Happy Birthday, Mateo!!

My baby boy is now "free" years old. We celebrated his birthday at The Little Gym of Austin. He and his friends had a grand time! The Little Gym teachers gave Mateo tons of special attention, which he was eating up. The party started with some free time in the gym and bubbles.

Then the kids got birthday cake stamps on their hands. Mateo got three - one on each hand and another on his forehead. After they played with balls and danced to a song, they brought out the air truck. The children sat on it while it inflated and then jumped on it. It was a HUGE hit.

Then they brought out a huge wheel and gave the kids rides on it.

Once all the little hands were sanitized, they formed a birthday train, with Mateo at the front. Boy did he love that!

Next came food and cake! We served sandwiches, Veggie Straws, oranges, and strawberries. We were so proud of Mateo - he blew out his candle at the right time and with only one try!

Obviously our friends and family were very generous. Mateo has played with pretty much every toy more than once. He was a happy boy!

A Big thank you to everyone for the lovely gifts, but mostly for spending your time to celebrate Mateo's birthday with us.

Valentine's Day Party.

Well, Mr. Sickly is still sick, so we didn't actually ATTEND his Valentine's party at school, but we swung by to drop off his Valentine's cards for his classmates. Originally Mateo was supposed to help me decorate the cookies with food markers, but since he was sick I did it myself. Each kid got a cookie, Diego Valentine with heart shaped sucker, pencil, and two tattoos. I kind of overdid, but I think I was subconsciously making up for him missing his Christmas party due to Christmas in Panama.

After we got back home Mateo was super excited! He got a candy gram from his Mommy and Daddy (pink thing he's holding up) and his decorated bag full of Valentine's loot. For lunch he insisted on unwrapping every piece of candy and sampling it all. I managed to get some peanut butter pretzels and oranges down him somehow, but the great thing about kids this age (unlike most adults, me included) is they really don't over indulge on candy. He had a few pieces and then was done. If only I could manage to do that!

This weekend Mateo's school hosted a Valentine's Dance. There wasn't too much dancing, but there was a dessert buffet!

There were some games, too. Mateo had to stuff Rafi's shirt full of balloons.

I had to hold up some marshmallows for my partner to eat. We lost, but I still got to take home a pink Tupperware prize!

Rafi entertained the kids by showing them how to rub a balloon on your head and make it stick.

Hopefully we raised a good amount of money for the school. It's a great school, and Mateo loves it there.

Happy birthday, 'D'!

Wow! What a great birthday party! There was a petting zoo, righteous hot dogs, a petting zoo, adorable cupcakes, and... did I mention a petting zoo? There's the birthday boy D on the left. No, not the big one dressed like Johnny Cash (lookin' good though, H!), but the littlest one on his left.
This piglet was so cute I didn't at all mind the pig poop that found its way to the top of my foot. I almost put him under my shirt to smuggle him out, but then they mentioned he'd grow to be 400 pounds.
This goat kept nibbling on my camera strap. I liked him a lot.
Mateo really REALLY likes birds of all kinds. These poor babies didn't know what they were in for. At first he did a really good job of holding them, but then... then wings were being bent back, beaks were being pinched, necks were being choked, etc. He had to be removed from the situation. Thankfully no animal was harmed. He just loves a little too much sometimes.

Happy first birthday, D! Scroll down or click here for more animal antics.

More animal antics...

Here are more of our animal friends.

And here's a human friend that never lets me photograph her. Gotcha!I keep telling the wife of this dad that she needs to rent him out to the rest of us for kid parties!

Boys and girls love to play...
... until someone gets hurt. :(
But after a minute of Mommy love, he was back to the playin'.

Halloween Shindig 2009.

WHAT a party! We really enjoyed seeing our guests (all 37 of them) in costume. We even had some celebrities in our midst!

And some soldiers. At ease, guys. That little one at the bottom looks especially wily.

An emo/new wave band.
Joe Dirt.

Peace, Love, and Happiness (though Happiness had changed into his pjs).
And um, er... this.

As well as a wide variety of others.

Some of the items our buffet menu included Werewolf Meat with Caterpillar Sauce (beef fajitas with chimichurri), Mummy Toes (pigs-in-the-blanket), Fairy Brains (cut fruit), Witches Hats (cookies), and Vulture Blood (punch).

The Halloween Candy Hunt was lots of fun. Of the handful of lottery tickets hidden in the candy bags, sadly I think we only had a $1 winner.

Mmm... someone found a Witches' Hat cookie to eat and ate the chocolate part first.

Thanks to all our guests for coming!!

Rock star!

Mateo's school had their Halloween costume parade today. The kids were just dern adorable. While Mateo didn't exactly sing along much, he strummed his guitar - which we were quite impressed with. He maintained his coolness through the whole event. By the way, the sunglasses (or "goggles," as he calls them) were his idea.

Here he is with his, like, totally rad teacher Ms. Mamie.

Making a punk rock face. I wonder if he knows what anarchy means?

It takes a REAL rocker to sport a mohawk AND Mickey Mouse shades.

Connor's birthday party.

I'll leave writing the big recap to Tina, but here are a few of my favorite shots from the party.

Below are links for the albums per family. We were picture taking fools!

Tina - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=bfd084eb610f1b1a6276141d224b0f78&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGG6

Jodi - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=92009d74305a3f7a6cdd16a80fdf8c46&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGHc

Mel - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=193ee6f7a24c58bcd33ce936de451066&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGEQ

Brenda - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=5a38f4a4161b8e32cf4ab00f16ca9e1e&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGEj

Peggy - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=b0fd519e7f01934a6d9889752d9a603c&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGHv

Honey - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=aa10759cdd4217fbc7e45aad1e0cdff4&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGFU

Gen - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=ae104ef4980101d22f762628e38c6d8e&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGF2

Jessica - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=b5490f02e05c5aacc9f3edf1ebadc1fb&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGFn

Ary - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=847a874ad29519e826cd1d30d33b21f1&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGEy

Nion - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=6a0d678affdabd002f762628e38c6d8e&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGGY

Leah - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=1fa8757cda885a936d9889752d9a603c&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGGr