Birthday, birthday, birthday & a field trip.

James, Ryan & I are all Taureans with our collective birthdays all inside of 12 days.

James - April 25th
Being an adult and having your birthday on a Monday means you go to work and pretty much treat it like any other day. His parents and sister got him Amazon gift cards which he used to buy computer games.

The kids and I gave him 2 lbs of chocolate covered Brazil nuts (his favorite treat) that we have to order online since we can't find it in stores anywhere.
Dinner was his choice and he kept it simple with Chipotle.

Ryan - May 5th
His party was done on May 1st and a local playground park. This is the 5th year we've had the party there because the kids just love it. Until this year, we've never had even a threat of rain.
All week leading up to his party it was calling for rain and I was worried the rain would ruin the party plans.
When the day came, it did rain all morning but, it cleared up for a few hours in the afternoon and it happened to be the exact few hours we needed for his party which turned out to be a huge success with 36 kids attending. We still haven't opened all the presents and it's been over two weeks.

As for his actual birthday... In our county, Kindergarten is still half day with AM & PM. Ryan is in the AM class and was sent to school with little gifts for each friend. His class sang Happy Birthday to him and he got a present from his teacher.
After AM Kindergarten he goes to private academy (fancy word for day care) for "extended Kindergarten". Here he got another chorus of Happy Birthday and he shared ice cream with his classmates.

Jessica - May 7th
On Friday the 6th, my work friends took me out to lunch at our favorite Mongolian BBQ restaurant. As always, it was delicious!

A Saturday birthday meant I could stay in my PJ's all day long - hoorah!
Ryan was supposed to have a t-ball game* but, it got rained out. I honestly can't remember what I did other than relax and play with the kids.

James picked up my birthday cake from a local at home baker who did a wonderful job. I was super impressed and she'll be doing Hannah's smash cake this summer.

I also received Amazon gift cards which I ended up spending on the kids and some items for the house.

Jessica & Ryan - May 12th Field Trip
I was a chaperon on the trip and had a group of six kids. We went to a local farm where we went on a hay ride, ate strawberries, planted sunflower seeds, pet farm animals & had a load of muddy fun on the playgrounds.

It's been such a wet Spring that the farm was still extremely muddy. So. Much. Mud.
Some kids love it, some hate it and some have no opinion at all.

My group were wonderful children and were so much fun. I had the kid that was always running twenty yards ahead (three of those, actually), the kid who gets distracted by anything and everything so is always twenty yards behind, the kid who is so scared of being separated that she practically lived in my pocket the whole trip & then my own kid.

While it was very much like herding feral cats, I loved it. Not the mud but, the kids were cute and sweet and gosh, so smart! One little boy and one little girl in particular asked to sit with me on the trip back to school and I'm telling you, these two are going to rule the world in thirty years.


Hannah
9 months check up stats:
Weight: 18 lbs 5.5 oz - 42%
Height: 27" - 32%
Head: 17.25" - 46%
That was a couple weeks ago and now she's just over 19 lbs.

As for milestones.. you name them, she's smashed through them.
She's started walking on her own this past weekend which is pretty damn cool. If she wants to get somewhere fast, crawling is the preferred method. The walking is just baby steps and she's not good at it but, we're well on our way now.

She starts swim lessons with her bestie next month and I'm so excited to see the two in the pool together.

As mentioned before, she moved up to a new class at school and she's not entirely loving it. She likes her new teacher but, it hasn't been as smooth as I was expecting. She's okay once her bestie & their new teacher arrive but, she's usually there before both of them. The teacher that opens their class in the morning tries to soothe her but, she just won't have it.

I know she'll settle down once she is used to her new routine, these things just take time.

In the meant time, the guilt trip is strong in this one.


*More t-ball games have been cancelled than we've actually played. It's been a super wet Spring!