Beach Party

Do you remember last fall when I went to the princess party for Kaili and Kaci?  Well, I got to go to their house again today, except that it was for Kali and Karli's 5th and 4th birthdays.  They had a beach party!  As you can tell, their mom has a knack for party themes.  

Here I am playing in the ocean. Each kid got to take home a pool toy for a party favor.

Here is the sandy beach.  We also got to hunt for shells and take some shells home.

All the kids got into the beach theme right away!

Hunting for shells.

Here is their sandcastle cake made out of Rice Krispies.  This kind of cake could work for a boy's party, too, don't you think?

Time to sing!

And time for gifts.  I had a great time at the beach party today.  Thanks for inviting me, Kali and Karli!

Bloggy Giveaway Time!

If you like entering contests for free stuff, this is for you!

Hundreds of bloggers are coming together to give away lots of free prizes.  There are all kinds of things you can win...you'll be amazed.  Gift cards, books, and quite a variety of things.  If you're interested, click here.  It's how we won our custom header for our blog.  Enjoy!

Ride for the Beetle

When I was visiting my buddy Sam, he was such a great host.  He tried to give all of his toys to me.  The mommies let him give one to me:  this amazing Beetle.  Here is where the Beetle likes to ride.

Happy Birthday to Delia!

On Friday afternoon, I got to go to Delia's first birthday party.  You can see more pictures here.  Mr. Dave and Ms. Jen had a jungle party for her, and we got to ride our bikes!  What a great idea!

Here I am on my tricycle.

Here are all the friends on our bikes.  The one-year-olds didn't ride bikes.  The friends you can see on bikes in this picture are Jacob, Bailey, Jared, Ella, Thea, Kirsi, and me.

We got to make a jungle animal craft.

Here I am coloring with Annelies.

Jacob and I are talking about the fruits that are in our juice.

And here is sweet baby Delia opening her gifts.  This is one of the vehicles I gave to her.  Thanks for inviting me to your fun party, Delia!

Finally, it worked!

We've tried to post this video a zillion times, and now it finally works. Here it is..."Inchionalnational Park."

Free Diaper Giveaway!

If you are in the diaper stage of life, you might enjoy this free diaper giveaway at Baby Cheapskate.  And thanks to Cherissa for finding it.  Enjoy!

A Second Session of Swimming

I finished my second session of level 1 swimming lessons last week, so I thought I'd show you some pictures.  Since I'm not scared anymore, I had a great time!  This week I'm swimming again, but I'm in level 2, which is very tricky.  I'm trying very hard to learn new things.  Here are the fun times I had at level 1.

We always talked about the rules before we got into the pool.

Kicking time!  I sure loved having five other kids in my class.  I had met them all before except for one.

All of us in level 1 decided we wanted to watch the big level 4 kids before we got back into the pool.  The big kids are going into first grade, and  all of us in my class are 3-4 years old.  I am the second youngest.

Time to get in!

We got to play with balls and life jackets on the last day.

Jumping time!

Here are my swiming friends:  Bailey, Sophie, Megan, Jacob, me, and Gracie.  I sure had a great time at swimming lessons!

Today's Quote

Jonathan:  What are those aliens doing?  [in a picture]

Mommy:  You know aliens are pretend, right?

Jonathan:  Yes.

Mommy:  Like dragons and monsters.

Jonathan:  And Spidermans.

Treasures

Great grandma likes to bring me treasures!  This time, she chose some tiny animals for me because she knows I like tiny things.  And they weren't just ordinary animals.  They were fun ones like a crab, lobster, manatee, tiger shark, scorpion, ladybug, and lots more.  And she suggested I play with them in the water.  She must have experience with little boys!

My Computer that Locks the Door

Garages for Cars

Time with Daddy

This is Daddy's busy season, so I don't get to see him as much as I want to.  But when he's home, I stick pretty close to him!  Here we are pulling out some of our tired flowers (mostly violas)  and replacing them with vincas, which love the heat.

Carnival O' Fun

This past week, our friend Ms. Angie hosted a carnival for all the little kids she could find.  It was so much fun!

Here I am throwing a pie.

Ms. Amanda helps me get close enough.

This is a lollipop guessing game.

Our friend Ms. Dayna was the lollipop lady.

Our friend Ms. Jenee was at the goldfish booth.

I won two fish!

I decided I wanted to play a game on the bricks.

The octopus sprinkler was my favorite part.

Here are Emma and I taking a break and having a snack.  We are both known as good eaters in this circle of moms.

Here's the face painting booth.

I'm getting a dinosaur on my arm.

Isn't it a great dinosaur?

I had a great time at the carnival!  Believe it or not, there were lots more things to do.  Ms. Angie had a cake walk, a bouncy house, hot dogs and popcorn, and a goody bag for each kid.  Oh, and there was a water balloon toss, too.  I hope she hosts a carnival again next year!

Fun with Girls

We're a little behind on blogging, so we'll start with yesterday and work on catching up.

After my nap, I had the great surprise of going to Ms. Jetta's and swimming with her girls and Ms. Jen's girls.  Ms. Jetta and Mr. Phil have a big round metal trough that is now a pool for the big kids, which includes me.  (That's how Daddy swam when he was a little boy, too.)  Here are all of us big kids, left to right:  Annelies, Ella, Kirsi, Thea, and me.  The little kids, Helia, Cora, Peter, and Delia, had a tiny baby pool to play in.

Sometimes Ms. Jetta makes frozen yogurt cubes for us as a special treat when we visit.  That's what we're eating in this picture.  Do you think my big grin is because I have all these girls to myself, or because I'm eating a special treat?  Or both?

Fun with Ella

We haven't spent time with Ella in awhile-or Delia, either-and we got to yesterday, which was so fun!

First, we went to our MOPS water play day.  There were lots of kids, big and small, getting wet in all different ways.  And it wasn't too hot yesterday, so sitting in the shade and chatting was comfortable for the moms.

Here we are sharing a pool.

I like this picture because you can see my splash in midair.  (Just click on it!)  Isn't it cool?

After getting all wet, we all went out to lunch together at a sandwich shop.  All the kids had fun and behaved ourselves so that the moms actually got to eat, too.  Mommy and I had a great time with our friends!

"I'm a Seal with Fins!"

1, 2, 3, 4

What's That?

Jonathan:  Daddy, what's that behind your X on your shirt?

Daddy:  I think it's a galaxy far away.

Jonathan:  It's part of God's creation!

Yesterday's Quote

(After stretching outside with Daddy, after his run)

"We found an ant highway!  There were several different ants...millions and gillions!"

Our Big Trip: Part 5

On the final leg of our trip, we stayed with Mr. Darren and Ms. Aleta, and we met our final cute baby, Scott.  Here he is!

Scott is hanging out while his daddy mows the lawn.

Daddy hasn't forgotten how to hold a baby.

My buddy, Paul, had a toy blower, and he shared it with me.  It was a fascinating toy!  Just like Daddy's.

Empty swimming pools are for jumping...if you're a three-year-old boy.

Paul took us to this amazing park that had water features and great playground equipment, too.  We even had a picnic.  It was so hot that the Mommies and Daddies wore swimsuits and got wet, too.  That's why this is the only picture we have.

Here are Paul and I getting read to go back to his house.

Paul had a train table with a car elevator.  I got to play with it for what seemed like hours.

All daddies and sons have things they like to do together.  Paul and Mr. Darren like to play Garage Band on the computer.  The whole time they did it, Mommy and Daddy listened, and I played with trains.

Here we are:  Our family, Scott, Ms. Aleta, Mr. Darren, and Paul

And here we are being a little crazy.

Goodbye, little buddy!   We sure had an amazing trip and were so grateful for the wonderful times we spent with so many friends!

I love airplane trips.  Here I am enjoying the sticker book from Ava.  I traveled really well.

I fell asleep almost immediately after we got into our car to go home.  And you know I'm not a real car sleeper.  I had crazy hair and was not too thrilled to wake up to eat breakfast on the way home.  But, I cheered up quickly when I got a cinnamon crunch bagel at Panera.

I grew up a little bit on the trip and seem quite a bit more social and outgoing since we got home.  Maybe that's because I was with other little buddies almost constantly.  It was great to get reacquainted with all of them.  I did lose a lot of sleep, though.  My first nap at home was four hours long, and Mommy and Daddy woke me up from it.  And that night I slept for fourteen hours.  Losing all that sleep was so worth it...we sure loved that time with our friends.