Sep 23, 2009

Birthdays

We have several birthdays in our little family around September. My birthday is August 28th, Ava's is September 12th and Pierson's is the 17th! This year we combined their parties again since their birthdays are so close together. I figure that we might be able to get away with one combined party for a few more years until Ava starts asking for a party with no boys! For now we really try to make having a shared party special. This year we had a Safari Party at the Abilene Zoo! It turned out to be a perfect day. The weather was cool and breezy (which is remarkable for September in Abilene), the animals were out and the lions were even putting on a show. I have never heard lions roar that loud for such a long time. It was pretty amazing. . . and a little scary for Pierson! Here are some pictures of the party:

The Safari Cake and cupcakes

Grandma Ruby came in from Decatur.

Posing with friends in front of the lions

The Safari Guides

Pierson blows out his candles.

Pierson shows off his new Ranger baseball cap and car puzzle.

Hungry kids

Ava poses with some friends on the caterpillar statue.

All the kids

Eydie at her first birthday party with K-Papa


I never did write the post about my birthday surprise so I thought I would recap that as well. This year I turned, ahem. . . 32! I don't feel a day over 22 except I have a bad back, an injured knee and I get tired around 9 pm every night. Okay so maybe I feel exactly 32. Anyway on to the surprise-- On my birthday Chad took the day off of work to watch the kids, scheduled a massage for me without my knowing, and planned a birthday lunch with a few friends at The Olive Garden. Then when I thought the day couldn't get much better, Chad's mom showed up at our house to watch the kids and Chad and I headed for Dallas. We ate at P.F. Changs (my favorite) and stayed the night at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Los Colinas. The next day we slept in, read by the pool and shopped around in Southlake Townscenter before heading home. I have no idea why Chad chose this birthday to pull out all the stops. Birthdays are fun in our house, but we usually just go to dinner and have some cake. I was so surprised and enjoyed having a day of pampering. I love this guy!

Ava took this picture and got a real smile out of him : )

Sep 6, 2009

Pierson Reed

Pierson is such a funny little man. He is 23 months and has become such a talker. In the last 3 or 4 months, his language has exploded! I am amazed at all of things is starting to say and put together.  Looking back I realized that I haven't posted as much about him as I did about Ava at his age. Poor second children. . . they are so neglected. I have found it so much harder to stop and write things down with 2 kids. But I have to record some of my favorite Pierson stories. They are too funny and I don't want to forget this age. 


1. While looking at a book that his Grandma Ruby put together of various sports clippings, Pierson was pointing at different pictures and asking, "What's dat?" I was naming, football, helmet, baseball, glove, etc. He pointed to one picture and asked, "Who's dat?" I replied with "That's a football player." He looked up at me and said, "No. Dat's Tony Romo." He was right. Apparently Chad had been naming the players and Pierson was expecting me to do the same. I only got a few right, and still need to get a tutorial from Chad before I read that book with him again. I can't believe my 23 month old has already surpassed my sports knowledge.  

2. Pierson LOVES baseball. I have never seen a kid like one sport so much. He talks about baseball as soon as he wakes up, plays ball all day, and I think he must dream about it too. He knows all the words to "Take me out to the ball game" and wants us to sing it to him every night as he falls asleep. He loves his baseball pajamas and likes to sleep wearing his glove and baseball shoes. Precious.

3. One my favorite games to play with Pierson right now is pretend baseball. It is almost more fun than the real thing. With real baseball, a lot of time is spent chasing after a ball that neither one of us can catch very well. But pretend baseball is great. He looks over his glove, looks down, winds up, throws a pitch and I back up and pretend to catch it in my glove. This goes back and forth. Sometimes he dives for the ball. Sometimes he runs deep. Sometimes he pretends to miss and says,"Oh, almost!" We also pretend hit. When he's pitching to me, I have to wait to see if he calls a strike or waits for me to run to see if I pretend hit it or not!  He'll yell, "Run the bases, Mama!" I also love to watch him hit. He has better form than I do and sometimes taps the plate and his shoes before getting in his batter stance. We never taught him any of this. He just picks it up from watching the players! He lets me know when I'm supposed to run the bases and slide home. Turns out I'm pretty good pretend ball player. I think I've made about 12 home runs this week. . .

3. Pierson says, the "y" sound instead of "l" which I think is so cute.  We went to Lake Brownwood this weekend f0r Labor Day and while riding in the boat, Pierson exclaimed excitedly, "I yove the yake!"

4. Pierson loves his friends right now. He prays often for LeviWoll (Levi and Will-- his little twin buddies) and Mammox (Maddox). One night while listing off the names of several of his little 2 year old friends, Pierson added, "and Brandon" (His adult uncle.) I thought that was sweet. I think Pierson sees Brandon as one of the kids. It doesn't hurt that he's an assistant baseball coach at ACU so Pierson pretty much idolizes him.  

5. For some reason which I cannot figure out, Pierson has connected Dora the Explorer with our children's minister, Suzetta Nutt. He thinks they are one and the same. He asks to watch "Suzetta and Boots," he points to pictures of Dora in books and says, "Suzetta" every time. For those who don't know these two, Dora is a hispanic 4 year old and Suzetta is in her 40s and has blond hair. And although Ava tries to explain the difference all the time, Pierson cannot be convinced that Dora and Suzetta are not the same person. 

6. He loves to wear his baseball shoes (tennis shoes) all the time. I can hardly get him to put on anything else.  He has been sleeping in them lately because he never wants to take them off. He also loves to wear his baseball hat like K-Papa and daddy. He feels he must be wearing these two items in order to throw, hit or catch a baseball, even a pretend one. 

7. I know that most of these are about sports, but Pierson really is fascinated with any kind sport. In the evenings when Chad gets home, he and Pierson usually sit down and watch baseball, and now football. Sometimes they find a soccer or even a tennis game. I am endlessly  amazed at how long these sporting events hold his attention. He also loves his daddy. Once Chad comes home, he wants to be by his side until bed time. It's so sweet to see how much they both love to be together. 

8. Pierson also loves his baby cousin, Eydie. The other day out of the blue he came to me and said, "I wan see baby Eydie. She's coot (cute)." We had to take a walk to Kate's house to fulfill such a sweet request.

9. Ava and Pierson have been playing great together lately. She recently said that if we have another baby she hopes it's a boy because boys are so funny. Pierson will do anything to make her laugh. It usually involves some kind of slap stick fall. He will do it over and over as long as she keeps laughing. 

10. Pierson is a jokester. We took him to his first Major League game at The Ballpark in Arlington last month. The Rangers were playing the Red Sox. Pierson heard people yelling, "Go Red Sox," and starting chanting that too. Chad told him to say "Go Rangers" not Red Sox, but this only made Pierson laugh. Now any time we watch baseball he yells, "Go Red Sox" and then turns to see Chad's reaction. Chad always says, "No not the Red Sox!" which Pierson thinks is hilarious. He's now started cheering for the Eagles instead of the Cowboys too. . .