Graham's Big Day

We had a great time celebrating Graham-Bo's birthday this year.  We were still relatively new to the Phoenix scene, so the partying possey was small, but we had a fun day.  

We found out early on that military gets in free to the Science Museum.  I took the kids on my own before school started and it just so happened to be on a day that was free for everybody.  Not cool.  Super crowded.  But, Graham really wanted to go back and I was excited to try it again on a slower day, so our day was planned.  We hit a McDonald's with a play place for lunch and then made our way to the museum.  

Here's Graham workin' it on the pulley system.  

I honestly think that Jason had the most fun out of all of us.  Here he is building a bridge with the huge Legos.  

Jason and I went head to head on the wheelchair race.  

I love his cheesy grin.  It's almost as big as the Lego dude's!

Graham was excited to bring his new friend, John, along.  He's in his kindergarten class at school and is in our ward, too.  

This is the best part of the museum.  There's a whole area devoted to water.  I wish I would have gotten a few more pictures.  Again, Jason had a fabulous time.  

We came home and enjoyed some brownies and ice cream.  As you can see, I go all out in the decorating department.  Yes, that's a number 6.

I sure love this guy.  I love that he was as happy as can be with his little party, even though he talked and planned many different grand celebrations in the weeks leading up to his special day.  He thought it was all so much fun and enjoyed every minute.  

What the Frog?

I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but, we have a pet.  I'm pretty anti-animals, generally speaking, so this is a big deal at the Ray house.  It all happened so quickly and so innocently.  

It all started when Lucy came home from school about a month ago.  As soon as we dropped off the kids in our carpool, the tears began flowing.  She and a bunch of kids in her class had been catching these tiny frogs at recess (not sure why there were tiny frogs everywhere....we're new to Arizona)  They caught like 15 frogs and Lucy had convinced herself that she was going to bring a couple home.  Well, her teacher "loves animals" and "took them all away to keep for herself".  Mrs. Pontarelli claims she took them home, but Jason and I are convinced she fed them all to her snake.  

Anyways, I thought the saga of the frogs would end there.  No such luck.  A few days later, her teacher took all of the kids out and let them catch more frogs.  They caught over 50 frogs!  She then proceeded to tell her students to go home and ask their parents if they can bring some home (I'm sure she wanted to keep them all to feed her snakes, but Lucy begged for some and she relented).  Well, as you can imagine, Lucy came home and proceeded to explain her plans.  She had the money to pay for the aquarium, the food, the dirt, the fun little froggy pool.  She must have caught me on a "Parenthood is on tonight" kind of day, because I said okay.  

So, we waited for Jason to get home (he was absolutely, positively shocked that I consented) and we went to PetSmart and got the gear.  She took the gear to school the next day and came home with not two frogs as we discussed, but three.  "I had to get one for me, one for Graham, and one for Lucy", she explained.  

So, here are the kids, admiring their new found friends.  

I love this one of Benny.

Lucy named hers Paisley, Graham's is Twizzle, and Benny's is Poopy Pants (he had a little help in the naming department).