photoblog

Theo’s 5th birthday celebration

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

You all- I took over 400 pictures between Friday, March 6th and Monday, March 9th while we were celebrating Theo’s big FIFTH birthday so bear with me. Getting this post down to less than 40 pictures is quite an accomplishment!

We think turning five is a pretty big deal around here. A lot happens with turning 5. Kids go to Kindergarten, start reading, (hopefully) Theo will start riding his bike, can start losing teeth, and all other sorts of big kid things. It’s just like…he’s a kid now. I don’t know how to explain it. He’s just grown up so much in the past few months. He’s little, but he doesn’t seem like a little kid sometimes. He’s got a teenager’s attitude, says things to hurt our feelings when he’s mad, and can turn on the charm to get what he wants. One thing’s for sure, he keeps us on our toes.

Friday, March 6th. Theo had his birthday celebration at school. It was super hard to get pictures without his classmates’ faces in them so I just have a couple to share. Dexter and Theo were both very excited that Dexter was able to come over from his class to join the festivities. All of Theo’s grandparents were there, too.

01

Theo held a little globe and walked around a wooden sun on the floor 5 times to represent each of his trips around the sun on Earth. With each year that passed, we stopped and shared a picture of what he looked like and talked about his likes and dislikes each year as he grew. Afterwards, Theo passed out bat signal-shaped rice krispie treats. They were a hit!02 03

Saturday, March 7th. Our immediate family came over for pizza before his big party. We decided to let him open family gifts beforehand to cut down on time spent opening presents during the party. He loves this step-by-step drawing book from Nana and Pop Pop.04

Another of his favorite gifts was a Lego chicken suit guy from Aunt ‘Chelle, Uncle Bob, and Spencer. It was his first Lego, ever (given to him by Spencer a couple years ago), which has been lost for a long time. He’s been saying he wished he still had it for some time now and Aunt Michelle delivered! He was overjoyed. 05

The money wasn’t terrible, either. 06

Theo’s party was from 1-230pm at a local gymnastics facility. Since there was a ninja skills training component included in the party, we went with a TMNT theme. Ryan’s mom made the cupcakes. She set up the table while my mom put together tabletop cardboard decorations. What would I do without family when I am feeling frazzled on these very exciting days??07 08 09 10

Hey, Dexter…who do you think you are? Pretty sure Theo was not the one that blew out those five candles.11

Sunday, March 8th. We still had not given Theo a gift. I’m sure he noticed, but he hadn’t mentioned it. When he came in our room in the morning and after we’d said “happy birthday” to him and given him a million hugs and kisses, I said “did you realize mommy and daddy hadn’t given you a gift yet? Well, I had an idea…” and we told him that we were leaving that day to go to Legoland Discovery Center in Chicago. He was very excited and ready to pack up and go! But not before Grammy (my mother) took us out for a big birthday breakfast – chocolate milk and all! 12 13

About 3 hours later, we rolled into Chicago.14

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My favorite thing at LDC might have been the HUUGE Lego model of the city. The detail! It was seriously impressive! The boys were in Lego heaven every minute we spent there.16 17 18 19 20 21 22

I have to brag on the staff at LDC. They were super nice. Three different staff members went out of their way to give Theo a little something special for his birthday. It was an awesome place to spend part of our day.23 24

Afterwards, of course we asked Theo what his favorite part of LDC was and he said … the store. LOL. Well shoot, we could have gone to a Lego store without driving 3+ hours and staying in a hotel overnight! He was super pumped to give this guy his OWN birthday money for a nice new Lego set. 25 26

We didn’t have a plan for dinner but we wanted to go somewhere that had cake. We’d thought about Maggiano’s because it was close but by the time we left Legoland, there was a 45 minute wait. Theo acted whiny about it and said he didn’t want cake anyway. So Ryan and I set out to find something that we didn’t have in Indianapolis. I’d seen people on Facebook who frequent Chicago talking about Portillo’s so that’s where we landed and it did not disappoint! The food was amazing and Theo was thrilled to end his big, special day with a mint chocolate milkshake (that he split in half with Dexter). Ryan may have been on sugary drink overload.28 29

Legos before bed…30

Legos when we wake up. It’s really no different from being at home, is it?31

After enjoying breakfast and some hotel pool swimming, we made it back downtown and explored Navy Pier before heading back home.32

It had to be the first nice day this year in Chicago. There were still piles of snow all over the place but it was 50 degrees and super sunny. No wind at all…I suppose the water being covered by sheets of floating ice had something to do with the lack of wind. It was perfect. Totally perfect.33 34 36 37

That dimple was one of the very first things I noticed about Theo, within seconds of him being born. It still gets me.39 40 41I can’t think of a better way we could have celebrated little Theo’s BIG fifth birthday!! Happy memories to last forever…

xo,

~C~

catch the moment: week 11

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

What a busy week! I have so many things I have been meaning to write about – the boys’ new bunk bed, Theo’s birthday weekend, funny things the boys have been saying, our upcoming vacation, and so much more. There are never enough hours in the day or days in the week.

Linking up with Mindi at Stavish Stills Photography, Carrie at My Life, Our Journey, and Stephanie at Behind the Camera and Dreaming.

071/365: Thursday, March 12th. FAIL. Fail, fail, fail. Not the dinner…the picture. I’m so sad – I broke my 15+ month streak of taking a picture every day with my DSLR. I didn’t grab my camera before work because I thought I’d have time to stop and pick it up before going out for a fancy (to me) dinner with the girls, but ended up not having time. Even told Ryan when I got home that I hadn’t taken a “real” picture yet that day. And still forgot! Waah! Aside from disappointing myself, the dinner and the night out were wonderful!03-12-2015

072/365: Friday, March 13th. Grocery store trip after work with 2 hungry boys went very well until the very end – when this little blonde boy dropped a glass jar of hot fudge on the floor (shattering it) while I had my back turned. And not more than 10 minutes after I warned him of the dangers of those glass jars in the pickle aisle. Yeeeeppp, mean mom made him put his $2 stretchy shark back on the shelf. 03-13-2015

073/365: Saturday, March 14th. My sister and her family visited over the weekend and we drove an hour east to visit our grandmother. The day included a special trip to the toy store we visited as children ourselves, Veach’s Toy Station. The store is HUGE and any child’s dream. My sister let Theo pick out his own belated birthday gift – a Lego set, a tiny baby hippopotamus, and 2 Melissa & Doug sticker/activity pads. He was thrilled. It was a wonderful day.03-14-15

074/365: Sunday, March 15th. We decided to visit the Indianapolis Museum of Art after hearing that there was no admission fee through early April. The website would lead you to believe that it was a very kid-friendly local attraction but we didn’t really feel that way except for in this one area. We made the most of it and had a great time just being together. Along with the museum people who followed us around, telling us not to let the kids breathe near the art. The kids LOVED using watercolors and made some really neat artwork.03-15-2015

075/365: Monday, March 16th. It was 74 glorious degrees Monday! 03-16-2015

076/365: Tuesday, March 17th. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!03-17-2015

077/365: Wednesday, March 18th. What a great big beautiful sky! 03-18-2015We had such a nice weekend with family and the day after my sister left, my cousin Kara visited for 2 days. Even though I had to work, we enjoyed our evenings and even snuck out to watch Cinderalla Wednesday night. I’m feeling very full of love for my wonderful family!

Day 74 is my favorite this week – my nephew Malachi and little Dexter painting at the art museum. Which one do you like best?

xo,

~C~

 

 

 

catch the moment: week 10

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

This week has been all about Theo. He had his celebration at Montessori school on Friday, his birthday party on Saturday, and a surprise overnight road trip to Chicago on his birthday, which was Sunday (see my sentimental, sappy ramblings in a love letter to Theo HERE). I attempted to start sorting through the photos from Friday through Monday and have decided to separate all that fun into 2 separate posts. Hopefully I will get to it this weekend – we had so much fun. I am anxious to put my thoughts, memories, and photos together in one space here to look back on someday. Linking up withMindi at Stavish Stills Photography, Carrie at My Life, Our Journey, and Stephanie at Behind the Camera and Dreaming.

064/365: Thursday, March 5th. Pull your eyes north of those pretty baby blues, right to the center of the forehead. You may notice a green hue. That’s what happens when your child paints his hair and forehead green at school.03-05-2015

065/365: Friday, March 6th. Theo generously passing out bat symbol-shaped rice krispie treats to his friends at school during his celebration. These celebrations are the most adorable thing ever. I heart Montessori. So hard.03-06-2015

066/365: Saturday, March 7th. I had such a hard time choosing just one photo per day to share this week. We had so many amazing moments. This is Theo, the star of the show, at his Ninja Gym birthday party. Everyone seemed to have a great time; it was just a whirlwind for me. I always say I’m going to slow down and try to enjoy more but I find myself such a nervous ball of energy and excitement that when I look back, it’s just a blur. I know Theo was happy and that’s truly all that matters!03-07-2015a

067/365: Sunday, March 8th – Theo’s FIFTH birthday! The highlight of (and inspiration for) our one night trip to Chicago was visiting Legoland Discovery Center in Schaumburg, 30 miles from downtown. This is just a small portion of the Lego model of Chicago as you enter LDC. It was stunning; we were all in awe. I think Ryan and I could have soaked in all the details for an hour. The boys liked it, but were ready to breeze on to the next exhibit after just a few minutes.03-08-2015

068/365: Monday, March 9th. RARE family selfie (maybe the only one, ever???) at Navy Pier. Pure happiness bubbling out of every inch of my being – one of those happy moments where everything feels exactly as it should. I had such an overpowering feeling of love for my family and gratitude for the time we spent together. 03-09-2015

069/365: Tuesday, March 10th. After our very fun, celebratory, whirlwind weekend, I returned to work. I couldn’t stop thinking about my family. I was missing them and Chicago and the whole dang happy weekend. Both boys took a Legoland Discovery Center map to school for show & tell. I might have picked up a little souvenir for myself while we were there. Every time I look at my new key chain, I think about our special getaway.03-10-2015

070/365: Wednesday, March 11th. Theo’s 5 year check up and a doctor visit for an infected bump on the back of Dexter’s right knee. 5 year check up stats: 40 lbs and 42.5″ tall so he’s still right around the 60th percentile like he has been the last few years. 2 shots. A lot of tears. I think he was more nervous about the shots than anything, but he cooperated and sat still like the nurses asked him to before they stuck him in each arm at the same time. He barely cried during the shots but let loose like Niagara Falls when they gave him the wrong sucker. I think he was just a nervous, emotional mess and relieved it was over. Sweet boy.03-11-2015This week, my favorite picture (hands down!) is our family selfie!! It may not be a fantastic photo but it means a lot to me.
Which one do you like best?

xo,

~C~