Summer '11 Adventure!! Part I

It's been ages since I've visited my side of the family.... On Tuesday, we headed out to Dallas, Texas via a lay-over in Atlanta. We would meet my Dad at the airport and drive the 2hours to Palestine and spend a few days with my 82 year old Grandma. A few days later, e would then drive 10+hours to Kansas City with my Dad and spend time with the rest of my family. This post is dedicated to getting TO Texas!!

The kids loved watching the plane land and take off at the Richmond airport!

Once on the plane, it was a scant 1hour to Atlanta. We jumped on their underground train and rode out of the airport- Alden was in heaven riding a TRAIN!!

His head about exploded when I took him to another train, the Marta, and we left the airport and headed into downtown Atlanta!! Since our layover was 4 hours, I was looking for something fun to do with the kids. A childhood friend, Shanda, was actually free that day and would have her sweet daughter with her- score!

Addie and Calla had met once before about 2 years ago- they were shy for a few min, but that was it- they were laughing, hugging and having a blast together in no time! There's no doubt that these two would be great friends if we lived near each other!!

Busy playing with Callas neat little toy

The whole crew- we are only missing the hubby's and Shanda's son, Gus- not too bad! We had a great time with them!!

We made it back to the airport with plenty of time to spare and jetted off to Dallas- sorry, I forgot to take pics on the plane.... As we landed the pilot welcomed us with the news that the local temp, at 6pm, was a balmy 104 and that was without any heat index!!

We had some great Taco Bueno (a fantastic Mexican fast-food joint) and headed out to Palestine.... The kids did great traveling- I was, and still am, super proud of them!

Sweet Friends and Family

Addie's BFF Lainey from school, came to Alden's party- Alden needed his Miss Emily, Lainey's Mom, at his birthday party!

These 2 get along so well- so well, in fact, that Jen and I are nervous.... We can see them scheming mischief and getting into trouble together.... Good thing they have adorable smiles and eyelashes that are miles long!

The sweeties together!

MarMar was in her glory!!

Alden's 4th Birthday Celebration- Part 4

The PARTY!!!! It was Lightening McQueen themed since the Birthday Boy is totally into Cars!

Goody Bags all lined-up and ready to be filled with crafts the kids would be doing.

I tried to embrace the Racing Theme.... Here are pictures of Cars- they were to be colored and cut out- and used for another game...

Wooden Race Cars- there were markers and stickers! The cars came in a kit, but I knew that the kids would not be able to glue them together, so I did that....

There were Cars beanbags and a large box to toss them into

The other side of the RaceTrack was this- were they could tape the Car they colored and cut out in the Design Studio!

The cake! Costco did not make a Cars cake, but they were willing to make this one and I just placed Cars on it- thanks to my nephew Nate!

He was SO excited about it!

The kids had a lot of fun- all 11 of them!

Putting all the practice to use!

Sadly, I was busy having a good time and did not get too many pictures of the kids playing games! Everyone had a great time! At this time, there is only 1 more birthday celebration- one with his other cousins in Kansas City!!

Alden's 4th Birthday Celebration- Part 3

Alden was SO excited that MarMar, PopPop, Aunty Jen AND Nate made the trip down for his party!! Once they arrived, the kids went swimming- PopPop took pictures... We had a yummy dinner from a new local Greek place. THEN Alden got to open his gifts from the family.

Thumbs up for cash!

Since Easter, he has been telling MarMar for his birthday, he wanted a Big Buzz (he had a small one, but he wanted a BIG one- he even tried to get his friend Hannah to give him her Big Buzz)- so he was thrilled beyond words to get a Big Buzz!! And in the blue box are rocks. Yes, rocks. He told MarMar that is the other thing he really, reallllly wanted- rocks. You can tell by his face that he is Super Happy! He got some other cool gifts, but these were his favorites!

Nate showing us a rock he liked- and now Addie and Nate want a box of rocks!

We had cake and icecream for Alden AND PopPop since his birthday is in a few weeks!

The kids woke-up early and played nicely in the playroom- they actually played together perfectly the entire weekend!! It's so sweet to see them have fun together!

Alden's 4th Birthday Celebration- Part 2

Wednesday, the actual day of his birthday, was awesome! Poor Alden was a bit confused - we have usually had the birthday party the day of his actual birthday.... He finally "got it" and fully embraced that it was really HIS day!! He would claim dibs on just about everything with the statement, "Because I'm the birthday boy, I want to..."

He woke up to this- and a bunch of cupcake decorated with M&M's in the shape of number 4. To say that he was excited and ready to eat it, is an understatement!

Instead of starting with a chocolate cake, we headed to our families tradition, Dunkin Donuts!!

I put the candle in it the donut but did not light it- it was crowded and he said it was ok- he just wanted to pretend to blow out the fire....

Addie and Becca Baby enjoyed their donuts as well! I hope you can tell who is who!

I wanted to document how he looked ON his birthday- he humored me a bit! His shirt is one of my favorites- he can wear it all year!!

Now his spunky personality is shining forth!!

At 11am, our pool opened, so we met some friends there and shared Little Cesar's with them (can you tell this kid LOVES pizza??)

After swimming for several hours and a great nap (he is insisting on wearing PJ's for naps these days...) he opened his card all the way from Austria!

Then he so sweetly shared the outer-space painting craft he had received as a gift. I love that he cares for his sister and looks for ways to share with her!

Finally, after a dinner of quesadillas, we popped that well-used #4 candle in the cake, sang and enjoyed it!

Yum! He proudly announced once his cake and ice cream was gone, that he was officially FOUR! But, he didn't want to tell too many people, since he wanted to wait until his party was over....

Alden's 4th Birthday Celebration- Part I

In true Perreca fashion, we celebrated Alden's 4th birthday all week long! Celebration #1- CiCi's with our good friends, Hannah and Avery! We did this last year and Alden now thinks that he needs CiCi's to celebrate! This was extra-special since these friends were not going to be able to celebrate with us at Alden's party- thanks for coming, H and A!!

Practicing 4 fingers- perfect!!

Everyone showing how old they are- aren't they too adorable??

Yes, I brought "fire" into CiCi's- we even sang to him- he was SO excited!!

Blowing out his #4 candle AND the 4 candles - good thing the brownies are so thick!

It was a great way to kick off the Birthday Week!!

Tribute to Alden

August 10th is a pretty big day around our house.... It's Alden's birthday- and for the first time- he actually gets that it's HIS day! Granted, he was a bit confused as to why his birthday is on Wednesday, but his party isn't until Saturday.... Guess you can't win them all....

Alden:

You are such a sweet, spunky, defiant, loving, caring, instigating, compassionate, curious little boy. You are totally different from your sister, even though any time you go in public with her you get asked if you two are twins.

You have caused us to all learn more about bugs, things that fly, notice how many trash trucks we actually pass going anywhere, how effectively OxyClean really works, where Addie's "buttons" are, and to enjoy just going for a walk or taking time to swing.

The energy and quick love that you bring to our family is just what God knew we needed! We are excited to see you become the boy and eventually the man, that God wants you to be!

We love you- Mommy, Daddy, Addie and Kierke

Drumroll- what you are all really here for- PICTURES!!

Here are some of my favorite pics- I have a great slideshow of his entire year of being 3, but for some reason, google pics is giving me some issues....

At 1

At 2

At 3

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August