Birthday Party Deluxe!

Last soccer game of the season!

Happy Birthday Garrett!

Today is Garrett's fourth birthday, but since his big party is next weekend, we didn't really have anything special planned. It was our turn to host our Sunday evening dinner group, and Ryan Kovacs came with a cookie cake just for Garrett. So sweet of her (and her parents!). She helped me put candles in the cake, and we took a quick picture before showing the cake to Garrett. Garrett got a little embarrassed when we sang Happy Birthday, and covered his face. I've never really seen him embarrassed. Too cute!

It took about ten tries to blow out the five candles (four small white ones plus the number 4). How is it possible to miss when the candle is inches from your face?

Yuuuuummmmmmy!

After the dinner crew left, we gave Garrett a couple of little presents...a red dragon and a knight dress up set. He's currently in bed next too me still playing with the new sword. It might be confiscated soon...

Calendar time!

Braden is a funny kid with some funny habits.

One of those funny habits is that he marks off a day on his calendar every night before going to bed. He doesn't mark off the day that just happened though, he marks off the following day. He also marks special days with what appears to me to be an erupting volcano. This month, the celebratory volcano marks Easter, Garrett's birthday, and Braden's birthday. Notice the collection of stickers that also mark Braden's birthday. Notice, too, that he did not share the stickers with Brother's birthday. On April Fools Day, he has drawn two faces that are smiling and the words "OH HO." I think that is laughter. My favorite thing: On Good Friday he drew a face with X's for the eyes. That would be the face of dead Jesus.

(that reminds me a funny story my friend Susan told about her four year old niece. The sweet girl was in the car with her mother discussing the reason for Easter. "Jesus died..." mom began. "WHAAAT?" shrieked the little girl. "WHEN? YESTERDAY? WHyyy didn't you telllll me?" )

Daddy's helpers

Spring Break trip pictures.

I want to post pictures. I really do. But I also really want to clean up my house, do laundry, get ready for dinner, etc. So, I'm just going to take the easy way out and post the link to my Facebook page. If you are friends with me on FB, you can see the pics.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=159605&id=506914129&l=de68d2cc75

Yeee Hawwww!

The Friday before Spring Break was the Kindergarten Go Texan performance and rodeo at Braden's school. The night before the big day, Kyle took Braden shopping for his first pair of cowboy boots. They are very much like something daddy would wear and are sooooo cute. Braden is very proud of these!
The boots in their box. The tops are a vivid bright orange.

Posing in his new cowboy outfit by the Texas planter. He chose this location because the pot says "Texas." What a cute little cowboy!
Braden's dual language class participated in Go Texan Day by performing as a mariachi band. Some of the kids were dancers, and some, like Braden, played mock instruments. They were very cute! The kids had decorating their own "cowboy hats" as a family homework assignment in the weeks before the big day. I didn't realize the kids were actually going to wear the hats, and we had covered Braden's hat with pictures and images cut from Texas Monthly. He had the junkiest hat there!

Waiting his turn during another class's performance.
Too cute!
Braden promenading his partner. (He says he doesn't know her name, and I think that is strange!). He was very certain about the promenading. As soon as the square dance caller called for it, he grabbed her hands and was off around the circle.
The parents joined in for the Chicken Dance. Kyle was pretty sure that he needed to stay on the side to take pictures, though.
Braden waving "Happy Trails To Youuuuuuuu."
Braden and two of his buddies: Nathan and Jason. Nathan's parents couldn't make it to the rodeo, so the teachers asked me to keep an eye on him. He was a sweet kid--I hope that he and Braden can get together outside of school. Nathan is fluent in Spanish and he plays soccer. Maybe he can help Braden with both.
Braden uses a water-gun to shoot out the candles (which were drawn on pie tins). He loved this game! Check out the concentration.
Braden poses by the milking cows. Yes, they actually milked them!
Braden shows off his almost complete game card.
Braden and Samuel compare their boots. Samuel's boots are certainly a Tejano style compared to Braden's square-toed style. Both are super cute for two cute boys!
Braden, Samuel, and Nathan.