Z's Birthday Weekend

Friday, I was the guest "community helper" at Lu's school, which meant I had to talk to the Pre-K and K4 kids about being a dentist. These things are so fun because you never know what kids might say. For example, I'll ask a question like "Name some foods that are healthy for your teeth" and one of the kids will yell out "Pickles!"

This talk was particularly interesting because when I did the K4's a little voice in the audience murmured "Mommy" "Mama" "Mommy" over and over again... the whole time I was talking. I found out later that she just wanted to tell me that she's been to the dentist. Bless her.

After our morning at the pre-school, we headed to ballet. Here she's paired up with one of my friends from dental school's daughter!

 

We got home from ballet just in time to meet Nana and Tata and have some lunch. Lu opted to stay home so I got to the carline with plenty of time to pick up the birthday boy.

 

We hung out with Nana and Tata, then Baba came home and we ordered Chinese and watched the favorite movie du jour, The Book of Life.

Saturday, we got up early (ahem, Lu), and started preparing for the party, which included watching the bowling episode of Reading Rainbow (for the thousandth time) on Netflix (yes, you read that right).  One o'clock couldn't have come soon enough for them!

Saturday night, we went to a Mexican restaurant in our hood, and he got the signature Mexican restaurant birthday celebration. That moving hand in the picture is about to shove ice cream in his face, which he promptly spit out with a disgusted look on his face.

He's a very skeptical eater.

Sunday, he actually turned 6, and we celebrated by going out to breakfast with Nana and Tata. These two shared a rare moment of sweetness outside the restaurant. 

 

Before we left for breakfast, we heard a crash and the power flickered for a moment. Then on the way, we saw that a very dead tree in our backyard finally kicked the bucket on the power line! We verified it wasn't a dangerous situation then waited on Alabama Power to come and take care of it, which they did. 

The dead tree is the large grey leaning thing on the left side of the picture. It made for an exciting afternoon!

Needless to say, we were all pretty exhausted by this point, and miss priss was starting to show signs of a cold, so we all had nap/quiet time. Z took this time to open all of his presents and scatter them throughout his room. But, who could be mad at him? Especially on his birthday.

That evening, I decided to stay home with Lu while Nick and Z went to his soccer practice and game. 

We played games, took a bath, and got dinner ready, while Z played his little heart out and scored one of the few goals of the game. I just love his reaction when he scores a goal! I think this picture captures it pretty well!

It was a sweet weekend celebrating our 6 year old!

SIX Years Old

Yesterday Z broke my heart turned 6.

Since we've been a little busy lately, you know with starting Kindergarten and all, we wanted keep it low-key, so we settled on a bowling party. Z is obsessed with Skylanders, so a decorations package from Party City, some treat bags, balloons, a cake, and done!

We had a perfect spot at the end of the bowling alley, and they put Happy 6th Birthday Zayd on the monitors.

While there were some dangerous moments, what with the 10 pound balls and 5,6,7 year olds, Z and his friends loved it!

It was pretty chaotic at first,* but then we got the whole take turns part down, had a girls lane, a boys lane, and you guessed it, an adult lane! Even the adults had fun!

 

We sang and opened presents. Then, Nick got to have his big moment where Z opened his present from us, the new Skylanders Superchargers game! He was so excited (as was Nick!).

Lu didn't go away empty-handed either, my sweet friend brought her a plush, talking Sadness from the movie Inside Out and it was love at first sight and hasn't left her side since!

It was such a fun party, and a great way to celebrate our sweet boy with friends and family! I can't believe it was six years ago that I had that big dinner, went to a movie with my parents and Nick then ended the evening in the hospital, where Z finally came into the world the next morning at 5:55 a.m.! Our lives have never been the same since that day, and I thank God every day for our sweet sweet boy! Love you, Z! Can't wait to see what the next 6 years and beyond bring for you and our family!

Parties and Activities: Part 3

Have you lost interest yet?

No. Good, we'll keep it short just in case.

Z had a pool party a couple weeks ago for one of his school friends who happens to be one of my friends from dental school (small world). I was nervous for him, because while he's super comfortable in the swimming pool, he can't yet pass the swim test. Boy was I wrong, he had the BEST time, and hung right in there with the green band kids. He even did the waterslides!

 

Incidentally, I think he probably could've passed the swim test based on how well he did, but I digress. 

We're also doing soccer this year. It is our last year of U6 which only meets on Sundays. I'm sure he could have played up but we're just not ready for after school practices yet. He really loves soccer, and as long as we never (ever) have another Saturday 8 a.m. game in the (supposed to be cooler but actually) hotter than hot sun again, we love it too. #soccermom

 

Warmups with Jido

 

Sister wanted ON THE FIELD at the season opener. She's come to terms with the fact that preschool soccer and Friday ballet classes is all she gets right now, but I have a feeling she's going to be a force to be reckoned with when she does start.

Sunday, we went to another birthday party for one of our family friends. It was an Inside Out party, and it was so cute and fun. Z and Lu disappeared for a bit, which I assumed meant they'd found a group of friends to play with, but when I went upstairs, I found this.

Them playing by themselves (Z on the ipad) in the birthday girl's playroom. So much for socialization...

Parties and Activities Part 2

Z has been a busy bee since starting Kindergarten.

Nick drops him off in the mornings. One of our close friends who has a son at the same school picks him up for carpool on Monday (a lifesaver!). He does aftercare on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, which I usually pick him up from (usually by or before 5). Then, on Fridays I pick him up from carpool! Our favorite new tradition is going out for yogurt, treats, or snow cones on Friday afternoons! It's like a treat for all of us for surviving the week!

That is a pretty hectic weekly schedule in and of itself, so we're going light on the activity schedule for at least a semester or so, while we're getting used to things.

He seems to enjoy Kindergarten for the most part. He's so tired, and everything is new, new school, new teacher, new friends. Thankfully, he found a little friend on the second or third day, which has made things a bit easier. I still wouldn't say he's excited about school, but we're getting there.

I will say the first day he had homework, I could almost say he was giddy.

But also very serious.

One thing he's not been excited about is aftercare. That has been a transition, but after emailing the teacher and talking with him at length, I am happy to report that it is getting better (probably helps that he finally made a few friends there too).

We love coming home and decompressing together after our long days!

If we're lucky, sometimes we might even catch the ice cream truck!

But most evenings, Z walks straight in plops down on the couch and turns Ultimate Spiderman on. It's hard being in Kindergarten....

Because there was no talk of parties or activities, there will now be a Part 3. I know, the suspense is killing you.

To be continued....

Parties and Activities Part 1

I have a new blog rule: there are no rules, just kidding, but really, the new rule is when you’ve been away for a long time, you have to do a two parter when you return. This month’s two parter, birthday parties and activities Part 1: Lu.

Lu had birthday parties two weekends in a row. The first party was at a really cute place called Let’s Play. Sometimes Lu is “bashful” in these situations (I put it in quotes because I think she pretends to be bashful), but I was so proud because she jumped right in and had a blast!

 

 

Fun times and full belly lead to this.

When it comes to this little one, if she’s not talking, singing, and/or laughing (occasionally screaming or crying) in the car, then she’s sure to be passed out.

The next week we went to a Frozen ballet party, otherwise known as the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. She was way excited! I mean walking out the door screaming come on Mama, excited!

So all that cuteness got me thinking, it’s time to get her in dance class. I signed her up at a studio near our house, but then switched to the one where she had the party, which frankly is pretty darn close to my house too, and they have Friday classes, so it's a win win!

She did so well, and I loved being able to watch her in the mirrored glass!
She almost had a breakdown on Sunday when Z had soccer and she didn’t, so, there may be a Part 3 involving soccer.

To be continued….