Birthday Excitement

 When asked what David wanted to do for his birthday, he wanted to stay home and play Legos.  His big birthday present/event, was Legoland a couple of weeks ago.  After that, everything else was rather low-key.

He also did some playing outside.  It was hot!  But he found a way to solve that problem!

 I used the trusty iron-on transfer paper and printed out some Lego Minifigures for a new muscle shirt.  Jackpot!  

For dinner he picked the local small town cafe, because he wanted rolls & butter!  There was an old man celebrating his birthday when we got there.  The waitress brought a piece of the man's cake for David and when they left, they gave us their balloons!  The waitresses also sang Happy Birthday to him.  Very exciting!

For three years now, all David has asked for is Legos - 5, 6, and now 7.  You'd think there might be something else that would catch his attention, but no.

(I'm a cupcake lover.)  Last year he asked for a cake that looked like a Lego brick.  Then he instructed me on the proper placement of the buttons to make it accurate.  This year, he wanted his cake to look like a Minifigure!  I thought about cutting & piecing a minifigure out of cake, but decided to go with drawing one on top!  I sketched one out & got his approval (after making the corrections he suggested) and voila:

 I've never done this type of cake before, but I was very pleased by how well it turned out & how easy it was!  I was inspired by this recent instructional post at Prudent Baby!

He got some pretty cool stuff for his birthday, too!  From Aunt Erin, a Lego Hero Factory model, which was instantly put together!

MawMaw got him a cool pen/pencil set with minifigures on them!  We'll see if that helps him enjoy handwriting any more...

Grana got him a Star Wars Reader.

We got him a Venus Fly Trap to grow.  He's been asking for one for a while now.  I actually ordered it to go along with next year's botany material, but decided to go ahead & give it to him.  Turns out to be a good thing, because the seeds have to be refrigerated for 8 weeks!

And how 'bout that!  MawMaw also got him a giant stuffed Minifigure! When he first saw these at Legoland, he said, "Wow, only a Master Lego Builder would have a minifigure he could sleep with!"  And as I type, my Master Lego Builder is sleeping with his giant stuffed minifigure.  : )  He named him David.

And with birthday money from Aunt Wee & Uncle Bubba, guess what he bought - Legos!  When we went to pick it up, he walked straight to it, put it in the basket, and was ready to go.  Shopping like a man already!

It was a perfect Lego-y birthday for my 7 year old!

Beginning 7th Birthday Celebrations at LEGOLAND!

 Last year David wanted a bounce house for his birthday.  This year he wanted to go to the new Legoland Discovery Center!  We were all excited about this day.  His birthday is still 2 weeks away, but since Grandparents wanted to go, too, this was the best day for everyone to be able to go.

Our first view of the building got the excitement going!  And the first window display inside the mall was equally exciting!  David loves Lego Minifigures and was quite excited to see the large ones in the displays.

 Rebekah was excited to see the candy display.

 We pre-purchased our tickets, but we still have to wait in line with everyone else who had also prepaid.

 David and MawMaw checked out the map while we were waiting to get in.

 Giant Minifigure in the lobby area.

 They let 30 at a time into this holding room while we waited to go in the first room.  They had a video playing about a Minifigure in the factory getting squished into a brick.  David was entertained.  Then we went into the "Lego Factory" where a guy with a bad sound system explained how Legos are made.  Everyone got a free Duplo block that had the Discovery Center logo on it as we were being herded into the first ride.  I was not able to go on the ride with Baby Sarah, so I met them at the end.

 When we finally got in, we were greeted by this giant cement truck made completely out of Legos.

 The kids played briefly on the soft play scape that I didn't get any pictures of, then we headed into Mini Land... local landmarks made completely out of Legos.  This was amazingly impressive!

 DFW Airport

 Dallas: Courthouse, Reunion Tower, other skyscrapers

 The New Cowboy Stadium

(complete with Minifigure players and crowd)

 Fort Worth: Stockyards, Courthouse, Sundance Square Mural, skyscrapers

 Hot Air Balloon in the country

 Farmland

 Southfork Ranch

 Ranger Stadium

(that David kept taking apart!!!)

 And more of Dallas as we came back around to the same spot.

 Duplo Village featured lots of Duplo blocks for the little ones to play with, animals built out of Legos,

 and a slide that Rebekah was scared to go down.

 Grandpa resting in the Cafe.  Appropriate, as the painting on the wall behind him was a Lego combine cutting the wheat.

 Duplo Village also had these jumbo-sized foam blocks to build with!

 There was a station to build your own race car.

 (Notice that everyone in this photo is a grown-up?)

 And several ramps to race the cars.

 Earthquake table.

 Pick-a-Brick wall inside the store.

 Duplo sets I never knew existed!  Winnie the Pooh and Cars!  And yes, Aunt Sissy, they had the Lego Cars sets!  The store was amazing... I'll take one of everything, please!  But David only asked for one thing:

a ninja.

(He flies, too, on wings made out of swords.)

 And when we got home he asked me to make him a cake for his birthday that looks like the ninja....

First Garden Report of 2011

This has been the driest spring.  Seeds were planted and just sat there.  I watered, but still nothing sprouted.  Then all of the sudden, things started happening!  And today...

The first tomatoes!!!  These cherry tomatoes were actually growing in a hanging bag on the back porch, of all places!  Here's how the garden is looking:

 As you can see, we also have a bit of playground in the garden.  I can fence the little people in with me and not worry about a certain someone going into the barn to eat chicken poop or something like that.

 More tomatoes are turning!  Cherries above and Roma's below!  So exciting!!!
 

 I need a good crop of tomatoes to make our salsa to last for a year.  I only have one jar left of last year's salsa.  Will we make it???

 I had no idea what to expect when Dad's uncle gave me these "Sweet Spot" pepper plants.  That long one is not what I was expecting!  I thought they were going to be a bell type.  The pepper below is "Garden Salsa" which will also be used for our salsa.  I also have some jalapeno and Anaheim peppers.

 I have never, ever had onions that actually made a bulb!  And this year, I do!  Even the purple onions!

 We will have squashes running out of our ears soon, but that's ok!  I planted zucchini, yellow squash, butternut, and spaghetti squash (below)! 

 I had to plant seeds 3 times, but finally have some Swiss chard growing.  Not fabulous, but at least it's there.

Beautiful days for being outside lately and we're all enjoying our time in the garden!