Birthday Par-tee

Tate's 3rd birthday was golf-themed, and my friend Eleanor at Pink Peppermint Paper created an adorable invitation to set the scene for the "Birthday InviTATEtional"

We planned to set everything up outside because October is supposed to be the driest month in Texas, and the temps are supposed to be nice and comfortable. Supposed to be.

It poured all day the day of his party.

So we called a mulligan and set the golf party up indoors. We declared the backyard a Water Hazard:

And set up the first hole in our entry way.

And holes two and three were down our hallway....

We moved furniture out of the living room and set up a kid-size table inside. I made the banner using scrapbook papers, and I found the "golf ball" poofs at Party City for $1 each.

My sister Nancy made "cake balls" which we put in green pails on the table to look like golf ball buckets. I used turf purchased at Home Depot as a table runner, and the cake was supposed to look like a 3-shaped golf hole.

As the invitation suggested, the kids were playing golf for the coveted "Sippy Cup." So each child got a sippy cup...

....which they were able to personalize and decorate themselves.

The cake and cake balls were a hit with the kids...

As was playing golf....

Each kid took home a set of plastic golf clubs, a personalized "Sippy Cup" trophy, and a sticker that said "I played a round at Tate's 3rd Birthday!"

The rain didn't stop us from having fun with all of Tate's friends!

The next morning was Tate's actual birthday, so we got out the special birthday tablecloth, plate and hat for breakfast with Nanny-sippi who came in for the birthday weekend.

Happy Third Birthday Tate!!

Three Years

Tate turns three today! I put together a video of highlights from his third year...

Reading the Paper

Before leaving for preschool, I found Tate sitting on the couch like this. I asked him what he was doing and, without looking up, he replied "just reading the newspaper."

He was clearly catching up on important current events...

He also has been busting out with some new words and phrases...today he said "something smells scrumptious," and when we were leaving my parents' house he said very properly "Goodbye Mia, I had a great time." ???

Little Slugger

Tate has been obsessed with golf since he could walk, but now baseball is coming in a close second. At my parents' house a couple weeks ago, he started swinging a vacuum attachment at balls tossed to him...and hitting them! We soon found a plastic bat and used the vacuum attachment as a tee (because we were growing tired of tossing the ball) and then it was all over. We couldn't get him to stop, and now all he wants to do is "play ball." Here is some video from the first night...

Tate Words

ResusciTATE

As in, what they had to do to me when I picked up Tate and saw him dressed like this:

I dropped him off at school today in a nice red/navy striped Polo shirt with khaki shorts and Nike sneakers. And THIS is what he looked like when I picked him up. Apparently potty training did not go so well today and I forgot to bring an extra change of clothes. (Outfit courtesy of Tate's teachers. Finger in nose courtesy of Tate.)

Busy Days

With the cooler temps, we've been keeping busy...

We went to the zoo:

Eagerly awaiting the train:

Happy to be on the train!

While on the train, we encountered a sleeping longhorn. Tate kept shushing us every time we'd try to talk because the cow was "sweeping." I got a little bit of the interaction on video. And it kind of makes you wonder who is the adult and who is the toddler....

Then we went to see Nick Jr's Storytime Live show at Verizon Theater with friends Valerie and Hank. The highlight for Tate, though, was wrestling with Hank in the lobby after the show. All the way home he said "Where's Frank?" and when I would say, "you mean HANK?" and he would say "NO, I mean FRANK!!!"

And not pictured from the past weekend are playing miniature golf at Mountasia (I got beat fair and square by Tate!) and hitting home runs over Mia and Big Guy's fence into the wee hours.

It's all enough to make you fall asleep on your feet:

Jackson Visit

We had a Robertson family reunion in Jackson in honor of Poppy's 70th birthday. It had been over a year since all of the Robertson brothers and cousins had been together and it was a...

wagon-pulling...

watermelon sharing...

cousin-enjoying...

photo-bombing...

treasure-hunting...

treasure-finding...

silly-string-shooting...

Father-imitating...

Birthday-toasting...

family-gathering...

...kind of weekend. Happy 70th Birthday Poppy!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

In Jackson for Poppy's birthday, Tate felt compelled to break into song this morning. More to come on the Jackson visit (and Tate's haircut) in a later post...



And, a faster version....

Up'tate'

Some updates on the Tater Tot and us...(for documentation sake):

1. He can fully communicate with us and has no trouble telling us exactly what he wants or how he feels, in words. The flip side is that he also fully understands everything we say and can repeat those things, in words.

2. He loves to dance and won't let anyone else dance until he tells them it's their "tuhn." He ends every dance with a little flourish (I MUST get it on tape) and then takes a bow. We never grow tired of this.

3. He has several imaginary pet dinosaurs, including a baby dinosaur that is usually in his pocket. He also often makes Rob go dinosaur hunting for a dinosaur-that-is-actually-a-globe in my parents' office. They tiptoe through the house and creep up on the dinosaur-that-is-actually-a-globe and then, once they touch it, Tate yells "Let's get outta here Daddy!" and they come running out. He never grows tired of this. (Note I didn't say "we" never grow tired of this.)

4. Speaking of my parents' office, yes, we are still here. We are in the process of buying a foreclosure, so it's taking a while. We were supposed to close last week and it got postponed, so we're now hoping to close this week. In the meantime, Tate has been able to spend a lot of time with Mia and Big Guy, and we have gotten a lot of assistance with taking care of him. We've been spoiled!

5. Oh, and I am now a telecommuter, working remotely and reporting into Memphis. I absolutely love it. I made the change in order to get back the two hours a day I was spending commuting, and also to have more flexibility and time to be home with Tate. I'm grateful to work for such a great company.

6. Because of the telecommuting arrangement, Rob has been doing a lot of the daycare dropoffs and pickups. I learned recently that he has Tate yell something new every day when he runs into his classroom. It started innocently enough with a loud "Hey Friends!" But since then Tate has appeared in the doorway yelling things such as "Waddup Homies!" and "Freedom!" and "Hola Amigos!" I am only documenting this so one day when Tate is in therapy the blame won't all be put on me.

So that's all...a new job, new house and newly independent almost-three year old. We're keeping busy!

And a few pictures...

Getting fingerprinted...

And then getting to sit in the police car...he loves police cars and when he saw one pull someone over one time he asked me why. I said "because they were driving too fast." He then said "Drive fast Mommy! Drive fast!!"

Dancing for a very appreciative audience at the baseball game

Happy Boy! (And no longer a baby...sniff, sniff.)

Spoiled?

So Rob posted this video to Facebook:


And my parents saw it. A few days later, THIS appeared in their backyard:

He's got his grandparents wrapped around his fingers!

Hmm. So what will happen if I post THIS video...

I mean, the kid likes big TVs....I'm just sayin.