Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween 2009

Tate was a seal for Halloween this year. I thought this was a cute and 'normal' outfit compared to my original plans and previous years. However, we still got a lot of "You ain't right" comments....

Here he is at the "Trunk or Treat" at Bear Creek Elementary. I taught him to clap his hands and bark like a seal.


At a Halloween party at Buz and Cobina's, he and Uncle Frank had a lot of fun playing together.

A happy seal pup and his dad!

As a side note: I tried to get Rob to agree to go as a "family of seals" to the costume party, but he wouldn't agree. I wanted to wear a big gold foil circle (aka "seal of approval") and I wanted Rob to wear a tight black t-shirt and jeans and carry a microphone (aka the singer Seal). Oh well. Maybe next year...

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Two Years Old



Tate is two. Wow. A few pairs of Tate's favorite things right now....

His favorite two sayings:
1. "I did dit!" -- he says this after doing just about anything...picking up his toys, climbing onto the couch, showing me his artwork from school.
2. "Okay!" -- This is his new favorite word and he says it very enthusiastically anytime we ask him to do something.


His favorite two friends:
1. Emerson -- a little girl at school. Her birthday was a few weeks ago and he sings "Happy Birthday dear Emerson" over and over.
2. Ani -- a little boy at school. His teacher says Ani and Tate like to play together all the time. When she pulls out the non-Montessori toys in the afternoon, they always pick the cars and share with each other.

His favorite two songs:
1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
2. The Happy Birthday song.

His favorite two toys:
1. "Choo Choo" table -- he wakes up and says "choo choo" first thing and points toward our game room.
2. Cozy Coupe -- he drives this all over our house and always parks it carefully in the same place every night. When he leaves for school, he gives the car a hug and kiss and says "Bye Bye Cah!"


His favorite two things:
1. "Ah panes" (airplanes) -- he spots them way before we ever see them.
2. "Ig Tuck" (big truck) -- he thinks 18-wheelers are way cool.

His favorite two activities:
1. Playing golf.
2. Playing chase.

And at his two year appointment this week, he had the following measurements:

Height - 34.5 inches (50%)
Weight -- 28.2 lbs (50%)
Head -- 20 inches (90%


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Tate Airways Flight 1024

Tate's second birthday party "took off" this past Saturday as approximately 10 young passengers and their carry-on parents joined us for an airplane theme party.

First, the invitations were sent out to look like boarding passes:


My friend Eleanor at Pink Peppermint Paper did all of the creative and design work, and she is fabulous! She designed the "Tate Airways" logo that says "Flying High Since 2007."

We sent the invitations in red envelopes with a tie closure to look like travel documents. The return address said "Tate Airways" and we printed "Important Travel Documents Enclosed" in a stamp font on the envelope to make it look official.

The location was Founders Plaza, which is an observation area at DFW airport where you can watch planes take off and land. I called the airport for permission and was told they never had a birthday party there before! But it's one of Tate's favorite spots to visit, so we thought it would be enjoyed by his friends as well.



A banner I printed at FedEx Office greeted guests to our picnic area.



Pink Peppermint also designed "Baggage Check" and "Baggage Claim" signs for the gifts and favor bags. The airport doesn't allow you to bring extra tables to the picnic site, so I used pieces of luggage to hold the gifts and favor bags.





My sisters both wore white shirts and black pants to look like TSA security. I gave them badges that said "TSA: Tate's Super Aunts."




For lunch, we served Lunchables. Not only was it easy for a picnic setting, but the packaging looks like airplane trays! I also had individual packages of pretzels, because, you know, that's what you get on airplanes. My sister cut out placemats in the shape of white clouds for the blue tablecloth.



We had some airplane theme toys for the kids to play with.


Cousin Blake brought his own seat. I guess he didn't want to ride 'coach' with the rest of the party-goers at the picnic table!

Note that cousin Blake came dressed in an appropriate "wing man" shirt to serve as Tate's sidekick!


The cake. Um yeah. It was made out of cupcakes and was supposed to be in the shape of an airplane. I'm not so sure. And I picked it up on the way to the party and didn't even notice that Tate's name was spelled "Take." Luckily my Mom did a quick fix on it to correct it.



For the favors, I ordered white bags that look like air-sickness bags (aka "barf bags.) The stickers were done by Pink Peppermint Paper and say "We're Sick to See You Go. On behalf of our captain and flight crew, thanks for flying Tate Airways."

Inside the bags we had rubber ducks dressed like pilots, a glider plane, little plastic parachute men and individual luggage tags for each guest.

After the party, we sent thank you notes from "Captain Tate Robertson."



We had a great time, and the birthday boy loved every minute of watching the "ah panes" land with his friends!



Friday, October 23, 2009

Anniversary


In honor of our 10th anniversary, I made a photo book for Rob. Here is a sampling of some of the goofier (aka my favorite) pictures that I put in it....

My 25th birthday when I was given a tiara and scepter. Rob's face says it all.


Rob's first visit to Billy Bob's after we moved to Texas. This was our Christmas card picture in 2006.


A Christmas party at Rob's apartment in Oxford our senior year. For some reason we were dancing in his kitchen.


Our first Halloween together. We didn't dress up.


Happy Anniversary Rob! Now, on to Tate's birthday tomorrow...

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Disney World

I'm finally recovering from our trip to Disney World last week...before you think I lost my mind taking a two-year-old to Disney, please note that (1) I was already going for work; (2) Tate is still under 2 years old and flies free and gets in the park free; (3) My parents are awesome and agreed to come as well so they could watch Tate while I was working. (Rob went to Oxford for Alabama game). But all that being said, yes, you would be right if you think I lost my mind taking a two-year-old to Disney.

But he had a blast and so did we. Some pics:
Loving his Pluto balloon animal at the Friday-night carnival

Trying the Ring Toss


Now THIS is a carnival game that Tate can win at. Pick a Duck!

Then it was on to Disney....

Jazz Hands!


Looking cool with Big Guy


Cheesin it up in the Mouse ears...

...and on the Carousel


Getting driving lessons from Big Guy. Hmmm. Big Guy usually points only one finger at the people in front of him, not his whole hand...


Tuckered out. Just like the Rebs were that afternoon.

After Disney, we headed to my cousin Beth's house for dinner with Beth's family, cousin Meg and her son Penn, and Uncle Howard and Aunt Trisha, who gave Tate this car holder (and he hasn't stopped playing with it since.)


After watching a pitiful Ole Miss loss to Alabama, Tate headed to cousin Hunter's room and came out wearing this:
It's a Florida helmet. We can't really blame him.

Then, the cousins came to the hotel on Sunday to swim in the Lazy River. Tate clearly had a blast with Hunter, Beth and Sarah Beth!



And then we headed home on Sunday. I don't have any pictures of our flight home because I didn't have time to take any due to my constant efforts to peel Tate off the floor of the airplane where he kept hurling himself screaming and crying. Yes, we were your worst flying nightmare.

But despite that ending, it was a great time and Tate loved hanging out with his Big Guy and Mia!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Happy Columbus Day


Happy Columbus Day! Note the applique on Tate's jon jon. Did I say I was going to stop dressing him for the holidays when he turned 1? Oops. I meant 2. So I have two more weeks...


Friday, October 2, 2009

Tate Words


IMITATE





I dressed Tate. Rob dressed himself. Looks like it was just a red and blue Polo kind of day.