Mother's Day 2010

I spend Mother's day in Laredo with my son, mother, and grandmother... a lot of our extended family came for lunch at my grandma's house... nothing better than yummy fajitas and family. I failed to get a picture with my mom, but here is Vince/me, then us with Memi, my grandma.. I didn't catch her looking at the camera or smiling, but at least Vince is (can't ask for too much eh?)

We flew home later that night. Vince is an expert travler. He does well on the plane now that he's a little older and can play with toys / listen to books read / watch movies on my ipod :). Once we were home he headed straight to his vast train collection... he's been quite the Engineer lately (funny fact - both David and I started college as an Engineering major - it's probably in the genes). We have tracks coming out of our ears... but he found a way to use every single one of them. Looks almost like a crop circle configuration huh?!

His new "CHEESE" face...

Rides & Skates!

SATURDAY

When I was growing up... there was a kiddie park we used to go to in San Antonio. I hardly remember it but have pictures that show how much fun I had (which I tried to locate for this post but couldn't).

Anyways, this weekend I got to take Vince to a park just like the kiddie park in Carrolton. Sandy Lake Park. I met a college friend there with her son who's a little younger than Vince.

Vince had a grand old time. There was a train that wrapped around the complex that he couldn't get enough of.

Oh, and the cars he loved... he's a good driver and went round and round!!

The boat was alright too.. except he wanted to keep dipping his hands in the water & he wanted to drive his friends wheel too!

The fishes were the best... well for me... he really didn't like them... they went round and round AND up and down... I knew they were a little advanced for him, but he wanted to try. The whole ride he looked uncomfortable... in a little fish, going up and down... I don't know why, but it cracked me up how stoic he was. But in the picture he is happy, BEFORE the ride..

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SUNDAY

Today we went to my cousin's, son's, birthday party at a skating ring. I had no idea going in that Vince was actually going to want to skate!! But he did! He kept asking and asking to skate, so we finally asked what size skates they had and it turns out they had his size (and even a couple sizes smaller than him!!)

So, my 2 year, 3 month old little boy was in skates today. Who knew he would be reaching these kind of milestones this early. Not me. My little baby is becoming a kiddo. Check him out. Mostly he wanted to walk in them, but it's a start...

1st McDonald's Party

I was excited for Vince this past weekend as he attended his first McDonald's birthday parties for one of his classmates. He loves McDonald's... not because of the fries or the burgers or nuggets... but because of the playplace!

To make it more exciting... the party was Thomas the Train themed... Vince had such a wonderful time... until.....

it was present opening time (see his mad gaze above?)... and the birthday boy started getting Thomas presents... Vince thought that he should have all things Thomas... so after he got very mad that he wasn't taking the presents home... it was time to go.....

SMILE FOR THE CAMERA V!!!

Daddy's school

When all our WHOLE family was in town for Easter, we visited David's school. It's a pretty neat state of the art career-driven High School in Las Colinas. I got this good shot when we were walking up to the auditorium....

The different career paths the school focuses on are medical, dental, visual arts, engineering, culinary, and of course legal. They have a mock court room where students learn the legal basics... and where you can take cool pictures... some of us took turns looking like a judge with a gavel (which I'll spare you having to look at those pictures)... but here are my two nephews posing with Vince behind the bench...

Then we headed over to the dental labs where we told the kids not to touch anything... this is how they interpret that... right after this picture, Vince went over there and pressed a button to recline his cousin... how nice of him...

Then we took a tour of the state of the art kitchen... this is only a little piece of it. The high school kids learn how to cook here and even cater events for Irving ISD and for the Chamber of Commerce... wish they had a school like this when I was growing up.. maybe I would know how to cook!!

Here we are all admiring the television studio they have... the students learn how to work the cameras, lighting, sound boards, and even broadcast the daily announcements... again, where was this school when I was growing up??

Vince and the boys had a really great time running from room to room... they are all on stage int he Executive Conference room here... In addition to school meetings, businesses hold meetings here and some are actually catered by the students!

We all enjoyed the view of the nearby Four Season's Golf Course... maybe David can watch some of the Byron Nelson from this vantage point...

Lastly, although I didn't take a picture of the actual school... here is a drawing on the wall that one of the teachers from the school did... it's a great sketch! In the end, my whole family loved the school and we were happy that we were able to take a tour. The students and the teachers are all wonderful. I am glad David works in such a great, innovative environment everyday.

Easter 2010

Easter started calmly and ended calmly. Everything in the middle was a whole lot of running around and fun. In the morning, Vince woke up to his Easter basket full of toys and candy. In hindsight, I find it quite mean of me to give him candy in his basket, only to tell him he can't have any because he hasn't eaten breakfast. But I did. Then I went for a long run while he played with his water colors and new toys (had to burn of those calories I had yet to eat... I still don't know how I managed to gain so much weight over the course of a weekend).


All our in town family came over to my house to celebrate the day. Soon after everyone arrived, we had our annual egg toss... it must be the 5th annual or so. There was a lot to live up to as we heard rumors of last year's champion's, my cousin Kevin and his son Jacob, had been practicing for days....

Newbies to the game took some spills...

Some not so new to the game got splattered in egg...

And in the end there were 2 champions who got the coveted trophy... we must be the best egg tossers in the world... we even had to prove that it wasn't hard boiled!

Vince had a wonderful time playing with all his cousins... at one point when I was inside, one of the kids ran by and told me, "we are playing baby knock down on the trampoline"... to which I ran outside only to discover Vince was having a great time.

David bought a football earlier that day... which Vince refused to let go of...

All the kids were eager to find the eggs in the big egg hunt... here they are trying to figure out where everyone is hiding them...

Look closely, can you see eggs in the Palm tree?? We hid eggs in hard places, but they found them all.. or so I think....

Then.. the egg fight was on... Vince picked up how to play real quick... daddy showed him...

So he repaid the favor to mommy... his way to do it was to crush the egg in his hand and then throw the confetti... whatever works right??

Everyone had a blast "getting" each other...

there was some rough play...

and my newphew hid in the playset with his eggs... and his under the trampoline so no one could get him...

And we finished off the party with some pinata play. The big kids ripped it to shreds... but before they did that, Vince had his turn to try...

and he had to wind down... staying as far away from mommy as he could with his candy because he knows I would take it away :)

Fun day.. love getting together with family for Easter!!!