Another Zoo Day

And with JACKETS!

Yay for fall!!!

 Nothing is cooler than having a conversation with a spider monkey :)

 Sunning his tummy

 Having some breakfast

My little gorilla making his best gorilla noise and face :)

Simple Things

This week's simple thing:

Getting the mail. More specifically, the newest toy catalog. :)  

Wordless Wednesday

Note: While this picture isn't all that great in quality, this moment between these two was too good to pass up. They are just the sweetest and are really growing into best friends.

Last Week of Summer

Follow my blog with Bloglovin Though, for us Southerners, this is only according to the calendar. However, I was wearing a sweater today. It was 49 when I got up this morning and was still in the 60s around lunch. Don't laugh. I don't do cold weather. Yes, that is cold weather. Don't argue with me. Yankees...

Kidding.

Kinda.

Anyway, here are a slew of pictures from our last CALENDAR week of Summer 2012 :)

 We enjoyed MANY days at the park this summer!

 When we weren't at the park, we enjoyed MANY days in our awesome backyard!

There were many bugs to be caught and examined.

 And lots of picnics and toddler conversations were enjoyed, too!

 Goodbye, Summer!! See you next year!!

Andrew's School Party {Birthday Edition}

Andrew had his birthday party with his class a few days before his birthday. And, well, between getting ready for that and getting ready for his birthday extravaganza, I had forgotten to share these pictures!

 Alex was my party planning assistant for the morning :)

 I had to take a picture of this... Andrew has been obsessed with the weather due to Hurricane Issac. It was headed towards my family, but moved over a bit. Since then, he has asked about the rain, the sun, the wind...everything. Up until then, I thought only Lightning McQueen was his only "thing."  And, then, when we came to school to set up - I saw that HE WAS THE WEATHER MAN!! :D

 All set up for the party. I know...I'm sure that there will be even cuter classrooms to come, but this is just adorable!

 After PE time, it was snack time. Ok, last year's party (Why i can't find a pic on here...I don't know...), he was in the 2 year old class. It was typical for that age - loud...we too excited for snack, they didn't want to hush a bit for the prayer. This year, WOW! They are so.... They are big kids this year!! Anyway, Miss S. helped him hold out three fingers while everyone sang "happy birthday." 

So. Cute.

 We left after the party to finish up some errand while he finished up his school work. When we picked him up and unloaded the car, he was VERY excited to see that his teachers left him a present in his bag!! He got some little candies, stickers, and a blow-up microphone. So much fun!. 

And, yes, he told us the weather later that day. With his handy dandy blow-up microphone. 

Love. Him.

Reading Nook Ideas

I have always wanted to make a spot somewhere for our little guys to have a reading nook. The only problem was...where? Lucky for me, I didn't have to worry about that. See, Andrew and Alex have been mischief makers now that Alex is in a toddler bed, too. At first it was the nights...getting up, messing with each other, turning on the lights and getting out their toys.

Um, no. It's bed time.

So, the toys have been removed and are secretly put back in (just a box of current favorites) before we go to bed.

Well, now they had this big space in their closet. I couldn't hang clothes there. Those would come flying down in no time... So, I just left it and went on.

One day, I hear giggles and grunts, and, then, a closet door shut. And, quite. Hmmm...what are they up to???

 Yep. That's right! My boys took care of things themselves and made a reading nook all on their own!

And how cute is it??

 How stinkin' cute! They even have "shelves" in there!! 

LOVE it!!

There are a few things I want to add in there for them. See, on the top shelf it is covered with storage stuff (bigger clothes, shoes, diapers, etc) so the lighting in bad. So, I may add some of those stick-on tap lights. And maybe a mini map? I dunno. We shall see what happens to this magical little space of theirs. Andrew told me it should be all blue the other day. So, who knows what will be done! :)

Simple Things {It's Fall, Y'all!}

The last day of Summer:

giggles in the grass while looking at the moon

The first day of Fall:

pondering a pumpkin at the first "patch" of the season 

(at Lowe's in the Garden Center - didn't even know it was there!)

**Linking up with**

Menu Plan

Time to get back into the swing of things!

Party Time and the Aftermath

Whew! Getting the party together was fun, but the actual party was even better! Andrew turned into such a little man within the time that the doorbell rang to his friends running to the backyard. He was such a cute little host! He had so much fun!! Again, we want to thank everyone who came out to celebrate with us!!

 Andrew had left the house for a bit to go get the pizzas and some balloons with Daddy. When he came back everything was set up and ready to go. But the smile on his face is for his Grandma & Grand-Daddy (my parents) ---

 They got him Mack the Truck!! He LOVED it!! 

 Pizza time!

He is so making the face that says, "Really? While I'm eating?!" LOL Love you, honey!

 Singing "Happy Birthday" to my little man - I LOVE his smiles!

 Blowing out the candles

 Giving it another try ;)

Getting some help from friends :) 

 YAY!! 

 Oh my goodness! Back outside again and tumbling around in the tents! LOL 

Time for presents! I love how Andrew pulled them down from the table and lined them up before opening them. He is so funny! Love it!

 Ok, let me just point out another difference a year can make - 2 year olds open present MUCH SLOWER than 3 year olds do. Oh. My. Gosh. I could barely take pictures of it all. It was crazy fast. But, he enjoyed it and that is all that matters (and getting the thank you notes correct haha).

 Well, the party may have ended for our guests, but two certain somebodies didn't take notice. Even though they were in their pajamas. I couldn't clean up anything with those two running around the table. Luckily, it was only the last corner of the cookie cake, apples and grapes that they decided to finish off. 

Ok,I know this picture may not look like much. But, to a Mama who was working hard on this party, this tiny container meant a lot. Jason had picked up the pizza and had set it all up on the counters. Well, instead of just haphazardly putting these packets of red pepper flakes and parmesan where ever, he found this sandwich container and put them out on display. LOVE HIM! Oh, that container (I have 2 actually) was found at the Dollar Tree by the way :)

 Getting into their goody bags - as if there wasn't enough stuff to get into LOL 

It was such a wonderful birthday weekend!!

Andrew, 

Mommy and Daddy love you so much and have loved watching you grow up more and more this past year. You have such a sweet smile and the best laugh! You tell us the cutest stories, too. You have also become not just the best big brother to Alex, but you have also become his best friend this year, too. We love watching you two play together. We hope that you had a wonderful party, little man. We love you so much!!

~Mommy & Daddy

(Alex and Max, too!)

Lightning McQeeen Birthday Party!!

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!!! I tried to narrow down the pictures as much as possible, but this party turned out amazing. Andrew said we did a "good job" and to us that is the best!

Andrew. He is a 3 year old who has been obsessed with Lightning McQueen for quite a while. He doesn't care too much about the other characters in the movie really. Though he is loving Doc Hudson more these days :)

This counter FILLED with stuff for the party that I started gathering together in June is about to turn into Radiator Springs ;)

 Goody Bags for our guests (for Lizzie's Curio Shop - where you get your souvenirs)

Pit Crew Tools - utensils 

Working late into the night on Andrew's cookie cake that he requested. It was a lot of fun, actually. Much cheaper than getting from the cookie company, right? I didn't have a cake plate for it, but I did have a bunch of cardboard boxes and a ton of racing flag duck tape. So there is the cake plate! The car came with a puzzle that was missing a piece! but was on clearance for $2.19 at Target back in July. So whatever :) The candles were found at Publix and were the last one on the shelf - nice. I just followed what the cookie company did and made it my own. Gotta love Betty Crocker's icing in a can complete with different tips :)

Here is a better picture of the cookie cake - remember, though, if you want to see these pictures better, just click on them! A new window will open up with a larger picture. 

 Getting down to some of the details - race flags for the cars and Cozy Cones for the snacks (You know, for Sally's Cozy Cone motel...it's newly refurbished!). 

Party table!! 

NOTE: I knew that having a tablecloth with a bunch of little kids could be risky. So, I grabbed my extra 3M strips and stuck them to the table and HA! No moving the table cover :) 

This is just a plain black vinyl table cover with yellow duck tape strips place all over it. 

The road toy is from the Fisher-Price Airport that my parents gave to Andrew 2 Christmases ago. This is going to hold the cupcakes. 

You gotta have the race track if you are going to have a race car party, right?!

See?! Cute, huh? Love it!!

And speaking of race cars, how 'bout them apples!? LOL (I'm telling you...this party made me even crazier than my normal crazy self.) Oh, and, of course, you can go to the race without some flags to wave. Andrew handed these out before we sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

 We couldn't have this party without our "sponsors" - Dinoco (Sprite Zero) and Rust-Eze (Coke Zero). These labels were just printed off from Google Images and put on with clear packing tape for durability. Easy peasy and made the point.

 Here are the Cozy Cones filled with perfect race fan treats - Chex Mix and Cheddar Popcorn

 No this isn't a random picture - These are the stickers and tattoos that are out for guests to get a new look via Ramone's Body Art. Gotta love it!

Finished party table!! I just LOVE how it turned out :)

Another picture of my cookie cake - it's just too cute!

How about that banner?! I can't tell you how many people slowed down to read it as they were leaving/coming down the street! Andrew LOVED it!

Well, I am going to end there for now. The party pictures will come up later tonight. My nap time break is over here. Check back here later for the party pics!!

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