Birthday Bash

I figured it out! So here are some pictures of Jason's birthday bash at Chuck E. Cheese's (Thanks, Sheila!) All day long, he was all smiles. Amah, Akong, Uncle Tim, and a host of his closest friends came out to celebrate his special day. As long as Chuck E. was there, though, Jason was pretty happy. Once the food and cake were finished, all the little ones scampered into the maze of loud games, rides, and skee-ball. Jason collected enough tickets to take home a little slingshot thing, a coin dispenser, and a ruler. I told him that was the extent of his presents. He didn't find that funny.



Here he is with his friends, Abree and Matthew. Jason so enjoyed seeing them, although, he was fairly preoccupied with earning tickets!!! Jason truly loves all the toys he was lucky enough to receive this year, from the books, to the cars, to the castles, to the robots. He plays with just about all his new toys everyday, but I guess because I limit his time on the video game (V. Smile) system, that is the one he is constantly begging to play. And he has Michael hooked, too. Today, I allowed him a few minutes of play. While Jason was running around plugging in cords and things, he turns to Michael and says, "Michael, come sit. You will enjoy watching this." Sure enough, Michael crawled on the couch next to Jason, and was content to watch.

Happy Birthday, Jason!

I can't believe Jason is 4 years old. And I can't believe Michael is catching up in size, quickly! Jason had a fabulous birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's on Saturday. A whirlwind day with Jason and a dozen of his friends. He had a blast, and didn't stop all day long. Pictures to come. I have to figure out how to get them from my e-mail to the blog. But, on Sunday, his actual birthday, we relaxed at home and watched Jason open up the present he's been asking for for weeks. Finally, a V.Smile. It's an "educational" video game system that he absolutely loves. I had to give in. That smile just melted my heart.

Hide Your Batteries

A busy week ended with a trip to Home Depot. Why? To find the rest of Jason's Halloween costume. At first, Jason was determined to be a green M & M again. But, another idea formed just a week ago. You'll have to wait till the big day to find out who he'll be! Important as our shopping mission was, that didn't stop the boys from trying to escape!



I guess you could say Jason is really enjoying the aisles of the hardware store. His new "hobby" involves construction, sort of. His handy screwdriver is never far from his side, just in case he needs to open something electronic to take out its batteries! Today, we had no less than 20 lying around, because Jason just had to "see' if his toys had the right number of working batteries. The other day he took apart his bicycle. He needed "teamwork" with Daddy to put it back together again.




We're just hoping Jason doesn't take the screwdriver to the new deck on the back of the house. We love it! The boys do, too. It has opened up our backyard, and made us want to hang out back there.





The two boys are really enjoying playing together. If you could call it playing. Jason continues to try to push Michael down, or take stuff away from him. Michael, though younger by about a year and a half, gives as good as he gets. He's starting to hit Jason, after Jason pushes him first. Brotherly love. And, you'll notice, the boys FINALLY got haircuts. They really needed them.

No Cars Needed

Jason asked me the other day if we could purchase the Dora Castle for him. Then he told me another boy in his class wanted one. What do you say to that? Doug, fortunately, had no qualms about quashing any sort of "ideas." He told him absolutely no. The boys showed us, though. We went to the play area the other day, where both were intent on playing with a dollhouse. There were bounce houses EVERYWHERE, lots of fun to be had, yet the children spent many, many minutes arranging furniture and putting little people in different rooms.





Then, tonight, our ever observant little man asked me, "Why don't the people in books have any teeth?" Actually, it sounds like "teef" coming from his mouth. And, I looked closer. Sure enough, the book we were reading had characters with no "teef." Once again, I had no answer.

Michael is making up for our lack of answers. He's talking away these days, too bad we can't always understand what he's saying. And everything he says seems to sound like, "daddy." But, I just figured out today he's not trying to say "daddy." He's trying to say "Michael," and "Jason," but for some reason it all sounds like "daddy." In any case, Michael sure loves him, and I suppose he just wants Daddy to know it.

Afternoon with Friends

Sorry there's been a big lag in posts. It has been a busy week, with Amah and Akong's visit, as well as a friend's wedding. Before things got so busy, we had the chance to stop by and see Craig, Michelle, and Baby Kaylie. Look at how big she is getting! And look at how big the boys are next to her! They enjoyed playing with Kaylie's toys and Craig's electronics. We'll have to return soon!