A Knight Birthday Party!!

Charlie finally had his birthday party last Saturday(Dec 10th) after having it postponed from the previous Saturday. All the kids (6)  came and it was completely wild. I thought that it would be fine since we invited TEN kids last year but I failed to take into consideration that four of them were girls and these were ALL boys. Anyway, lesson learned.

Seth built these awesome catapults out of popsicle sticks for each boy (a little hot glue too). The boys decorated them with markers and then shot the castle with mini-marshmallows. This was the highlight of the party and Seth deserves a lot of credit. He still can’t use his left thumb and has it in a sling/brace.

We did a relay game where we split them up into two teams. At one end were cups with a marked line on the side and the other end had a huge bowl of water. Using tablespoons they had to take turns racing back and forth trying to fill their cup up to the line. When the team finally reached the line they had to dump in the “magic powder” (aka crystal light) and mix it up. The next person in line had to drink it all and hop back to the start like a frog (because the potion turned them into a frog).

Thanks to “Family Fun” magazine, this was the easiest cake I have ever made and it tasted delicious thanks to Seth’s frosting skills. 

The climax of the party was the “Winter Dragon” piñata. The boys picked out the colors which I thought were strange for a dragon, but it worked.

I really wish I would have taken a picture of when all the candy fell on the ground. We actually had a pile-up with kids flying everywhere.  I’m grateful nobody got hurt.

So, Seth and I are reevaluating birthday parties. Maybe less kids is the key, maybe a friend party every other year, maybe we need to outsource to Chucky Cheese???? Thoughts? Opinions?

National Zoo Lights!

 

The National Zoo decorates with Christmas lights every year so last Friday I loaded up the van, picked up Seth in Bethesda, and we headed downtown. Unfortunately we got stuck in some nasty traffic for an hour (more of a common theme in our life) and ended up getting lost in the scary part of DC but in the end we made it(no thanks to the crappy GPS and a huge thanks to a patient husband). The weather was mild and it wasn’t very crowded. It was actually a very different crowd than what I was expecting. Kids, families, and strollers were the minority while fashionable young adult couples were the norm. It was strange to think that they were probably all my age and here I was with a row of ducklings. It actually made me really grateful for all the extra joy children have added to my 20’s.

The light display was actually not too impressive but the kids enjoyed it nonetheless.  They had some sections where the lights were choreographed with music which was definitely the highlight for me. A man walking by gave us tickets to ride on the train which was the highlight for the kids. On the way home we stopped at a Burger King drive through for buy-one-get-one-free whoppers (the kids opted for fries). This marked the evening as a complete success!!

The boys in front of a cow and Lucy looking very grown up checking out the apes.

Matthew and Charlie happy to finally be on the train!

What a difference a year can make!! The picture on the left was when we went to see Christmas lights in 2010!

Our SEVEN year old!

His birthdays seem to come around faster and faster! His day started bright and early with presents under the tree!  Snap Circuits, Beyblades, and a Ninjago book made his day, I love how you can make all the dreams of a seven year old come true.

Lucy, Matthew and I took Star Wars cupcakes to his class during lunch. Lucy was in love with school. She sat right up at the lunch table with the attitude of, “ok I’m hear bring me my food.” Sadly I forgot my camera but thankfully there were leftovers so we had star wars cupcakes for his after dinner birthday treat!

He requested homemade macaroni and cheese, homemade rolls and carrots for dinner! We love Charlie and are so grateful he is our first born. He’s a wonderful example to his siblings and is a mommy pleasure. He loves math and reading but hates writing time in school. It’s nice to see him get a bit more challenged in First grade. He  is picking up the piano fast and is making new friends at school and in the neighborhood.

I wish I had lots of pictures of his birthday party which was scheduled for the Saturday after his Birthday. Unfortunately, Matthew woke up early Saturday morning with a nasty stomach bug so we had to postpone it. Charlie was a really good sport about it when I told him. His only question was, “Do we have to cancel the party because we don’t want Matthew throwing up on anybody?"

A New England Thanksgiving.

We have been friends with the Gibson family for the last SIX years. They moved to Ann Arbor the same week we did in 2005. They lived close by and there little 18 month girl Eden became one of Charlie’s first friends. Six years later Matt finished his degree a month after Seth and they took off for Boston (with three additional kids) while we came to Maryland. Since we are both far from family it seemed perfect to spend Thanksgiving together. They also are renting a house about five minutes from my aunt and uncle in the town of Natick.

We new the drive would be long but when you add that with Thanksgiving traffic (and the wicked toll booths) we snailed our way there. Thankfully our kids were angels so it wasn’t so bad. I don’t remember the last time Seth and I “talked” that much to each other. The boys were in heaven in the back with the DVD player and Lucy was pleasant the whole way playing with toys and napping.

The Gibsons were wonderful hosts! The kids all went wild when we arrived and had a great time playing together. Thanksgiving was relaxing on our ends. Kirsten did all the work with the Turkey and we helped with sides. Kirsten’s sweet potatoes and the lemon grilled broccoli were my favorites!

                        The kids were in charge of making the “fluff” salad               Thanksgiving morning Matt led the kids in exercise TV

All of the goods!

The best parts of Thanksgiving: napping, walks, and dessert time!

 

The day after Thanksgiving we took a trip to Plymouth (Plimoth) to see some recreated English colonies and Native American settlements.

The Wampanoag Indians (the girl in the middle is roasting a turkey and the one on the end is in a loin cloth)

Claire, Matthew, Eden, Charlie and Sam in a Wampanoag canoe  and a family picture with two grumpy boys                                                       

The town of Plimoth! Eden and Sam were talking to “William Bradford”

This is darling baby Owen and Kirsten

This is the Mayflower 2! We had to race to get there before we lost all of our light but by the time we got off the boat it was too dark to get any views from the shore. It was actually a lot smaller than what I imagined. I’m so grateful I wasn’t one of the 100 in the bottom level on my way to the new English colonies (I wouldn’t have made it).

The night before we left we spent the evening with my Aunt Jane, Uncle Joe, and cousin Brendon. They took us to Kelly’s for dinner where Charlie at the best Hot Dog of his entire life. After we returned from our trip we asked him what his favorite part was and he exclaimed, “the hotdog from Kelly’s. The restaurant was next to a furniture store that puts on a Mardi Gras show every 30 min. It was really entertaining and the kids loved it. I guess furniture buying and stage singing mix. They took us back to their home and we visited for a while and the kids played with her amazing play mobile pirate ship. Lucy loved her talking doll and of course their cats!   In the morning my aunt and cousin came to the 9am ward with us since we needed to get on the road (there ward didn’t start until 1pm).

I loved the Gibson’s charming New England home (I took this as we were driving out of town)!

A thankful tree, a major award, and a slip of the blade!

In an effort to remember Thanksgiving and all of our many blessings, we made a family “Thankful Tree.” Throughout the month of November we would all take out a leaf each day and write something we were grateful for on it. The Monday before thanksgiving we put them on a tree and read what everyone wrote. We had everything from “health insurance” to “chairs” (the latter being from Lucy because she couldn’t get into half of the stuff she does without them).

 

Seth and I were invited to the end of the term assembly where they hand out awards to different students. Seth had actually never been to Charlie’s school so it was fun for him to get a visual. We love Charlie’s school (Candlewood Elementary), and his teacher is a good fit. He received an award in Music for “following cues in a singing game.” It seemed random but he we still very excited to walk in front of the school and receive his award. 

Matthew made a Turkey hat in preschool the week before Thanksgiving.

Seth and I are trying to be Santa’s elves for Christmas and embarked on making something (details will come later) for the kids. Seth was using a PVC cutter and accidentally cut his thumb. At first he didn’t think it was too big of a deal but then it was obvious he would need stitches. He headed off to the emergency room at 11pm on a Saturday night. He came home with five stitches and a splint. The doctor thought he might have grazed the tendon so Seth was suppose to work on straightening and if he couldn’t then they would have to open it back up to repair it. Over a two week period it seemed to be healing fine and he could move it quite a bit but it wouldn’t straighten. He went in for a checkup and they ended up opening it all back up again (this of course required a lot more incisions than his original cut). It turned out that the tendon was completely severed so we are so glad he was able to get it fixed. This bandage seemed a bit excessive (there is even a hard cast under that) but hopefully it will heal fast. He will get a new splint next week and hopefully it will give him more mobility. Unfortunately he will be in a splint for 6-10 weeks!

Introducing the Littlest Thacker! (11-19-11)

Wow, baby #4! I fee like I’m moving from the minors to the majors! We, of course are thrilled that we will have a new little baby in our home. I am 20 weeks today and am amazed at how quickly this pregnancy has gone by. I’m due on April 6th which will make this my first spring baby.

Back in September, when I was 10 weeks, I had some serious bleeding. I had gone to see my doctor a couple of days before for a normal check-up and he had tried to pick up the heart beat with the Doppler machine but was unable to. He told me that I should not be concerned because it was still a little early.  With what happened at my doctor’s tied in with the current event, I believed my pregnancy was over. I immediately called the doctor on call (it was a Sunday morning) and when I explained the amount of blood she wasn’t very hopeful. She said I could either wait until the morning for an ultrasound or go to the ER for one. We made arrangements for our kids and took off. Everything took a long time and I just remember feeling so sad. I had just started feeling better and I was getting my energy back, it seemed daunting that I would have to start all over.  With all this sadness came  a complete sense of peace that everything would work out for the best.

After talking with a few nurses, and the doctor we finally were able to go back for the ultrasound. The tech told us that since she wasn’t a doctor she could only take pictures and the doctor would later explain to us what was going on. It was hard to have an ultrasound and not get to watch what was happening. At the very end she said, “I see a baby measuring 11 weeks with a very strong heart beat, do you want to see!” YES! It was such a wonderful sight to see a very active baby with a heart beat. Of course, we still didn’t know what complications there were but at least I was still pregnant!

Later we met with the doctor who said I had a small Subchorionic Hemorrhage (there was a small separation between the uterus and placenta). It’s actually the most common cause of heavy bleeding in your first trimester and mine was on the small side so not too serious. He said that the bleeding might continue for a little while but he didn’t foresee it interfering with my pregnancy. What a miracle!! I did continue to bleed for a month but thankfully that has stopped and everything is going great.

I had another ultrasound at 18 weeks and the baby looks perfect. I was actually measuring very close to my actual due date which is a surprise since usually my babies always measure big. And, it's a……..Baby! We decided to go with a complete surprise with this one. A girl or boy would be fun to add to the mix  and since we are prepared for either, we thought we would make the delivery very exciting!

At this Thanksgiving season, I am so Thankful for each of my kids and how quickly they have come to us. They are growing up incredible fast but the growing has brought so much joy in learning all their personalities and  funny quirks.  We wonder how Charlie and Matthew came from the same parents!

Saturday Morning at the Mall. (11-5-11)

We took a Saturday morning trip to DC to explore more museums. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and the parking was free! We ended up in the Air and Space Museum (not to be confused with the other Air and Space Museum in Virginia.) This one wasn’t as big but a lot more kid friendly. It was Saturday morning so they had a lot of demonstrations going on and we even got to see a Sesame Street movie in the dome theater. We were hoping to make it to the Museum of Native Americans but we only had time to walk in, use the bathroom, and walk out. Hopefully we can make it back soon.

Washington Memorial, Amelia Earhart's plane, The Smithsonian information center

 

Beautiful changing leaves, outside the Museum of the Native American

 

After the museums we swung by the Shake Shack. Our friends from Ann Arbor rave about it so we had to give their burger a try.

The is called the “Shack Stack.” It is a Portabella mushroom stuffed with Muenster chees on a beef patty topped with Cheddar (and of course all the fixings with a secret sauce). It was a bit too much for me(also around 1,000 calories!!!!). Next time I’ll just go for the “Shroom Brugur"” which is just the stuffed mushroom with all the fixings. Their crinkly fries were perfect and crispy on the outside.

Family Dinner.

While Seth was going to school we rarely had family dinner together at night. The kids and I would eat together but I usually just threw something together last minute and tried to put in as little effort as possible. My crowd was picky so less seemed more. Seth would come home later and happily eat anything left. Now times have change!  Seth is usually home everyday by 6:00pm!!! Amazing! We have family dinner on most nights and it is truly the best party of my day. The kids and Seth set the table! I even purchased some fabric napkins and placemats. I’m trying to put more effort into the meals (really this just means I try to plan it out earlier than 5:00pm).  A friend gave me an amazing easy roll recipe so I make a huge batch and freeze them out in groups of five. Who new kids could be motivated to eat their food if there is a hot roll as a reward? Another huge part of the change is Seth being at the table. He asks each boy about their days and we usually have some fun chats. He also spares no compliments on the food (even when I really miss the mark like the super salty Lasagna).  Seth’s schedule could change (it probably will) but I’ll take it for as long as I can.

More Halloween 2011!

The kids had NO school on Halloween! Lame!

So, what do you do? We planned a huge party and tried to see how many kids we could fit in our house. 20 kids and 6 Adults was our record! It was completely wild but the kids all had a great time. We had a dance off to the “Monster Mash,” made ghost suckers, competed in relays, ate yummy scary food, played “Pin the Face on the Pumpkin,” and, of course, broke a piñata.  I told all the moms to bring a Halloweeny side and everybody went all out! Lindsey especially showed off her artistic skills with her carved brain (watermelon), broomsticks, and eye balls. The mummy dogs were a big hit with the kids but Charlie pointed out that I forgot to give them eyes. The last time I threw a Halloween party was in 2006 so if I keep up my current timeline I have FIVE years to recover from all the fun.

The food stole the show!!

The kids learning the relays and our two adorable kitties, Lucy and Henry.

The piñata(skull) compliments of Seth (the kids were so confused why Seth had to work on a holiday, we explained the difference between holidays and federal holidays).

Almost all the families and their costumes, my personal favorite was the soy sauce packet and his mom the sushi!

Most of the gang (Matthew’s costume lasted about five minutes before he got to hot).

 

I was really beat after the party so we picked up and took naps (Lucy and I anyway). I was completely regenerated for the evening excitement. We were not quite sure how trick-or-treating would go down in our new complex but it was a complete success. One of the great benefits of living in a townhome community is you don’t have to do to much walking to get your candy. Lucy caught on really fast to the process and was racing with the boys from door to door. The weather was perfect which is my full description of fall in Maryland. I kept expecting to whip out coats and gloves but it just never happened in October. Thankfully we moved south instead of north!

I never got a shot of the completed pumpkins but you can kind of see them (this was minutes before we took of for tick-or-treating).

The boys loved sorting all of their candy and Lucy held of firm death grip on every sucker she could find!

Halloween was a complete success!