Baby Hulk │Isaac's 2nd Birthday Party

Stomping in puddles: how this guy is celebrating his second birthday. Temp link to Birthday blog post in profile. #isaacistwo #simplelife #kidsandpuddles #optoutside #lifewithatoddler #isaacalexander #mohaus2017

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Apr 18, 2017 at 10:12am PDT

On Isaac's actual birthday, he was happy to stomp in puddles and we decided to take him to our favorite local Mexican place, El Metate, for dinner. Isaac LOVES salsa.

At age two we thought he might still be a little young to be sung to at the restaurant, so we skipped the official birthday festivities there (they smash whip cream into your face). We still enjoyed our meal (and I didn't have to cook). Plus, salsa!

Celebrating Isaac's 2nd Birthday with our small group. #lifewithatoddler #isaacistwo #isaacalexander #smallgroup #mohaus2017

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Apr 22, 2017 at 1:56pm PDT

It was probably a good thing we skipped the singing, because on Saturday we celebrated his birthday with our small group. This meant singing to him and enjoying cake with friends. He was incredibly bashful for the singing part (see above video).

We must be settling comfortably into parenting two children if Isaac's official birthday party is any indication. While we love him dearly, due to this busy season of life, there was very little planning for this party.

Instead of an invitation, there was a last minute email sent to family 10 days beforehand.

Instead of Pinterest worthy-(ish) decorations, there were window stickers from the Target $1 bins.

We continued with my family's traditional Pistachio cake, to make the party sort-of themed, I stuck Jack's Hulk figurine in the middle of the cake and added pulverized Oreos and Reese's to make it look like Hulk was smashing his way out of the cake.

Our family brought Isaac some delightful gifts – everything was a hit, especially the costumes! Isaac and Jack have been playing with all of the goodies non-stop since everyone left.

For lunch I made grilled chicken and pulled pork carnitas. My philosophy is: you can't go wrong with Tex-Mex. And it's fairly easy to pull together for a crowd.

Isaac was still a bit bashful for round two of the Happy Birthday song with family...

We are grateful for everyone that was able to make the drive (in torrential rain no less) to celebrate our youngest boy.

A look back at Jack's 2nd Birthday Party

Happy 5th Birthday Jack!

I keep telling myself that there will come a day when I am all caught up. But the reality is, this is the season of life that we are in. Between being sick (or dealing with allergies) and the general busy-ness of the end of the year, I feel perpetually behind. The good news is that I am not stressed that I didn't sit down and blog sooner, I'm just thankful that I have a few quiet moments right now.

Five. That seems like such a big number. Jack will start kindergarten next year and we will enter into yet another season of life. I'm not ready. But ready or not, it is coming.

Jack continues to love people and never meets a stranger. For his birthday party, we actually had to limit his guest list, and even with some friends unable to attend, we had a packed house.

This little guy of ours, the one who first made us parents, continues to teach us so much about life and how to parent. I know we make mistakes with him but there is a lot that I think we are managing to get right.

Jack is enamored with numbers right now. He has been counting to 100+ for over a year now and in the last few months figured out adding and subtracting with his fingers. He especially loves to tell us what different numbers add up to.

Letters also fascinate him and he knows what sounds go with what letters. I need to be more intentional with his learning since he is expressing interest, but I know he will learn to read with or without me.

Jack learned to ride his bike this summer and has enjoyed perfecting new skills including hopping curbs and riding down hills that are scary to him. We are proud of him for teaching himself and also trying new things. Sometimes he falls down, but he gets back up again, and that is really all that matters.

We have tried several sports over the past year – gymnastics, T-Ball, and soccer. I don't know that Jack will be our athletic kid, but he definitely enjoys being active. He was more inclined to be distracted during group sports, but loves to ride his bike, run on the trails and hike with us. This summer he also discovered a love for snorkeling and paddling our kayak with us.

We are so blessed to have this spunky, loving child in our lives. We can't wait to continue to grow up with him.

My next blog post will recap Jack's birthday party. He had a bit of a prolonged week/weekend celebration. We celebrated with donuts at preschool on Thursday, at El Metate on Friday (his actual birthday), with friends at his birthday party on Saturday, and with some of our family on Sunday. It was a crazy week for us, but Jack loved every moment!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Jack!

We had several celebrations with Jack over the course of the last week. We had a friend party on Saturday, followed by a family dinner to celebrate at El Metate (the Mexican place where you wear a blue hat), and then a preschool party on Jack's actual birthday.

We are about partied out around here.

I have so much to say about my sweet boy, though not all of the blogs in the world would adequately describe him or what he means to our family. Hopefully these few words will suffice.

At four, Jack is incredibly curious. As with most parents of 3 and 4 year olds, we continue to be in a never-ending why phase. As a parent I have a love-hate relationship with these questions. I love that he is learning and wants so badly to know things, but sometimes the questions never seem to cease. These questions stretch me to help him understand the world around us and in turn I learn more as well.

Right now Jack havs a deep love for people and helping others. He has never met a stranger. His standard pick-up line at the park is "Hi, I'm Jack. I'm three [now four]. Do you want to play with me?" I hope he is always this outgoing and that his sweet spirit never gets crushed. His confidence amazes me. He doesn't care how old or young you are, he wants to be your friend. It makes him sad when older kids are not interested in playing with him. In turn that makes me sad, but I try to let him experience these harder moments without interference, along with the sweet moments.

 

At preschool and church, Jack wants to hold the door for every single person coming in and out. We are typically running late anyways, so I really have to check my patience at the door. Instead of being exasperated that we are behind (mostly my fault anyways), I allow him to hold doors and talk to everyone. I hope he always desires to put others first.

We spend a decent amount of time in the car and I try to use those moments to teach him things like our address and how to count to 100 and how to do basic addition and subtraction using his fingers. He is a little sponge and soaks up all of these lessons. He is starting to consistently recognize a handful of letters and can spell his name. One of his favorite games is to play teacher and I know that his time spent in preschool aids in his love for all things school and learning related. He has quite a few books memorized (his favorite right now is Madeline) and I can't wait until he learns to actually read and all of the doors that reading will open for him.

This year Jack requested his very own kayak so that he could take his friends paddling with him. This was a big change from last year when all he wanted was an electric toothbrush! Since it was November, we weren't ready to commit to a kayak, but we are still mulling it over – maybe Christmas little buddy! His back up request was an Optimus Prime robot (which his Great Grandmother lovingly bought for him!). I think he had a good birthday.

Most days the days are long, but the years really are short. I'm still kind of in shock that we have a four-year-old. Jack loves being four, but doesn't get why he doesn't get to move up to the 4s class at preschool and church. I am working to convince him that he is one of the first to turn four and he gets the privilege of teaching the other kids how to get ready to be four. I am really looking forward to the coming year and all that it holds for Jack.

Jack's 3rd Birthday

I asked Jack what he wanted to do today for his birthday and he said "go to the Y, go to church and go to a big restaurant for a burrito." We managed to do 2 out of 3 of his requests, plus a couple of other activities.

We started the day out with pancakes, per his request. After watching TV, Jack was a trooper and let me take him to get his haircut. He was getting a bit shaggy and was on board with getting to sit in the fire truck at Pigtails and Crewcuts.

After the haircut, we headed to the Y for Zumbini class. We were a little late, but were surprised by the kids singing Happy Birthday to Jack. After Zumbini, Jack went to childcare to play while I did Boot Camp. Afterwards we enjoyed eating lunch with friends on the playground.

Here is a quick example of a difference between boys and girls: The girls were collecting ladybugs to show their moms. Jack (the only boy) brought me a ladybug and proudly said, "Look, I squished it!" The girls were not impressed by the squishing.

After the Y we picked up a corn dogs and a slush at Sonic. 

That night, per Jack's request, we went to our local Mexican restaurant, El Metate, for burritos. Jack was very specific in that he wanted to wear the blue hat (sombrero) after dinner.

I don't know that he was prepared for the whip cream in his face, but he was a trooper. Especially since he got to wear his special hat. Daniel and I enjoyed his sopapilla while he ate all of the whip cream. 

 

After dinner, Daniel took him to play at the playground across from our house. It was a special treat to get to play in the dark. 

I would say Jack had a successful day turning three. We plan to celebrate with some of our family this weekend.