?! Wow, I need to prepare myself. After the game, we headed over to Carino's for some fantastic Italian food to celebrate Tutti-Frutti's birthday. It was delicious. Once we got home...well, more cake, of course.

We spent Friday getting some last minute preparations done before the party on Saturday and spent the evening hanging out and visiting with family.

Saturday...oh my...Saturday! What a whirlwind of a day! We got up early, tried to dress the children, feed the children and leave the house in a hurry to pick up the cake. Did you hear me say hurry? With 4 kids. Hurry is not a word. Anyway, we get out the door and realize that we did not feed the birthday baby. Great, of all of the kids to not have given breakfast to, I pick the smallest, and on his special day no less. Actually, I should say here that we made him breakfast, just left it at home. That at least sounds a little bit better. We get the cake picked up, oh how cute was the cake! By this time, I had heard from Pap about 4 times, wanting to know when we would be arriving (the party was going to be at their house and a tree had fallen the night before so there were a lot of limbs and debris to pick up) to help with some back yard clean up. My initial plan was to get up, gather our stuff, load everything I needed for the party, pick up the neighbor kids that were going with us, go get the cake, stop and get balloons and then head over to help with clean up then shower and get ready and prepare the food and decorations for the party. You read MY plan, right? Well, we all know that things never go as planned, especially when we need them to.

We get to the cake place, pick up the huge monkey face cake and a small #1 cake for Tutti-Frutti to have his way with. On the road we go, back to the house. I had not had time in the rush of the morning madness to pack up the car or our stuff. We get home, gather what we need, answer a few more calls from Pap, load the car, grab the gifts, grab the babies, grab the cakes and head out. I handed the #1 cake to Lemon Drop to carry, she was also carrying Tutti-Frutti. We get to the car, she asks where to put the cake, I say hold it for a minute so I can get situated. I hear Sour Apple griping at her about not putting the cake there, something might happen to it, I get a strange feeling, ask for the cake and my worst fears are confirmed...we are late AND now we have to find another smash cake! Are you kidding me? It is almost noon, I have to find another cake or bake another cake, stop and get balloons and then drive 20 or so minutes to get to the house to clean the yard, shower, decorate, bathe kids, dress kids and fix the food. Good greif! We stop at Kroger, the lady there was a real doll, she whipped up a small pre-iced cake to match our colors and slapped a number 1 on it and out the door I went, now...party store for balloons. Oh my great googly moogly! There is no longer a party store! Are you kidding me?!

I call my mom (again) in a panic (again) and flip out about the cake (again) and the fact that there is no longer a party store and I have to get to their house, like hours ago! She assures me she will stop and get balloons on the way home from work, yes, work...she had to work. This is the only Saturday of the month that she has to work and that is when we decide to have a party. Great. We head on in to their house, pick up limbs like our rear was on fire. Man. We. Were. Fast. Thank goodness though.

We finish the limbs, start our showers...meanwhile, I have called an aunt and friend and begged them to come early to help me. My aunt arrives just as I get out of the shower, thankfully she man-handles Tutti-Frutti so I can prepare myself and do Lemon Drop's hair. She makes the cheese dip and helps me get the table all set up. Wheew. I get the fruit tray done and we get the other food ready to go. I cannot believe we are actually going to be ready on time after the day I have had!

Mom gets home as planned, with helium tank in tow (did I mention that I had the mylar party balloons with me? That is why I was freaking, they were sooo cute, could not not use those!) and balloons as well. My friend and her husband had arrived by this time and got the balloons all blown up and tied. By this time, we could start to relax. It was a miracle.

The party started right on time, right down to the mini bounce house and pony.

We rode the pony, jumped in the bouncy, ate hotdogs, had mixed fruit smashed all over our faces and clothes by the birthday boy. He wrestled with his friend "The Fro" over a sippy cup. Smashed the smash cake, rubbed it all over his body, ate some, wore lots. We had cake, he cat napped, we visited with our family and friends, we opened presents and we stayed way late. All in all it was a fantastic day, bloopers and all.

The point to my story is...I am still alive. But barely. I will have pictures to post soon but in the course of all of this partying, I took over 750 pictures! That is what I have been doing...sorting through and editing pictures. Oh...and did I mention that I am also working on a photography blog to show you all some of my work? Yea, there is that too. I am trying to hurry. I know you are all waiting with baited breath for birthday pictures (ok, by the time I got to this point in the post, I begain to feel guilty for not sharing any pictures at all so I went back and found a cute one of him opening a present at the park and added it for your viewing pleasure) and I am proofing as fast as my little eyes will let me! But I do have to sleep you know!