James turns four!

"Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!"
-Dr. Seuss

This week James turned four.  Ashlyn was excited about James’ birthday and insisted on wrapping the presents.

Isla doesn’t understand what a birthday means yet and instead prepared for her dinner in the only way that makes sense for Isla.  Goggles prevent her accidentally rubbing, throwing, splashing or spilling food into her eyes and generally makes for a more enjoyable experience.  If only we could buy goggles for the floor.

Saturday was like a mid-year Christmas with the kids waking us up early and running downstairs to open presents.  It was a struggle to keep both Ashlyn and Isla from opening James’ presents for him but eventually we got it all worked out and James was able to spend the rest of the morning launching foam catapult bombs at the pets.

With the family gathering on Sunday we were free to take James anywhere he wanted to go on the afternoon of his birthday.  He chose Chuck E. Cheese and a splash park.  We hit up the splash park first before it got too hot and then Chuck E. Cheese after Isla’s nap.

We had the family over on Sunday, which is good because James insisted he was not four until he had a family birthday party.  Isla and Ashlyn helped get things ready, Ashlyn by making cupcakes and Isla by drawing all over the wall and herself.

The party itself was a lot of fun.  Cupcakes, fajitas, and presents filled the house while outside the kids got themselves (and most of the adults) wet in the wading pool with water balloons and squirt guns.  The true sign of a successful party is how quickly James falls asleep when it’s bed time, and based on how quickly he crashed I’d say it was a success.

Happy birthday James, it’s crazy to think you’re already four.  Five, and kindergarten, are right around the corner.   Time moves too fast!

Happy Father’s Day!

"When you're young, you think your dad is Superman.  Then you grow up,
and you realize he's just a regular guy who wears a cape."
-Dave Attell

This was our last week to order Chili’s, at least for a while since my last day with the company means no more free food.  The kids were disappointed since they like the pizza, corn dogs, and macaroni and cheese but I suspect they’ll get over it.  Now they want to know when we’re taking them fun places since I’ll be working for an airline company.  Mommy and Daddy first kids, then we’ll see.

Not much to say on these pictures really, other than we thought it was funny for the two older kids to put Isla to “night night” only for Isla to insist on putting them to “night night” too.

Isla has learned that moving stools or chairs near hard to reach objects is a good way to reach those objects.  Couple this with her independent nature and we now have to watch her much more closely.  Not hearing Isla when she’s in another room means we have to quickly go check on her or we’re liable to find her crawling around on top of a bookshelf.

We encourage the kids to play together of course, but every now and then we see something like this and can’t help but get a little nervous.

Father’s Day weekend was busy and fun as always.  It started on Saturday at our house with the Wolfe’s, where a water balloon fight broke out.  On Sunday we had breakfast with PePa and then went to Nina and Papa’s in the afternoon for yet more fun with water.  The kids ended up having a sleepover there and Isla was so worn out she crashed without a peep.

Happy Father’s Day!

A party, rain, and mac n’ cheese…

"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow."
-Gilbert K. Chesterton

We have learned Isla’s favorite meal, Macaroni and Cheese.  Whether it’s Kraft of Chili’s, no other meal will prompt her to say “more?” as often.

We had a birthday party at a friend’s house this weekend and it had a ballerina theme.  A real ballerina was present and showed the kids how to do a few of the moves that I’m not even going to attempt to spell.  It rained a lot but they still had fun; Isla ignored the rain almost entirely and refused to leave the bounce house until we deflated it when the lightning came.

Speaking of rain, now that summer is almost here the rain is warm enough for the kids to go crazy every time it starts up.  On two separate occasions the kids were out running in the yard within minutes of the first drops falling.  Isla couldn’t keep up but still had fun wandering around and playing with sand.

It had been awhile since we took the kids to Legoland so we decided to get them out there Sunday morning before it got busy.  This was the first time James was able to ride the cars, technically he’s supposed to be four but we felt he was close enough with his birthday coming up.  He mostly figured it out by the time the ride was done, but after watching him I’m glad he has another 12 years before he gets his license.

After Legoland we walked to the Sea-Life aquarium to see some critters and play on the equipment at the end.  Isla couldn’t get up the steps to the smaller slide but luckily for her she has a big sister who was willing to lend a helping hand.  Or back in this case.