Happy belated birthday Julia Bean! For her special day, we did our first annual mommy/Julia adventure to Schlitterbahn Galveston. There are several toddler areas but Julia proved she was a mini-mommy with her declaration "I want to go on the big slides!" So, to the big slides we went. We did three big raft rides (we had to wait 20min in line for each, she did great) as well as the whitewater river ride...5 times! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures since we were in the water the whole time, but I can assure you it was a blast. We celebrated that night with her favorite dinner (mac 'n cheese) and a birthday brownie.
On Saturday, she had her birthday party at the JumpNJungle (bouncy house place) and it was a lot of fun. Julia insisted on carrying her babydoll (Sienna) around the entire time. All of the kids had a great time bouncing around, and then we chowed down on pizza and cake. Opening presents was a little overwhelming (at this age all of the kids like to "help") but she was showered with many gifts. Special thanks for everyone who came to the party and helped out, as well as all the wonderful gifts. Julia has been having fun playing with her new dress up clothes, dolls, Barbie, toy dog (named Princess), crafts, books and so much more. Thank you everyone for helping make her day so special!
Uncle Jay came in town for the party and it was fabulous seeing him. In addition to bouncing around the 'jungle' with the kids, we went to the Kemah Boardwalk over the weekend. It was extremely hot, but he was a trooper and took Julia on several rides. We also went to the pool and had fun swimming around with the kids. He also helped J.D. install a new toilet (sorry bro..you probably didn't realize you'd be working on this vacation). We really appreciate all your help!
Here are some birthday pictures, enjoy! I hope you are all having a great week! And once again, thanks to all for making Julia's day super special. She is still talking about how much fun she had at her birthday and she is having fun with her new toys.
I also have some cute pictures of the kids to post this weekend, so check back soon for more your dimpled munchkin fix.
Kids climbing up the slide
Mmm..Pizza
Choo Choo Train Cake
Cake!
Lots of Little Helpers Helping with Presents
I also wanted to share a cute story from last night with everyone. As most of you know, Julia loves bathtime. She has always been a water baby. Luke? Not so much. He pretty much tolerated his bath in relative silence until a few weeks ago when he decided he does not want to get wet. That means he literally screamed at the top of his lungs and tried to climb out of the tub every night. It was a lovely experience, let me tell you. Well, last night, after he screamed for 5min..he decided to sit down and enjoy himself. He actually put his face completely in the water (about 20x), splashed around and had a fabulous time. I was so shocked that I let them play until the water became cold (not sure, seemed like an hour but it was probably closer to 30min). Hopefully we'll have another great bath experience tonight!
Happy Tuesday everyone. I hope you all had a fab weekend. J.D. has been working insane hours for a big work project (over 16 hour days including over the weekend..yikes) so I was solo with the kids. Saturday was a jam packed day of gymnastics, the park (with friends from gymnastics), playing with chalk on the driveway (I think Julia and I each did hopscotch about 30 times), then back to the park for another few hours. Needless to say, all of us (including Amelia, she came to the afternoon park trip) were exhausted by the end of the day. Oh-Luke also went on the swings for the first time and down the slide by himself for the first time. He really enjoyed both!
Sunday marked a special occasion for Julia. She went to her first movie at the theater and loved it! J.D. was able to take a 2h work break and he took her to see 'The Lion King.' I even got her to dress in jeans for the 'cold' movie theater and she looked beyond adorable! Her favorite character was Simba and she sat on daddy's lap the whole time. This morning she told me she wants to go see it again. Adorable! We also had a playdate with the Root family and the girls had a fabulous time. Luke had fun trying to keep up with them too. 
In other Luke news, he had his first serious illness last week and ended up in the ER. He was sent home from school on Tuesday with a 102.2 fever and seemed fine most of Wednesday. Unfortunately, when he woke up from his afternoon nap on Wednesday his fever was 104.4. His fever barely went down after a dose of Motrin and cold compresses so I took him to the ER. Luckily, his ears, lungs and urine were clear. After a higher dose of Motrin (apparently the recommended dose from my pediatrician is half what you can really give an infant) he was discharged. I kept him home with me the rest of the week and he is 100% healthy again. Poor little guy!
My girlfriend Anna came in town this past weekend and we had a great time. The last time we saw each other I was one week from giving birth to Julia so this time around, we had a much more active visit. We saw 'Contagion' Friday night (I think it was the first time a movie ended and the theater was entirely silent..and no one wanted to touch anything nor each other..freaky) and had an active weekend with the kids (gymnastics, sidewalk chalk, lots of hopscotch, reading, bath time fun, walks with dog and a birthday party). 
