Dallas & Malachi: April 2009

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Calvary Deployment - Abe's Departure

Thursday Abe's wife, Leslie, put together a little party so that friends new and old could just hang out with 'the trio' before they departed for Afghanistan.

Several of us from the office attended to hang out with our dear friend before his year long journey.

On Friday the State put on a very formal ceremony at the Mandalay Bay. It was a beautiful ceremony. There were several congressional speakers as well as military. Several speeches brought tears to my eyes. I think the one thing that shot me straight into water works though was when they asked all the children of the soldiers to go down on the floor. It killed me to see all those lil ones watch their daddies or mommies leave them.

After the formal part, they released the soldiers to mingle with their families and friends. Then they brought out his gigantic cake decorated to look like a tank. It was awesome!!! The top rotated and everything!

Unfortunately, Abe is not my only friend to be leaving. One of my former leaders who is now the Command Sergeant Major of the Calvary is going. A former co-worker that would do the SOAR camps with me is going. My dear friend Todd, who I watch football with nearly every Sunday, is going too. There are several others that I know and they ALL will remain in my thoughts and prayers every single day.

Easter Weekend

On the Saturday before Easter, the huge park by my house had a Easter egg hunt for all of the kids. On top of that the Easter bunny was there to take pictures with and Sonic was giving away breakfast burritos, french toast sticks, and orange juice. So while we waited for Chi's age group's hunt to begin, we helped ourselves to some breakfast. Malachi loved his burrito!

Then we got ready for the hunt. There were easily over one hundred kids there and that was just for the under 4 age group. Since Chi and I aren't rude, pushing and shoving, and taking more than what we need, Chi just got 3 eggs. But that was plenty. Inside the eggs were Sonic coupons for ice cream and hamburgers.

After the hunt we headed over to where the music was and Chi couldn't help himself to a little dancing.

After we were done at the park, Chi ran some errands with me. While at one of the stores, Chi decided to try a few items on.

Sunday morning after Chi dissected his Easter basket, I told him that there were Easter eggs hidden all over the yard for him to find. Malachi interpreted this as a treasure hunt and just had to put on his pirate costume.

He found them in the flowers and by the barbecue... they were everywhere!

The rest of the afternoon was quietly spent playing I Spy, Old Maid, Go Fish, Crazy Eights, and then we watched a couple movies. It was great quality son and mom time.

Just before we ended the evening with homemade chili and cornbread, Malachi practiced riding his skateboard. He did really well but will definitely need to practice a lot more.

Late Birthday Present for Malachi

Justin ordered a very special present for Malachi's birthday that ended up coming a few days late. The Monday after Chi's birthday party Justin finally received it in the mail. That evening after dinner, Chi asked if he could put on his pirate costume. I said yes, and then nudged Justin that this would be a good time to give him his gift. Justin ran outside to his car and then strategically placed the gift in the front yard. Justin then came inside and asked the now Captain Malachi if he wanted to go on a treasure hunt. Of course Chi agreed and off they went. They were gone for about 30 minutes. Apparently they took a journey around the neighborhood. Malachi came running in... "Look mom!! Look what we found! We found a treasure chest!!" He was soooo excited and loves his little treasure chest that even came with a lock and key. What a fun night.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Videos from Malachi's Birthday - Don't Want to Miss These!!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Malachi's 4th Birthday

This year I decided to go all out on Malachi's birthday. This was the first year that he fully comprehended the concept of a birthday and looked forward to it. A matter of fact, he had asked me just about every day for the past month, "is it my birthday today? is it tomorrow? am I 4 yet?" That's also about the time I started planning and preparing for Malachi's birthday. It was actually Malachi's idea for the birthday theme. Malachi came to me one day once he found out that his birthday was on horizon and told me that he wanted dress up as batman for his birthday. My thoughts were, why not? So I took his idea and blew it up and with a little help from some other parents who were nice enough to post in forums about their successful birthday parties thrown. I decided that we would have a super hero party and all the kids could wear super hero costumes.

The the invitations are what really got me motivated. I put the batman emblem on front of invitation with top secret document imprinted and then on the inside it read:

(in case anyone wants to use the idea - it was sooo cute!)

Do you think you have the skills that are vital to be a Super Hero League (SHL) member? I think you do! I, Malachi, am inviting you to my secret super hero training facility to see if you have what it takes to become a super hero. The fortress of solitude is conveniently located at Mountain's Edge Exploration Park, just 1 mile north of the bat cave. Training begins at 1500 hours on April 5th. Please come in you super hero uniform and be prepared to work hard. PS Since telepathy is not one of my powers please call my super mom aka Dallas XXXX to RSVP at 702-XXX-XXXX.

PPS If your arch nemesis has stolen your uniform just tie a pillow case around your neck and use your mom's mascara to make a mask.

I hand made super hero metals for all of Malachi's birthday guests and attached them to their gift bags. They were a big hit! Malachi had fun helping me pass them out after we played games.

I got a pretty darn awesome cake from Sam's Club. They were a great sport and helped me by themeing the cake with super heroes. I had the main cake decorated in Batman, Malachi's favorite.

Here's the star of the party... none other than BATMAN aka Malachi!!! with my mama, the real super mom!

Malachi had lots of guests and they all looked so adorable in their costumes. Introducing......

Super Woman aka Brooke...

Superman aka Cody...

Lil Batgirl aka Kaylin...

Pink Batgirl made an appearance aka Miss Ashley...

My cousin's kiddos were able to make it. I love these lil men, Aiden and Cameron...

Wonder Woman aka Miss Kaitlin...

Super Baby Parker even made an appearance. I even got to see the lil man awake!

Malachi got several GREAT gifts and no duplicates, which is always a bonus. He got everything from batman toys, costumes, and cars to musical instruments, books and educational toys.

My sister got Malachi his very first mini skateboard. Thank goodness he got knee and elbow pads to go along with. My mom was already teaching him how to do tricks (my mom was quite the skateboarder back in her day). My thoughts were, can he just learn how to skate on it first without falling?

ARRR! Me Harty! ~ Malachi got a cool pirate costume that he almost immediately traded in for batman. Justin and he have this almost weird bond when it comes to pirates. It's very cute!

After we cleaned up and got everything home, Malachi started to go through and play with a lot of his new things. I, on the other hand made myself a drink and had some much needed put my feet up adult time. Justin however joined Malachi in the fun.

Adults winding down after a fun filled birthday.

Captain Malachi playin a lil jig on his new birthday guitar.

The day was wonderful. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

30 Days of Malachi - Day 30

Rockin' out to my ipod in the back seat. This is my strategy to record him singing... he just doesn't know it yet. So big my lil man has got. (3-6-09)