Happy Birthday, Zach

Is my baby really five already?  We celebrated Zach's birthday last Thursday, March 25th.  We've set the standard (as many have) of celebrating at school with a treat and then hosting a party on the weekend.  Kids know how to celebrate all week long!  Zach requested doughnuts, so I hosted a quick little 'happy birthday Zach' on the playground, candle and all.  Ah, candles in a doughnut; it doesn't get any better than that.  Or does it?  His schoolmates were so sweet and devoured the treats with gusto.  It was perfect timing since they could run off the sugar overload on the playground.  Thanks Mrs. Dominquez and Ms. Onsager for allowing us to celebrate with Zach.

Thursday morning, before school Zach opened the prized box that has been sitting in our dining room for over a week.  Who was the box from...none other than Nonnie.  Since she lives in New York, she is wonderful about mailing packages to the kids.  Leave it to a grandparent to also send wonderful gifts and goodies for Olivia too. She gave them lots and lots of goodies, can you tell by the candy trail?  I wasn't sure I would get Zach out of the house with his new Star Wars Lego set.  Alas, he knew what the rest of the day held for him, so off we went.

Dave arrived home very early with a surprise.  A new 16" bike for our big 5 year old.  We thought he was 'cute' on his miniature bike, aka the clown bike', but he deserved a big bike seeing that he loves to ride.  He and Garrett logged many rounds at our neighborhood pool parking lot Saturday. Garrett gave him a huge Air Hogs plane that will be great for the park - we need lots of space for this one...

Hurley Haywood, a recently retired Porsche race car driver and family friend, mailed Zach a special Brumos racing car for his new slot track.  Hurley is Zach's hero, so you can imagine how excited he was to receive that present!

Soccer practice was scheduled for Thursday night with rain looming.  After waiting and waiting, we decided to go ahead and have a leisurely dinner at Zach's favorite place, FIGO.  He proudly announced "I know how to spell FIGO.  F-I-G-O, it's easy."  Well, it's not only easy, it's delicious!

This year, for his birthday party, we hired a group called Club Scientific, to host at our house.  We've had some rough weather over the last month, but Saturday turned out to be beautiful.  We were able to shoot balloons, alka seltzer rockets and air pumped rockets over our house (and many neighbors houses).  The backyard was filled with over 25 kids and many, many parents.  The kids were taking all of this 'science stuff' in.  As the company logo says "Science Can Be Fun".  Again, I think all of the adults and kids were just happy to see sunshine at this point, so playing outdoors put the icing on the cake.  Speaking of cake, there was a little mix up at the bakery.  I had a Spider Man cake sitting in my shopping cart, with "Happy Birthday Zach", but we didn't order it.  Zach was very specific that he wanted the Hot Wheels cake.  The bakery was quick on their feet and redecorated the yummy vanilla with strawberry filling cake and I was out of the door to host a party.

Zach is very lucky to have so many friends and family that love him.  All 5 years of him..... He has been saving for a SCX slot car race set and with the birthday gift cards, he will get it.  Thank you everyone!  Of course, he loves his Legos too.  He really wanted a pet pillow like Olivia received for her birthday, so Liz, stepped up once again and delivered the Penguin Pet Pillow (being balanced on their heads in the photo).  He is now named Hockey.  I'll have to figure out where this name came from, but  unfortunately, his Hockey has been taken away for bad behavior.   I think behavior will turn around quickly seeing that he loves this Penguin Pillow.  Why do moms have to take all the fun out of things?!  In order to get our kids to behave like normal human beings - that's why :-)  Happy Birthday, you crazy 5 year old!

BFF

I love seeing my long time friends.  My good friend, Tammy, was recently married, and held a reception this past Saturday in the Inman Park area.  The location was gorgeous, the food was outstanding and the best part....seeing my friends.  Kaci (above) and I rarely get to see each other, but as best friends go, we always catch up where we left off.  In this day and age, we mainly text and email.  Who has time to have a phone conversation when we have little ones running around?  They sabotage every phone call.  So, we get by and sometimes, those precious moments where we can spend an entire evening together, happen.  Do you see the smiles on our faces?  How could you miss them?!

Culture

We have had some amazing plays and outings over the last two weeks.  Many thanks go out Sarah O. for making it so easy and enjoyable for us.  We ventured to Little Five Points, Synchronicity Theater, to see Free to Be Me with lots of friends big and small.  Along with the CD in the car, my kids have been humming the tunes ever since.  I have been screaming, "A DOLL, A DOLL" song.  Don't ask.....  Mulan, at the Alliance Theater, was yesterday for a school field trip.  I took four kids with me....again, don't ask.

Dave and I were in Amelia Island for our 3rd trip to the Concours d'Elegance.  The wind almost blew us away, but we were able to see some really fancy, smancy cars.  I'm sure the owners would love hearing me say that.  They like to hear, 'this car sold for $1.3 million'.  Yoga was nice, the sun finally came oult and we had some time to see the beach and take a couple of tours of live aboard boats at the marina.  Ah, what a life!  Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Atlanta and time to turn back the clocks.  The time change has not bode well for me so far.  Maybe by this weekend, I will get the hang of it.
From Mulan yesterday morning, to real live bunny photos for Easter, then back to The High Museum for The Allure of Cars exhibit and special Porsche event last night, we are zonked!  I could not drag my kids out of the High Museum last night.  Was it the macaroni and cheese bar, taco bar, smores bar or Spongebob that made them not want to leave?  Well, for Zach, it was the slot car track with its own Porsches.  I promised that Dave would bring them back this weekend.  Luckily, I just snagged a Groupon for an annual pass to the High Museum.  My kids love it and I love that they love it.  Go Art!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  It was quiet for us (finally), but I hosted a school party for Zach on Monday and we'll have a post St. Patrick's Day party for Olivia on Friday.  She told me she is scared of Leprechauns (I would be too), so I think they talked quite a bit about the little green men in school today.  Sometimes our adult imaginations do not think how this will translate to young minds.  I skipped the 'naughty leprechaun' routine, but I guess he found the kids at school and scared the crap out of them.  If she wakes me in the middle of the night, I will hunt her teacher down and call her in the middle of the night.  (insert evil laugh)
On to bigger and brighter....when will Spring arrive?!

This and that

Making changes to your computer can put you out of the game for a while.  Dave recently upgraded my computer, switched email and upgraded my operating system.  Needless to say, I have been out of pocket for a while. What have we been doing for the past 3 weeks?  Hmm.  I'm not sure, but looking over our photos gives me a clue.  It's sad that I use my photos to remind me of our daily activities, but so is life.  Add karate, art, soccer practice, games and chess club to all of that and there you have it!  We have no idea which end is up!  As long as we are having fun, I really don't think it matters.

Now that we have our bikes and rack, hopefully bike riding will be our favorite spring activity.  I didn't witness it yesterday, but Dave and Olivia said that she is now officially riding her bike on her own.  Whew! That one took a little while, but now she can ride without me having to push her along.  Go Olivia.  I bet she says "I taught myself".  She says that about everything.  

The Chattahoochee Nature Center filled one recent Sunday afternoon.  I cannot wait for spring to officially arrive, but this place is still busy with activity.  Our kids love hiking, so this gives them a little taste of it.  Of course, Zach fell and had little sleep, so he whined until I hiked all the way back to the center to get him a "red band aid".  Hey, if it works, then I'll play along.  It was just one of those days for him and poor guy is finally finishing up a bad cold (almost 2 weeks now).  Just in time for allergy season :-)

Recent chatter had me laughing.  I cannot remember all of the funny chats we have had, but when I found Zach in his jammies and the red mittens, I had to ask.  He was playing with his new Rocket Launcher and it was pinching his fingers when the two pieces came together.  Smarty figured out that if he used his gloves, it wouldn't pinch his fingers.  He said "the Rocket Launcher has a technical fault so I am using my gloves".  'Technical fault' and 'Technical difficulty' came out of his mouth several times.  Whereas Olivia decided to ask me where you buy wigs.  Wigs?!  Seriously, what are these kids thinking?!  I also found several Polly Pocket shoes around the gerbil cage.  While I was cleaning up one evening, I asked Olivia why her Polly Pockets were in this area of the house.  I soon found out.....she was putting the shoes on her gerbils!  Poor Charlie and  Fluffy - they need boy shoes.

Zach also loves to play Playstation.  This has become his favorite place to sit while racing or whatever it is that he plays.  PS3 is not my thing, so he and Dave play together.  Zach must play better while resting on the couch arm.  ??

Watch out....Zach's birthday is coming up March 25th and my baby is going to be 5.  He already acts 25 so, it's not such a huge adjustment that he's getting older.  He has always been an old soul, very thoughtful, smart and reflective.  And that's what we love!