Wild parks and birthdays...

First and foremost, here is my little man at 6 months. I can't believe he's already 6 months! He loves to smile and laugh, and REALLY loves to pull hair. Especially Tatum's. :) He's also finally decided that solids aren't too bad so he eats twice a day. But that doesn't seem to help him sleep through the night. :(

Tatum and Daddy bought a basket ball hoop and it's been nightly fun! Here's Tatum slam dunking past Daddy!

She loves to use the chair for a jump shot. :)

Ty tries to get in on the fun but he has a hard time getting the ball away from Tatum and when he does, he just wants to eat it. :)

Jenny and Mattie came down to meet us at the Wild Animal Park for a day o' fun! We took the Journey into Africa...

and saw lots of animals, including the giraffe eating off their tree. So cool!

After walking around and seeing lots of animals and having lunch, on our way out we got this cute picture of the girls. Such great friends.

And we HAD to hit the carousel of course. Except for the fact that it was President's Day holiday which made the park pretty crowded, it was a fun day with our friends.

Then on Saturday we went to Keira's 1st birthday. Look at that cute birthday girl in her party dress!

Keira loves Elmo and she got a big Elmo face cake all to herself!

After some coaching, she dove into the cake. Mental note to all with upcoming 1st birthdays. Don't put black frosting on the cake. Wow, it was a mess! But soooo cute!

And then yesterday Ty had a play date with his friend Colin up the street. Colin is just 18 days younger and they're already the best of friends! :)

Birthday party part 2

Ty has become such a helpful little man. Here he is helping me with the laundry. :)

On Tatum's birthday we were suppose to go to a gym class with friend Ellie and then back to her house for a birthday celebration. Unfortunately, Ellie came down with a cold and we had to postpone. But we got to enjoy the gym and birthday celebration the following Tuesday which was so much fun. I didn't get any pics of the gym but Tatum loved it. She learned how to jump on a trampoline, somersault down a hill, walk on balance beams, and hang from bars. We'll have to think about enrolling in gym class in the future. But after class we headed to Ellie's house for a delicious lunch of heart and start shaped pb and j sandwiches, veggies, and a hard boiled egg in the shape of a car! After lunch came the yummy cupcakes and here's Ellie helping Tatum blow out the candle. :)

And here's Tatum blowing out the candle. Delicious cupcakes I might add, I had to make sure by having 2 or 3. :)

Then there was finger painting, coloring and sticker playing. We had so much fun and very happy to re celebrate Tatum's birthday. :) Thanks Mandy and Ellie!

Then Daddy went to CO to visit his step brother so we headed up to Irvine to visit Grandma. I didn't take too many pictures since we didn't do anything too exciting. But getting down this boat that Jenny gave us was pretty exciting. Ty loves it and could sit and play in it for hours. That is if he'd ever get a turn, since his sister feels it's a new toy for her and usually monopolizes it. Oh, poor Ty. Soon he'll be pushing her around but for now, I guess he has to sit back and take it. :)

Elephants, Tigers and kids, oh my!

On Friday Tatum, Ty and I met some friends (Ellie and Ramey in the picture) at the SD Zoo. We love the zoo and they have a new Elephant exhibit with large animals to play on. Here's the elephant...

and the saber tooth tiger...

and the baby elephant which all the girls loved...

and the real elephants of course...

and the cheetah. The best part about the exhibit is you get to ride the sky buckets over to see it. Not my favorite thing to do since I hate heights but Tatum loves it! She looks over the side (which gives me a heart attach since I'm gripping the railings tightly and not moving the entire ride) and the views of the zoo and Balboa park are amazing.

Then on Saturday, Garrett and I took the kids to the Wild Animal Park. I bought a new pass which allows me to bring a guest, any guest. So Garrett was my guest and we also get free parking at WAP which is awesome. The other thing is we've taught Tatum that if they ask her how old she is at the zoo or the WAP, she is to respond, "Two!". But in case that doesn't work out, she can always be my guest. :) While we were there, we took a new trail and saw the bald eagle, mountain sheep, elephants and the tigers. The tigers got frisky and had a little cat fight for us. It looked like two little kittens rolling around, batting at each other. Of course, they're actually huge tigers with large teeth and claws, but still cute! :)

After lunch we stopped at the play area and had to take a picture with the lion.

Since Ty is a Leo, he requested this shot. (just to let you know, I didn't leave my unstable kid perched on the top of a lion head, Garret's behind him holding him up) :)

And then Sunday morning, while Daddy went golfing, Tatum, Ty and I walked to a park. Tatum is always asking to walk to a park and I always tell her we're not close enough to one to walk to it. But yesterday we found a path, about a 20 minute walk, leading to our favorite park! Look at this little model, posing on the slide. :)

And here's Ty enjoying the swing. When I first put him in and gave him a push, he wasn't sure about it. But as he got his barrings and hung on to the side, he started to smile and enjoy it. Such a sweet little man.