Fabulous Four!

My middle child recently turned four.  He has been asking when his birthday is, and telling everyone he is going to turn four for months.  I think he thinks when people ask "How are you" they are asking "How old are you."  I see how he could make that mistake.

So, I don't do birthday parties for my children. You may think my kids are deprived, but I like to think my kids are wholly unspoiled.  Maybe when they start begging for it, but definitely not before they are old enough to appreciate it. I'm sorry, but I've been to parties for children who were too young where all the children couldn't understand why they couldn't have the presents, and then there was crying and fighting and... no thank you.  It's hard enough when we have younger siblings around.  That's why this year I decided to give each of my other kids a "consolation present," so they wouldn't hover or whine quite so much. Then they took turns sharing and taking turns with each others' toys. It worked pretty well.
To be honest though, I mostly don't have parties because I am too lazy, and I admit I'm a bit stingy too. I love just having my family to myself, and making it a special day for the whole family (not to mention that no one wants a stressed out mommy around on their birthday).

We celebrate with traditions, such as waking up to initial-shaped pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. (Yeah, we pretty much begin and end the day with cake --isn't that what birthdays are for?)

We also prefer to go on special family outings for birthdays.  It's a great excuse to do something out of the ordinary... like bowling for instance.  (We were going to go to the zoo, but alas, it was a rainy day.)

We also went to Big Jud's and got a giant hamburger to share. The kids thought it was pretty cool.

On a less birthday-ish note, we also visited my sister-in-law who's in the hospital on bed-rest, and then went home for naps while I made the cake. It's still a pretty busy day, and to help us all have a good day, I like to do whatever I can make it easy on myself. For example, thanks to my husband, my kids have been trained to like box mix cakes (something that was unheard of in my household growing up) and the usual birthday staple is rainbow chip cake with rainbow chip frosting (another thing unheard of in my household).  The kids still like their cake decorated in fun ways, and it wasn't until the last minute that my now four-year-old decided he wanted a robot.  I wasn't about to try any kind of cutting and shaping with a box mix, and I didn't want to make even more frosting after already having the store bought stuff, so this is what he got.

He absolutely loved it. (I told you my kids are unspoiled.  Any other kid might start crying at a disgruntled looking robot staring back at him, but mine was thrilled.)

He got his choice of dinner, and we finished off our evening at home with cake and presents.

It was a perfect day.

He even got a rainbow.


And that's how we do birthdays.  At least for now.

5

I can't believe my first child is five years old already!

My Father-in-law made this lovely dinosaur cake to celebrate his birthday the weekend before.

On the day of his birthday, he woke up to this dinosaur balloon (which he calls a kabloon) and a pancake breakfast (which I didn't get pictures of because the battery died on the camera).  About the balloon, he said, "That balloon is so amazin'.  I've been waiting for one like that for years!"
His 3 yr old brother commented about one of the dinosaurs on the balloon saying, "See that dinosaur right there?  That's a chomposaurus!"

After it got warmer, (and after I recharged the battery on our camera) I brought out one of his surprises. A block of ice!  You should have seen his face when I handed him a hammer.

Inside were some tiny dinosaur figurines!  I added some dirt to make it more like an archeological dig, but I don't think I'll do that again.

 We only had one hammer, so they took turns using a flathead screwdriver and a rock like a chisel as well.

Other activities included super forts, (notice how the baby wants so bad to keep up with his brothers)

And a family water fight.

Moving his barricade?

It was almost too cold in the shade (this is Jackson after all), and I'm afraid I added to my summer collection of freckles.

Happy 5th Birthday Little Man!

More Recent Goings-on

So here's some more random pictures from the end of April and beginning of May.

What a great face.  Painted with strawberries of course.

We had one last opportunity to go to the Zoo before our pass expired, but we forgot our camera and only had my husband's phone.  We have enough zoo pictures to last us decades, so I'm not too worried, however on this trip the highlight wasn't a permanent resident.

They're so fuzzy I'm going to die!

As a second part of my 3 yr olds birthday celebration, we went to a place called The Discovery Center.

Most of the scientific exhibits were over the children's heads, but many were still fun and interactive.

Of course the giant bubbles were a big hit,

And they even tried out the bed of nails.

A mini shopping center was fun, but we ran out of time to really enjoy it.

Seriously, it's a cool place to visit, but only if you get awesome coupons.  Otherwise it's pretty expensive.  Especially for kids that are a little too young to appreciate it.

After that, we visited my Brother and Sister-in-Law to see their new chicks.

They already have a couple good layers, and my four year old had fun gathering the eggs.

He's really not as mad as he looks, just looking intensely at the cool flower.

The baby thought the chickens were slightly amusing.

Their resident squirrel.

I think my son was trying to lure him out with chicken feed.

After the Chickens, we took them to the play place again, where the baby got to hone his climbing skills.  Thank goodness we don't have any stairs anymore!

Another night that week, we had these shish-kabobs, and since I'm always taking pictures of beautiful food, I thought I'd share.

This was our first experience with a real coconut.  My three year old begged me to buy it at the store, so out of curiosity I did.

 In case you were wondering; Coconut Water: Not Sweet.

Still, if you were on a deserted island surrounded by nothing but salty sea water, it would be pure ambrosia I'm sure.  I put it in a smoothie, and it wasn't too bad.  As for the rest of the coconut... well at least the kids got to see what was inside.  We didn't find it very edible.  Oh well, here's to new experiences!

Not-so-recent goings-on.

This is a little out of date, since this mostly just recaps April, but to document our last few months in Idaho I thought I'd share a few photos.

As it started getting warmer, we couldn't help but get out and play.

We went to the tennis courts one night as a family.

The baby was pretty entertained at our sorry attempts at tennis at least.

A couple good storms washed the neighborhood clean -- one that came and went so fast, the sun began shining again before the rivers of water (--that had once been our road) receded.  I didn't have the camera, but rest assured that my four year old and I had a fun time splashing and wading through the calf-deep puddles.  There were even ducks swimming in the intersection of our street! I think I got a quick pic on my phone, but I have no way of transferring the image that I know of.
Here's a rainbow from one of those storms.  It was actually a full double rainbow.

We also had some friends over in a babysitting swap, and the kids had a lot of fun playing some version of tag that includes a ball.  It's a pretty good way to wear them out.

My 2nd child turned three years old in April. He got to do everything he wanted for his birthday.

We opened presents in the morning before daddy went to work,

Then, the highlight of the day...

Just look at those baby blues.  How could anyone say no to a face like that?

we rode the bus to the Carl's Jr. play-place.  (Riding the bus was the highlight).

We unsuccessfully looked at a nearby store for some galoshes, but he was appeased by being allowed a quarter for the candy machines.

Then we rode the bus home for naps,

The people on the bus gushed over the cuteness of my kids, and one passenger even asked if she could give them a ball.  (Note: balls are not good toys on a bus, since they will most likely have to be retrieved at least twice from various parts of the bus, and even from the gutter outside the folding door by other poor unsuspecting passengers). The baby nearly fell asleep on the way.

That night we celebrated with cake.

In case you can't tell, he's licking his lips in anticipation. The kids just started doing that recently, funny huh.

The kids have been bringing me bouquets of dandelions, but when they all turned into the white fuzzy globes, it didn't slow them down.  Rather the bouquets just took on a more interactive appeal.

 What a lucky mom I am.