Celebrating Carter's 5th Birthday

Carter's birthday was Sunday, and with bad weather in the forecast, we decided to take the kids to the Dallas World Aquarium and to eat lunch at Spaghetti Warehouse. We headed down there first thing in the morning and beat the crowd! A pretty big storm came though as we were inside, and it felt very authentic, like we actually were in the rain forest with all the loud thunder and rain slowly seeping in! Kinda cool. Of course, the kids enjoyed all the exhibits, and we loved watching their excitement over all of it! 

This is what I get from Ella now when I ask her to smile for a picture. :/

 There's a smile.

 Love my babies.

 Baby penguin. Ella loved all the babies. Pretty sure she is saying "awwwwww!"

 Checking out the giant otter. He was very active and entertaining!

 

LOVE!

 Oh, these two..... :)

 Handsome boy on his 5th birthday! Hard to believe that's even possible.

 Oh Ella

 "Cheese!"

 Sting rays "COOL!"

 :)

 That is one big crab!!

The octopus was moving all over the glass. The kids loved watching it's little suction cups move and stick.

 Sharks!!

 Ella looks a little unsure, ha!

A few pictures from Eric's cell phone..... again, Ella refuses to look at the camera! Little toot! 

 With the beluga whale

 Watching the octopus

 This shark just parked it on top of the tunnel and took a nap, HA!

 Lunch at Spaghetti Warehouse in the trolley!

 Mmmmmm.... spaghetti! (One of my cravings lately.... so, so good!!)

 And a birthday canoli for the birthday boy!

Caught this silly girl dancing at lunch, made me smile!

 When we got home, Carter opened some gifts from us, we had left over spaghetti for dinner, and birthday cake!!

Carter was not all that excited about his very practical gift from me..... cool/dry athletic clothes for t-ball practice.

 Games!

 And LEGOS!

 Pretty girl playing with his new umbrella

 

Carter has spent the better part of the last 5 days enjoying all his new lego sets that he got from his friends at his party and us! We got him a little lego desk to help keep the pieces off the floor.... we'll see how that works!

Happy 5th birthday, sweet boy!! We love you!!

Carter's Birthday Party at Pump It Up

Carter and about 13 or 14 of his little friends celebrated his birthday this week with a fun party at Pump It Up. The party leaders were nice enough to take pictures for me, and I was happy to have them do that! Here are some of the shots they got of all the kids playing. 

Lucy

Everett

Gavin

Carter and Gavin

Great smile, Ella 

(she never smiles for the camera anymore! lucky she didn't intentionally turn her head away!)

Mason

Kaitlyn

Other Mason, or "Mason from my class" as Carter calls him

Sam

John

Taylor

John & Taylor together

Carter & Mason

sweaty boys

pretty girls

Ella & Gavin

Taylor

They all loved this rock climbing wall

Here is everyone, and I'm putting all their names so I'll know who they all are 20 years from now!!

John, Sloan

Mason H., Carter, Sam, Weston, & Everett Gold, Emerson

Lucy, Ella, Taylor, Gavin, Mason T. (brother Connor missing), Kaitlyn

Lots of fun for these kiddos. Thanks to all who came and celebrated with us... especially for all the fun gifts. He hasn't stopped playing with them since he opened them!

Carter's First Game

Carter had his first t-ball game last weekend. Luckily, the rain held out for us.... it was overcast, about 55 degrees and windy. Not the most ideal baseball weather, but hopefully we'll get there soon. Carter had quite an audience. Uncle Matt and Andrew happened to be in town, so they were there along with my parents and Matt's girlfriend Caryn. He was so excited for everyone to watch him, and he had a blast!!

Getting ready to bat for the first time

 Coach Brian helping

 Made it to first!

 He really payed attention well to what was going on, and kept a very serious face!!

(Carter is front and Center)

 A few action shots while going for the ball

 Batter up again....

 Good hit!

 Game over and giving high fives to the other team.

 So cute!! Yay #4!

 Love my boy.

 Carter and his buddy Gavin after their game. Love Carter's dirt-covered pants!!

It was a fun first game, and hilarious to watch! All the boys really did great, but there were a few moments of confusion that kept the parents laughing. Entertaining for sure, but I was proud of all of them! Unfortunately, Eric was out of town for this game, so I took a few videos and sent them to him right away so he could enjoy it too. 

Luckily, our second game was just a couple days later, and Eric made it back for that one. I know he loved watching his boy play ball for the first time! Grandma Cindy came to this one and took pictures that she sent me! 

 

 

Little sis',  big fans!

 Third game is coming up this weekend! Carter is loving it more and more each week, and getting better all the time! We're very proud of him... looking forward to many seasons to come!!