Tag Archives: Birthday

January 27th, 2019

Eleanor is shocked to find out there’s another trip to the water park after breakfast.

After seemingly panning splash pads this past summer, she spent a surprising amount of time here- flittering from one to the next to wash her hands, and those of whoever else is near

Des is just tall enough to grab a firm pull on the lever…

…wonder if the first time he knew what it’d do?

Sister gets in on the big splash action too

Wash all the hands

Team llama looking (surprisingly) in the same general direction

Then someone was merciful and offered to take a picture

Des for one last trip down the big slide (which is apparently constructed in such a manner that it is mathematically impossible for kids to careen down and arrive in a jumble of no fewer than two)

Well-rested after a long nap, making the most of the opportunity to gather for one last pizza dinner. Ella and grandma in the mermaid blanket-

Story time with grandma, for a repeat reading of Car’s “Tractor Trouble”

Looks like Eleanor had fun at the water park

The boys construct a fairly ambitious car track, though a few actually made it all the way

January 26th, 2019

Waking up to fresh powder

Eleanor learning fifth position in her first dance class

Lunch with (great-)(aunt) Molly at Lalibela Ethiopian

Napping with all of her friends- Margaret, Blue Bear, assorted animals and, clutched guardedly in hand- beloved monkey.

Now officially a tradition: dad’s birthday weekend celebrated with an overnight hotel stay, swim and pizza party. Des is just as excited as dad-

Eleanor wastes no time finding the nearest slide, dashing down with only mild hesitation

Desmond fearlessly conquering the two-story waterslide

All washed up after the pool, the pizza arrives! The pixar gods shone down on everyone with a quick find on the cable (re-explaining that concept to Des for the fourth time) with Finding Dory

Ella snacking with some of aunt Molly’s candied pecans (so yum!)

Snuggles and Nemo- the best birthday present

While Eleanor takes quite some time to fall asleep, Des and dad build a fort in the corner with a laptop viewing of The Empire Strikes Back (or with all the pause-and-explain-the-plot-details breaks, up until meeting Yoda on Dagobah)

A Very Butterfly Birthday

Eleanor riding the birthday whale into her second birthday

Up close and personal with SO many butterflies, it was a magical birthday morning

Birthday hugs…

…followed by mom’s famous (birthday) blueberry muffins

Yeah, they’re that good.

Naturally.

It wouldn’t surprise anyone that she got up there all by herself.

Can you say “birthday envy?”

Aptly making a cake for sister

Exchanging family gifts, Des’ card

Pure joy upon opening her own Margaret Tiger stuffy

Combining two of her current passions- Margaret Tiger and putting any object to sleep with a blanket

She pretty much has stethoscopes figured out

New Daniel Tiger story book, and brother isn’t complaining

Let the wild, pink-spangled butterfly rumpus begin!

Reading with ma

…followed by asking grandma to read the exact same book again.

Grandma cheerleading taking bites with the slow/distracted eating crew

Weeks candle-blowing training comes down to one moment…

Nailed it!

Cake!

Saying good-bye to Ol’ Monkey Butt

The many faces of cake euphoria (during)

After cake, as you’d expect

All clean

Silly goose [mouseover/tap]

“Oh look,” the monsters shout. “It’s 6:08! Your present opening cannot wait!”

Cookie baking as a companion set to the much beloved tea set

Ella takes the same creative liberties to opening cards as she does bucking convention while eating sandwiches layer-wise

The birthday Hug of Thanks tour starting with grandpa

Kisses with ma

Cousin Cal, one of the finest huggers known east of 72nd st.

Dr. Des and Dr. Cal checking up on the llama patient

“It’s ok, her throat beat is strong!”

November 2nd, 2018

What may have been Desmond’s first Snickers bar

But definitely Ella’s first taste of the rainbow

Max being a good sport (the birthday 🐳 shall rise again…)

As dad later described- if you looked at a map of North American butterfly migratory paths, there’d be a big dot on Omaha. Mom doesn’t skimp on the butterflies.

Des Fourth Birthday

Desmond chose yet again to spend his fourth birthday out of school on a special adventure with just mom and dad to… the pumpkin patch. While waiting for the tractor to depart, Des surveys the map

Cold and muddy, he’s undeterred on his quest for the perfect pumpkin

The kind lady taking tickets at the gate, upon learning it was his birthday, offered Des a special birthday button. It took nearly 10 minutes for her to return with it, but clearly worth it.

Proud of his haul

While dad runs the pumpkins to the car, Des hops on another tractor ride

The now annual windmill photo, Des is notably more comfortable walking on grated surfaces 🙂

He was a bit trigger happy, though some apples made contact with the steel pumpkin and black cat silhouettes 

While last year’s climb to the top was immediately followed by walking down the stairs, this time Des was all about the Big Slide

The yellow barn was the same loud, pneumatic chaos of foam ball fury

Desmond was endlessly tickled by the horse with what appeared to be dog-like patience and interest in pellet treats. The swing-arm feeding tray that he could control likely also played a role in his ear-to-grin and giggle fits.

Gotta feed the goats…

…but there’s no one like his #1 pal

Able to peddle his own way around the trike track with dad needing to push. It was a lot of fun until he didn’t understand that one must yield to pedestrians loading/unloading at the beginning :/

Refueling with some sandwiches and a pickle

The equivalent “fun” of paddle boats, Des enjoys the ride as mom and dad peddle (with their knees to the chest) what can be best described as a manual dune buggy. Mom takes the wheel as dad engages in vehicular photo shenanigans

Practicing his mastery of the force in the corn pit

Much more confident as a four year old, Des really enjoyed the bounce pads

Duck racing, as you do

Snack break for some apple cobbler and ice cream

It’s not a John Deere, but it’ll do

Mom and dad weren’t sure how this was going to go…

There’s sometimes a fine line between thrill and terror, but Des clearly landed on exhilarating!

To be fair, no one in Team Llama got over a condescending “bumpkin”

About sums up the day-

Opening family presents

Des first Hot Wheels track!

His own music station, for mixing his noise-scapes on a whole new level 

Yeah, that’s fun

Continuing the tradition of birthday cupcakes

After half a cupcake, Ella get’s pretty wild

May Des’ Fourth Be With You

What was certain to be a good omen, Desmond starts his birthday party day with the season’s first snowfall. On a trip with dad to nab folding chairs, Des also gets a special birthday hot chocolate

All warm

A young Jedi recreating a scene in Star Wars

Eleanor is in a phase where any material, regardless of how small, is either spread out as a blanket to lay on or cover something that is “going sleepy”

Ella is as surprised as everyone else that the snow is sticking and begins to accumulate

What dad thought would be just a nice background (while Beatles played on the speakers) ended up being an early focal point of the birthday party

Getting pigtails with aunt Megan, who is significantly more skilled than mom and dad

Snack picnic

When originally prompted for birthday theme ideas, Des, almost without thinking, replied “Star Wars and Rainbows.” Safe to say, mom and dad’s baker friend nailed it. Mom took to the next level with action figures.

Ella and pa negotiating terms for sharing chips

One can only assume he’s wishing to watch Empire Strikes Back. Or for real-life dinosaurs…

Ella showing off her fork skills for great-grandma Jan

Action figures rivaling cake and ice cream for attention

When you’re so cute, everyone offers you a bite of cake

Desmond solicits help from Liam reading cards

Making the rounds

Mom demonstrating how the R2-D2 candy dispenser works

Hug pile with ma

And the party inevitably ends in some sort of balloon-oriented mayhem

(Mom gets award for best birthday installation)

Mom’s 39th Birthday

The birthday whale visited mom for her birthday (obviously)

Blowing out the candles is a group effort 🙂

January 27th, 2018

Eleanor was up early in the morning with ma, so she was ready for a quick catnap by mid-morning

Desmond takes a few minutes to wake up, even after naps

Eleanor’s first time walking outside to the car. This was immediately proceeded by her falling down the slight declining slope. But a resilient spirit, she was back up faster than you’d think

Desmond was pretty stoked to be in sandals once again, demonstrating his newfound foot agility- with conviction

Dad is occasionally jealous of the fun that warmer-month birthdays invite. So why not pack and pile the kids into a hotel room merely 10 minutes from the house just to play at an indoor waterpark? Because he had one of the best birthdays in recent memory, that’s why.

Yup, lots to look at, pretty exciting!

After Eleanor got tired walking around the pool (you know, because she’s decided that she’s solely a walker on all surfaces), it’s time for a break

Not shown (regrettably- though forever engrained in dad’s memory, via fear): Desmond, resident three-year-old, going down a two-story waterslide by himself (hey, he technically cleared the 40″ minimum height line). TWICE!

Hanging out at the end of the kiddie slides to watch big brother

“WHEE!”

“Look, Dad, Dad, I’ve ate my share of snapea crisps. In fact, I’ve ate like a lot of people’s share of snapea crisps.” Eleanor clearly prefers the snack course of the hotel room pizza party

In jammies and exhausted

After the girls fell asleep, Desmond and dad laid on the bed watching the rest of Brave. Good movie, fun times