Tracker & Royal

I wanted to do the horses last weekend when we did the birthday party, but I think it would have been too much. Jenny wasn't available either so it made today's visit special.

 We met Royal first (he seemed more mellow).

 Mrs. Jenny taught Nathan how to feed a treat to the horses and shared all sorts of other tips.

 Nathan was finally brave enough to let the horse lick the food off his hands.

 Here's Tracker. He was a police horse!

We went out to the corral and Mrs. Jenny got the horses cantering. Nathan was very impressed!

What a good horse!

It was a treat experience.

Papa & Zachy

Papa made a new friend -- Zachy!

Zachy did so good playing and listening. It was fun to see them play together.

 Ride that horsey!

 Zach was proud to climb up and slide down by himself.

Papa & Zach got their picture made together.

YAY!

Two for Tuesday

 

Serious Faces

(and one eating Goldfish!)

 

Silly Faces

All I wanted is a picture of the boys...

It's Birthday Time!

Since we have been counting down the days till his birthday, he awoke excited for the day and what it would hold. Poor Zachy couldn't quite figure out what was going on, but he wasn't going to miss out!

 Since we had a full weekend and lots of eating out, we ate spaghetti for dinner at home. Then it was on to opening gifts who could want anything more?!

 Our neighbors gave Nathan 3 balloons!

 Opening fun gifts from family.

 Super cool bath toy from the Michigan Stevens family

This Matchbox Semi was a steal - 99 cents at Good Will. He loved it! :)

He had already opened the package of cars that we had gotten - I think at breakfast.

Happy Birthday, Nathan!!!

Birthday Balloons

You might not have noticed in the Chuck E. Cheese pictures, but there were two balloons that Nathan had for his birthday. We had found the '5' for less than a dollar at a bargain store and Ms. Lora gave Nathan the horse balloon. He loved it!

 We had to get a picture with Nana & Papa.

 Then I tried to get a good pic of him with the two so that I could use it for a birthday Facebook post.

Look at that special guy! Love him to pieces!

Chuckie E's Birthday

It's not Chuck E. Cheese. According to Nathan it's Chuckie E's. :)

Since the weather can be unpredictable in February, we decided that it would be best to try for a party at a location and since Chuck E. Cheese has pizza it was the logical choice.

 With Mrs. Dana, his teacher

 Watching the birthday video and Chuck E. Cheese visit

 With his friend Guy

 With Hudson

There were four friends who came (with lots of their family members), Nana & Papa, Ms. Lora, and a quick visit from Mrs. Dana. It was a great time and we were so glad that it concluded early enough in the day as it was getting super loud. Nathan got some fun gifts and thought it was a great time. Yay!

Horse Cookie Favors

I had this great idea that I'd do cookie-on-a-stick party favors for Nathan's party on Saturday and for his class on Monday. I studied Pinterest and found all sorts of tips on how to make the dough and how to roll it out to make them the right thickness.

Here is my attempt:

 Using paint sticks - 2 stacked on each side, I rolled the dough to about a 1/2 inch thickness.

Then I used only one of the three horse cookie cutters to make the favors.

Here they are laid out on parchment paper. This was the first time I've baked with parchment paper and boy did it help keep things from not sticking. It's a keeper!

 

 They cooled on the rack before I frosted them.

I didn't get an in-between picture, but I took a sandwich bag and cut a hole in the corner. I outlined each of the horses before then going in with the icing in the middle. This helped keep the icing from running off the edges but boy was it time consuming. It's a good thing I love my son! :)

Needless to say, I made enough cookie favors and then cut out the rest of the dough to make regular cookies to eat after we had the pizza. I'm not sure what Monday's birthday snack will be, but I'm fairly certain it's not going to be these cookies.