Happy birthday, Zanthias!

Getting out of the car...he has no idea what we are doing!
Playing with Ezra
Bowling

This jeep ride was crazy! It even did a wheelie (which was a bit scary)
More horsie!
Zaphira did NOT like the moving rides.
Crazy jockey
Racing cars with Ezra
I don't think you're supposed to be up there...
Apple cake and birthday ring (only half of the cake would fit in my travel pan!)
Blowing out the candles
Book and blocks
He makes weird cheese faces.

Zanthias is 3 today, and very excited about that. He loves to say, "Happy birthday!" We made an apple cake this morning. Then, Drew took off the afternoon and we went to Chuck E. Cheese (for the first time!) His friend Ezra also came (with his mom and little brother) They had lots of fun running from game to game, eating pizza and having cake. His friend got him a great pirate book.

We got him a copy of his favorite book, "Harry and Horsie" (I also bought the sequel "Cookiebot" but it hasn't arrived yet!) and some Tegu magnetic blocks. He loved them.

As long as the rain holds off, we are planning a trip to the playground or a walk around the neighborhood later.

Happy birthday to my crazy, amazing son. He's around 37 lbs and 37" right now. His vocabulary has increased so much, and he loves to talk and tell stories. His favorite things to do right now are read books, ride his "broom broom" (his balance bike), go to the playground, and play with cars or his baby doll. His favorite shows right now are "The Backyardigans" and "Blue's Clues". He is very kind to his sister, and working on this whole sharing thing. He loves animals and motorcycles. He's very sensitive and shows his feelings completely, good or bad. It's been an amazing year.

Apple picking

The apple he picked









We went to Skytop orchard today and picked 23 lbs of apples! They have a lot of fun things to do there, and it's all free (except anything you buy, of course!) They have a playground, animals to see, an apple and pumpkin house, a hay spider, tractor rides, and a bamboo maze. We were smart and brought a lunch and we were there for a really long time (4 hours maybe?) It was a lot of fun for everyone. Zanthias picked one apple, and then was done.

Happy birthday, Zaphira!

We had a birthday party for Zaphira here for all our friends. It was a fiesta theme, and we made most of the decorations (and her dress!) It was so much fun. Happy first birthday to my sweet little girl.

on giftcards

I'd just like to ask that we not be given gift cards anymore. Wilbur and Deborah generously gave us one for Walmart, and I lost it (not a big surprise, I lose everything). They sent us the receipt, and even with that, Walmart refused to replace the gift card! So from now on, let's stick to a no gift card rule, so these big companies don't just get your money and we get nothing!
Thanks Wilbur and Deborah for thinking of us, and I'm sorry I lost it!

Portraits!

We had a groupon for Portrait People at the mall (If you haven't signed up for groupon yet, use this link to sign up and when you pay for your first deal, we get $10! We've gotten some amazing deals from it-this cost $18 and was a $144 value!) and decided to take the kids tonight when buying Zaphira her first pair of real shoes. Here are some of the highlights of the session. I'll put all the pics on the cd when I send it out.

delay in sending out

I had hoped to have the CDs done and in the mail this week, but unfortunately, I spend the last week going from the ER to doctors. I'm feeling better, but still need some recovery time, so it may be a few weeks before you see the CDs. I'm also really behind on party planning for her birthday here with friends, so sorry about the delay!
Here's a cute pic in a swimsuit that Pinky bought!

Birthday party teaser

I'm only uploading a few pics here, because in the next couple of weeks, I hope to mail cds out to everyone so you can see all the pics. There are a lot of great ones! We had a wonderful time, and hope everyone else did as well. We made it home with no issue, and the kids are happy to be home and relaxing with all their new toys.