Love these two so much!

Tiny Tots Music

Today was the kids last day of music class.  For the past two years, I have been taking Jack to music at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in WDM.  The kids love singing songs and playing with the different instruments and toys.  The class is led by Miss Deb (Tricia's high school classmate) and she does a wonderful job.  In the past few weeks, Katy has shown a lot of interest in participating with the different songs and activities.  She is acting more and more like a toddler every day! 

Dancing with the scarves!

Story time

All the kids love the giant parachute!

Miss Deb!

Blank Park Zoo

Jack, Katy and I visited the zoo today with Grandma, Aunt Steph and the girls.  It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time.  Jack especially loved the monkey's, sea lions, goats, and tigers....basically anything that was not a bird!  Grandma, Jack and Kaiya went in to feed the parakeets and Jack did not have a good experience.  He was terrified and hid behind Grandma the entire time.  Anytime we saw a bird after that, he would say "birds are scary!"
Katy seemed to enjoy her trip to the zoo also.  She loved looking at all the animals and was even more excited when I let her get out of the stroller so she could walk around on her own.  She wanted to do everything the big kids were doing! 
After we left the zoo, Jack was very quick to tell us how the monkey's were his favorite animal but he did not like the green birds!

The whole group

Jack was so excited!  He was dragging Kaiya trying to make her go faster!

Sitting in the big eggs

Feeding the birds.  Jack was terrified!

Kate sitting in the big egg

Jack was having fun dancing to the music!

The babies in their strollers

Jack LOVED the monkeys!

Jack and Kaiya driving the jeep

Katy's turn to drive!

Steph and I with the kids

They did not want to take a picture with me!

Jack loved the train ride

Me with my sweet girl (can you tell it was almost nap time!)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers I know!  My day was full of blessings!  We started the day off with church, followed by brunch at Hy-Vee.  We then spent most of the afternoon playing outside in the backyard.  It was such a beautiful day! I feel very blessed and grateful for the mothers and grandmothers in my life.  I am also very thankful for my two beautiful children and my wonderful husband who gave them to me!  Life is good!



Going for a ride in Daddy's Jeep!

Enjoying the beautiful afternoon in the backyard

Monkey Joe's Birthday Party

We celebrated Jack's 3rd birthday today at Monkey Joe's in West Des Moines.  There were a total of 14 children at the party....all below the age of 6!  Jack is obsessed with Woody and Buzz these days, so it was no surprise we had a Toy Story themed birthday party.  The party was a little chaotic, but that was to be expected!  Everyone had a great time playing in the different inflatables, eating cake and ice cream, and enjoying each other's company.  All in all, it was a fun afternoon for everyone!

The kids having fun in the inflatables

Mom and the birthday boy

Trying to get a group picture....Katy thought we were playing peak-a-boo!

My cute kiddos!

Woody and Buzz cake

A gift from Monkey Joe

Blowing out his candles

14 children under the age of 6!

Joe and his blue mouth!

Sweet Brooklyn!

Loving his cake

The Johnson Family!

The Johnson cousins

My sweet baby girl!

Grandma and Grandpa McCulla with the grandchildren

Jack and Daddy being silly

Happy 3rd Birthday, Jack!

We had a great time celebrating Jack's birthday today. I still cannot believe he is three years old! Where did the time go?! We started off the day with breakfast pancakes, per Jack's request. Then we headed over to the East side for lunch with Daddy and Great-Grandma. This evening we had dinner at the Tavern followed by a trip to Valley West Mall for Family Fun Night. The theme this month was the Blank Park Zoo. Jack was excited to see the animals, but he was definitely more excited for the inflatables! He had a blast on the giant slide. We ended the day testing out Jack's new birthday present...his first bike! I think it will be a little while yet before he has it mastered, but it will be fun watching him learn. Happy 3rd Birthday, Jack! We love you buddy!

Birthday pancakes!

Jack picked out 3 toys at the dollar store for being 3 years old!

His birthday present!

Touching an alligator at Valley West Mall

On his way up the inflatable slide

He had so much fun!

3 years old!

At three years old, Jack is a thriving toddler who is still on the go and still 100% boy!  We are having so much fun watching him grow and learn new things every day.  He is a great kid and always happiest when he can just PLAY!  Here are a few highlights of Jack at 3:

• He is still in love with golf!  All he ever wants to do is play with his golf balls and golf clubs.  It keeps him entertained for hours.  Even at this young age, I think Daddy is impressed with his golf swing.  He has a great follow-through!
• Jack loves watching all three of the Toy Story movies and he talks about Woody and Buzz often.
• He is still not a very good eater.  I try to fix him healthy meals every day, but if its not chicken nuggets or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, there is a good chance he won't eat it.  His other favorites include bread, potato chips, crackers, pretzels, and candy.  Uggh!  Fortunately, there are a few fruits and vegetables he will eat.  They include kiwi, apples, bananas, broccoli and green beans.
• Jack enjoys going to his Tiny Tots music class every Friday morning with his cousin, Abby, and friend, Owen.  He is really into music and loves singing songs.  I often catch him singing songs while he plays with his toys, and most of the time, it is a song he learned from Tiny Tots!
• Jack is still in love with his blankie (a.k.a. "boo-boo") and pacifier and he sleeps with them every night.  After several unsuccessful attempts, we gave up trying to wean him from his pacifier.  The best we could do was limit his use to nap time and bed time.
• Jack's favorite books are: If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red, Fish, Blue Fish.  His favorite television shows are: Curious George, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Dino Dan, and Dora the Explorer.  His favorite songs are: The Firetruck song and The Goldfish song.  He also likes to make up songs while playing his guitar.  He calls it his rockstar guitar!
• At his three year doctor check-up, he weighed 26.8 pounds (6th percentile) and was 36 inches tall (17th percentile).  It won't be long before Katy surpasses him!