3 at the Sea...Sea World that is...

Let me begin this post by announcing right now that a BUNCH of photos follow. I know it's just a three year old's birthday, but it's my three year old. I am one of those people, even at 28, that loves my birthday. Well, I love my kiddos' birthdays more. It's a celebration of life like no other. Every year for Graham's birthday we have a theme centered around his age (One in the Sun...Two at the Zoo...). Well this year was three at the Sea...Sea World that is! The nice thing about his summer birthday is that we can usually combine any birthday plans with a family trip. This year we loaded up Mimi and PawPaw's "Bon-Bon" (as Graham refers to their Suburban) and headed to San Antone (when you're from Texas you can use nicknames like that). Here are some pics of the celebration...

 

On our first night on the Riverwalk, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. Mimi and PawPaw bought Graham a guitar in the marketplace earlier and he carried that thing around all night. In the Hard Rock he put on a Fedora and sang and danced while we waited for a table. He had the attention of many.

On Graham's actual birthday we got to Sea World early and went to feed the dolphins. I limited my 800 photos of the dolphins down to just this one. If you are unaware of my love affair with this animal, please let me tell you the story sometime. It has to do with me, my honeymoon, and a little unofficial award I received while swimming with the dolphins in Mexico...I digress...

Next we stopped at the awesome aquariums. Very cool.

I seriously don't know why we bought this kid any toys. He would have been fine with a box of Coca-Cola. That's the memory he will be taking away of Sea World..."the day I swindled a bunch of my family into buying me way too much soda..."

We saw some amazing shows. I now want to be a killer whale trainer.

How cute is this guy?

We ended the Sea World experience by stopping at some gift shops. Mimi and PawPaw super spoiled the boys...I mean toys, hats, cups...these kids got it all. I'm sure Mimi and PawPaw really appreciate the picture of them with the Beluga Whale. They were trying to get Graham to stand by the whale. He wouldn't. They did. Hence, the picture.

I worked a little too hard on the decor for this little celebration. I might have roped Mr. Jones into helping me make a gazillion "Sea Water" bottles complete with a snorkel straw only to find out Sea World doesn't allow straws inside. Whatever. I resisted the urge to tell them "But, wait, these are safe. I got this idea from Pinterest, so it has to be okay!!". Somehow I didn't think it would pass.

We then celebrated the evening at Landry's Seafood. YUMMO! Seriously, good! The birthday boy walked away with a real stash of gifts.The loot included a tent, a guitar, handbells, microphones, Legos, and games. Surprisingly, no one purchased noise-blocking earbuds for Mommy...maybe next year.

It was Aunt T's idea to let Graham cut the cake with his new sword. No wonder he loves her.

 After dinner we walked around off the Riverwalk. This picture is of the Emily Morgan hotel. If you've never heard the stories associated with it, check it out. Ghost stories to the max. Not that I believe in ghost stories, but they are still cool to hear. I'm super fascinated with this place, but too scared to stay there. When Graham first saw the hotel he asked me why it had wings. What?! Is he trying to make me drive home tonight?!?! We went inside briefly, which is a whole other story involving Graham crashing a private party...possibly the first time I thought of leaving my child and running in the opposite direction.

We did visit the Alamo. We tried to tell the boys the history. I'm not sure what all they retained.

I also had to post this pic. We bought the boys Sea World pajamas and whale stuffed animals. Yes, the gift shop saw the flashing "suckers" sign above our heads.

So, there you have it. A wonderful celebration for our little guy. So happy to have him.

PS-He is officially potty trained. What an event that was. I seriously want to hug every parent's neck in the world that has survived potty training and just have a moment with them to appreciate what they've done. Sure, you made a child. But, you potty trained him, too? Now that's a real celebration.

When I grow up...

My little guy is turning 3 on Friday (expect a big post later about all the cutesy details that makes up his um, celebration, as I'm calling it). So today, I decided to ask him what he wanted to be when he grows up. Well, after a few moments of looking at me like I was completely wasting his time, he responded by telling me "Mommy". Let's face it...I've trained my almost-3-year old that the answer to all of my silly questions, Who is your favorite person?, Who makes the best brownies? Who has the best hair?...is Mommy. When I let him know I wanted a REAL answer, he got more aggitated and told me that he doesn't know, but he will go to work and I can come with him, and he is probably going to buy a car from where Daddy works. As any mother would, I go into oh-no-my-child-hasn't-chosen-a-life-path mode and instantly tried to talk to him about all sorts of wonderful career paths he can choose from. At one moment I may have mentioned the term engineering. To a child enjoying his last days as a 2 year old. Let's just get it together, Mrs. Jones. It made me giggle (yes, I giggle) to think of this little boy growing up. Good grief, I remember this child's first day of life and the long nine months before then. Mr. Jones and I picked out Graham's name when I was watching the movie "The Holiday" and we both mentioned that we liked Jude Law's character's name, Graham. So, when I picture Graham grown up, I picture him looking like Jude Law...hopefully not acting like him, hence the let's-explore-our-career-options-at-age-3 discussion. Then I giggled even harder when I thought about what I would say if he asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up (which he didn't, because I was WAY more into this conversation than he was). Well, the first thought that popped into my head was Kate Middleton (my brain INSTANTLY screamed GET REAL) and my immediate next thought was Meryl Streep. I mean, how calm, cool, and collected is Meryl Streep? Yes, most definitely sticking with that one. So there you have it, I will one day be Meryl and Graham, Jude Law. As for Mr. Jones and Oliver, they have decided that too much growing up is unnecessary, and I'm not going to argue with them. It would be so un-Meryl of me.

PS-Speaking of someone I want to be when I grow up, take a look at our recent family night...Pioneer Woman themed. Mr. Jones did a dramatic reading of The Pioneer Woman's book Charlie the Ranch Dog (Graham is obsessed with this book) and I made a mean batch of Sour Cream Enchiladas courtesy of The Pioneer Woman.

PPS-As of June 6th, Oliver is finally saying Mommy!! Yes! Now I can ask him silly questions...

Keeping up with the Joneses...

It has been pretty hard to keep up with the Joneses lately...at least the two younger ones. It's amazing how much Oliver has changed. One minute he's my little guy who needs me to rock him to sleep and the next he's cruising independently around the house. Let's see, on May 18th he decided to crawl for the first time...

The pic is a little blurry, but once he started movin' it was hard to keep him still for an instant...

Then the next day, literally, Mr. Man decided to sprout a tooth and then two days later another. In between he started saying Dada. If you look really closely you can see those bottom teeth. He's a little grumpy here because I keep trying to photograph his mouth and apparently that's annoying.

Graham has been obsessed with making lemonade lately. Drinking it? Not so much. But he wants to make a new pitcher almost daily, so I'm downing it as fast as I can. He is just too cute in that apron...

Okay, this picture pertains to nothing, but look how cute he is...I *might* be a little obsessed at staring at the boys while they sleep.

Then we had the boys' dedication at church. Here's their screen shot. Beautiful day. So lucky to be their mommy.

Of course Mr. Jones has been busy too. He had a little birthday and I must say he's the handsomest 33 year old I know. In his spare time he's working on the Trans Am....

When I'm not enjoying my guys, I've been baking a little. These are cake batter cookies from Pinterest. I made them for our church group last night and it totally earned me some cred as a baker. They are yummy!

Can't wait to see what all this summer vay-cay holds!