Meow.

 Yesterday, Brody found the dress ups that I keep in Wyatt's closet.  He put on a 6-12 month costume he wore TWO years ago as Baby Jaquar from Diego (it was too small then)... and he wore it ALL DAY LONG! I thought it was too hilarious.  He even wore the mitten things, and kept telling me that he was a cheetah and could run really fast, and he didn't have any claws, so he couldn't climb very high, and other random facts about himself as the cheetah.  When I showed Shawn the pictures his comment was, "You let him walk to pick up Orin in that!"

Oh, yes I did! Why? Because, who am I to take away from his creativity, and frankly, I have to choose my battles.  Plus, every time I looked at him, it make me laugh!! He sure makes a cute cheetah! 

Meow.

First Day of Preschool

Brody started preschool a few weeks after Orin started kindergarten.  I am doing a preschool co-op with some of the moms from Orin's group last year, which for me is just a nice reminder of how grateful I am that I get to stay home with the kids!  Brody was pretty excited to get to go to school too (although, he kept telling me it's not real school because it's just at his friend's house). 

That morning, Brody got to pick his breakfast.  He, of course, wanted pancakes!  So he helped me make pancakes, with colors (food coloring). 

The boys also requested that I make Mickey Mouse pancakes.  Usually, I only make pancakes on the weekends, so this was a nice treat (Wyatt especially looks excited)!  

"New" backpack passed on from his brother. Check!
New shoes. Check!
Pictures by the front door. Check!
School mix. Check!
He was ready.

 Last year, I did Orin's group (see here) and this year some of the same moms are in the group again.  I think it's so fun taking first day of school pictures. Definitely the teacher in me.  And since I no longer have my own first day of school, I get to just enjoy my kids' first days!

I took Brody's pictures first, cause let's face it... my kids are the hardest to photograph by far!  Brody was totally being silly and trying to hide from the camera! Surprised? Not at all.

Two hours later, it was time to pick him up.  This teacher said he was under the table and she had to ask him to be her helper to get him out (but he's not doing that anymore, for now).
I asked him a few questions:

What was your teacher like?
She is nice. She tells us to listen.

What did you do?
Watched "Cheesecake Factory" (Letter Factory, see above) and had a snack.

Brody wanted to wait to go to McDonald's after we picked Orin up from school and Shawn was able to come too.  The boys even got Happy Meals AND an ice cream cone! Spoiled!

Dr. Seuss Party- A Person's a Person No Matter How Small!

**just spent FOREVER on this post and then something weird happened with blogger... I need blogging assistance!! I am beyond annoyed... so here we go again!

I can't believe a year ago our lil Brod was born. Time has flown by, but I just couldn't imagine my life without him! I fully intend on still trying to catch up on all that has been happening in our crazy lives, but didn't want to put off sharing all about...

Brody's 1st birthday!

(which I realize it's been over a month... if feels like it just happened!)

I was trying to think of what to do and thought about how much my boys like it when we read to them, so Dr. Seuss was perfect! I had tons of fun planning and shopping for it (thanks Johanna... we had such a fun adventure running around party planning! She helped so much and set up all the decorations at the party... couldn't have done it without her!)

Details of the party:

*While thinking about the theme, my very creative mom reminded me the Thing One/Thing Two shirts we had seen @ Universal Orlando... so excited to find them here (of course the fact that Brody was turning one... Thing One, and Orin is still two... Thing Two, was totally exciting for me... love the little details!)

*I made a cut out thingy (what do you call those?) for the kids to take pictures... (plus I thought it would be perfect for Dr. Seuss day in my classroom or my kids classrooms... do you think they'll be sick of getting their picture taken with in by junior high! I saw too bad! :)

*We played the fishing game... *Note: if I were to do this again I would: A. not use cardstock and laminate or B. make sure I had a heavy duty magnet!

*Played Pin the Star on the Sneetch!

*Did a "Book Walk" where each kid passed around Seuss characters as the Seuss music played (found some music from Seussical the Musical-didn't know about that one before!) and then when it stopped, I picked a card and the kid with the match got to pick a book. It was fun for the kids to get to take a book home and luckily we had enough! :)

*Had some Oh the Places You'll Go! activities: Pat & Hershel have a kids size Jeep and ridable train... I think this was a highlight for Ory!

*Decorations: Pat had tons of posters and stuffed animals which were perfect to use around the food table. We bought glass jars & pebbles @ the Dollar Store and $.29 fish as the center piece for all the tables. (We caught Ory climbing on the table to "hold the fish!")

Crissa was awesome and cut tons out red circles for me to spread around the white table cloths for the food & cake tables.

Johanna made "green eggs" which I know was tons of work, but I LOVE IT!

Served ham sandwiches, hot dogs, chips, goldfish (one fish, two fish), had the candy jars and of course an amazing cake by Amber & amazing cupcakes by Nia, Carrie and Melina! Had to call in Ory to help Brod on the cake... he wasn't too interested in it... unlike his brother's 1st bday (see here!)

So many people helped and I am so blessed to have such amazing family & friends! ThanksErica for the pics, Madison & Colleen for being the helpers, my in-laws for coming down and Dixie for helping watch the kids when you were having such bad knee pain!, Ally for all your help, my mom for the cute red/white striped shirt (here's a pic to prove I wore it! :)... the list goes on and on!

(had to post this pic... I look hilarious! Fong gave Brody this dinosaur pop up book with realistic sounds- obviously I was shocked!)

It was tons of fun and so glad to celebrate such a special little boy!

Brody... we love you!!