Jack Turned 5

Jack had a pretty great birthday, and he was able to celebrate for 4 days straight.  Not bad, right?

Because another kid had claimed the closest school day as their day to bring a birthday treat, Jack brought his treat to preschool 3 days early.  What did he want to share with the class?  Tomatoes and doughnut holes.  I wasn't able to be there, which was really sad for me.  (It was the first time one of my kids could bring a birthday treat to school, since Cat has a summer birthday.)  Jack loved bringing the treats to share, and everyone was excited about the doughnut holes.  Jack's teacher said there was even a child who wanted some tomatoes.

The next day, Saturday, we had our family birthday party.  He wanted a Thomas birthday (except for the Cars napkins he picked out).  We celebrated early as a family because Ben left Sunday morning to go out of town for a few days.  It was a fun little party, complete with wonderful gifts from loved ones.

On Sunday, the day before his birthday, the Primary kids sang to him and he loved it.  He also received a cool "I Am a Child of God" bottle cap necklace as a birthday gift.  (In case you're wondering, no, I didn't bring all of the kids to Church myself with a 12-day-old baby.  Our home teacher kindly agreed to take the big kids so I could stay home with Luke.)

Then, on his actual birthday, I tried to do a few small things to make it special.  I didn't do a lot, since I had such a little baby and Ben was out of town, but I managed a couple of things.  I made number pancakes for breakfast.  Jack got a 5, so of course the girls needed numbers for their ages too.

This is how Jack dressed himself for the day.  Backwards polo shirt, both legs in one side of a pair of soccer shorts.  I helped him get straightened out before we left the house.

In lieu of an actual party, we asked some friends to meet us at our neighborhood park for a playdate, and they were all able to come!  We all just ate lunch together and the kids played for a little while, then we shared cupcakes, and Jack was surprised with some gifts too.  It was a fun morning, all the more special because we knew we would all be parting ways in the coming weeks.

A friend brought dinner to us that night.  When she asked me what Jack wanted for his birthday dinner, I asked Jack and he said, "cupcakes, ice cream, and French fries."  He got two out of the three - our friend brought over hot dogs and fries for dinner, and I still had a few cupcakes left, so we ate them for dessert.  I let the kids decorate them themselves.  Sprinkles, anyone?

Then we blew up some balloons and the kids ran around playing with them for a while before bed.  Luke didn't participate in the balloon play, but Eliza made sure he felt included.

Birthday Love!

It's been a treat to see Jack grow and mature over the last year, partly because of his age, but I think also largely because of loving and patient Primary teachers, and a truly wonderful experience at preschool.  I've written before about how Jack has become more curious, more observant, and more confident since going to preschool.  It's been amazing.  

Jack is such a special kid and he continues to capture more and more of my heart.  He is amiable, funny, spunky, and the most cuddly of my three big kids.  (In an effort to represent him fairly, I'll say that he is also the most clumsy, the most ants-in-my-pantsy, and the most absent-minded of the three big kids.)

Jack blesses my life daily.  I'm so glad that Jack is who he is, and that he's part of our family.

I hope you had a great birthday, Big Guy!

Orange Otters

Cat had a wonderful time playing soccer last year.  She is fast, aggressive, and good at scoring goals. The season ended shortly after Luke was born, so we were able to attend her last game as a family, which was really cool.

We haven't joined a soccer team yet, with all of the craziness of the last 6 weeks, but if she gets to play in the spring, she will be in the next higher league which means (drum roll please) playing assigned positions during games.  Whoa!  She's really excited about that.  It will be fun to see her learn the next level of the game.

Today

After a month of searching, we have finally found the house we will be living in for at least the next year.  Yeah!  We will move everything in on Wednesday, but today we got the key and were able to bring a few things down from my aunt's house.  It was pretty exciting.

Cat and Jack hadn't seen the house before, so they had a great time exploring.  And they wasted no time putting away the books and toys we'd brought with us.  (Actually, Jack isn't cleaning.  He's just playing with the cars.)

After dropping off our load, we came back to my aunt's house for the last night and Ben made a big delicious shrimp dinner for us.

We are really looking forward to moving into our own place again.  We moved away 2 1/2 months ago and we're ready to be settled.

We are so appreciative to my aunt, who let us take over her basement for the last month while we looked for a place to live.  It was a huge blessing in our lives, and even though this was a stressful time, it could have been even more stressful had my aunt not opened her home to us.  (Thank you, thank you, thank you for putting up with the noise and the messes and all of the extra stuff in the refrigerator.)

Everyday Stuff - April 2013 Edition

Cat really enjoyed reading about dinosaurs.

Oops.

10 Days before Luke was born, Ben and I were very touched that we received a
brand new car seat for the baby, from an unknown benefactor.

It came with the added bonus of a new playhouse for the big kids.

During a walk in the neighborhood, Eliza picked some flowers buds in a neighbor's yard.

After our walk, we came back to the house to find a family of garden snakes slithering
around our driveway.  There were 4 in all.

Cat decided she needed an additional piece of furniture in the
downstairs bathroom so that she could have a place to spread out
her hair accessories and tools.

Drawing pictures for Mema and Papa's upcoming visit,
Eliza drew a rainbow while Jack drew monsters.

We placed Jack's and Eliza's pictures, complete with captions, on a wall of the room
Mema and Papa stayed in so they had a bit of decoration.  And entertainment.

I'm beginning to think this child will never tire of playing with trains.

I was finally able to attend a "Show What You Know" morning assembly at Cat's school.
The 2nd Graders sang a song about rocks (below) and I recorded it, but the sound didn't
work for some reason.  I was glad to be able to attend, though!

I found this list of rules for "Cat's and Eliza's Room House" pinned to a 

board in their room.  It also contains consequences for each broken rule, 

and a place where Cat can mark how many strikes the offender receives.

Dot painting.

After everyone had finished their meals at McDonald's, Eliza still had quite a bit left.  So she
decided to take it all with her - the drink, hamburger, pack of apples, and toy.

The kids love it when we let them wash the windows of the car at gas stations.

The last picture is my favorite - that was my view of Eliza trying to wash the window

while I was inside the car.

Ben has had a couple of shooting sessions with the kids, using his Red Ryder BB Gun.

He's been teaching them how to use it, and Cat is getting pretty good at it.

Jack is saying "hi" to Mema and Papa, who are on Sype
(two weeks before they came to UT to visit us.)

Did you know you can sharpen a pen in a pencil sharpener?

Cat's teacher was cleaning out her cabinets and came across a Walkman,
which Cat was thrilled to receive.  I dug out a small box of cassette tapes
and found one tape of Muppets songs, half of which I'd recorded over at some point,
and a tape of songs inspired by Prince of Egypt, both of which the kids listened to.
The kids loved using the Walkman, to the point that they fought over it,
so I then started letting one of them use my Discman.  (Yes, my original Discman
from high school, and it still works, and it is still used occasionally.)  In the above
picture, Jack is using the Walkman, and Eliza is listening to the Discman.

Cat's school had a Dress Like Your Favorite Character Day, and Cat chose to dress
up as Ramona Quimby.  Her shirt says "ROMONA."

Jack's class had a unit on insects and he came home with a giant ant.

April 15th, 2013: Jack's last opportunity to eat snow.

Photographer: Jack

Photographer: Jack

Photographer: Cat

Photographer: Unknown

Photographer: Unknown

My grandparents were passing through town when Luke was a week old,

so they stopped by to meet the little guy.  I was thrilled to be able to introduce them

and we had a wonderful little visit.

We interrupt our regularly schedule blog posts to bring you this important message.

Eliza got new boots.

She picked them out all by herself, and would not be deterred.

She tells everyone that they glow, but they don't.  They merely sparkle.  Beautifully I might add.  She also loves that they go "clomp clomp" when she walks.

We thought she would probably sleep in them the first night we had them, but she decided to merely place them beside her pallet.

They make me smile.  And so does that adorable little blonde girl.