Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Harrison's Birthday Weekend

Our big guy Hee turned 4 this weekend and what better way to celebrate than with a three day weekend! For each of our mini's birthday's, we let them chose how they would like to spend their celebration day (usually on their birthday, but due to the hub's work schedule, we made it the day before Harrison's actual birthday, June 21) and Harrison chose to go to Adventureland. However, thanks to the oldest mini came down with strep throat the night before and our plans changed at the last minute. Matt stayed home with Max and worked on the playhouse, while I took Harrison and Elizabeth to the zoo.

Harrison wasn't in the best of mood on his celebration day (he was very disappointed about missing out on Adventureland). This was the best pic I could get of the two of us before he pushed the camera away and told me "no more!"
Harrison cried on the train, supposedly because it was "too loud" (even though it was his request to ride the train) and he told the boy behind to "be quiet" because he was too excited.
Watching the seals out of the water was probably H and Elizabeth's favorite part of the zoo.
Elizabeth clucking at a chicken in on of the cages.
Both rhinos were outside this time! This was a big deal for these two minis because last summer the rhinos never left their indoor enclosures. The kids are enjoying seeing them roam around this summer thanks to our zoo pass.
After the zoo, H requested McDonald's (yuck! But it was his lunch choice so I obliged). We stopped by home and laid Elizabeth down for a nap (Max was resting on the couch and told me "I'll take care of it if she cries"). Harrison and I stopped for a special treat at Snookie's where we ran into lots of friends, then it was on to the favorite part of H's day: swimming at Ashworth Pool.
Big H spent over 2 hours jumping into the water over and over again and practicing his swimming for lessons in a couple of weeks. This is our favorite swimming pool (other than Ashby wading pool, of course), but the cicadas were everywhere and incredibly deafening!
Harrison and I got home just in time to see the progress on the new swing set. We made a special spaghetti dinner at Harrison's request and all of the minis went to bed fairly early. The hubs and I stayed up cleaning, decorating a Minion cake, and wrapping a present.

Saturday morning started early thanks to an eager boy ready to open his present. This has been the first year that the hubs and I made the $20 rule for presents and stuck to it and the kids haven't seemed to mind a bit. They've been enjoying all of our fun outings this month more than their presents!

Harrison loved his new drink bottle from Uncle Aspen.
We had a fairly laid back Saturday, complete with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Harmeyer and Aunt Jenny, H's favorite lunch of mac n' cheese (and sopa, thanks to Grandma Harmeyer), long naps, and a fun evening with all of the Sheaffer side of the family.
The kids LOVE their new swing set! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Harmeyer!
My kid's obsession this summer: a bubble pool! Our grass is incredibly soapy after this weekend!
The kids had a blast throwing bubbles at Aunt Jenny....as she told them not too!
Elizabeth loves blowing the bubbles off of her hands......and "washing my hair" with them.
Harrison being "Santa...ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!"


While the kids played and covered Aunt Jenny in bubbles, Grandpa worked on the playhouse. Bup tried to help.
A busy morning of playing required naps for all of us. As a mom of busy young kids, there's nothing better than long(ish), relaxing naps on the weekends!
After naps we went to dinner at Harrison's favorite mexican restaurant: El Rodeo (I've taught him well). He chose El because "they have the best white salsa.....and red salsa. I like that too." He was in heaven when I let him get rice, cheese dip, and chips for his dinner. I do believe this was on of his favorite parts of the day considering he tells me "remember dinner for my birthday?? When can we have the white salsa again?"
Daddy made Harrison special birthday tattoos for all of the kids to wear....I wore one too.
Harrison was quite the lucky boy and got to celebrate his birthday with all of his Sheaffer cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
My 4 year old.
"This is my favorite dinner ever" said Harrison as he dipped his chips in cheese dip over, and over, and over again.
Elizabeth kept all of the tables around us pretty entertained with her "mom! Mom! Mom! You have pop? No.....not wah wah (water)? What is it?" She then attempted to say margarita which sent the ladies behind her into stitches. We know how to bring the entertainment in!
She's making me proud from an early age!
After Harrison's birthday dinner, we made our way back to our house and had a massive cousin play time in the backyard, cake, and bubbles. My kids couldn't have been any happier.
H's Minion cake. The hubs took over cake decorating duties this year and did an excellent job with the minion cake. Next up is Max's Ninja Turtles cake.



Matt did snakes for the boys. Not only did Harrison sniff it, but once they cooled off, the boys tried to play with them.....and then complained that their hands were black.

Elizabeth has quite the golf swing.
The bubble pool made a reappearance in the evening. The kids LOVED the bubble pool, the parents....not so much!
I don't know what's better: the fact that Elizabeth is trying to mow up the slide or that she's doing it with bubbles covering her head.
After a fun, exhausting, and late Saturday night, Sunday started off slowly with donuts (no way I was cooking!) and playing. Then the five of us ran errands (always interesting and time consuming) and organized the backyard once the new swing set was completed.
Elizabeth found a pair of glasses at Michael's. Max said "she looks smart now."
My little helpers....right before the middle one got sent to the van with Daddy for not listening to me.
How do you kill time in the lines at Wal-Mart??? Ask Elizabeth, who grabbed a Soap Opera Digest off of the shelf and flipped through the pages, saying "ooh, wow."
Swinging for the first time on their new swings. I have no idea what a door mat is doing in the yard, but I shouldn't be surprised by these things anymore, so I'm not. It didn't even register that there was a door mat in the yard until I looked at the pictures!
Toddler Pretend Land: work shop (tool bench and tools), gas station for the cars, and the playhouse. Even with the new swing set to play on, this is one of their favorite play areas in the yard.

I can tell it's the end of June because I am beginning to feel exhausted. We were suppose to head to Minneapolis next weekend for Max's Birthday Weekend, but this month has been incredibly busy (and expensive) so it looks like we're putting off that vacation for later in July. Instead we'll be taking a day trip to the Niabi Zoo....and eating more birthday cake. I'm nicknaming June as "Cake Month" because by the time June is over, I can't possibly eat another bite of cake for the rest of the year!