5!

Will is 5!  And is quite proud of it, I might add.  So before it officially is a month since his birthday before I get this post done...let's talk about turning 5 around here!

We kicked off the festivities with the Will birthday tradition -- hot dogs and cake with his godparents and Will's best friend, Elyse.  This year he decided that he wanted a dinosaur birthday, so here he is with his gigantic dino egg birthday cake. :)

This was the first year that Will decided to have a small friend party rather than having all our family and friends at our house.  Instead he wanted to take a few special friends to the dinosaur exhibit and we just had a little picnic in the park.  It was so fun!

Meet Mr. Rich.  Also known as Will's dino hero.  Mr. Rich was our tour guide through the paleo hall -- who knew you could schedule private tours for cheap?!?  It was awesome and that was absolutely because we had an incredible tour guide.  I love this picture because it totally looks like Mr. Rich and Will are having a serious conversation about a fossil or something here, possibly debating its origins or something.  Which could have happened...Mr. Rich was pretty amazed at the knowledge base of our new 5 year old and even invited him to come to camp when he turns 6. :)

The tour was great because the tour guide not only tells the kids great stories and facts, he also brought out a bunch of fossils and different things for them to touch and look at along the way.  I equipped each party goer with a magnifying glass so they could properly investigate.

After the tour it was time for some snacks on the lawn!  It turned out to be a beautiful day, so we took the kids outside to enjoy the weather and get a chance to run around a little.  Here's our little dino friends cupcakes we enjoyed. :)

Each special guests got their own box of dino treats to enjoy, complete with their dino name on the box.  Willasaurus Rex had a great time picking out foods and names for all his friends to enjoy. :)

A few adults got to enjoy the fun too if they were the chauffeurs to the special guests.  Or your name is Aunt B (Beckatops for the day, of course).  She was the only adult to get an actual invitation to the event and was an awesome sport about it.  

Once everyone had a few snacks and a cupcake we headed back inside for one last treat -- a ride on the T Rex!  

It was such a fun day!

One of Will's birthday presents was tickets to Legofest that came into town a few weeks later.  Dinosaurs and Legos all in the same month?  A boy's dream, for sure!  And then Nana came in with Dino Legos??  It doesn't get ANY better than that!

Here's Will hanging out with his Lego friend. :)

There was this great art gallery where you could make your own Lego creation and then add it to the wall with everyone else's.  We were there early so there was plenty of spaces to choose from.  Here's everyone proudly showing off what they have made.  

There was tons of Lego creations to take your picture by all through the hall and of course we stop at just about all of them.  But by far the winner of the day was the lion.  I mean, people, he roared.  Which also meant that B would have absolutely nothing to do with him or any other large Lego creation after it.  But Will was more than happy to hang out for a photo op.  

And just because it also happened in May...a quick tball shout out.  Will decided to play this year and really had a good time, although he told his dad that he likes soccer better.  We will see...

This picture of Will's base running cracks me up not because of him, but the action behind him.  This pretty much sums up the season.  Child hits ball, the entire other team swarms the ball and falls on top of it until someone picks it up.  Hilarious.

I have to say, his skills may not be honed, but he has the stance and the look down, don't you think?

And here are the two reasons I think he really played...

sweet Elyse and promised snacks at the end of each game. :)

And through it all, his little cheerleader.  Happy to "yay!" for him while he rides a t-rex or runs the bases, she loves her big brother and his little shadow these days.  And he loves her right back.  

Now, off to plan a party for a big 2 year old! 

Vet School 2013

There are a few signs of spring around here.  The garden starts growing, the house gets dirtier from bringing all the outside in every day, and there starts to be a little color on everyone's cheeks with the introduction of beautiful fresh air.  But there is one event that Will believes marks spring more than anything else I think -- it's the Texas A&M Vet School Open House.

Thanks to a kind co-worker who had a daughter graduate from the vet school,  we discovered this gem of a Saturday adventure last year.  It's the one day a year that A&M opens the doors to the vet school and display all it has to offer.  It's amazing.  There are jumping dogs and prancing horses, creepy crawlies and farm animals to get up close to, and demonstrations of all things vet.  It's a little piece of heaven to our little guy!

This year we braved the ridiculously loooooooooong line to do the teddy bear surgery.  Luckily while we waited they we got to watch the agility dogs (which has convinced Will that Georgia can be trained to jump obstacles and he wants to set her up in the backyard).  You get to bring your own stuffed animal and perform surgery on it in the small animal hospital.  No surprise, it is a huge draw for all the little ones.  Here's Will's adventure -- 

Here he is getting suited up for surgery -- no going in to the room without the proper attire!

Surgery is serious business!

All ready to head in!

Here he is in consultation with the head surgeon.  Will will be assisting in the procedure.  It was determined that dog had a bad leg in need of a cast.

He was so serious the whole time, like he was really trying to take it all in and remember what to do.

The doctors hard at work.  Surgery was a success!

After taking a walk through all the service dogs and checking out all the beautiful breeds of dogs we headed over to the reptile house.  Yay.

Will was absolutely set on holding a snake.  He got his wish immediately!

The snakes completely mesmerized Bellamy.  She loved being near them until they started crawling on her.  Then she came to her senses and wanted out of there. :)

Not this guy.

We are convinced she just thought it was a necklace until it started moving.  

The girl does love a good accessory!

As Todd and I were still traumatized by the crazy long wait for the very short surgery experience Will came home and got right back to work on some animals that were in need of assistance.  

I guess the wait was worth it after all.  

I mean, you did get to keep your official gloves, mask, and head cover after all.  

Such a good time!  Ready to put next year's on the calendar!  No surprise, Will already has our agenda decided to make sure we hit anything we missed this year...;)

Easter Blessings

I'm not sure that any of these images need much of an introduction or explanation.  They pretty much speak for themselves -- we are blessed.  Beyond words. :)

Spring!

 There are many times that I write about how crazy hot it is here.  But there are also many times of year that it is beautiful -- and now is certainly one of them!  Spring in Houston is always great...awesome weather and tons of activities to help take advantage of it all at the same time.  So sorry for those of you reading this in between snow shoveling sessions...but maybe it will entice you to come visit us, huh?:)

The first sign of spring around here, especially for Will is that the rodeo is in town.  He looks forward to it ALL year.  This year we went a couple of times to make sure to have time for all the stuff he loves to do and introduce Bellamy to all of the fun too.  It is always a blast to see how excited they get!

Our first trip we went with the Simmons/Lewis crew, and it was quite the adventure with five little ones to keep track of!

Here's B and Thomas checking out the pony rides.  They weren't quite ready to ride, but they had a great time watching the big kids and waving at them as they rode by.


The petting zoo...seriously, how many pictures can I take of my kids petting animals??  Bellamy had a great time as long as Todd stayed right next to her...she wasn't interested in venturing out by herself and I don't blame her...a couple of goats almost ate my shirt. ;)














Checking out the mutton bustin.  Her favorite part was definitely the part of the cheerleader because she loved clapping for everyone!  That will work out great since Will is absolutely convinced that he is doing the mutton busting next year when he is finally 5.

Will and Elyse always crack me up -- when you can catch them hanging out without knowing anyone is taking a picture, you really see how much they do love spending time together.  Here they are comparing their crops at Fun on the Farm.

Our little farmer.  This year he asked Todd how old you have to be to raise your own animals.  We asked him what he wants to have and he told us pigs.  Who wants him?:)

 

Bellamy's not quite as ready to get in there with the big ones...she's content petting these cute little (can completely contained) ones for now. 

Grandma and Bellamy getting ready for their Fun on the Farm excursion.  This year's crop -- carrots!  After all their hard work AJ made sure B made a great choice with her hard earned money in the grocery store.

I think the highlight of this year's rodeo experience was Will's tractor pull adventure.  It was a new thing this year and you only had to be 4 -- so he was in!  It was SO fun to watch and he did a great job!

Check out the Astrodome in the background!

Our proud little tractor puller with his hard earned ribbon.  He wore it the entire day.

Okay, moving on from rodeo festivities...

Here's sweet girl with her first real haircut experience at the kids salon.  Obviously Aunt Debbie must be her preferred stylist because she screamed the entire time.  Luckily we were the only ones there!

Did I mention I LOVE the weather this time of year?  Mom and Jess were here for the week of spring break and we took full advantage of absolutely perfect weather.  There was lots of yard work, trips to the park, playing in the backyard, and just plain sitting and enjoying the weather like this...

Here's B enjoying the weather herself...jamming to "She Don't Know She's Beautiful"...I hate to break it to her, but I think she is well aware, don't you?

How is it already Easter?  Gotta kick it off with some Easter egg dyeing of course!  Will found a jungle animal set of egg decorating stuff, so of course he had to invite Elyse over to help him with it.  And we long ago decided that Todd was in charge of the dyeing process -- gotta put all that Art talent to use, right?

 Happy Spring everyone!