Birthday Bloggin'

So he's really, truly and officially two years old. Hard on the mama, but he had a great time, I think! Here's what's been going on the past couple of days.

Jack woke up really early on Friday morning -- even before Miranda got here! So we headed early to Dunkin' Donuts and found out that the woman who waits on us every day has the same birthday as Jack! So now he's got a birthday buddy! Then we ran errands to Hobby Lobby and Party America and came home. Jack had an early nap and was up in time for us to do lunch at the Chinese buffet. He ate lots of noodles (noo-ooos), melon (le-mon) and jello (lello).

After lunch, Jack and Miranda (Rieyah) played in his room while I unloaded the dishwasher and generally cleaned up a little. Then at 3:00 we headed to Pet World for a tour with the MOMS Club. Jack got to see so many animals up close and personal. We saw humongous tortoises (dur-dools), three-week-old baby tortoises (baby dur-dools), a one-day-old chameleon, some ball pythons (nakes) all curled up together, some mice, hamsters, ferrets and bunnies (hops), a big flock of parakeets (buh-dees), and then a whole lot of fish, fish, fish (wish, blue wish, lala wish, oh, oh, mo wish!!!).

When Sherry came to pick up Miranda, Jack opened his first birthday presents of the day. He got two lovely books (Snowy Day, and a Scarry counting book), and a Jack-Jack Pez dispenser. He's a kid after his mama's heart -- he can eat a whole package of Pez in about two seconds flat!

Soon after Sherry and Miranda left, Roger and Clara arrived. They brought him some great big crayons, a coloring book, a lot of paper, and four new videos to watch! And they brought his wonderful cow cake, too. Clara had arranged for Linda to make it, and it really came out so cute!



We all headed to Ottawa to go to Sirloin Stockade with Rachel, Tracy and Mr. Lukerman for the buffet. They didn't have any spaghetti for Jack, but they did have some pickles that he seemed especially fond of! He sacked out in the car on the way home and slept really well after such a big day.

Saturday morning started early, too. Jim made a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs, and we headed right away to the Parents as Teachers Family Fun Day! They had so many stations set up with great things to play with. Jack had fun playing in the colored macaroni bins, tossing bean bags into a basket, sweeping with the toy broom, but most of all, he liked sliding! And he was able to get his feet out from under himself and go down without any help! WooHoo! Roger and Clara seemed to have fun watching him and the other kids, so I was glad that we had decided to go.

Next, it was off to Kansas City to Cabela's to see the big aquarium. Jack LOVED it! He especially liked the huge catfish looking at him and the gar with their long snouts. He called those "more nose" fish!





We went to Applebee's for lunch and Jack ate and ate and ate. I had mentioned to the waitress that Jack had a birthday, so right after lunch, here came all the wait staff and started singing and clapping really loudly. The look on Jack's face was priceless. He didn't know what in the world was going on and his eyes got about as big as saucers. He didn't cry though! Of course, they brought him ice cream which he won't eat, but he did nibble on the Oreo that was on top!

Our last place to go was Nebraska Furniture Mart. While Grandma and Grandpa and Papa looked for a new computer monitor, Jack and I wandered around the store. He was really starting to get tired and asked for his nap. While Grandma was in line to pay, we took Jack up and down the escalator several times. He thought that was pretty neat. He conked out immediately in the car and got to sleep all the way home.

Rachel, Tracy and Luke came over and Jack began to open his presents. He got a Fridge Phonics set, a giraffe cup, an I Spy book, and a Playdo monster from Rach and Trac, and his papa and I got him a marker and finger paint set, an Ernie bathtub boat, his feltboard, a Little People garage playset, and his step stool. Pretty good haul, huh?







We had Kentucky Fried chicken for dinner, played for awhile and assembled the garage, and then it was time for cake. Jack seemed to be too busy to want to eat any, but it was really good!



Right before he went to bed, Jack was standing at his easel drawing, and you could tell he was thinking about everything that had been going on the past few days. He was telling me what he was drawing -- he drew Rieyah, Baby Luke, Nama, durdools, wish, and more. He had played hard and then he slept hard. I didn't hear a peep out of him until after 7:00 this morning. And to think, he gets more birthday next weekend!

Oh, and it was a year ago today that my sweet Kirby girl died. I miss her every day.