The Drums!

Well, after many weeks of waiting, Rhythm finally received his birthday drums!  The bummer- they were supposed to be blue (his favorite color) but the company accidentally sent red.  Not wanting to wait another 7+ weeks, we managed to convince him that red drums were seriously cool and he could still, indeed, be a rockstar!

Everyone asks me "How do you deal with the noise?!"  And honestly, when I first heard that my parents were buying these for him I was a bit concerned!  However, he usually only goes and plays them for a few short periods during the day and he always asks first.  To top it off, he is actually pretty good!  He has a natural sense of rhythm (hence the new online name!) and has always been very musical.  More than just banging on them, he actually tries to keep a beat and he sings a little song he has made up (which changes daily) while he drums.  According to him, he is going to play his drums on American Idol someday!

It is pretty funny also because he usually bangs his sticks together and counts out the beat to get started!  Ya know- "And 1, 2, 3, 4!"  Then he launches into his song!  Afterward he almost always says "Thank you!  Thank you very much!" and then bows!  He is such a ham!

And, of course, Lion Cub likes to get in on a little of the action as well!  My mom insists that we are going to need two drum sets soon, but I think that is where I'll have to draw the line!  Can't one of them take up the guitar?!

Happy Birthday R-Man!!!

My little man isn't so little anymore!  I remember the days when he was so tiny and I would look at moms with 4-year-olds and think, "Wow.  Their kids are so old!  They are like bon-a-fide moms!"  So, I guess that now makes me a bon-a-fide mom!

R-Man's birthday (April 23) turned out to by really eventful and a lot of fun!  He woke up to the house being decorated with streamers and lots of presents on the table.  When he came up the stairs I surprised him with silly string and a big, loud "Happy Birthday"- which actually shocked the living daylights out of him because he wasn't quite awake yet.  Poor guy screamed "NO!" and started crying!  Once he woke up all the way and I explained to him a little better what was going on he was in a much more amiable mood though!

Since daddy was still out of town he only got to open up his special Viking birthday hat- the rest of the gifts had to wait for daddy to arrive later that day (after having been gone for 2 whole weeks!).  He then gobbled down some special blue birthday pancakes and green eggs!  These were a big hit and have been requested (and denied!) almost everyday since!

In the middle of breakfast we were shocked to get a knock on the door which turned out to be Spiderman, in the flesh (sent by Grammy and Pappy).  He had gifts and balloons and I was expecting him to just wish R-Man Happy Birthday at the door and be on his way, but oh no, he welcomed himself right on in, told me to shut the door and carried on for the next 10 minutes with letters from the grandparents, cards and gifts.  I would be lying if I said that having a masked man in my home wasn't a worrisome experience for me, and honestly, I still wonder just why I allowed him in the door- occasionally worrying that that decision could come back to haunt us- let's hope not!

R-Man wasn't entirely sure what to make of Spiderman either.  When he came in he said, "Hi, I'm Spiderman!"

To which R-Man replied, "Well, I'm Iron Man!"  So funny!  He did seem to enjoy it overall, however, and especially had fun with the party horns and candy necklace!

He also was apparently not a fan of his red shoes!  He said that he thought blue and white shoes would look better.  He is very particular about shoes!

Lion Cub didn't know quite what to make of everything either but he tried his darndest to blow the party horn!

From that point on on Friday we pretty much went about our day as normal until daddy got home at about 7:00.  We were so excited to see him because it had been so long!  Almost right after he got home we drove up to a friend's house who we borrowed a crew-cab truck from (so that we could all fit), grabbed dinner on the run and drove the 1 1/2 hour drive back to the town daddy had been working in to pick up his tool trailer (he had pulled his 5th wheel trailer back when he came home the first time).  R-Man got to watch a movie on his mini-DVD player and eventually fell asleep since we didn't actually roll into the town until midnight, and not back home until 1:45am!  Yikes!  R-Man was still thrilled to have been able to go!

The next day things got exciting again!  We had told R-Man that he was having a party but hadn't been told where, so when we arrived at a local mega-jump house (basically a warehouse with 5 big bounce/slide/obstacle houses) he was in awe and soooo excited!  We had a great turnout of about 13 kids and even the parents got in on the fun!  Daddy and one of the other dads even raced through one of the obstacle houses- it was hilarious!

Eventually we did manage to get a group photo, although it did take a pretty concerted amount of effort!

After 1 hour & 15min of jumpin' fun we headed into the party room for cupcakes and gifts!

We were so blessed by the gifts that R-Man was given by his friends!  Some of his favorites were a volume of Curious George Adventures, a kite, fake tattoos, Iron Man figurines, and a magnet set! 

 

The celebrating didn't stop there though!  This past Saturday we had our family party for both R-Man and me (since my birthday was April 29).  We had dessert with my side of the family at my Grandma's house and it was especially fun since Lion Cub had just started walking a couple of days before!  

Once again, R-Man was showered with gifts!  He received a great CARS puzzle book (Mama's favorite- learning and fun combined!), an Iron Man with a car, and a remote control dump truck to name a few.  The big gifts will be coming throughout the summer though, since my Grandma helped pay for R-Man's summer T-Ball program and Nana & Papa bought R-Man a (plug your ears!)... drum set!!!  AHHHHHH!!  I know he is going to love it but I very well might loose my mind in the process!  Oh well!

R-Man w/ Cousin J

R-Man w/ Great Grandma K & Grandpa in the background!

It was a great birthday that he didn't want to end!  He still insists that it is, in fact, still his birthday, but we keep reminding him that is will come again next year- for now he can just enjoy being 4!

Mohawk!

Last weekend we went to my grandmother's house (R-Man's great-grandma) to celebrate my mom's (R-Man's Nana's) birthday (which happens to be on Halloween).  We are not much for celebrating this holiday but we did decided to have a little dress up fun, mostly in terms of hair!  Here is R-Man with his new (and very real) Mohawk!

And here is Aunt Rena (R-Man's great-grandma's sister- confused yet?) and Uncle Rick (my uncle) with their matching wigs!  The funniest part is that Aunt Rena really wears her wig everyday and has worn the same style since the 70s!

Here is Aunt Michelle (my aunt) with a long black wig and eyelashes on to round out the gang!

It was a fun and crazy evening with lots of laughs and general hilarity! 

Happy Birthday Nana!  

Live it up cause next year is the big one (a half CENTURY!)!!

Oh she is going to hate me for writing that!  Haha!  At least she looks pretty stinkin' good for 50!  

Oh, wait, sorry mom, 49!  ;-)

R-Man's Birthday Extravaganza!

So, it is a little late in getting posted, since his birthday was a week and a half ago, but at least I am getting it done!

R-Man had a wonderful 3rd birthday! The day of his actual birthday he woke up to streamers at the top and bottom of the stairs, to which he exclaimed, "Is that my present?!" Haha- if only we had known that would be enough! Throughout the day we gave him his gifts from us, which included an Ironman Watch with changeable wristbands and face-plates, a set of golf clubs, and a rug for his matchbox cars with a track printed on it- all of which he loved! We topped off the day with a trip to Cold Stone for ice-cream, and all-in-all had a great day!

Enjoying his ice-cream picnic-style!

On Saturday of that week we had the birthday party festivities! Sadly, all but one family couldn't make it to R-Man's kids party at the park (yup- you heard me right, only 2 kids were there!). Luckily, there were lots of other kids at the park, and R-Man didn't seem to realize that they weren't there to celebrate with him, so it all worked out! Also, the two kiddos who did show up are some of his dearest friends, so he had a blast despite the turn out!

Tearing into his gifts with the fam!

That evening we had the family party at my in-law's house (which of course included more of the people on our guestlist, so he felt double-honored!) and R-man and I actually shared the night of celebration, as my birthday was on the 29th!


He made out well in the gift department with all those grandparents (both grandparents & great-grandparents, so 7 in total!) and was so excited to receive (among other things) a scooter, chalkboard/whiteboard easel, and LOTS of "CARS" cars (oh, and the Dinico Helicopter, I should not forget!)! Mama, on the other hand, was excited about all the clothes he received (yeah- stuff that fits!)!


One of his favorite parts of the night was having "Happy Birthday" sung to him and getting to blow out his candles! He had specifically asked for cake, which I had just intended to have at the kid's party (I am not a big cake fan, so we were going to have my grandma's pies at the family party, since it was for my birthday too!), but since hardly anyone showed in the morning, we had a plethora of Wall-E decorated cupcakes to make the rounds for the adults as well!

How wonderfully optimistic 3-year-olds are! They can celebrate anywhere with anyone and it is all good by them! If only I could be a little bit more like that!