meeting sue

over the weekend, my father-in-law took us to the science center so hendrix could see the dinosaur exhibit.  

the t-rex was named sue, and hendrix was fascinated with her.  on the way there as we talked about it, he was a little frightened and told us that he didn't want to see a t-rex, but instead wanted to see a long-neck because they are nicer.  

once we got there though, he was fascinated, and impressed by how large she was.  he talked our ears off about the bones, and the different kinds of dinosaurs, and was difficult to pull from the dino exhibit to move on to see other things. ;)

it was neat to see him enjoying this experience with his grandpa!

our dear friend from college, matt, came to visit us for the weekend, and he graciously enjoyed our family fun; which made for an even more memorable experience for hendrix ;)

there was a dig zone, and hendrix enjoyed excavating some bones of his own.  

he had the hang of it already, as we did something like this on a smaller scale at his dinosaur birthday party this past fall ;)

blaire was such a chill gal, hanging out in her stroller, snoozing tons, and watching hendrix's every move.  she is so flexible, making it very easy to take her on all-day outings; and giving us a chance to focus on the energetic one in the family!

check out my cool goggles, mom!

there were so many other learning zones in the science center, and hendrix loved each and every one of them, though his attention span was rather short so he enjoyed jumping from one thing to another all day long. 

hendrix even did a great job using the potty all day.  he had a little accident right as we got there as he needed to go after being in the car for the hour trip and we couldn't quite make it to the bathroom on time, but he is doing great with using public restrooms (as long as they don't have an automatic flush.......) and is proud to be a big boy!

it was a really fun family day, and i know we will be going back again soon!

the dino-mite birthday boy

i had a terribly difficult time picking a theme for hendrix's birthday party this year as his interests seem to change so quickly and i could hardly develop an idea before he was moving on to the next thing.  :)  my original plan was to go cowboy and maybe even have the party at a farm.  then i wanted to do dr. seuss as he loves the cat in the hat and i adore the turquoise and red color-theme. 

but our final decision was to go dinosaur, as he took a recent interest, bordering on obsession with them, and loves to watch the dinosaur train!  he knows more different dinosaur names than me, and likes to pretend he is one. 

also his big birthday present from mom and dad this year was a sandbox, and i saw some fun ideas about how we could incorporate that into his party activites by doing a "dinosaur dig" with his friends ;)

  

the food was pretty low key, as i just served some of his favorite snacks and cupcakes.

i really LOVE how this personalized shirt i ordered turned out, and he has worn it at least a dozen times already.  i bought it a size too big on purpose and imagine that it will be a favorite for a while ;)

we prepped a craft project of dino mask making for his friends to work on as they arrived, and hoped that they would want to have a dino dance party later with their fun masks on!  

we buried a couple dozen little dinosaurs inside easter eggs, so the kids could dig for them, and let them hatch.  hendrix was a big helper here, and i think that he dug and re-dug for the same dinos at least 7 or 8 times during the party!  lol

he was really excited to share with his friends!

the sandbox is something that daddy built for hendrix, and it has handy built-in benches for kiddos to sit on, that also close up to be a cover to protect the sandbox.  it looks real nifty and is super functional.  daddy did a great job!

surprisingly hendrix spent a ton of time helping daddy create a cool mask, and was even willing to wear it for a while!  he loves craft projects, but i didn't think he would sit still enough to do it with all the kids at his house!

because he had already had a few birthday celebrations, he sang along to the birthday song, and blew out his candles like a pro!  he was very proud of himself ;)

then we had a little dino storytime, which didn't keep the kids' attention for very long; but hendrix does love this book about the ten little dinosaurs.

present opening kind of went by in a blur, as hendrix opened his first present and then just wanted to play with it.  then all the other kids took turns helping him, and i tried to just keep straight what he got from whom ;)  he got tons of fun new games, dinos, and books.  we have had lots of fun putting things away in his playroom!

this is hendrix's favorite gal pal, flora.  he goes to play at her house when mommy has to work, and it has been fun to watch these two grow up together.  they are really close in age (only about 6 weeks apart), and their mommy's are very good friends too!

we had a fabulous party, and now mommy is ready to shift the focus off making her big boy feel special and onto getting ready for her little girl to arrive ;)

the family party

better late than never, huh?  

hendrix got to drag out the fun festivities of his second birthday as we split the celebrations up into two separate weekends this year.  we celebrated with all our family the weekend before (labor day weekend), and all his friends the weekend after; and then of course we did some special things ON his birthday which fell in the middle of the week ;)

while it was fun to have a huge backyard party for him last year, this prego mama was really thankful that nana offered to host and prepare for the family party this year, which took a good deal of stress and planning off my plate.  

while dinosaurs was the theme to his party and a huge passion of his right now, he was equally interested in every kind of art that he could work on.  he likes to 'practice his letters' and is becoming very adequate with a pencil.  he was happy to show off his skills to his great-grandma ;)

he loves all of us uncles (he has four of them, the lucky lil' guy), and pretty much jumps around to each one trying to act big and keep up with them.  fortunately they all seem to like him just as much, and are willing to follow him around and do whatever he wants.....

one of the first presents he opened had some colors in it, and became a huge distraction for him to want to open anymore presents.  his aunts and mom had to take over for a while, while he enjoyed his new dino coloring books!

he does really like opening presents though, and he did a pretty good job telling each person thank-you (with a little prompting from mom and dad).  i think christmas is going to be a blast this year!

he got some dino slippers that he has enjoyed wearing these last couple days since it has gotten chilly.....

and one of his favorite gifts was this umbrella.  he has used it at least a dozen times since he got it (and i think we have only had one rainy day........so yes, we do like to use it even when it is sunny!)

and it was perfect, as it started to drizzle towards the end of the present opening, and he got to try it out right then and there!  

he was a very happy little boy (which is surprising since he didn't take a nap. at all.  all day.)

he had dino shaped rosettes, and while he was a pro at blowing out his own candles, he was more interested in the m & m's that were to be a topping for the ice cream than he was in any of the other parts of the dessert. 

he has a serious sweet tooth like mama.....

it was fun to see the newlyweds, back from their honeymoon and looking as adorable as ever!

he got this little pillow/bed from his nana and he loved it so much he had to try it out with a movie that afternoon.  it has since been a bed, a sleeping bag, a chair, and even a climbing tower.  what a cool gift!

here he is hamming it up with the big boys, after a nice big game of climb on everyone's backs.

oh, and hannah and i got a few 'bump' pics together.  gotta make sure the cousins get photographed together right from the start!  can't wait for blaire and annalise to meet, and bond and have girl time ;)

  

the day was wrapped up with a bath, jammies, and a little family game time before we headed home.  what a perfect day!

hendrix is a very independent, fiesty, energetic, and well-loved little two-year-old. ;)