Jonathan Turns 4!

After Matt's party, we decided to try something a little more low key and closer to home for Jonathan's.  A friend had a party a few weeks earlier that she attended and said was fun for mixed ages.  We jumped on it and hired SC Rookies to meet us at the park by our house.  Jonathan picked a Cars theme for his party.

The cake... it had a bit of an accident on the way over, so one car had to have a wreck.  Good thing it worked with the theme!

Party favors!

The stoplights and cars were a bit easier than the Phineas & Ferb heads.

Prior to the entertainment, the kids played on the playground and had a blast!

The party was a hit!  All of the kids played at their own level and Jonathan fully participated in a group activity!

The birthday boy was having fun!

Throwing!

The big brothers put on a show, and needed some pitching instead of the tee!

A little video to commemorate the fun!  More video!

The obstacle course was fun as well!

Time to end things with a huge parachute!  Did I mention it was freezing cold that day?  Check out the parents, all winterized!

This was definitely the way to go!  After all of the play, the kids had their snacks and cake and then they were able to run off their sugar on the playground before heading home. 

Jonathan's Holiday Performance

Jonathan had his first school performance in early December.  We were a bit curious as to how he would react and how he would perform.  He was a little shy when we first arrived.  But he settled in with his classmates and we went and took our seats.

On stage and ready to perform!

They were pretty adorable up there singing their holiday songs!

Here's a clip of part of the performance.

So Thankful!

Thanksgiving was at our house this year!  We typically trek to Oklahoma to visit Nick's family during Thanksgiving, but this year, we invited them out to our house.  

Angel Tree:

Our visit started out with a little start to the Christmas season!  The Junior Woman's Club that I am a member of supports an Angel Tree every year in downtown.  The tree was decorated the night Nick's parents arrived.  So, we headed there with the boys and met Nick downtown for dinner.

The boys put on ornaments along with all of the other children there.

They each picked an ornament with the information of a child to donate to for Christmas.  I don't know that they fully understood what was happening, but it's a good start for when they do.

The grass outside the community center is like a magnet for chase!  They started chasing each other and it translated to chasing Pawpaw!

We drove down to the pier for dinner, where we met Nick.

More chasing

Chase with Pawpaw!

Watch out, Matt!

Time for Dinner!

Pines Park:

The next day, we drove to Dana Point and took everyone to the playground!

Love my boys!

More chasing!

Somehow we managed to escape pictures of our Thanksgiving meal.  It was delicious, but I must give most of the credit to my mother-in-law!  She did some great work as usual!  While everyone took their Thanksgiving naps, the boys and I made some homemade whipped cream for pumpkin pie!

I think they liked it!

Birthday weekend!

We were getting close to Matt's birthday and Thanksgiving and we invited Grandma to join us for some of the festivities before Nana & Pawpaw arrived for Thanksgiving.  

Grandma read them bedtime stories during her visit and was able to stay for the party too!

Matt wanted his party somewhere fun, full of lots of things to do.  I think we found it!  We had it at Pump It Up and Matt was so excited!  

Here are the boys watching the safety video.  Can you tell, Nick was really into it?

Continuing the Phineas & Ferb theme from Halloween, we got Matt a Perry the Platypus shirt for the occasion.

Having fun yet?

Looks like little brother was having some fun too!

Who's driving that car?  It's our sweet neighbor Parker!

I had to take a break from the party and make sure things were going okay with the cake and snacks!  I also had to put the finishing touches on Matt's cake.  

Matt and I brainstormed about the tree for a while, and I think it turned out much like we planned!  Nothing like a Milky Way with a cupcake on top, decorated to make a tree!  He wanted a fence too, but since I am not a professional baker, and we already went a bit beyond my capabilities, I had to stop him there.

Back to the party room!  Nick took a few turns on the big slide!

The gang took a group picture before they headed in for snacks and cake.

The silly pic!

Matt wanted so badly to play something like pin the tail on the donkey, so he and I brainstormed and got creative again.  I helped him draw the pic for the game and he painted it.

Little did we know, he loves the royal treatment!  He didn't leave the chair until the party was over.

Party favors, oh my!

Yes, Mommy went a bit overboard and not only made the cake, but because of the them, insisted there be theme related cookies as favors.  Well, there aren't Phineas & Ferb cookie cutters, so what did the over the top mommy do?  I made them!  

Everything turned out great in the end, but I think this was the beginning of my putting an end to the big birthday celebrations!  I need someone to reign me in and get me under control before the birthday season hits the Trevino house again.  Please hold me to my word!  I don't mind adding cute things, thematic details, or making a cake... I just need it to be a bit lower key so I can keep my sanity!  ;)

Pretend City

The boys love Pretend City, and one day we swung in there to play!

They got really into the construction this visit.

Making sure the walls were sturdy!

Could this be teamwork?

Putting in the pipes for the bathroom on the other side.

I talked the boys into going in the gym area for a group activity.  The were really resistant and it seemed to take forever for their turn, but they hung in there and had some fun!

Driving a car (and making an unusually loud squeaking sound on the steering wheel!)

Playing with the water and discovering currents is fun!

More construction!