Chicago!!

As the final celebration of the big fifth birthday- we headed to Chicago for the weekend!  Tommy had been to Shedd Aquarium this past summer with my parents and really wanted to show Nathan and me all of the exhibits.  Tommy loved looking at all of the fish and seeing the shows! 

I love this picture because it shows both of my "boys" so well- Nathan and Tommy were very good tour guides the entire trip!

The trooper- he just sort of tagged along for the ride all day!

Henry and Mommy at the 3-D show

After Shedd, we drove to our hotel for the night.  Henry fell sound asleep on the ride over and didn't wake up through any of the check in commotion or noise.  We laid him on the bed and he didn't wake up for almost an hour!

For dinner, the birthday boy chose Rainforest Cafe.  Henry loved the gorillas that we sat by and Tommy loved having one more birthday dinner.  We took a cab from the hotel to dinner and back and Tommy declared that cab ride to be the "mostest fun" part of the entire weekend.  Guess we could have just ridden around in a taxi all day :)

Eating his birthday sundae!

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to the Field Museum after breakfast.  Tommy was thrilled to see the main thing he had come for- Sue the T Rex!

The boys at the horse exhibit

Looking at Sue from the balcony

Tommy loved the dinosaur skeletons and spent alot of time explaining everything to his parents.  Nathan and I had to take turns listening to him and watching Henry- Tommy would get upset with us if he didn't feel we were paying close enough attention to his lecture.

Tommy's current favorite dinosaur- the Parasaurolophus.

It was a wonderful weekend and both boys had a great time.  Tommy loved every minute of it and Henry was a trooper considering he had to skip his naps and his whole routine was upset.  We loved seeing the sights and wonders through the eyes of a 5 year old!

Tommy turns Five!

Tommy's actual birthday was a little chaotic given the week's circumstances!  The power went out on Monday around 1 am because of an ice storm and didn't come back on until Wednesday afternoon around 5 pm!  It was a chilly couple of days and we all camped out by the fire in our bedroom at night to stay warm and during the day we hung out at my parent's house (their power came back on late Monday night!).  Luckily, the power came on just in time for Tommy to open his gifts from us and then to head out to Red Lobster (his choice!) for a birthday dinner.  The day was filled with a school field trip and lunch at Panera with Grandma Debbie and Henry.  We went to Build-a-Bear earlier in the week in an attempt to stay warm!  It was a fun fifth birthday-day!

Five years ago- we fell in love with this little baby:

and never would have believed how in love we would be with this little boy:

Happy birthday Tommy!  We love you so very much and are so proud of you!

Batts Party

Sunday night it was time to party with the Batts side!  Tommy loved having all of his cousins over and was excited to play games, open presents, and have cake again!  It was a great night!

Watch out for all of the dinosaurs!

Tommy asked me to stop taking pictures, so this is the only one I have of him with his cake that night :)

Setting up all of the new zhu-zhu pet stuff with his cousins!

Plaisier Party

Saturday night we had the Plaisier side over to celebrate!  Tommy was SO excited and loved having everyone here.  He was extremely disappointed that we ate dinner before presents and gave anyone headed for seconds a dirty look.  He enjoyed all of his gifts and everything was "awesome" or "cool!"  It was a fun night of celebrating our Tommy!

Playing with his new dinos

Whatever this was- it was a big hit!

Five years old!

Love the "cheese" smile!

Henry wasn't jealous the entire night until the cake came out.  Mr. Sweet Tooth ate 2 cupcakes!

When Tommy was busy looking at other presents, Henry decided to try on and steal the rain boots :)

Tommy's Party: The Details

To celebrate his fifth birthday in style Tommy wanted a dinosaur party.  He has been planning it in his head for months now and the end result had to be a bit of a compromise between what he wanted and what mommy wanted :)  We had fun coming up with all of the decorations and favors so I thought I would just do a quick post with some of the details before I put up the party pictures!

The birthday banner

We did cupcakes with toppers rather than a large cake this year.

Tommy wanted a cake though, so he got his own personal cake.

Dinosaur bones!

The table

This scary T-Rex greeted guests as they arrived!

Nathan and I worked together to create a bean-bag toss.  Tommy was skeptical at first, but ended up loving it!

Favor bags for candy- Tommy found these stickers online and laughed for 10 minutes straight he thought they were so funny!

The candy buffet

Favor bags for the cousins.  The bags were filled with all sorts of dinosaur "stuff" and since most of his cousins are girls I felt that I should make the bags something that they could actually enjoy.

Tommy loves to have the fishing pond at his parties so this year we made it look like a volcano- sort of a stretch, but oh well :)

Valentines Day!

 Valentines day was full of fun and love!  The boys were spoiled rotten by all of their relatives and we spent the day making Valentines cookies and treats.  Henry didn't quite get into the decorating, but Tommy took his job very seriously and it took the better part of the afternoon! 

Henry loves to walk around with the oven mit on!

Henry decorated one cookie- it didn't go too well :)

That is alot of sprinkles for one cookie!

Tommy frosted and decorated the rest of them for me.

Best froster ever!

Tommy was so pround of his finished cookies.  I thought it was cute how they all had piles of sprinkles in the middle. 

Cooper's Birthday

Coopy dog turned 3 years old on February 2.  Tommy loves to celebrate the dog's birthday and never lets us skip it!  Cooper has been a good dog for us- he loves the boys and the boys love him.  He lets them jump on him, pull his ears, and examine his paws without more than a deep sigh.  He always sits in the boy's rooms while I read their books and tuck them in, then he makes his way to his bed in our room and is down for the night.  One of Henry's first words was "woof-woof" which he always says when he sees Cooper.  Henry also is the first to make his way to the door and try to open it if Cooper is waiting to be let out.  Happy Birthday Cooper!!

Cooper on his birthday

Tommy picked out two toys at the toy store and was so excited to give them to Cooper. 

Showing Cooper (and Henry) how the turtle toys squeaks.

 

Tommy and Cooper

Bringing Cooper his "cake"

Tommy helped to make homemade dog cookies, scrambled eggs, and rice to make this beautiful creation!

Cooper with his cake

Happy Birthday Coops!