Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Evan's 5th Birthday - Milky Way Farms

We held Evan's 5th birthday party at Chester Spring Creamery and Milky Way Farms.  It was a little different than the standard party we are used to but we decided to take our chances with the weather and plan something that would be partially outside. Thankfully the weather held up for us. The party started off at the creamery, where the kids did a farm craft and followed that with pizza and ice cream.  Here is Evan with Deedee just as the party was starting:
 Time to sing to the birthday boy:
And blow out the candle:
After the food was eaten, we headed off to a tour of the farm by the farmer.  Here is our group gathering for the tour:
The crew on their way to see the pigs:
Evan feeding the pigs:
A cow staring me down:
Evan was loving being the center of attention on his special day:
Brian was a helper, taking ahold of the chicken to bring it out for the kids to play with:
The kids all gathering around to feed the chicken:
Chase up close with the chicken:
Next it was onto feeding the baby cows - both Morgan and Claire below:
At home after the party, these two cousins love each other so much:
The birthday boy happy after a successful party!
More to come soon with Evan's 5 year old stats.  Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate Evan's birthday with us!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Mother's Day 2015 at Tyler Arboretum

For Mother's Day, I took the boys to Tyler Arboretum since Brian has a fractured ankle.  We met up with friends there so the kids could run around and enjoy the beautiful weather.  Here they are, pausing for a quick second for a photo:
Evan, just like his mother, leading the way and "reading" the map to guide us:
This is how Eric generally feels about photos:
The lilacs were incredible and smelled even better than they looked:
Now a little more camera friendly:
Hopping from tree trunk to tree trunk:
All of the kids:
Evan on the large chair:
Eric on the smaller chair:
All in all, it was a nice, relaxing Mother's Day.  We have a busy few months ahead so it was even more important to enjoy a nice day together!

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Eric's 3 Year Old Stats

Eric's three year old stats are long overdue.  We had his visit back in March!  Eric weighed in at a whopping 27 lbs (11th percentile) and measured exactly 3 feet tall (19th percentile).  The doctor was hoping he would have gained more than 2 lbs since his visit at age 2, so she asked that we make sure he eats more and gets some more weight on him.  Now we are reverting and feeding him whatever he will eat . . . which means he's eating less and less variety of food.  I feel like we are in a no-win situation but we need to get some weight on him.  

Eric is your typical 3 year old.  He loves all things Cars, trucks, trains and planes.  Lightening McQueen is his go-to toy and thankfully we have several of them.  He loves riding his ride-on gator around the yard and now can take his scooter all the way around the neighborhood.  He loves music and will sing at the top of his lungs . . . making up the words with the best of them.  I think it's safe to say Eric will not be the next American Idol but he has fun belting out songs.  Just the other day, we were at the zoo and he was singing a Kanye West / Rihanna songs at the top of his lungs.  He definitely takes after his dad with his love of music.  

Eric is starting this "threenage" year.  His temper can get the best of him at times and he's testing us.  He and his brother are very physical together and he's usually on the losing end of their battles.  He makes sure to tell us when he's not happy.  He constantly says "You are CHEATING" when he doesn't like what we're doing.  I'm not sure what he thinks "cheating" means but he's not using it in the right context, which is adorable!

At school, Eric is doing great.  He knows all of his letters by sight and in sign language with his own hands.  Whereas I had to work with Evan for him to learn the letters of the alphabet at this age, Eric has known them for a few months now.  It's interesting to see how they differ because Evan had a 70 page book memorized at this age and Eric does not have that skill.  They continue to be so totally different . . . and Eric is still a mini-me of his father in almost all ways. 
We love our little man and can't wait to see what the next year brings!