Happy 3rd Birthday, Tyler!!

It's been a bit of a whirlwind last 32 hours.

Yesterday, at 1:30pm, I had to pick Vincent up from preschool. Then, I dropped him off at home with David (he worked from home), and headed back out to my dentist appointment at 2pm. At 3pm, I was done, and got a message that it was okay to go visit my friends who just had a baby 3 hours prior, a few blocks away. Of course, I had to go! I can't pass up a baby viewing, ever. Around 4pm, I headed to pick up Tyler from daycare early. Ugh, traffic. Then, it happened. I hit a curb on a tight turn and blew out one of our front tires. I'll spare you the details, but all was taken care of and Tyler made it home safely.

Now, we needed to get the tire replaced, because our spare just won't do. That meant no car for today. And, I was supposed to help a friend pick up their son from preschool today with Vincent. I made a couple of phone calls, and that was resolved. 

Soon after, I received a phone call from Jon. Seems that their sitter for Eva while he and Andrea are in the hospital with Baby #2 had to cancel. We happily agree to have Eva come for a sleepover. Boy, were our boys happy!

All around, everything worked out. Since we had to take the car to the shop, I had to cancel ProClub for this morning. I had planned a mini celebration for Tyler there with his friends, but that was no longer. Ashley was even going to make Tyler a crown, like Vincent gets at Secret Garden. Instead, he and I stayed home and had a play date with Eva! 

David took Vincent to school, then the car to the shop. They were able to shuttle him to work. The car was done by about noon, but since Vincent was expecting an after school play date, we opted to stick to that plan and let the other mom pick him up. 

Eva went home about 12pm. I fixed Tyler and I some lunch, and put up the birthday banner. Oh, and he got a balloon from Jon & Andrea. His lunch was leftover mac 'n' cheese, strawberries, and sliced turkey meat. And, I let him have watered-down orange juice.

After lunch, Tyler and I decorated his cake. Okay, I decorated, and he watched very closely.

I couldn't decide on which I like best.

After that, we grabbed a couple of books, and went upstairs to read, snuggle, and get Tyler to nap. 

While he napped, I hung out with David a little, then went to pick up Vincent. We came home, and tried to stay busy until it was time for karate. I took Vincent, while Tyler and David stayed home. After karate, we stopped at the library to drop of books (thank you, Vincent, for remembering!), then picked up David and Tyler at home to go get dinner.

While in Texas, the boys kept seeing these big McDonald's from the highway with huge playscapes outside. Each time, Tyler would shout out, "Hey, guys! McDonald's! Maybe we can go there or something. I really want to go to McDonald's." And, so, as a special birthday treat, Tyler finally got his McDonald's. Oh boy, oh boy! When we walked in, he ran up to a picture of these chicken bite things and started telling us his whole order. Check it out, he had quite the meal.

Can you see it all? Left to right, clockwise: apples, cheese burger, ketchup, fries, chicken bites with bbq sauce. Oh, and milk. He finished his apples and burger, but not the rest. We were pretty amazed by his burger consumption. I think it's his first time eating a whole one.

Back at home, we sang him "Happy Birthday" with his cake and 3 candles. He blew out the candles like a champ. The boys barely ate any cake. I don't blame them after that huge meal, which Vincent ate a bunch, too. We quickly moved on to opening his presents.

Auntie Diana and Uncle Ken got him a Little People's train book and a Thomas book with a mini train set. He loved both of them.

We got him a new pair of overalls. You can't tell from this picture, but he was actually pretty happy with them. We also got him this (large)...gosh, I don't know what to call it. It's for his Geotrax set, and you crank boulders up a ramp, then it comes swirling down, and you can dump it into a truck. He and Vincent played with it together for a little while. The set came with a DVD that has 4 short cartoons. The boys watched it before heading upstairs for bedtime.

I'd say that it turned out to be a pretty good birthday for Tyler, in spite of the challenges we were faced with. Oh the darn tight streets of Seattle. BUT! If I didn't pop the tire, David wouldn't have found out that since the tires were still considered to be in "new" condition, they replaced it for free, due to this extra coverage that David got for them when we bought the tires. Good to know. This was a good example of a not so good situation turning out well.

And, as a new 3 year old, Tyler's pretty great. He is a happy child, with a good sense of humor, a good attitude, sweet, cute, and fun to be around. He definitely has his faults, like not listening to us. Are those ears or mufflers you have on the sides of your head, kiddo?

Happy happy birthday, Ty Ty!

Valentine's Day 2012

A bit of a rough start. Our boys were a little loopy this morning. All the excitement of the day, I guess. Vincent had a jammed packed schedule ahead of him. He had preschool at 9am. We had to put all the cards and treats he was handing out into appropriate "mailboxes" at school. At 1pm, the kids had a singing concert at Pike Place Market for Heritage House, which is a senior center. The rode the city bus down there, and David, Tyler, and I met him to watch his class perform. At 4:30pm, he had an eye exam. And, after that, we all had dinner at Jamjuree Thai down the street from the optometrist.

As for Tyler, he had his own set of Valentine's to pass out at Pro Club. Just 4 of them. Afterwards, we tried to go to Target, but had to abort the mission, due to major traffic on the 5. We headed down to Pike Place Market early, where we scored rock star free parking for one hour, then another hour of cheap parking down the street. {Funny, I say, "cheap," though it costs a dollar more than it did when I first moved to Seattle. I've parked just up the street from where we were for $4/hour recently, so the $2/hour today was a steal!} Ty and I walked through the market, trying to decide what to have for lunch. We settled on pizza and salad at DeLaurenti's. We explored the market a little more, then went to find Vincent & David for the concert. There was a little nap this afternoon, too. While Vincent went to his eye exam, David took Ty to get gas, then D got a haircut. And, as mentioned, we all had dinner. The kids were so squirrelly at dinner. 

Madonna

David got up early this morning so that he could catch a bus downtown to Key Arena, where he lined up with about 40 other people, to purchase Madonna tickets. Of course, this is nothing compared the the lines I used to get in back before you could get tickets online. I remember lining up at Tower Records in West Covina, California, with my sister to get Morissey tickets. The line went around the building, and then some. So, 40 people isn't bad. But, he had to contend with those online. Lucky for these 40 or so people, Ticket Master's website crashed. And, lucky for me, David was not persuaded by the scalpers in line to change his mind on his ticket choices, because...

We're going to go see Madonna!!

Early Valentine's Day present? I think so.

Morning With Eva & Pizza Dinner

This morning, we picked up our friends' little girl, Eva, and took her on an outing with the boys. We haven't seen her in a while and she was asking her mom about the boys. They were super excited when we told them this morning that we were picking her up. 

We went to South Lake Union, parked the car, and rode the street car down to David's building. We looked at the fish tank, then headed to his office. The kids ate a snack and played a little XBOX. Actually, Eva and I did some drawing while the boys played. 

 

Then, we rode the street car back to the car. We drove the car to the waterfront to Old Spaghetti Factory. As we pulled into the parking lot, as train was passing by slowly. The kids got a real kick out of it. And, while we had lunch, 3 more trains drove past. We had an awesome window seat with a close view.

This afternoon, David took the boys to the schoolyard to ride their wheelies while I worked on dinner. 

It was a last minute decision to make pizzas, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out, and easy. Thank you, Jamie Oliver.

Vincent's was sweet Italian sausage, sliced salami and provolone cheese. Tyler's was all the same ingredients, with the addition of Castlevetrano olives, his favorite kind of olives. The last pizza was all the same ingredients as Tyler's, plus sliced scallions.

Happy Birthday, David!

For David's birthday, I reserved a table for 20 at Piecora's Pizza in Capitol Hill. I also got us a sitter so that we could actually have adult conversations. It was a great turn out, and when we were done with pizza, we headed to a nearby bar. Actually, we tried a brewery down the street first, but it was pretty packed. Next, we tried the Comet, but there was a band playing and a $7 cover. Finally, we ended up at Cha Cha, where it wasn't crowded, but still had a good vibe. We were able to get a few tables before the real party people showed up. I tell you, we left as the place filled up with those 10 years younger than us. My last treat to the birthday boy was some Old School Frozen Custard. Good thing we left Cha Cha when we did, cuz the custard place closed soon after we got our order. So yummy.

Churro

Tyler calls churros "cheerio." Or, so I just figured out. We went to Costco today and he kept talking about getting the cheerio. After a while, and with pointing at the food area, I figured out what he meant. And, since we were cutting it close on time before picking up Vincent from preschool, we had to have lunch there. This, of course, included some samples. We also shared a hot dog. Not my proudest moment, but it satisfied him. I got a churro for him to split with Vincent, but let him have his in the car. Well, he didn't get to eat much of it, cuz he fell asleep.

And, he stayed asleep all the way home. When I went to transfer him to his bed, he got upset and said, "I want to eat my cheerio!" Lucky for me, he accepted that he can have it after nap time, and fell back to sleep.

My Date With Tyler & Montlake School

This morning was a mess. We were super late for preschool, then late for Tyler's gymnastics class. But, when we got to gymnastics, Tyler was so cute. I told him to run over to his class, all the way on the other side of the building. I thought he was hesitating, but what he was doing we "revving" himself up to race over. Boy, he ran faster than I've ever seen him run. He did trip and fall once, but it's all so soft and bouncy there, he was fine. 

After class, we took our time getting out. I let him each his snack, which he loved, of course. Ty now likes sliced deli turkey meat. He still does not like ham, and definitely doesn't like cured meats. Weirdo. Who doesn't like cured meats? Well, unless you're a vegetarian or something.

When we were ready to go, he said he wanted to go to a playground. Unfortunately, it was raining today. But, we have membership to KidsQuest! We headed to the east side. 

We only spent about 45 minutes at KidsQuest, since we still had to look for rain boots at Target and eat lunch before driving back to get Vincent. We didn't find the boots, but we enjoyed sushi rolls at Genki. Here's what Tyler did.

Built a ramp and played with a helicopter at KidsQuest.

Got a drink - mostly up his nose, as he told me.

Stuffed his face.

Ate strawberry mochi ice cream. Yum.

And, his wore new shades. The kazoo was to keep him from falling asleep on the ride back to Seattle, but he still fell asleep.

Lastly, tonight we went to the open house of the school around the block from our house. We were pretty sure Vincent would end up there in the fall, but last week we checked out another school nearby, just in case. Well, it's official. Vincent's going to Montlake Elementary. We loved it, and are so excited for him to go there. It's just what I imagined an elementary school would be like for him. Well, minus the portables, but that wasn't a deterrent.

How About A Shout Out?

I suppose it hasn't been that long since I last posted, but it sure feels like it. 

First, a shout out to my A.M.A., the ladies of my "cooking club," Alicia, Monica, and Alicia. We have only gotten together twice, but both times have been so fun. Monica is the mastermind behind the idea. She had done something similar through a community center, but thought, "Wouldn't this be more fun with friends?" Why, yes, it would be! 

One person hosts the event, we arrive there with containers to carry food home in, and we cook and divide out the goods. It's great! Today, we made two soups: broccoli and apple, potato and leek, chicken marbella was marinated, and butternut squash risotto was prepped and portioned into kits to cook at home.

Now, on to the family...

As I was off cooking today, Vincent was dropped off at a Superhero birthday party (he had been looking forward to it all week), and David took Tyler to a Secret Garden open house for next year's new students. Vincent wore his Spiderman pajamas, which he has been saving for today, though, you can't really tell in the picture taken at a playground before the party.

David asked Tyler where he wanted to have lunch, and Tyler requested "the fishy place!" They were on 15th Ave, but David had no idea where Ty meant. So, he asked Tyler to show him. He took him right up to the door of Jamjuree Thai, where they have a fish tank inside.

And, finally, WAY TO GO GIANTS!! We watched the Superbowl at Barry's house. The boys, especially Vincent, got a little crazy in he beginning, but settled down after we put on some Toy Story. We had a great time with a bunch of friends, and ate lots of junk. Woohoo!

My Little Knight

Vincent's taken a liking to knights in the past couple of days. Could be due to the fact that knights carry swords, or it could be from this iPad game that David has started playing. I didn't mean to do this, but I bought him a pair of jeans, on clearance, that happened to have a shield on it. I thought nothing of it. Vincent, however, thinks they are the coolest pair of jeans, ever. And, he just discovered the knight helmet we've had in his dress-up box for the longest time. Not to mention, he built himself a sword out of popsicle sticks. I swear, aside from the pair of jeans I innocently bought, I have not encouraged this interest in anyway. Okay, maybe except when I took all these pictures.

You have to admit, he's somethin' else. Tyler put on a helmet, too.

Tonight, I went to work. David had Tom over for dinner. He made hardshell tacos for everyone, and Tom helped Vincent improve his sword. It's now much longer, with these side things that stick out, and red.

And, it was a beautiful, sunny day. Even ever so slightly warm...if you find 50s to be warm. We do, apparently.