Birthday weekend

So I love birthdays and think everyone should extend them as long as possible....a celebration here, a get together there.... So that's what I did! On my actual birthday (last Thursday), after Derek and Jack brought me breakfast in bed, we went up to Orange County for dinner and a show. We dropped Jack off at my in-laws (thank you!) and met up with some friends at Cheesecake Factory (no pics). We then raced over to Irvine Great Park for Cirque Du Soleil, Kooza. It was amazing!! Neither of us had ever seen Cirque Du Soleil and would recommend it to anyone! It was funny and awe-inspiring all at the same time. Derek's mom made me carrott cake (YUM) so we've been snacking on that all weekend long.

Friday night we went out with Ryan and Erica and Ty and Kathy to BJ's for another little dinner. As always, we laughed a lot with fun conversation and had a great time!

Monday night I went back to BJs (great menu selection, fun loud atmosphere, easy) for a girl's night. Thanks everyone for coming!

It was a great birthday weekend and a big thanks to Derek for helping to organize and putting up with it :)

Welcome 2010

Happy New Year! Bonne Annee! I know it's a little late, but I didn't bring my camera with us to our New Years Party and was waiting to get them. We decided to head up to OC for the night. We had dinner with Derek's parents, left Jack in good hands with them, and headed off to the Devine's for a fun-filled New Year's party. We were divided up into teams, each team was assigned a country, and each team dressed up, had an introduction with their country-inspired theme song, and the food coordinated with those countries. Lyndsay Lundquist and her sisters sure know how to put on a fun party. Throughout the night we had a variety of goofy competitions.

Team Indonesia

Team USA

Team Mexico

Team Romania

We started out with "spit-fire"....you drink some water and try and spit out a candle about 10 feet away. We were the guinea pigs but came in 2nd place (Mitch was a fire hose!)

Next up was around the world ping pong. We barely lost that tournament (I must say that I did pretty well for our team).

Then came blind-folded pictionary.

Afterwards gummi bear toss (Derek and I won!)

And lastly, a person (boy) from each team had to eat a massive tablespoon of cinnamon with no drink. Don't try this at home. Derek won, but proceeded to gag up spitfuls of cinnamon and had burning throat the whole time. Other symptoms included coughing, wheezing, loss of breath, running nose and overheating.

It was a fun night, with great company and lasting memories. Here's to an exciting 2010!

Happy Birthday Jack!

I can't believe my baby boy is two! Well I can in the way that he is learning and growing so much everyday! But I can't in the way that he is nowhere near the "terrible twos" (knock on wood). He remains to have that sweet disposition and contagious laugh and smile that he's always had. He loves playing with other kids, and shares well, isn't violent and is as busy as he's ever been. He's really into bikes, scooters, skateboards and still has no fear with climbing and jumping. (We got him a 3 wheel scooter for Christmas, but he can already ride the neighbor's 2 wheel razor, so I'll probably trade the other one in). He is a jabber mouth and always wants to be included and be listened to. When Derek comes home from work it's dada everything. I am so lucky to have such a sweet and spirited little boy and know he'll be a great big brother for the next kid.

On his actual birthday, we got a visit from Gma and Gpa Simmons and Uncle Paul early in the morning to shower him with birthday gifts. He was so excited to open more presents and loved helping to put some of them together.

We then met my family down in San Diego to go on a boat ride with everybody. It was a bit chilly but made for some great snuggle time! (pics to come)

Jack actually shares a birthday with his cousin Sophia (which she's always been SO nice to share parties), so that afternoon we went to the old standby of Chuck-E-Cheese. Jack had a blast! He crawled around in the play structure, loved playing air hockey, and tried a bunch of other games. They shared a birthday cake and opened a few gifts and really had a great time all around.

We decided to extend the party into the weekend and threw him a birthday party for his friends to come too. It was a busy time of year so not a ton of people were able to make it, but most of his favorites did and we all had a GREAT time! We borrowed Jeff and Kjerstin's bouncy house and played at a park near our home. The weather was be-a-u-tiful! I think we all got a bit of a sunburn even!

Unlike his cake experience last year.....he's since had more sugar and aquired a taste for sweet things....he dove right in to his cake.

He got lots of fun toys, but loved his new helmet and skateboard from Mom and Dad. He would not let it go, and loves to carry it around, and even loves wearing his helmet!

Happy birthday Jack! You are the best buddy we could ever ask for!