One of the days last week while Clara was at zoo camp, Jonathan and I stopped by the mall to have lunch. Jonathan ate at 'Hot Dog on a Stick' (one of those places where they dip the hot dogs to make fresh corn dogs). Jonathan doesn't much care for corn dogs, but he seems to really like their octopus...
Does this count for feeding my kids fish?
Today was Clara's last day of zoo camp for the summer. This week's zoo camp taught them how to take pictures of the zoo animals, and their art project each day was making frames so that they could put together this book as a keepsake. I apologize that some are a little crooked, that speaks to my scanning skills, not Clara's artistic skills :)
I had to laugh at the elephant pic because that day Clara came home and told me she took a pic of the elephant's bottom. I asked her why, she said, "He wouldn't turn around 'cause he didn't want his picture taken." Looks like she was right!
(That black thing in the water is a sea lion)
Sometimes I wonder if I ever give my kids enough credit for what they can do. They always amaze me when I leave them with someone else who really helps them show me what they're capable of. I never would've thought Clara could take such good pics. I am so proud of her!
Watch out National Geographic...here she comes!
That's right 'the coolest thing she ever, never did before!' Zoo camp has started again. This week I sent Clara to zoo camp with a disposable camera and all week they are showing her how to get the perfect picture of all of her zoo animal friends. Yesterday she took pics of the Zebra and Giraffe. Did you know they're 'maminals' (mammals)? Oh, and she said she took a pic of her teacher too. Today Jonathan and I got there to pick her up a little early, they hadn't quite made it back from seeing the snakes and elephants yet, so I snapped this pic as she walked back. She was holding the hands of a teacher and another child until she saw me and broke loose! The cool orange shirt is the one they gave her for this week's zoo camp. It's really neat. They gave her one with stingrays on it the last time around. She now has a zoo shirt for everyday of the week!
After zoo camp we tried to get home really quick to take a decent nap, but the stars were not lined up in my favor. Traffic was not cooperative and the place I stopped to get lunch took 20 minutes just to get our food. The kids only got a about an hour nap before it was time to get them up to head to Jonathan's 2yr doctor's appointment.
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It took Clara standing on the scale and me standing on the scale to convince Jonathan that it wasn't a bad thing. He still wasn't sure until I showed him he could stand on it backwards. He stood there only because I was right in front of him blocking his exit. After the nurse took the rest of his measurements and vitals, and tried to usher us to our examination room, Jonathan ran back to the scale, climbed up and proudly clapped at his achievement. He's 31.5lbs -- not a far cry from Clara's 35.2lbs.
Once in the exam room the kids waited patiently to see the doctor.
I swear I didn't pose them here at all -- they are too cute!
I don't remember what Clara thought was so funny here, but Jonathan was trying to be like his big sister once again. I didn't get any pics of his examination or the other vitals that the nurse took, because as usual anytime a stranger came near the poor child, he would cling to me and fuss. It is marginally better now though -- baby steps. The important thing is he's happy and healthy -- I don't remember how tall they said he was, but the doctor did say 'taller than average'. He did great -- 3 shots. He tore the band-aids off immediately after the nurse put them on saving me the trouble of having to rip them off later tonight for his bath!
After the doctor's appointment we headed to Panera for dinner...
Clara had the cheddar broccoli soup, aka 'Daddy's soup'
And after a good dinner we headed across the street to Coldstone to cash in Jonathan's birthday club coupon for his free ice cream. He had mint chocolate chip. Clara opted for strawberry ice cream with sprinkles. Their mint ice cream is REALLY good. I had never tried it there before today.
All in all, a good day. We're all exhausted. The kids headed off to bed a little early and I think I'll be doing the same.
It was a quiet weekend around here...and a long day today. Clara starts zoo camp again tomorrow, so to help us adjust from our lazy mornings of this past week to our early mornings of the coming week, I kept both kids up from naps today. They went off to bed early tonight, but here it is almost midnight and I'm not tired. At least the two of them will be ready to go in the morning :)
We didn't do much this weekend, but I captured some cute stuff with the camera and thought I'd share.
In the mornings we make Clara wear a head band to keep her hair out of her cereal/milk. Jonathan runs to get one every morning too. Typically he just pulls it down around his neck and wears it like a necklace, but Saturday morning he used it to keep his hair out of his face too. The sunglasses were his idea as well -- guess he had a rough night :)
Here are the 2 headbanded creatures enjoying their cereal.
Clara also chose to accessorize this particular morning with a pair of my shoes.
Shortly after breakfast Spidergirl made an appearance.
Aunt Sandi got Jonathan this cool cup for his birthday -- a big boy cup, with his name right on it!
He loves it...he also loves to blow bubbles in his milk, or let it dribble down his chin (we're still working on how to use a big boy cup!)
Clara has a Veggie Tales cup that's very similar. She wanted to use hers so they could match.
Cheers!!!
The upcoming week will be a busy one. Aside from zoo camp Jonathan has his 2yr well child visit to the doctor scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. We'll be working on minimal nap time between the time we get home from zoo camp in the morning and the time of his appt. I couldn't get in any later, but we will be stopping for Jonathan's free birthday ice cream from Coldstone after the doctor - so how bad can it be right?! (Thanks Katy!) Then on Friday I will be trying to sign Clara up for preschool at the Child Development Center here on base. I say 'trying' because it will not be a fun morning. They have just 48 spots and are holding open registration from 8am-12pm on Friday morning. I've heard that if you really want a spot you need to be there about 6am and just wait in line. It wouldn't be so bad if Chris were home or even if I didn't need to get Clara to zoo camp that morning as well. So 6am Friday morning the kids and I will be finding a spot in the lobby of the CDC to relax for a good 2 hours. (You know how much kids like to just sit around and wait, esp. first thing in the morning!) Then we hope to get registered quickly so we can hop in the car and make the 45 min drive to Fresno for zoo camp at 9am -- hopefully we won't be too late. Say a prayer it all goes well. I've been dreading Friday for weeks now and will be happy to see this next weekend!
After a good night's sleep we were ready to finally open birthday presents this morning, but I did restrain myself from letting the kids eat the last 2 pieces of cake for breakfast. Jonathan did pretty well opening his gifts this year. Clara started them for him so he'd know where to start tearing from, and he'd take it from there. Of course if he did need any additional help, Clara was ready and willing! She had fun helping him decide which gift to open next.
This was the first one he opened this morning
With the first gift he was still way more impressed with the wrapping than what was inside. He really liked the tissue paper in the boxes. He would shake it to make noise. Maybe Santa Claus will just bring him a box of tissue paper :)
Finally fishing out that first gift...
It's Spiderman!!!!!
It's a bit big for him, but he loves it. I never got him to stand long enough with the full costume on (mask and all). He thinks he's the coolest thing around now though.
Spiderman enlisted the help of his sister for this gift. It was from his friends Haley and Alyssa. It's a cute tubtime toy. Absolutely perfect, since we're always outside in the pool!
This present was 'from Clara', but was Daddy's suggestion when I said, "What do I get a 2 year old boy for his birthday?" A remote control car...what else? Chris said I could get Jonathan a remote control car for every birthday/Christmas from here on out and I'd be safe -- even when he's 50+!
More cars! He's just started getting into Hotwheels/Matchbox cars -- He loves pushing them around.
With his new found love for Hotwheels/Matchbox cars we'll be needing some place to store them all.
Isn't this the coolest? It just hangs on the back of the door and there's a little pocket for each car. He can even reach them!!!
Clara modeled Jonathan's other new costume -- Construction man. It came with a toolbelt and a few tools...
...even a battery operated drill!
We had a lot of fun opening presents today. Jonathan was Spiderman all morning. He didn't mind when I took his Spiderman costume off later (I think he was getting tired of losing his hands and feet in it since it's too big), but he was upset when I tried to take the Batman PJs off which he was still wearing underneath.
I did give him his piece of cake after dinner, and got the close up of him eating it (even if it is with his 'cool dudes' on)!
My little guy turned 2 today...it doesn't seem possible. Who told him to grow up so fast anyway? I decided at the last minute to invite all the neighbors on our street down to our house for dinner and cake tonight. We're usually all hanging out together in the evenings anyway, and often have dinner together too. About half of the husbands on our street are deployed right now, so it's just nice to have each other's company and friendship.
When Jonathan got dressed this morning he decided he wanted to wear his rain boots -- nevermind that I think we've only seen rain about 4 times in the 10 months we've been here (and today was not one of them). After he got his on, he brought Clara her boots and she happily put hers on as well. We were quite the site walking around town today!
Clara wrapped a couple of Jonathan's presents so they could be from her. I had forgotten to let her pick one out for him and she spent the last week trying to figure out which of her own toys she could wrap for him. I let it go for a while, wondering what she'd come up with. She wanted to give him her old slippers because she knows how much he likes to wear her shoes, and of course, then his feet wouldn't get cold. However, at the last minute she told me she wanted to save them so she could give them to her baby when she grows up and has a baby girl of her own. So I laid out all of Jonathan's presents on my bed and told her to pick 2 to wrap for him. She was so excited to be a part of his big day -- and she picked well!
After Jonathan's nap, he was not in a party mood!
There was time before everyone was supposed to start showing up to eat, so I let the kids open one of Jonathan's gifts. I didn't have enough paper to wrap it anyway!
Watch out! He'll be the next Michael Jordan!
Check out the cake! I'm really proud of it. I made it from scratch, a recipe I found online. It was yummy...and even my decorating skills were pretty good on this one!
Jonathan wasn't sure why everyone was singing.
He blew out the first candle no problem, but after a few tries and a little drool, I let the other kids help him with the second candle.
I think the only time we actually saw all the kids around was when the cake came out. The rest of the time they were off playing in Clara's room!
Jonathan got the first piece, of course!
Everyone liked the cake. I have just 2 small pieces left.
A picture of all the parents. I handed my camera off to one of the neighbors to take pics for me. There's not too many of the birthday boy, but had it not been for my neighbor, I wouldn't have any pics at all. I don't think I sat for more than 5 min all night. I've never entertained so many when Chris wasn't home to help. It was fun, but a challenge! Chris called to wish Jonathan a happy birthday and it was chaotic. We didn't get to talk long, but Jonathan was excited to hear his daddy's voice nonetheless.
Even Aunt Sandi came to help us celebrate.
Of course, we let balloons go again.
Clara and Jonathan each got a dozen...
Clara let hers go and Jonathan just watched them. He didn't cry this time. He was mesmerized by the way they flew away.
When he had enough of watching Clara's float away, he let his go too.
Shortly after, everyone started heading home. It was late and time to get all the kids to bed. My kids both needed baths too. I felt bad because we never got around to opening gifts today.
So after putting my house back together and bathing the kids, I asked Clara to go get one of the gifts she had wrapped.
Jonathan was excited to have it, but wasn't sure what to do with it, so I asked Clara to help him.
As Clara peeled the paper off Jonathan watched and said, "Ooooo, bops" which is how he says 'box' -- apparently that's all he needed to see.
Holy PJs, Batman! The perfect gift just before bed time. They are the cutest PJs! There's even a little cape that velcros to the shoulders. He loves them! He ran around the house saying, "Fast!" Clara said, "Are they Batman or Fatman pajamas?"
I asked Clara to take a pic of me with my birthday boy. She took a few, all blurry, but this is the best.
Not to be left out, she then turned the camera around to take a pic of herself.
Tomorrow we get to open all the rest of the presents!
I can't believe it's been 2 years since I brought that little guy home from the hospital. He's an amazing, affectionate, warm-hearted little boy. He has taught me so much in these past 2 years and I can't wait to see what else he has in store for me!
Happy Bithday, Jonathan!
