He had a whale of a time!

Michael's whale party went smoothly. The kids helped decorate.........They put the waves where they wanted, the stickers were they thought they should be and I was okay with it. After all, it was his party, right? We snacked on seahorse, whale, fish, and octopus shaped sandwiches. I was super excited to find Whales crackers(just like Goldfish) at Walmart, so we had plenty of those. Charles made a cute whale out of a watermelon.....the pineapple top is supposed to be the water spouting out. Work with us, people!!! He really enjoyed the Carvel whale cake( I told you I LOVE that place!) The funniest part of the day was how he reacted to his presents. He squealed over cards, gasped at his gifts, he even looked at his clothes before slinging them over his shoulder. He was really sweet.

Just as fun.

After reading Kristi's post about her excellent finds, I admit I was envious. The best I can do around here is a $1 book at the local Savers. That all changed when my good friend, Janice arrived bearing gently used gifts! She brought Lindsey a very nice winter coat and mittens that her daughter outgrew. She also gave us 2 very nice denim beanbags. Michael was given super cool Batman bedding for when he gets older. Thanks so much for sharing! You are so special to us!

Two little monkeys

In need of a Natalie fix?

He had his cake...........

He had a good birthday, I think. Charles took the day off, so he had his Daddy to himself! That is always a special treat. Charles and Michael went to the pet store to look around. This is Michael's favorite activity to do. He LOVES animals....I can't stress it enough, how much he loves animals. After his animal fix, we picked up Lindsey at preschool we went to Peter Piper Pizza. We were the only people in the place! There was minimal fighting over rides/games because we had the run of the place. It was fun. We were able to get enough tickets to get him a shark and whale toy that were the size of credit card. He was happy. After dinner we had cake. Every time Charles went to light the candle he would blow out the match. It was pretty funny to watch. We barely got to sing Happy Birthday. Oh well, it was his birthday after all! He had a good time opening his presents from us. We saved a couple of things for his party on Saturday. He also opened presents from his Aunt Christina and Uncle Dan. He loved it. He got some new Hot Wheels(always a hit), Buzz Lightyear, some clothes, play-doh, a doodle monster, and Mr. Potato Head. Thanks to our Cleveland family! All in all, he had a good day, our little man.

3 of Michael's favorite phrases.

1. "And that's it." Remember to have your finger by your face to really stress it.

2. "I wanna listen!" Remember to say this as soon as you are reprimanded.

3. Anything involving the word whales. "Where are my whales?", "Oooh, whales", "Whales
biting?", "Whales are big.", "Whales, whales, whales."

#3 is the reason we are having a whale party on Saturday!

More pics of the snow.

Hey, it only happens once every 10 years............we were outside most of the day!

Lindsey made a new friend....

At Grandma's! She feel in love with this doll that Grandma Scavo had in the shed. Lindsey informed us that her name is Lucy. Wild hairline!

Our little man turns 3!

I say this every birthday, but I can't believe how much time has passed already. From birth, Michael has been a complete joy. An adorable boy,

a big boy,

a cute boy,
a vocal boy,
a shy boy,
a concert-loving boy,
a cowboy,
and a funny boy.

You are all these things and more to us, buddy. We love you and can't wait to see what you have in store for us this year.

Meteorologists are right........sometimes!

We had snow!!! In Arizona! In Southern Arizona! What an exciting change for us.
This picture cracks me up!!! He didn't know what to make of it.....yet!

After it stopped snowing, we went outside for a snowball fight. We didn't want the kids to be disappointed if it wasn' t there in the morning. Am I glad we did! They had so much fun....giggling and squealing.


No, he doesn't have a huge bruise on his face..............both Mom and Dad did not see that he had spaghetti sauce ALL over his right cheek. Nothing a nice warm bath didn't fix:)

Dinner Theatre.

Helping herself to some mashed potatoes!

Michael avoiding food any way that he can.
Can I have an apple for dessert? Please? The girl loves apples!

Admiration

There are so many things that I admire about Stacy. She is an amazing mother! She takes care of her beautiful children, husband and home with a smile on her face. Patience! I need to be as patient as she is. She is very intelligent, but doesn't come off as snobbish. She was an elementary school teacher, that is how we met....she taught Tyler in 1st grade. Organized! I wish I had the organization skills that she has! So funny! A great sense of humor. You laugh more than once when speaking to her! She is so creative!! She has started her own business, I Believe Designs. With 2 children at home, numerous friends that she helps, a house to keep clean, her obligations at church......she is still able to make beautiful items like this
and this

She is a wonderful friend and I am so lucky to have known her for the past 5 years! After all, we were meant to be friends. Who else could possibly have been carrying a JJ doll around???

Happy Birthday, cont'd.

Not sure why, but Blogger keeps changing the order my photos are being uploaded. Oh, well. You get the idea. She was playing peek-a-boo....we couldn't help, but talk to her with a Jamacian accent.

My Mom celebrating her __th birthday!

Happy Birthday Mom!

One of my favorite photos of my Mom.
I hope you have a wonderful day today. You deserve it!
We love you.

We are headed to her house for lunch to celebrate. Hopefully, I will get some good pics to post!!

I love dinosaurs.

*Yay! I finally figured out how to resize the pics!

I love em. I love whales, fish, cars, horses and monkeys. Although, I have a 12 year old boy, I have never had the opportunity to play with any of these toys with him. When he was 1, it was everything to do with Pooh and his gang, then it was Blues Clues(I can't get used to Joe), then we hit the Thomas the tank engine phase. We haven't left it yet. He has been slowly moving on to some older interests(yay!), but he still has such an extreme fascination in trains and Thomas. As much as I love hearing about Tyler's movie or book idea for Thomas, I am ecstatic to see Michael exploring all these great new areas of play that I am not used to. Or as everyone keeps saying, boy stuff. It's going to be fun.