Sports...and other things

For Hagen's birthday we got him the ESPN Better Batter toy. He first played with it at Sam's house and he LOVED it. He can hit a ground ball from the patio to the fence - he's pretty good for a little guy. Emily told me this toy is supposed to be better than normal tee ball for teaching kids how to bat because of the way the ball hangs from the tether. And yes, he is wearing his winter Thomas hat while he bats. That's his batting helmet. :-) At least he's using actual batting gloves and not the matching mittens.

Hagen is enrolled in a weekend soccer class with his friend Sam from school. The boys have SO much fun in this class! They are totally on their own during class and do a great job listening to Coach Kendra (and getting out lots of energy!). It's a really neat class and I think Hagen loves that he gets to play more with Sam. Some of the pictures are a little blurry but that shows they are constantly moving. Haha.

The other weekend we went to the Dallas Zoo with our next-door neighbors. Liisa is about 9 months younger than Hagen and they have been developing a good friendship. We had a lot of fun and it was neat to see Hagen and Liisa enjoying the zoo together. When we were leaving, Hagen wanted to walk with Amr (Liisa's dad) and it was really cute how he reached for Amr's hand.

After the zoo we went to eat lunch at the McDonald's that is next to the zoo. It's really cool because it's a zoo theme and even has sound effects (that sometimes make you jump!). Hagen and Liisa played afterward in the kids' area.

That afternoon we went to my boss' daughter Emma's 3rd birthday party. It was at My Gym in Frisco and it was really fun! Hagen is always a little hesitant about things like this and he didn't do all the things the other kids did, but he had fun climbing on some things and playing basketball. The kids all had a great time and it was a lot of fun.

The birthday girl being brought out to "Girls Just Want to Have Fun".

Emma in the special birthday swing.

Random pictures of me and Hagen. He was "reading" to me - lately Hagen reads his goodnight books to us and we listen. :-)

Here is a video of Hagen batting.

Happy 3rd birthday, Hagen!

Hagen turned 3 on May 22. We had his birthday party the weekend before. Hagen requested a "strawberry Rocket cake" and Grandmommie delivered beautifully, as usual! She spent all week working on the Rocket cake and it was so perfect I didn't want to cut it! Hagen was very happy. He had a Little Einsteins themed party and I had the show's song running through my head the whole time I was putting up streamers and balloons...

Opa and Oma bought Hagen a really cool McQueen bicycle and it was given to him at the end of the party after most everyone had left. We opened the family's presents after our guests left since toddlers' attention spans run out after a little while. Grandmommie and Granddad got Hagen an art easel and a really nice stuffed giraffe from Fossil Rim.

On Hagen's actual birthday, we met Grandmommie and Granddad in Frisco at Stonebriar Mall to take Hagen ice skating for the first time. Hagen wasn't a big fan...he let Shawn put the skates on his feet, and he was fine when Shawn first carried him onto the ice. When Shawn attempted to put Hagen on the ice, however (I was still putting my skates on), I heard this scream from the ice. Alas, the birthday boy did NOT like the feeling of being on the ice with his skates. Luckily there were only a few other people on the ice - it was a good time to go. Hagen spent the rest of the time sitting with Grandmommie, watching me, Shawn and my dad skate around. We tried a couple more times to get him to come out but he didn't want to, so we didn't push it. I asked him if he wanted to just step on the ice with his shoes on and he said no. My mom said she would try it, and Hagen put up his hand to hold her back and said, "No, Grandmommie, you'll get hurt". Mom was quite moved by that display of concern. Oh, before we went skating, we went to the StarsCenter in Frisco to get Hagen's skates sharpened. Ed Belfour was on the ice with his son, who was decked out in goalie equipment. I told Hagen who Eddie Belfour is and we went over and watched for a few minutes. We waved to the Eagle and he waved back. Very cool. :-)

After skating, we went to Gattitown in Frisco. We played lots of games and it was really fun.

Shawn and I played Guitar Hero to Poison's "Talk Dirty to Me". Dad got a hold of my camera and took some shots of us. We totally rocked.

Tired boy after a long day of partying. :-)

I have more pictures to post but Blogger is not cooperating, so I'm done for now. More to come later!