Sometimes He Just Cracks Me Up!

After school today, Nicholas wanted to play Star Wars. He told me he was Luke Skywalker and I was Obi-Wan Kenobi. How did I get to be the old guy and not Princess Leia? So we ran around the living room fighting pretend bad guys with our light sabers. Then he said that we were the little Jawas so we squatted down like the little guys that they are and we walked around making silly noises. Then he said that we were special Jawas because we could transform into Sand People. So he told us to transform and now we were Sand People (bad guys) and we ran around fighting pretend good guys. Suddenly, he said, "Now we are normal people again because I have to go potty. Star Wars people don't go potty so now we have to be normal people until I finish on the potty then we can be Star Wars people again." He just cracks me up!

After our play time, it was snack time. Now, I know he is four years old but sometimes he still likes me to play with him to get him to eat his food. Yes, sometimes I overindulge him. He likes to eat broccoli but he loves it when I hold a piece of broccoli upright and pretend that it is a tree. Then the tree says, in a high-pitched voice like most trees would use, "Oh, I'm a lovely little tree just enjoying this beautiful day. I sure hope that a giant doesn't come along and eat me. La Ti Da Ti Da!" Then Nicolas, of course, pretends to be the giant and he eats the little tree up as the tree cries out, "Oh no! It's the giant. He's eating me. Please someone save me!" Gulp! Well today for our snack I gave him some thin slices of turkey that I had rolled up. He decided that he wanted me to hold up the piece of turkey and he would play the giant. Ok, now that was just too silly, even for me! Somehow broccoli trees are fine but turkey trees just don't do it for me!

Fun in Our Own Backyard

Nicholas and I can always have so much fun right in our own backyard. We spent a lot of time playing in the fort. We brought some books upstairs and read while we had our afternoon snack.



Then Nicholas played astronaut. He said good-bye to me before taking off in his rocket. Before he took off, he handed me a rock and said, "Here, you can keep this so you can think of me when you start to miss me."



Next we ran all around the yard pretending to fight bad guys. Nicholas then tried to climb the post that the bird feeders hang on. Noticing it leaning to one side? It was still leaning after he got off of it so I think Daddy is going to have to fix it now. Oh well, it was fun!

Tracks of the Red Jaguar

Today we went to Kids Kastle in Highland Village for some good ole fun. We played on the playground and then fed some bread to the ducks.



Just outside the playground area, we found some tracks in the dirt. Now Nicholas loves to look for and identify animal tracks but these tracks threw him off.



He studied them closely then announced that they were the tracks of a red jaguar. Then he pointed and said, "He went that way!" and we followed the tracks for a little way. We talked some more about the tracks as we followed them. We talked about paw prints and realized that we didn't really see paw prints in these tracks. We talked about cars, trucks, and go-carts and what kind of print a tire might leave on the ground. He put it all together and figured out that these really weren't the tracks of the wiley red jaguar. That's a shame though because that would be a very interesting sighting for these North Texas suburbs!

Party at Wazoo's!

Today we had Nicholas' birthday party at Wazoo's Inflatable Center. It's a giant warehouse type of room that holds 9 inflatable bounce houses. These aren't the typical square bounce houses either. These have slides, obstacle courses, basketball goals. One is even shaped like a giant submarine with an big octopus on top. Another is shaped like a pirate ship.

Nicholas mostly invited his friends from school but he also invited some friends from church as well as some other friends that he has known from various places. I wasn't sure if everyone would make it because it is a bit of a drive but there was a good turn out and all the kids seem to have an awesome time. I brought sandwiches, pretzels, juice boxes to give the kids a light lunch (not too much food since they are going to be bouncing!). Then we all sang Happy Birthday to Nicholas and had cupcakes. Then it was back to bouncing! Even several mommies and daddies got in on some bouncing fun!

Nicholas' friends brought him lots of presents but no one was sitting still long enough to open them at the party. So we let him open them at home after the party. he got more Transformer toys (some with a Star Wars theme!), games, a Bibleman DVD and costume. I think his favorite present from his friends was a little camping backpack that contains a sleeping bag, water bottle, and flashlight. He has been taking his naps in the sleeping bag and loves to pack everything back into his backpack and carry it around with him. He doesn't realize how far it sticks out on his back though and he's constantly bumping into things with the backpack on!

Fun in Fort Worth

This morning I took Nicholas to Casa Manana Theater in Fort Worth to see Little Red Riding Hood. Nicholas just loves going to live theater performances. Seeing how he loves to act out stories at home I think he would have fun acting in a play. Of course, he is also quite a director as he is always correcting how Daddy and I act out his stories with him. He corrects our placement, our lines, even how we pretend to fall down and play dead. He's definitely got potential in the theatrical field!

Here's a picture a friend took of us as we were waiting for the play to start.



After the play, we needed to find a park so we could enjoy the picnic lunch that we had brought. What better place to have a picnic than the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens! We met up with some friends there. Nicholas had fun climbing rocks, looking for bugs, and just running around. What a beautiful place to run and play!







Nicholas took a long nap this afternoon as he caught up on some rest. Tonight we went to our Home Team meeting which is our small group Bible study. Everyone likes to celebrate birthdays at our get-togethers so we brought another birthday cake to share with everyone. Nicholas likes vanilla cake more than chocolate so that's what he got for his birthday last night. Tonight, it was Mama's choice and I picked a chocolate cake. Oh, it was rich and wonderful. Thank you, Kroger! I know it's crazy - two cakes in two days! And we're going to have more cake next week for his party with his friends! Time to get back on the treadmill!

Time for Presents!

Nicholas couldn't wait for Daddy to get home from work tonight so he could open all of his birthday presents! He had presents from Mommy and Daddy as well as both sets of grandparents. What fun!











Nicholas got his first Transformer toy, a Planet Hero Turbo Shuttle and several of the Planet Hero action figures, a remote control helicopter, lots of books, and a Star Wars game. He is one happy little guy!

After presents, we had dinner and of course, birthday cake for dessert.

Welcome to My Water Party!

Nicholas was supposed to be brushing his teeth. He brushes first then I brush too just to be sure we got all of the surfaces. I was busy getting myself ready so I let him start without me. Well, he got distracted and never actually started brushing his teeth. When I went in to check on him, I saw that he had gotten out several of his little disposable cups that he uses to rinse his mouth. They were filled up with water.



He said, "Welcome to my water party! Instead of a tea party, we have water!". We each enjoyed several cups of water as well as some pretend sandwiches. Yummy!

Looking for Bluebonnets

Every April, Texas fields and roadways come alive with our beautiful state flower, the Bluebonnet. And every April, you will see families plopping their kids in the middle of a patch of bluebonnets to get a great picture. And we are no exception. Of course, it always helps if your model is willing to cooperate with your plans.







With much patience, we finally got a few good pictures of Nicholas in the bluebonnets. However, we might try it again with better lighting. I really don't like the "raccoon-eyes" shadows that you get with outdoor pictures in the middle of the day.







After our little photo shoot, we all walked along a trail by the lake. Nicholas had fun trying to catch butterflies.









Here's a great shot Stuart got of a bee approaching a bluebonnet.



I zoomed in on the bee in this same picture. What a great picture of the bee in flight!

Attempt at a Family Portrait

Last week, we tried to get a family portrait. Stuart brought the camera and tripod out to a park so we could take our own picture. He took tons of pictures just to get one decent one. Nicholas was having too much fun acting silly to pose seriously. Many of our pictures include Nicholas singing, talking, and making silly faces. Most of them look something like this!



But we did finally get a good one with all of us sitting still, smiling, AND looking at the camera. Amazing!



We were done with the pictures that we needed to take and were ready to go home but Nicholas had other plans. He got this wild-eyed look and decided he wanted to run around and climb on rocks while we were there.





Nicholas climbed up a rock and gave us some impromptu poses for a few more good pictures.







Then he turned around and looked at the creek down below on the other side of the rock. He glanced back at us and gave us that sneaky grin as if to say, "I'm going to climb down this rock and go exploring, with or without you!"

Fun at Coppell Park

We recently had a family picnic at Coppell Park. It's Nicholas' favorite park to go to. Before he got too dirty, I asked him to pose for some pictures in front of a beautiful flower bed. He couldn't sit still for long but I think we got some good shots.









Then we were off to play. Stuart got in on the fun too!









Of course, Nicholas had to play in the giant sand box. He had a great time playing with new friends, pouring sand, digging in the sand, and even collecting "treasure", aka acorns. Of course, there was sand all over him and inside his clothes by the time we left. But, hey, that's what bath time is for!







We had brought a kite and his bicycle but we had so much fun at the playground that we never even got them out.