Family Introductions

I figured it would be important to put faces with the names I use so often in my blog. Below is a picture from Christmas 2010 at my Grandma Z's house.

Left to Right: My brother Brian, his girlfriend Nicole who's pregnant with my nephew-to-be - Blake, my sister and Izaac's mom - Amanda, Izaac himself, my sister's boyfriend and Izaac's dad - Billy, yours truly, and my boyfriend Neal.

First Hair Cut...Well Kinda!

This weekend I didn't spend my usual time with Izaac, but since there was a huge event I knew I had to post something about it.

Sometime Saturday afternoon Izaac got a wild hair and decided he was going to try cutting his own hair. His dad, Billy, has left his clippers out a lot and never once did Izaac show any interest in them. Izaac has had home haircuts before so he knows the drill pretty well.

Before his "self" cut.

It didn't take him long to figure out how to use the clippers, but it's obvious by the top of his head that his arms aren't quite long enough to get to the back of his head. Amanda found him with this backwards mo-hawk and blood on his hands because he'd clipped his ear!

After the incident (notice he is ALL smiles!)

Amanda transformed to emergency mode and took Izaac to my brother's house, Brian. He usually cut Izaac's hair and she figured he could handle it. The only thing we were all worried about was having a bald three year old running around.

Here's the aftermath and the "cool" kid he thinks he is!

The hair cut didn't turn out too bad. His hair is very short but he thinks he resembles his Gotfather, Pete, so it's pretty cool in his eyes. Although, if you talk to him about the clippers incident he says, "I will never, ever touch them again. No. No. No."

Monkey Joe's? I think so!

My boyfriend, Neal, and I decided to take Izaac and Neal's younger brother, Trevian, to Monkey Joe's this Saturday. None of us had ever been before, but I'd heard the entire place was filled with inflatable jungle gyms so what better place to take a three and six year old.

This was before we even arrived at Monkey Joe's. They wanted to be completely rested!

When we arrived at Monkey Joe's we had to fill out some paperwork, but the boys weren't too excited at being able to look at the jungle gyms and not be able to jump all over them. After filling everything out and getting wrist bands we decided to order pizza. They only offer the pizza in a size large or by the slice. We decided to go by the slice, but it wasn't that great. It was really greasy and didn't seem like it was cooked all the way.

The boys didn't spend too much time eating pizza because they were too anxious to run around like animals for a few hours. The inflatables include different size slides, jungle gyms with basketball hoops, climbing with steps and ropes, and one bigger open play area. They didn't stay in one place too long. Neal and I tried keeping up with them but they were all over the place.

Posing for a quick picture - they couldn't keep themselves still!

Izaac asked me to climb with him, but he didn't realize it was a steep slide at the end. Halfway through he figured it out and then freaked out. I had to put him over the side and Neal rescued him. I decided to climb the rest of the way and go down the slide, have some fun for myself. Let's just say the signs are not lying when they say the equipment is not equipped for adults.

I went down the slide with my legs straight. I hit the stopper and flipped over the edge. I fell onto the padding on the other side, so they must expect that adults would go over. After that I felt like everyone was looking and laughing. Neal and I laughed along practically in tears.

After some running around we decided to spend some time in the small arcade area. There were a few games, but they weren't the greatest. Some didn't give tickets and others just wouldn't work, but the boys didn't mind. Their favorite games are bowling and the alligator hit game (I have no idea what the name is).

They played until their tokens were gone and decided to go back to the inflatables. Neal and I decided after a few hours that it was almost time to go. We gave them their warnings, but once against they weren't very happy about having to leave. We bribed them with going to McDonald's where they could get toys. It worked perfectly. They were jamming to music the rest of the way home.

Left: Trevian riding a dragon.

Right: Izaac standing next to a monkey.

Oh the Adventures of Izaac...

This weekend was almost to much to handle. Where to even begin is the question! As always, Izaac was full of energy and ready to keep me busy.

Saturday we went to a baby shower for Izaac's Aunt Tootie. When I told Izaac about the baby shower he proceeded to tell me that he didn't want to take a shower at his aunt's party. I explained that it wasn't a real shower, but more like a party for his baby cousin. He asked if Aunt Tootie was going to have the baby at the shower and if she would name him Francine.

These are the conversations I am referring to when I speak of the things he says.

There was some snow overnight so Izaac and I decided to do a little shoveling outside Sunday morning (Izaac has a shovel his size). While I was trying to figure out the power shovel I heard a few familiar noises from the garages, but not a typical noise that you would expect to hear in the midst of winter.

To my surprise, Izaac came flying out of the garage on his four wheeler that he got for his

third birthday. I'm not sure if it is even made for the snow, but Izaac found it very entertaining. I didn't mind it either!

After I made him put it away he decided he wasn't ready to go inside just yet. So he jumps in the snow and decides to make a snow angel. His turned out really well. He was upset I wouldn't join him, but I wasn't equipped with snow pants and boots like he was.

We made it to Mema's house shortly after where my best friend Jessie and her daughter Kymani met us for lunch. Ky is a very sweet, almost-two year old that Izaac loves to play the big brother role with.

They spend a lot of time fighting for the toy the other one is playing with. The most popular is a punch balloon that's only appealing when he or she isn't playing with it.

That night we finished with a party at my sister's house for the super bowl. There was a lot of friends and family, and of course children. Izaac, his cousin Cameron, and friend Mathue ran around the house most of the night. Ky stayed close to her mom, unsure of what to think of crazy boys.

A Busy Weekend

This was a busy weekend for the entire family because Izaac's mom (my sister, Amanda) was moving! Izaac spent the night with me Friday and he got to choose what he wanted to do.

I just recently signed up for Netflix so I thought a movie would make for a good night. Luckily, he thought so too. I showed him a screen with children movies and let him choose a flick. To my surprise he chose a movie I also wanted to see, "Up".

The attention span of a three-year old is quite short. While the movie was playing he spent a lot of time playing with his popcorn, drinking lots of apple juice, and even leaving me at one point to take a quick bath! By the end of the movie I knew it was time for bed.

Amanda told me he falls asleep faster if I pretend to sleep, but my pretending didn't last long because I was soon asleep. I woke up a few hours later with a tingly arm and Izaac's cute, little head squishing me (the advice had worked).

Sunday evening the family gathered at Amanda's house for a nice dinner. She cooked lots of lasagna. The older boys (my brother, Izaac's dad, and my boyfriend) took up most of the living room playing video games, so Izaac and I took to his room, and momentarily the kitchen for a game of kick ball. That didn't last long...something to do with a cup full of fruit punch flying through the air!

Izaac is quite excited about his new house and especially his new room with his big boy bed and big boy toys. We played with his Lite Brite, pool table, and Spiderman card game.