"Happy To You" Cake

The grandson has attended a few birthday celebrations in the last couple of weeks and he is especially excited by the birthday cakes. He likes the cake and the candles, but his favorite part is the singing. He loves to sing Happy Birthday.

On Friday night we went to his 2nd cousin Hezekiah's party.


and on Saturday we celebrated with his 2nd cousin, Anastasia.


Today, while he and I were visiting the Desert Botanical Garden, we decided to sit down and rest next to this planter full of some type of tiny aloe vera plants. He kept telling me "happy to you" as he pointed to the plant, but it took me a little while to figure out what he was saying. In his mind this looks like a birthday cake with very tall candles poking up. After he pointed it out, I could see the resemblance.



In honor of his ingenuity, we sang "Happy Birthday" several times, like maybe 12, while he practiced blowing the candles out.

Welcome Reprieve

Today dawned cool, windy and overcast. The grandson and I were anxious to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather. We bought us a Buzz kite, some french fries, some "juice", and a hamburger to share and headed to the park for a party.

When the grandson saw this picture on the computer he was really concerned about his wind blown hair. It made me laugh.


I'm pretty sure kite flying is a two person job and the second person should probably be over two.


We did manage to get the kite in the air for an extended period of time on several occasions, but I had a hard time taking pictures, flying the kite and keeping the kid in tow.


We had lots of fun and were even happy that it rained on our picnic. Every cool day from now until October has to be enjoyed to the fullest.

Today I am grateful that

Kmart had kites and they were even on sale.
I got to actually feel cold this evening.
it rained on my flowers so I didn't even have to water them.

The Cheap Seats

The grandson is a little bit addicted to Toy Story movies. He would watch "Duh", which is what he calls Buzz, all the time if we would let him. He especially likes Toy Story 2.


When we took our family vacation to Greer for Spring break his parents introduced him to the DVD player that we have in our van and since then every time we leave his house he wants to take his "moo-fees" "wif me" and every time we get in the van he asks for Buzz. A couple of weeks ago, I gave in and attempted to let him watch his DVD in transit. As luck would have it, all I managed to do was get the movie stuck in the player. The next day I purchased a new copy of Toy Story 2, because the kid was having major withdrawal symptoms.
The DVD player at their house used to be where the grandson could reach it, open it and put his movies in and out. For some reason, it quit working. Go figure. It didn't take too long for his mom to decide that a new DVD player was a necessary expenditure. However, the device that was purchased, and placed out of his reach, has issues with the Toy Story 2 DVD. It will play any other movie you put in it, but refuses to function when Buzz is inserted. This has once again caused some severe 19-month-old angst. The child has been feeling very Toy Story deprived, so imagine his excitement when on today's outing we visited the Phoenix Deseret Industries and happened upon a showing of "Toy Story 2" on not one, not two, but 13 screens. It was like a dream come true to him.


He allowed me to shop in the store as long as we went back to see what was happening with "the gang" every few minutes. Luckily for him, he knows the story line well and could jump right into the action. When I was ready to leave, we decided to make one more visit to the make shift theater. We were a little surprised to discover that we weren't the only ones taking advantage of the free movie viewing. A cute family had found a place to sit and were happily watching the show. The grandson was convinced that he needed to join them in their "cheap seats" and enjoy the remainder of the movie with them.


For almost half an hour we watched and cheered and danced and thoroughly embraced the suspenseful conclusion of Toy Story 2. Sometimes we even sat quietly.


We just never know what fun our days together will bring!

Today I am grateful for

a phone with a camera.
cheap thrift store fun.
Fridays!

Update (June 11, 2011)- since this post the original Toy Story 2 movie has been rescued from the van DVD player (the youngest son pushed the eject button and the movie came out). The oldest daughter's new DVD player likes that copy of the movie and so now we have Toy Story 2 at both "house" (grandma's house) and "home" (the grandson's house). Also, the grandson has perfected the pronounciation of "Buzz" with a b and a z. No Duh anymore.