Balloon Festival

Yes, this post is long overdue! We went to the Plano Balloon Festival a couple of weeks ago. It was very, very warm out, but we had a great time.

It is always so incredible seeing the balloons getting ready to launch. (Please ignore the random volunteer man standing in the way!)

Aside from the balloons, the older boys both got the arms painted (rather than their faces), thinking that their arms would get less sweaty so the paint would last longer. Nope. :P

We met up with one of Cody's best friends, Thomas, and his family.

And Thomas' mom, Jaye, took these next 2 shots.

Corn dogs, cotton candy, face arm painting, balloons...who could ask for more? Well, if we're being picky, some cooler weather might be nice next year...

Cody's Flag

Cody came home from school all fired up about doing an "I Wonder" project. These are optional projects done outside of school to expand on what they've been learning in Social Studies and Science.

Well, the Kindergarteners have been learning about the Pledge of Allegiance and our various flags (Texas/US). So Cody decided to make his own flag.

He picked the 2 things that are most important to him: Bear-Bear, and his family. So that's Bear-Bear, there in the middle, and big gold star stands for Cody. The 4 silver stars represent the rest of us. And USB? United States of Bear-Bear.

Isn't it cute?

Jack O'Bration

When we had our last Codybration, Jackson asked if there would ever be a day to celebrate him. Well, last night, Anthony and I took Jackson out for our first annual "Jack O'Bration." I thought we'd call it a "Cele-Jackson," but he renamed it perfectly.

Jackson is a big 3rd grader now, and he's very responsible and mature. We wanted to take him out to dinner to a place fancier than he'd ever been before, a place where they don't have kids' menus or high-chairs, a place where we would NOT take little guys like Cody and Lucas who just aren't quite old enough yet. So we took him to our favorite restaurant in Dallas, Al Biernat's.

We told him were taking him out, but we didn't tell him where we were going or what we were doing. So everything was a big surprise.

The waiter asked if we were celebrating anything special, and we told him Jackson had just gotten his first report card and that he'd gotten straight A's! And we let him know it was Jackson's first experience at a "grown-up" restaurant.

This guy was SO wonderful. When Jackson ordered a Dr. Pepper, the waiter asked him whether he preferred a 2010 or 2009 vintage. He poured just a little of the bottle into Jackson's glass and asked him to taste it and see if it was to his liking. And then he brought Jackson his own personal "wine bucket."

Jacks was also very proud that he got his very own steak knife.

After our delicious steaks, we ordered dessert. Look at how beautifully they decorated Jackson's plate! The restaurant owner himself, Al, came over to congratulate Jackson and say he was s0 proud of his hard work that he was buying him dessert. Wow!

After dinner, it was time for a show...

We had so much fun! I've never heard Jackson laugh like that. He got most of the jokes and loved watching the blue guys be silly. Here's some video Anthony took of the finale.

As we were walking out after the show was over, Jackson asked when we could go again. I think it was a big hit! He said he liked the giant bouncy balls the best. Oh, and "all the blue." LOL

He was so excited to get a cool T-shirt as a souvenir and can't wait to wear it to school on Monday.

It was such a great night. All 3 of us had so much fun, and I think Jacks really felt more like a grown-up and less like a little kid, so Mission: Accomplished. Happy Jack O'Bration, Buddy!

Happy Birthday to Me!

The boys helped me celebrate my 33rd birthday last weekend. Jackson brought home roses for me after a shopping trip with Anthony, and he took charge of the wonderful decorations, too (which I completely failed to get a photo of. Mom FAIL.).

We had a great dinner with Grandma and Grandad, and then we came back to the house for some of this delightful cake.

So yeah, it wasn't that easy to write with the frosting. It says '33,' though. I'm pretty sure.

Luke was very helpful when it was time to blow out the candles!

The best part of my birthday was having all my boys celebrating with me! ♥

Luke Funnies

Luke was my earliest talker and has always been extremely verbal. I'm not sure whether it's having 2 big brothers that makes him want to have his voice heard or whether he'd be a chatterbox regardless. But even though he talks like a big boy most of the time, he still busts out with some funnies when we least expect it. Here are the most recent examples:

• Guitar picks = Guitar "pokes"
• Car horns don't honk, they "hark" (a mash-up of honk and bark?)
• We were slightly taken aback when Luke asked for Michael Jackson for breakfast. After digging around in the pantry pointing at various things, we finally determined that he wanted APPLE JACKS.

:)

(PS...the picture above is a preview of his Halloween costume...isn't he the cutest Luke Skywalker ever?)

Labor Day at the Zoo

We had a wonderful Labor Day at the Dallas Zoo! The Savanna exhibit is so spectacular and we always enjoy feeding the giraffes.

Luke decided he loved this giraffe so much, he wanted to give it a kiss.

Apparently, this giraffe decided it loved Anthony so much, it wanted to give HIM a kiss.

That giraffe just loooooooooooooooved Anthony!

Later we visited the petting zoo. Luke made friends with a very cute goat!

At the playground, Luke and Cody got stuck in this very tricky spider web.

A new Cat in the Hat TV show is premiering this weekend, so the Cat in the Hat himself made an appearance at the zoo today, too.

Cody took a break in the shade. It got pretty warm out there!

What a fun day!