Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Opening day is literally days away... And let me tell you; we are ready! The Mavs are on a roll (great OT win tonight over Memphis), but we are ready for some baseball. Our little man loves his baseball hats, too. He has his own Mavs hat, but I haven't been able to get a good picture of that yet. But let me tell you, he looks absolutely adorable!

He likes wear my Red Sox hat, but he also likes Kendall's Longhorns hat.

Who YOU lookin' at, foo'?

I believe this is his serious face...

He also enjoys putting the hats on other people. Auntie Ninnie got to be his mannequin one night when she came for visit.

So proud of his handy work!

We are looking forward to taking him to some games this season. Last year he went to one and did quite well. He didn't fall asleep until the 6th inning! ;)

Timeless Theatrics

A movie I cherished as a child was this:

I searched for it last year before Christmas because I wanted to get it for Ayden. He loves Mickey Mouse (what kid doesn't) and he absolutely LOVES classical music (Little Einsteins, anyone?) Much to my dismay, I could not find this movie anywhere. I then learned it was in the Disney Vault. What is that you ask? Basically, Disney puts movies in the 'vault' after only selling them for a short time. Every few years or so they release them for a limited time. Stupid vault. ;)

So how excited was I to find out that our friends the Parkhills had a copy? And they were willing to give it to us? Super excited! When Ayden and I got home yesterday I popped in Fantasia. And he loved it! Well, the first 45 minutes or so. He sat in his chair and just watched. Every now and then he would look over at me and I would smile. He would in turn smile back, turn back to the movie, and begin nodding his head to the music! Have I mentioned how much I adore that boy?

Happy birthday, Frank Buck Zoo

St. Patrick's Day happened to be Frank Buck Zoo's birthday. And what does that mean? $1 ADMISSION!!!

We decided to take advantage of this opportunity and went with Aunt Jennifer, Cole, Grayden and Ella. And who would've guessed: we were not the only ones with this idea! There was a line to get in! The zoo opens at 10, so we thought we would let the kids play at the park for a bit before going. Jennifer got there about 9:30 and she said there was a line already started. The weather that day was supposed to warm up, so I didn't bring a jacket for Ayden or myself, but he was in jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Needless to say, it decided to warm up after we left the park. Poor Ayden was shivering by the time we left. We had to warm up in the gift shop!

This was really his first time to be at the park while walking well, so he was all over the place! This is mainly because Cole was all over the place, and where Cole goes, so shall Ayden.

The older kids wanted to ride the train. This was Ayden and my first time to ride the express. A free bit of advice: Don't ride when the temperature is in the 40s.

Ayden was excited at first, but this quickly subsided. Once we crossed the first crossing, he was in my lap. The crossings have bells that sound like old school fire alarms, and apparently he does not enjoy that sound. He would calm down once we got passed, but after the second one he tells me, "I off, Mama." I, of course, couldn't oblige him since we were on a moving train. He decided he would try Aunt Jennifer and wanted to got back to her in the row behind us. I don't think he was to pleased with her not appeasing him, either! ;)

Once in the zoo, Ayden again was all about following the big kids. At one point I told him, "Follow the kids", just trying to get him to keep moving. Well, I didn't take into account the fact there were TONS of kids everywhere. So when I turn around, this is what I see:

He just found a random group of people and decided he was going to follow them. Don't worry, he didn't get far before I caught up with him.

Ever try to get a group picture with four kids 5 and under?

Do funny faces prove relation?

And here are some of the animals.

I got a new camera in January (thanks to all who contributed to my camera fund for Christmas). However, it is quite advanced and I don't always get great pictures due to operator error. When I bought it, I got free classes to learn how to use it but I haven't had a chance to got to any of them yet. I took many more pictures than these, but they were blurry. This was also Ayden's second trip to the zoo, so I will post about that in another update.