The Birthday Mouse

Monday, July 12, 2010. Today was Sam's 4th annual birthday extravaganza (warning: post may contain peanuts). I took the day off from work so that we could party hardy and truly make it an extravaganza and not just a regular ole ganza. Here's the downlow on how we got down.

1) Let Nut sleep in. He's not a morning Nut, and I often have to wake him up for school. (Whereas Beeju begs to let him set his alarm earlier and earlier so he can do his routine...work out, get dressed, eat, brush teeth, etc, etc.) So letting Peanut sleep in on his birthday only seemed right.

2) Breakfast from Shipley Donuts on a special Toy Story tablecloth. The Toy Story "zealots" always make Sammy laugh, and I'd go to any length to hear that sound.

3) Houston Zoo. A day at the Houston Zoo in July means sweating off the donut breakfast we had (plus some), but that's not such a bad thing, is it? And we still had a blast despite the heat. Today's visit was also unique, because the boys got to meet and pet several animals that we haven't seen before, including a python, a pancake tortoise (aptly named "IHOP") and a baby alligator (all 3 shown below).

4) Lunch at our favorite place - Jamba Juice. There's just nothing like an Orange Dream Machine after a morning in the sun. Or an afternoon in the sun. Or a day inside at work. Or a wintry Chicago day shoveling snow. Ok, basically I'm not picky...just give me my ODM. And the boys were cut from the same cloth, so it works out well.

5) Back home to catch our breath and watch Cars, a longtime favorite movie of Mr. Nut.

6) Dinner at Chick-fil-a. We were surprised to walk in and find Spiderman waiting for us in the lobby. The boys have never even seen a Spiderman movie or cartoon, but they were still super excited. Spiderman was kind enough to take pictures and talk to "Phineas" and "Jerry" to their little hearts' content. And on the way out, he let the birthday mouse climb up on his shoulder for a pic (see below). After she got off work, Amy joined us here for the rest of the evening.

7) Birthday cupcakes at Cupcake Cafe. If you live in the area and haven't tried it, put it on your list. Good stuff.

8) Presents and games at Chuck E. Cheese. This was the culmination of the extravaganza. It was really fun to have a birthday party with just the four of us - without the normal worry and stress of putting on a larger party. We gave Jerry various options, including ones with friends and stuff at the pool, etc. But he opted for the family trip to CEC. He should be a party planner, because we had a great time.

It was definitely one rockin' birthday celebration. I wouldn't trade anything about the day. I was in heaven getting to spend the day with my boys. And I'm so glad I got to spend the time with my little Birthday Mouse. Can't wait for him to turn 5 so we can do it all again. Happy birthday, Peanut! For some people, variety is the spice of life. You, my young Jerry, are all the spice I'll ever need. You make my life so rich and wonderful and amazing. I love you!

There's just something that gets me when I see a pic of one of my boys looking at the other. It's usually Peanut looking at his big brother. I love it so much.

Doing their monkey impersonations.

Aside from the cute pic of the boys with Spiderman, I love this shot because it's so Nutty...he loves to grab a handful of straws every time we go to Chick-fil-a for some reason. He doesn't do it at McDonald's or elsewhere. It just seems to be his CFA routine. I love those little details about each individual boy.

This pic and the one below just scream "grandpa" to me. His faces just crack me up.

Classic Nut.

Hugs from Beeju and a thank you from Nut after Jerry opened Noah's present.

Where we spent the majority of our night.

Hoop, there it is.

Outta This World!

Friday, July 23, 2010. For Noah's last day of his summer program, he got to go on a field trip to Space Center Houston, and I got to go with him. We had a great time exploring and playing and learning. It was fun enough that I upgraded my one-day ticket to a one-year pass so that we can go back with Peanut soon. We also didn't get to see all of the Space Center, because we were limited on time, etc. Below are some of our adventures from the day.

Rock climbing activity where you had to race up and down and back and forth to touch the glowing space rocks as they randomly lit up in order to score points. Beeju "rocked" this one.

Just a portion of the gigantic space play area. Parents are welcome to go inside, which of course I did. What they don't tell you is how tight some of the quarters are and how flexible you need to be to make some of the turns and bends. Fortunately, I made it out alive...and had a blast inside.

Phineas and I battling at the entrance of the "Star Wars: Clone Wars" exhibit. I loved how Noah had his classmates pre-conditioned to refer to him as Phineas and me as Ferb (the main characters of his favorite show, for those of you not up on Disney shows).

Having lunch with Alex, James, Blake and John. Whose idea was it to have lunch outside for an hour in the middle of July in Houston?

Pops and his boy.

Taking a break from walking by relaxing in one of the movie theaters.

Noah was convinced that every astronaut that we saw there had been an actual astronaut who had died and then been put on display. That would be awesome.

Touching a moon rock.

The first Beeju in space.

Playing with the wind tunnel.

Manning the control center.

Noah and his friend, George. I love how it doesn't really matter to him where the rabbit ears go in a picture...just so long as they have them.

La Fiesta de Aqua

Saturday, July 24, 2010. Our church family got together for a "Splash Party" this afternoon. We had all the typical activities and games and plenty of food. Any excuse to cool down on a July afternoon in Houston is welcome in my book. I was one of the few adults to come in my swimsuit. What's wrong with you clowns? You know who you are.

One of Nut's favorite activities was the game where he had to pour water on someone else's head (in this case, Spencer) until the bucket was full.

Uh, do you think Peanut was having a good time? How could anyone possibly look at this kid and not smile? Impossible.

One of Beeju's favorite activities was soaking Dad. At first he opted for a watergun. Then multiple waterguns. Then he discovered the more effective wringing-the-sponge-on-my-head technique. The beauty was that he (and all of his accomplices) thought they were "getting me"...but instead, it was a win-win because it kept me nice and cool on a hot Texas afternoon.

I could just stare all day....

....at this little mouse....

...blowing bubbles. I think I'm addicted.

Beeju and his cousin, Aaron, getting their bubbly on.

Beautiful form...love the follow through. The Pirates may be calling him up soon. Thankfully, he missed his close-range target this time.

Father's Day 2010

Sunday, June 20, 2010. Now that my boys are getting a little older, Father's Day has quickly become one of my very favorite holidays. The best part is just getting quality together time and lots of hugs and kisses.

Below are pics of a few of the things the boys gave me this Father's Day. My favorite was the present Noah picked out and wrapped - a 6 pack of bottled water. It may seem random, but it was so thoughtful - he knows how much water I drink and wanted to get me something I really love. What a sweetheart!

My favorite activity was on that Friday when Nut's school put on a "Donuts for Dad" activity in the morning. I got to go and have donuts and juice with Sammy and then make a boat together out of a bar of soap, etc. It was so nice to spend some quality one-on-one time with Peanut. And he sent me home with a trophy he made (see the 2nd pic below) labeled "World's Best Dad" and full of Hershey's kisses.

My proudest moment of the weekend came when the boys (and the rest of the under-12 children at church) sang their Father's Day song to all the dads. My kiddos practiced for weeks and, even now, still occasionally break into song spontaneously. I got videos of each of them singing the song right after we got home from church (see below). Beeju was uncharacteristically shy and refrained from doing the hand motions. But Nut makes up for that. Both of them were just unbelievably cute. (I confess that it's taken me a really long time tonight to publish this post because I keep stopping to watch those videos...over and over and over and over.)

There's just no doubt that I'm the single luckiest papa ever. I could not possibly be any prouder of my boys. I spend every morning, noon and night thanking my God for the incredible blessing of being a father and for the two priceless jewels He has blessed me with. I love them sooooo much!