Easter and Papa D's Birthday

We spent Easter weekend in Sugar Land with my family. My Dad's birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year (a BIG birthday - I'm not supposed to publish how BIG, but it starts with a 6 and ends with a 0). :) My Mom threw him a surprise party, so we made a trip down for all of the festivities.

On Saturday morning, my parents' neighborhood had an Easter egg hunt and activities for the little ones. They had a bounce house, three legged race, face painting, etc. Clayton did it all and had a great time.

That afternoon, Wade and my Dad took Clayton to see Horton Hears A Who. Clayton said, "It's guys day, Mom." When they returned, there was a house full of party guests to celebrate my Dad's birthday. A fun time was had by all...

On Sunday morning, Clayton came downstairs and was thrilled with his basket from the Easter bunny. He saw the chocolate bunny first and excitedly screamed, "A Puppy!" After breakfast, we dyed Easter eggs and Clayton hunted for the ones in the front yard that the Easter bunny had hidden. He, of course, was chompin' at the bit to fill his belly with candy. We limited him to one piece until after lunch. He seemed satisfied with his one piece. A few minutes later, we started ransacking the house searching for our little guy. We quickly found the little toot hiding under the coffee table stuffing as much chocolate in his mouth as he could before we discovered him. What a mess!















Clayton balanced his jelly bean on a spoon and competed in the three legged race with Daddy. They came in third! (Out of three teams - but who's counting?)















Is Papa D surprised??? The birthday boy poses with the party planner. Clayton got to help Papa D blow out his candles.














Clayton was totally into the dying process this year.















Clayton LOVES the Easter bunny and all of the goodies that he brought. Some of the eggs even had money in them. When Clayton discovered the money he yelled, "I got some money to take to Jesus! Yay!!!" He's so sweet... (most of the time) :)

No Lions, No Tigers, and Thousands of People - Oh my!

A few weeks ago, I asked my sister-in-law if she would like to take all of the kids to the zoo during her spring break. She agreed that it sounded like fun. We knew that Wednesday was half price day and would probably be super crowded. We decided to spend the extra money to avoid the crowds that would be there on Wednesday. So... we opted for Thursday (today). Let me tell you, folks, there were thousands and thousands of people there. It was INSANE. It opened at 10:00. We got there at 10:45 and still had to park in the overflow parking field. Crazy!

There were lines everywhere. The bathroom lines were the worst... Did I mention that my sweet sister-in-law offered to take two of her friend's kiddos. That's right, my friends, 5 little monkeys and two adults. We were completely outnumbered. Everyone had to go to the bathroom at different times - it was mass chaos.

The kids were all pretty good and we had fun (despite the masses of people). We decided to leave at 2:15 - when the littlest rugrats were in desperate need of a nap. As we were leaving, my niece mentioned that we didn't ever see the lions and tigers. My sister-in-law and I looked at each other with defeated looks and decided that the lions and tigers would have to be postponed until another visit (which will not take place during spring break). :)

Spring is here!

We have spent a good portion of the last two days outside. The weather has been beautiful! It is so hard to believe that it was snowing just 11 days ago. Crazy Texas weather...

We took Clayton to hunt Easter eggs with our old Sunday school class yesterday. Clayton was really excited to see his cousins and some of his old pals. He was stoked about the hunt. They lined the kids up and said, "ready, set, go!" The older kids sprinted to score some candy-filled eggs. Clayton, however, slowly strutted to an egg and placed it in his basket. He then got distracted by a "great stick." He stood and admired his new stick while all the other kids filled their baskets. Such is life... Some of the kids shared their eggs with him, which was really sweet.

Today we went to the arboretum for Dallas Blooms. We went with my sister-in-law and my two nieces. There was a photographer that took the kids' picture with a real bunny. We then took a TON of pictures with our kiddos and the gorgeous flowers. The girls both posed and smiled sweetly. My little guy, on the other hand, looks like it is physically painful to stand there and grin in most of the pictures that I took of him. I did get a few "normal" ones. The funniest/scariest part of the day was when we had a little run in with a grass snake. An older gentleman stopped us to tell us that we must see "the beautiful snake sitting on the bushes up ahead." We kept walking and noticed a crowd gathered around some bushes. Clayton kept saying, "I can't see the snake!" A lady ushered him to the front of the crowd so that he could see the snake. Well... right after I took a picture of him next to the snake, he reached out and grabbed the snake with his bare hands. The crowd (as well as myself) screamed! What in the world am I going to do with this boy?!?!?! The snake didn't bite him (thank goodness!), and Clayton squealed with laughter. My heart is just now starting to get back to a normal rhythm.

Right before the snake grabbing incident...

Right after the snake grabbing incident...

Clayton's Par-tay

We had Clayton's birthday party yesterday. It was really fun! We had tons of family and friends over for the event. Clayton (who is a total attention hog) was in his element! He jumped in the bounce house and ran around with all the kids. (It was probably a nice change of pace for him to have playmates other than his mother. :) ) He got so many wonderful gifts and a full summer wardrobe of clothes. He loved everything that he got. He has played with every single one of his new toys. He is in heaven! I am always amazed at how thoughtful everyone is. To think of all the time (and money) that people spent on my kiddo just makes me feel so grateful to have the family and friends that we do. Thank you so much to everyone for coming over and making Clayton's party great.


Bouncing with Colby and drinking fully leaded (not watered down) juice... greatness



Someone who shall remain nameless (okay, okay, it was me) filled the pinata too full and it broke when Wade tried to hang it. So... we had to adapt our plan.

Clayton loves playing his new "garmonica."


A new "real" train to add to his collection. What can I say, the boy LOVES his trains.


Clayton and his buddy, Walker.

Clayton figuring out the intercom feature on his new firetruck.


Sweet McKenna loved getting the first ride in the firetruck.



Tristen and Walker both got to take a turn, also.

Blowing out the candles.


Time to cut the cake! Clayton LOVES his new digital camera. He has taken pictures of everything! (He is his Mommy's boy!)

My Baby is 3!

Today is Clayton's third birthday! I cannot believe that it has been three whole years since I saw his sweet little face for the first time. People always say that "time flies," but I never really grasped how true that is until I had Clayton.

We started our day by going in Clayton's room right after he woke up to sing Happy Birthday. Then we ate donut holes (Clayton's favorite - but a very rare treat). We stuck candles in the donuts and sang (again). Clayton was in hog heaven! Then we let Clayton open a couple of presents. He got a game for his Little Leaps game system. He also got a gigantic Diego. He has been begging for this Diego for months. Every time that we go to Walgreens he has to go and say "hi" to Diego. Well... today he got his very own. He was thrilled! (Kati - I feel a new guy coming on. he he he)

Clayton has gotten a few phone calls and even a birthday email today (Thanks Kindra!). He is loving all of the attention!

Eventually, I plan on making my blog posts into a book using this website. So, I am going to post some funny things about Clayton at this age. Hopefully, one day he will read this and will have a record of his life as a two-year-old turning 3. This could be a very long post, so feel free to stop reading now if your time is limited. :)

Funny things that you have said and done in the last few weeks:

* Whenever you sing Jesus Loves Me you sing, "For they are weekend, but he is strong."

* The other day we were playing outside. You told me that God made the trees. I said, "Yep, he sure did." You said, "I am absolutely right!"

* While playing your guitar, you said, "Rock on, Dude!"

* You woke up one morning and said, "I didn't see any monsters, Mommy! Jesus protected me!"

* You LOVE pajamas. Each morning when I try to get you dressed, you declare, "But, it's a pajama day!"

* You occasionally do naughty things (I know, I know - its hard to believe), but you always tell on yourself. For example, yesterday I was unloading the dishwasher. You came out of my bedroom and said, "I didn't do anything." By your guilty look, I knew that you had done something that you weren't supposed to do. I walked in my room to see Endust sprayed all over my dresser. You cried when I put you in time out. You looked at me with big crocodile tears and said, "but, Mommy, I am sooo sorry!"

* You love Diego, the Little Einsteins, Peter Pan, and Toy Story. I am guaranteed a few moments of quiet when one of those shows is on.

* Your favorite things to play are Memory (which you pronounce "membering") and astronauts. We play astronauts in your rocket that Corey & Leigh Ann got you for Christmas. We stay cramped up in there until I can't stand the claustrophobia any more. You refuse to let me exit the rocket until I tell you that I am going to throw up. You then abruptly announce, "Mommy, get out, get out! Don't puke in my rocket!"

* The other day I said, "Clayton, you are such a nut!" You then sang, "I'm a nut, in a rut, I'm crazy!"

* I was looking through old pictures the other day. You asked me about them. I told you that they were taken when I was in high school. You looked at me really confused and said, "You were in high school musical?" (The funny thing is that you have never seen high school musical. I still have no idea how you even know what that is...)

* You LOVE our dog. Every time that we come home, you run to her and squeal with glee, "Hey, Sydney girl!"

* Your favorite "guys" at the moment are Brownie (your little puppy) and your big Buzz Lightyear that Mr. Tony (Daddy's boss) gave you.

* You will do anything for a little sympathy. You make sad eyes and remind me of injuries that are months old. I then have to kiss the boo-boos and make them all better (even if they have been totally healed for weeks).

* You are a really loving little boy. You still love to snuggle and say, "Mommy/Daddy, I love you" totally unprompted several times a day.

* You learned to spell your name right after Christmas. Whenever you meet someone and they ask you what your name is, you say, "Clayton. C-L-A-Y-T-O-N."

* You are becoming a Mama's boy (which I love). You say, "I'm your baby and Daddy's buddy."

* You love noogies (sp?), group hugs, and when Daddy does "the Claw" and tickles you. Any of those things are a sure-fire way to make you giggle.

* You do this silly fake laugh sometimes. You squish up your face, laugh, and slap your thigh. It is a sure-fire way to make me giggle. :)

* You love working on "projects" with your tools. You always make sure to wear your stinky goggles, though (the word safety got lost in translation).

I could type a million more funny things that you do and say, but I will spare our readers from my endless gushing. Thanks, Clay-boy for making our days together so much fun. I love you! -Mommy