Kaitlyn's 3rd Birthday

We attended Kaitlyn's 3rd birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. Kaitlyn is one of Nathan's friends from the NICU. This was Nathan's first visit to Chuck E Cheese and he loved it! It won't be our last visit.


Attempting to play skee ball.

Nathan couldn't throw the balls hard enough, so I had to stand behind him and catch the balls as they rolled back down.

Look at all the tickets that he won . . . with help from Mom and Dad.

The birthday girl, Kaitlyn, with Chuck E Cheese. She was so excited when he came over to see her. She had a celebrity moment.

Nathan and Chuck E Cheese. Nathan wasn't afraid of him, but he wasn't excited to see him, like Kaitlyn was.

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

I'm so lucky that I got to spend my birthday with my two favorite guys. They took me to the Dallas World Aquarium. I was able to enjoy the aquarium while Randy wrangled Nathan, so we didn't get many photos.

Nathan looking at the fish in the large aquarium.

Wondering how Daddy got inside the aquarium.

Nathan made a new little friend.

These little penguins were so cute. I wanted to take them home with us.

Tool Puzzles

Nathan was helping his Daddy work on the new bathroom. He found these tools and turned them into a puzzle. He had a great time taking them all out and trying to get them back in the right slots.


"Look at the new game I made!"


"On your mark, get set . . .


. . . GO!"


"I did it!"

Teddy Bear Pancakes

Nathan has been hearing about Papa's famous teddy bear pancakes his whole life. He was finally tired of waiting for his invitation to come over and eat some. So, he invited himself over to Nana and Papa's house this morning for teddy bear pancakes.


Nathan's First Teddy Bear Pancake.


I need some butter and syrup, please.


And, don't forget the whipped cream.

Come Over and Have a Seat

After months and months of searching, Randy and I finally agreed on new couches. They have all the qualifications that our family was looking for and needing in a couch. We all love them, even Nathan!


They are great for napping.

Playing at the Park with Friends

We met our friend Wes at the park today along with his kids, Sabrina and Austin. Nathan had a blast playing with them. It was very humid and we were all sweaty.


Nathan loves to swing really high.


Sabrina enjoyed pushing Nathan. Her brother, Austin, doesn't like to swing.


Austin and Nathan playing together on the playground.


Nathan and Austin all sweaty from running around on the grassy hill.


Nathan always finds a flower to pick when we are outside.

Children's Science & Nature Museum

We spent the day at the Children's Science & Nature Museum in Fair Park. We had a great time playing with all the fun activities.


Making giant bubbles.





Playing in the sand.


Planting seeds and pulling carrots.



Pushing buttons to turn lights on.



Playing with numbers.


Licking a lollipop after lunch.


Learning about electricity.



Making shadows on the color wall.

Sleepy Boy

Nathan was having a hard time getting to bed. He keep running out of his room and laying down with his Daddy. He needed some Daddy time.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We took Daddy to the Ft. Worth Zoo for his birthday. Our adult child, Aunt Samantha, joined us. It was very hot, but we had a great time. We brought our lunch and packed lots of drinks.


We found this pond full of fish and ducks. We feed a quarter into the machine and got a tiny handful of fish food. We each threw a couple of pellets in the water and watched the fish fight over it.


Nathan taking a much needed drink break. Check out those rosy cheeks.


Bye-Bye fish. See you next time. One thing that's great about the Ft. Worth Zoo is that there are a lot of shaded areas. We could always find a nice shaded spot to stop a watch the animals.


Nathan wasn't interested in having his picture taken with the giraffes. He was trying to jump out of my arms. Maybe, he just wanted to swim with the fish and ducks.


Nathan loved feeding the tropical birds. Aunt Samantha found an abandoned stick of bird seed, which they were selling for a dollar. Bonus!!


I just remember how hot and humid it was in there. See how Nathan is drenched in sweat and of course Randy is completely dry. Samantha and I couldn't wait to get out of there because we both had sweat dripping in our eyes. (Remember . . . it was over 100 degrees today.)


Nathan couldn't care less. He was enjoying the colorful birds.


It's so cute how Nathan is holding the kangaroo's hand.


Another place that Nathan throughly enjoyed besides feeding the birds was the children's zoo section. It was a building shaped like a barn with different activities for kids to learn about farm animals. Nathan is pushing the buttons on the wall to hear the different animal sounds.


Here he is learning about chickens. We had to drag him out kicking and screaming. He was hot and very tired by this point. It took the three of us to strap him in his stroller.


Aunt Samantha helped me wrestle this alligator. The heat must have gotten to him because he was pretty tame.


Then, Nathan hopped on for a ride. He's so cool in his sunglasses. Notice that he is out of the stroller. He must have talked someone into letting him out.


The last part of the zoo that Nathan loved was this touch tank. He had no fear of reaching in the water and touching all the sea critters. And to think . . . this is the kid who is deathly afraid of fans. Go figure!


The water was a little deep for him. It went past his elbows, but he didn't mind at all. I think he would have climbed in, if they let him. Here he is touching a starfish and a horseshoe crab.


Oh, no! What happened to Mommy?

Even though it felt like it was 150 degrees outside, we all had lots of fun at the zoo. Nathan fell fast asleep once we left the parking lot to head home. We talked Randy into stopping at Sonic for drinks to help us cool down. Then, we all jumped in the pool once we arrived home.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Kid Tested . . . Parents Approved

There have been many baby/kid items that I have purchased or received as gifts that I have loved or hated. They have either been very useful and made my life easier or I thought they were just worthless and a waste of money. Here is one that I love.


Nathan enjoys listening to music with the iPod and he also likes to watch movies and TV shows on the computer. He started out wearing the iPod earbuds which kept falling out of his little ears. He would have to keep calling me over to help put the earbuds back in. So, we next tried Randy's bright yellow Sony Walkman headphones. These stayed on much better, but Nathan tended to pull and tug on them. This worried Randy that something might accidently happen to his beloved Sony headphones. So, we went searching for a better solution.

That's when we found the Fisher-Price Kid Tough Headphones.


What we love about them is that they are the perfect size for Nathan's head and they don't constantly fall off. They also have a volume control that automatically lowers loud sounds. They are "Kid Tough", so they can take abuse from toddlers and not break. We found them for under $15, which makes them very affordable. We have had them for a couple of weeks and they are the perfect fit for our needs.

My favorite part is that they keep Nathan occupied for a short time so I'm able to get some things done while he is using them.

Fisher-Price has two other items in their Kid Tough line, a DVD player and a digital camera. We might have to check these items out as well. They would be great to take on our summer vacation.