Matthew is SIX!

Matthew turned six years old on Valentine’s day! This day was huge for him because not only was it his birthday but it was his first school Valentine’s party. I was lucky enough to help out for the party and it was great fun to see him in his school element. His teacher has been out a lot of the year on maternity leave but she came back the middle of January so it was nice to chat with her. She gushed over Matthew! She said he ALWAYS does exactly what he is suppose to be doing and never gets in trouble! What? My child?? Mmmmm….

The picture on the top left is of Matthew with his bff Jack, the bottom left is of all his classmates passing out their Valentines to each other, the middle picture is of Matthew and Mrs. Bednar, bottom right is Matthew eating his snacks from the party with his Valentine’s envelope taped to his chair. The valentine's party was a success and it was nice to see that the same excitement I felt exchanging Valentines as a child still exists for my kids.

Seth had come home early that day so I could help out so it was fun for the kids to come home from school to play with him. We had dinner and leftover cupcakes to finish up our Valentine’s day, or at least I thought. Charlie and Matthew both were up later in the night with the stomach flu. They missed school the next day but I was hoping we might still be able to have his birthday party the following Saturday. No such luck when Lucy joined them with the stomach flu the following afternoon. Oh the fluids we mush deal with as mothers!!! By Sunday everyone was back to normal so we rescheduled his friend party for President’s Day since there wasn’t school.

What a wonderful birthday party!  Out of the six kids Matthew invited three of them were girls and I’m sure this was the difference. We have had ALL boy birthday parties before that have been total bedlam but while there were crazy moments, it was mostly calm. Everyone had a good time while we played at the “beach.” We played in the sand, played balloon volleyball, played “pin the coconut on the tree,” hunted for treasure, and of course we wacked a sun piñata.

I loved Seth’s addition to the birthday cake of the sea monster in the corner eating the Teddy Grahams.

Matthew is doing well in Kindergarten. Candlewood Elementary school has a “Soaring Eagle Assembly” every quarter where they hand out awards to the kids. He received a “virtue” award back in November and then he received an Art award in February for “his ability to demonstrate basic lines and shapes.” It’s a little random but was exciting for him none-the-less.

During the first of January he burst through the front door exclaiming “I won a t-shirt!” He also handed me this letter that made us all proud- Go Matthew!

Conrad is 10 months!

My baby is walking around now. It’s strange and cute at the same time. When he first started getting really good at it he would walk really fast and laugh at the same time. He also loves being the same height as the trash can but hates always bonking his head on the table.

He had his first ear infection this month. We had the flu spread through the family so  when he got a fever I figured he was just sick with that bug. He still had the fever after five days so I took him in and sure enough it was a double ear infection. Thankfully the antibiotics did their thing and he was soon back to chipper Conrad again.

He enjoyed his first waterpark experience and did well considering he didn’t nap much. He also loved eating chocolate cake during Lucy’s birthday party. He is getting better with the sippy cup which means weaning is in his near future..hooray!! He gets really excited when he sees the baby food grinder; he’ll eat baby food but loves ANY table food. 

The Great Wolf Lodge Virginia!

We took a mini vacation to The Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, Virginia. It’s a hotel with a large indoor waterpark making it the perfect place to go in February! We arrived in the early afternoon and while check-in time wasn’t until 4 our room was ready and we were able to go check it out before going swimming. They converted half of a standard hotel room into a cabin with a bunk bed, single bed, and TV for the kids. I think our trip would have been a success with just the room. The room was by far Matthew’s favorite part! We had to drag him out of there to make our way to the waterpark. The waterpark was a blast and Charlie was tall enough and brave enough to ride on everything. This was fun for Seth and me because we were able to switch off with him. Out of all the tube slides, our favorite was the “Howlin Tornado.” Oh how Charlie and I howled our first time down. We had no idea what to expect. It started out as a normal tube slide and then there was a massive drop off into a large enclosed funnel where we slid back and forth until we lost momentum and came out the bottom. Fun! Lucy was a big fan of the wave pool and kiddie pool. Matthew liked the wave pool but was brave and did some of the big tube slides as well.  Conrad was a dream and enjoyed all the new things to look at. They had a kid friendly hot tub which all the kids loved and referred to as the “hot pools.” We swam for a few hours that evening and then we swam until the late afternoon the next day before we made our way home. It was the perfect little vacation! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Charlie’s First Pinewood Derby!

Charlie became a Cub Scout on his 8th birthday. Charlie was made for scouting! He loves everything about it. The week after his first pack meeting he carried his book around explaining EVERYTHING about it to me. I’m a little indifferent about scouting but I’m happy to see him so passionate about something other than reading.

With scouting came his first experience of building a Pinewood Derby car. Seth and Charlie did it together and all seemed to go well until he actually raced it. It didn’t cross the finish line. Thankfully they had some graphite Charlie was able to put on the wheels that greatly increased his speed. His car was the “Rhino Car” because he put a horn on the front of it but the horn was not so great for arrow dynamics. He never won but he had a GREAT time!

Snow Morning!

We got about a half inch of snow and the school called a two hour delay. Snow doesn’t last long here so I sent the kids out to enjoy it. I taught Lucy how to make a snow angel which she thoroughly enjoyed.

 

Lucy Turned THREE! (1-23-13)

Our Lucy turned three years old. The day started off with gifts which was exciting for all! She received the Melissa and Doug Ice-cream set and the magnetic doll set (I might need a Melissa & Doug intervention) from Grandma Christy and a big bouncy ball (she calls it her “boom boom”) from Grandma Thacker. All of a sudden our house is feeling a lot more girly.

We planned to go to a bounce house on her birthday but she started complaining about her ear hurting so we swung by the pediatrician office to find out she had an ear infection. Thankfully she felt fine with Ibuprofen. They have a toy machine at our doctors office but in order to get a coin for it you need to have received a shot. Since it was her birthday and she had an ear infection they let her have a coin and she picked a ring that she was very proud of (she is showing it off in the picture on the bottom right). We stopped off at McDonalds for her very own Happy Meal since the bounce house didn’t seem like a good idea. We played hide-n-seek in the afternoon and read books before “the brothers” came home.

That evening we had Mac-n-cheese for dinner and the castle cake for dessert. She seemed to like it but she wondered where the monster cake was?? Random??

We love this girl and the large amount of spirit she has brought to our family. She continually makes Seth and I want to throw all of our parenting knowledge out the window. You can never put anything in any cupboard, shelf, or drawer and think “she’ll never find this” because she ALWAYS does.

The day after her birthday was her weekly play group at our home so we had a little friend birthday party. We LOVE this group of kids! Graham, Grant, and June (and some siblings) all joined in for some cupcake fun.

This picture sums it all up. I walked into the kitchen one morning and Lucy was sitting at a table with the ice cream container, bowl, and spoon. She said, “mom, it’s ice cream time!” Hopefully all of her independence and curiosity takes her far in life! We love you Lucy!