Friday, May 20, 2011

A Trip to the Zoo!

I never had a chance to get our pictures up from our trip to the Birmingham Zoo!  My family went and my grandparents drove up from Tuscaloosa to meet us for the day!  We left early that morning so we could enjoy the morning, have lunch, and then head on home during the middle part of the afternoon.

I must say, they've done a lot of work since the last time I was there!  We were pretty impressed and we had a great time!  It was HOT that day too!  It was fun having our family together for something kind of out of the norn!

My boys were dressed in matching blue jon-jons, but the funniest part of the day was how "at home" it felt to be there because literally every child we passed either had on a cute little jon-jon with animals on it, or a smocked outfit with little animals on it.  Leave it to a Southern Mama to coordinate her children's dressy clothes with going to the zoo!  Only down South!

 


I think the boys had a good time.  They got to see lots of animals and they had tons of attention from grandparents and great-grandparetns!



Matthew was tired!  I expected him to fall asleep in the car that morning, but he never did.  He took a good nap in his stroller while Papaw pushed him!



 



The boys munched on Whale crackers while we went through the primate house. 



I think Uncle Ray was pretty thrilled that Matthew wanted to ride with him in his wheelchair.  I think it tickled him that Matthew wanted to sit witih him and eat his crackers up high instead of in his stroller!



We looked at pretty flamingos....



'had a super yummy lunch in a cool African hut...



and saw some new baby storks!



JM wanted to feed swans so I sent Matthew on the train with Uncle Judd.



They all ended up riding the train except Jordan, JM, Papaw, and myself.



JM posed with a gorilla!



I think he was showing us how strong they are!



He got to ring the train bell, which he loved!



And then Matthew wanted in on the action too!



There wasn't nearly enough time to do all the things there that we wanted to do.  With little kids you just do your best and do what you can do.  It was getting late and they were getting so tired so we had to go ahead and leave, but we could have stayed longer for sure!  We'll have to go back next time we go home for a visit!  Oddly enough, the whole ride home, neither JM or Matthew fell asleep so it made for a very long and tiresome afternoon!


 


 

Monday, May 16, 2011

Splish, Splash PAD!

Last summer when I heard our town was opening a new splash pad downtown for this summer I was soo excited!  I have to admit I was a little bummed when I learned I was due in July because I had planned on spending a good bit of time there this summer.  I'm still not exactly sure how "everything" is going to work out with adding a 3rd little baby with a little mess like Matthew around, but I figure we'll get in our groove and find what works best for us!

Jordan's mom was still up for a visit, so I figured since I had help and it was 90 degrees, we would go try out our brand new splash pad!  We had a quick visit to Chick-fil-A first and then changed the boys into swim diapers when we got to the splash pad.

And if you can't tell, they had a blast!  It was really fun.  I can only imagine how packed it's going to be for most of the summer.  Matthew was a little hesitant about all the water, but he eventually warmed up to it a bit!

 


 



Matthew kept coming up to get his face wiped off with the towel!



They had such a good time.  I'm so happy we live in a town that is constantly doing new things and keeping the parks up!  It makes it so nice to live here!



We will definitely be back for more splash pad fun this summer!


Saturday, May 14, 2011

Mother's Day and a Birthday!

Last Sunday was my 3rd year in a row celebrating Mother's Day but it was also John Michael's 3rd birthday!  We enjoyed our morning at church with Jordan's mom here for a visit!  The boys looked especially cute in their outfits, although they didn't match because our crazy iron spit out brown water right as I was about finished ironing Matthew's outfit the night before!

So blessed to be a Mama!  Best job in the world!  I still am in awe of the fact that Jordan and I have known each other for so long and dated so long and we're going to have 3 kids before we hit 30!  So fun and crazy at the same time. 



I know Jordan's mom was glad to be here to celebrate Mother's Day with her son!



We went to McAllister's for a casual lunch after church.  I started feeling really awful, so I was ready to head home.  After a good afternoon nap we let John Michael open his presents and cards from everyone!



As part of his birthday we decided to head to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner, just for something fun and different to do.  We had a really good time!



I love this little Alabama baseball set that I found while we were home!



Of course, Matthew immediately started playing his favorite game, golf!



I was actually having a pretty terrible pregnancy day on Mother's Day.  I was so tired, I had hot flashes really badly, I ached and I was pretty crampy during the day.  I had a really good nap and felt a little better once I woke up.


 


We ate some pizza and got ready to PLAY!!  Matthew had fun playing the games too.  It was his first visit to the Cheese!



By far the boys' favorite thing to do was play this football game and the basketball game.  We played it a lot!  I think it was a great way to spend a 3rd birthday!



We still can't believe JM is 3 now!  I feel like I've learned so much over the last 3 years.  I've made mistakes and learned a lot about having more patience and generally feeling very blessed everyday to be home with my boys.  I want time to slow down so I can make sure I cherish every day with them!



Because we got home so late from Chuck E. Cheese, we decided to let John Michael cut into his birthday cake for lunch the next day.  He liked his little Lightning McQueen car on his cake!



JM and Matthew loved their cake for dessert!



It was a fun and sweet weekend, but also very tiring for me.  I guess I'm just being hit with 3rd trimester tiredness.  I've had a doctor's appointment and everything seems just fine and I was measuring right at 32, so that was fine too....even though I look like I'm having twins or I could be 9 months pregnant!  I kind of hope these last few weeks fly by, but really I feel like there's so much more to do so I hope we can get it all done!


 

Monday, May 9, 2011

A Busy Weekend!

We had a busy weekend starting Friday afternoon!  I took cupcakes to John Michael's classroom so we could celebrate his birthday with his little friends in his class.  I think they were pretty excited to have cupcakes after naptime!

Me and my 3 year old!  I don't understand how 3 years passed so quickly!



Matthew always makes himself at home whenever he visits John Michael's classroom!



 



After we left school we came home and played for just a bit and then had naptime.  The boys have been playing together so well lately and they have been so sweet to each other.  There have been so many hugs and kisses between them lately.  It really warms my heart!



After everyone woke up we had some dinner and then headed to our square for First Friday.  They had live music and some other fun things going on.



They also had pony rides and we let both boys ride, although Matthew had to get off because he was not at all pleased.  John Michael looooves to ride horses, so he had a great time!



Saturday morning we woke up and got ready for John Michael's birthday party at Jump Zone! 



I was so pleased with his party!  All we had to do was bring cupcakes, our camera, goody bags, and some water for the adults.  They provided everything else. It was great!  We did a sports theme (per JM's request!) and my friend Robin made John Michael this cute sports shirt for his party!



Matthew is not as excited about Jump Zone.  He rode around on this little tricycle for most of the party!



He is such a little mess!



JM had some good bouncy time with his dad!



 



 



ALL the kiddos!  We were so excited that so many of JM's friends could make the party.  It made it really special to have them all there!



After we bounced it was time to go eat some pizza and cupcakes!



 



I thought it was sweet that Matthew got to sit right beside his big brother during his birthday party!



Happy Birthday to you, John Michael!  You are 3!



 



We are so blessed to have such a sweet, talented, and smart first-born.  He makes us laugh every single day with all the things he's been saying lately.  I have been loving this age!  It's just a sweet time and I love that he gives hugs and kisses to me throughout the day.  He makes us smile!