Easter in Pearson Farms

March 2013

 

Our neighborhood's social committee does a great job of planning fun holiday celebrations for the kiddos.  The weekend before Easter, they organized an Easter Egg hunt.  The weather in Texas in March can be unpredictable - you saw in my last post about the Frisco Easter egg hunt that everyone was wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts.  This weekend, it was back to coats and jeans.  Everyone waited patiently at the starting line before the hunt:

The big kid side got to go first:

Then Jack was off to the races (with Mommy and Olivia trailing behind):

 

And admiring his treasures:

We even remembered to have someone take a family picture - from a distance, but at least we got one: 

 

This was the first year that Jack was really interested in dying Easter eggs.  Poor Livi, I think we did it during her naptime.  Daddy helped Jack draw on the eggs with a clear crayon before dipping them in the dye: 

Super excited about the finished product!

A Soccer Star is Born!

March 2013

 

As a mom who played soccer from kindergarten through college, I had waited for Jack's first day of soccer practice for a very long time.  This spring was the first time Jack had been old enough to sign-up, and even in the midst of busy season, I managed to get him registered at the YMCA on the very last day of registration for the Spring season.

 

Before the first day of practice, we went out and bought him a brand new size 3 ball, some extra small shinguards that were still too big, and some super cool tall soccer socks and he was ready to go!  He was so excited on the first day to get out there and kick the ball:

The coach, Coach Mark, worked for the YMCA and was really kind and patient with the little ones.  I think he must have been used to coaching kids that were a little older, because sometimes the drills in practice were a little over their heads, which sometimes resulted in chaos, but they always seemed to be having fun, and at this point, that's what matters.  Here they are in the midst of one of those crazy drills -  Sean, Ava, Jack, Lucy and a little boy who didn't like it too well and stopped coming after the first couple of practices :) :

Here's Jack, getting some coaching before his turn - with London, Sean and Lucy waiting patiently for their turns:

At the first practice, they had a very important team decision to make - they needed to pick a team name.  Coach Mark sat everyone down to gather their thoughts and come to a group decision.  All of the girls thought they should be called the Unicorns, while all of the boys voted for Lions. And so the team name was born out of compromise - the Unicorn-Lions!

It looks like little Miss Olivia approves and is having fun cheering on her big brother.  Go Unicorn- Lions!

Let the Easter Egg Hunting Begin!

March 2013

 

We did lots and LOTS of hunting for Easter Eggs this year.  Tommy would probably say too much egg hunting, but I don't think that's possible for Jack.  The first hunt was by far the biggest.  It was held at the soccer fields that surround the FC Dallas professional soccer stadium.  All of the ads touted over 70,000 Easter Eggs and I wouldn't doubt it.  I really liked that they divided the fields by age, so all of the little ones had the opportunity to get some eggs without being trampled by the big kids.  Everyone lined up on the sidelines of the field and waited for the horn to signal that the made dash to the eggs could begin.  This was our view of the field before the hunt began: 

Jack wore his cap and carried his Lightning McQueen basket and was ready to go:

 

Livi didn't do much egg hunting, but was happy to be out in the beautiful weather:

The horn blew and Jack was off!  He's always so careful with the eggs he picks.  I had to hurry him along a little - it doesn't look like there were very many people in this picture...

But in a matter of seconds, it looked like this:

Heading off the field to check out his goodies:

Livi got to play with some of the eggs that Jack had collected:



I love this action shot!

Mommy helped Jack open his eggs to see what he had gotten:

Mhire family tower - Livi, Daddy and Jack!

Finally, completely unrelated to Easter, but around this time, Jack also got very excited about painting.  We went out and bought him some paints, put him in one of Mommy's many Deloitte t-shirts, and let him go to town. 

Voila!  An original Jackson Mhire masterpiece!!

We Have a Walker!

March 2013

As I've alluded to in the past several posts, Olivia had been really close to walking since she was about 9 months old - she may have taken a step here or there, but nothing that I was willing to offically call "walking."  On March 12, I brought Olivia to daycare.  We knew Olivia was close to walking, so each morning I'd stand her up, poin her towards Ms. Irma, and see if she'd take a few steps.  I was lucky on this day because Tommy was out of town, so I pulled out my phone and started recording.  Here she is at 10 months and 12 days old:

 Way to go Livi (and I love the mohawk :) )!

Fun at the Perot Museum

February 2013

 

February 19th marked the end of the busiest time of my last busy season - not quite the end because it seemed that busy season never really ended, just became a little less busy.  Anyway, at least I had most of my weekends back.  The weekend after my client filed its 10-K, my parents drove up to spend the weekend with us.  I can't remember now if they were driving through to somewhere, or just came up for the weekend, but we were glad to have them, especially Jack who has developed quite an affinity for Grandpa and his smoothies and chocolate covered raisins!

 

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science had recently opened in Uptown, and this seemed like the perfect time to check it out.  The building is very cool and modern looking - the glass piece on the outside actually houses an escalator that allows you to look out at downtown on your way to the next floor.  Very cool. 

 

Inside, there's so much to do and see for people of any age.  Jack was so interested in doing anything hands-on.  He even sat and watched a science demonstration with rapt attention for almost half an hour - an amazing attention span for a three-year-old, especially given that the demonstration was clearly designed for kids a few years older than him.  I love the look of concentration on his face - you can just see him learning:

Outside of the kiddie portion of the museum, there wasn't a whole lot for Livi to actually do, but she enjoyed looking:

Of course, there were dinosaurs:

The children's museum was really neat, with lots of hands-on things to do.  Jack spent lots of time in the water area:

And also in the construction area - he could load blocks onto a conveyor belt, or climb up to the top of the structure and drop the blocks down chutes to the ground.  We had a hard time getting him to leave this area:

There was even a little area where Livi could play:

I wanted to go to the food truck park near the museum, but we spent so much time at the museum that we ran out of time.  Looks like we need to take another trip!

Finally, one last photo of Grandpa and Livi.  He always says that Livi is going to rule over her big group of boy cousins, so when he saw this shirt, he had to get it for her. It reads:

 

"And though she be but little, she is fierce"

    -  Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Perfect.

Happy Valentines Day!

February 2013

 

My client was 4 days away from filing it's annual 10-K, the final annual so Valentines Day was a hectic day around the Mhire household.  Somehow, I managed to make it to the store for Valentines Day outfits for the kiddos and pick up a few goodies for them, and I even made it home in time to help Jack prepare his valentines to take into school the next day (Spiderman, of course).

 

We even remembered to take a few photos on Valentines Day morning before heading off to school.  Obviously, Tommy took the pictures - I have to be better about remembering to take the camera and get a few with him in them!

Mommy and her little boy.  His shirt said "Chicks Dig Superheroes."  :)

Little Livi was SO close to walking.  The bow didn't stay on very long, but it sure looked cute while it was on!

Happy Valentines Day everyone! (only 9 months late...)

In the Cold of Winter...

January 2013

 

The first few months of any year are normally been a pretty quiet around the Mhire household.  2013 was no different.  I was buried deep in the middle of another busy season, wondering if it was really worth it, and Tommy was admirably trying to keep the house and the rest of our lives afloat.

 

On February first, Livi had officially been alive for 75% of a year.  She wasn't quite walking yet, but she was getting really close.  Her favorite new tricks were clapping, waving and pointing - super cute!  She was coming down with something on the day of her 9 month doctor's appointment and I think she ended up staying home from school the next day with a fever.  Other than that, and a bad case of exzema on her cheeks, she chekced out perfectly.  Her stats had fallen off in percentage a little, but looking at the rest of the Mhire's, its pretty clear she probably isn't ever going to be the biggest one in her class.

 

Height: 27.5 inches - 50th percentile

Weight: 17 pounds, 12 ounces - 30th percentile

Head: 16.75 inches - 15th percentile.

 

Here's our little Lulu on her 9 month birthday - still not much hair!

Our big boy continued to take swimming lessons, this time from Miss Jen in Extreme Waterbabies.  He continued to improve - his big achievement was earning his jump-turn-swim ribbon for jumpng off the side, turning around under water and swimmng to the side.  Way to go Jack!  I took this picture after his last lesson of the session.  He's holding the water bottle he got, but I couldn't get him to hold up his ribbon:

I did manage to get a few hours away from work on the weekend every once in a while to take a family outing to the park.  Jack liked to ride his bike or scooter and Livi loved to go for a ride:

I love this picture of her enjoying the swings:

Sometimes, they both rode in the wagon: 

 

I didn't get to see too many bathtimes during busy season, but Tommy took lots of pics to share with me.  They both really love their bathtime! 

Bubble beard!! 

All smiles on the changing table after bath: 

Jack recently discovered the iPad.  He hadn't found video games yet, but he loved to watch cartoons on Netflix.  He knows how to type in the password and find the right app.  He even managed add Netflix to the favorites bar at the bottom.  Future tech genius like his Daddy, but sometimes it can be awfully tiring to be so smart...