July 4, 2008

It was a quiet day around here. Not very much going on in the way of daytime, patriotic celebrations. We do miss the East Grand Rapids festivities! The kids did lots of water balloon fights, sprinkler leaping, and paddling in the swimming pool. At 97 degrees, it was the perfect weather for water fun!

Ellie singing her own unique version of the National Anthem.

William had already passed out for the night when I took these photos of the big kids. Maybe I'll try to catch a photo of him in his patriotic t-shirt tomorrow.

We drove over to the Fireworks and decided not to park in the "sardine can" type parking with the rest of the city. We had hauled William out of bed and plunked him into his car seat, and weren't sure how long we would have before he completely lost it. Plus, Ellie has ear tubes now and you never know how she is going to react to loud noises. We fortunately found a parking lot close by with a fabulous view of the spectacle. Even that far away the kids were complaining it was too loud. And William slept through the entire show. So we were very glad that we didn't invest the time and energy in going to the actual festivities on site! Maybe next year....

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy Independence Day!

William

William at 14.5 months.

Nick

Nick 6 years.

Eleanor

Ellie at 3.75 years.

The Many Faces of William

William is really fun now at fourteen months. His vocabulary is growing by the day, we are up to 25 words with one two word phrase. We decided he will have to be a good talker soon, just to keep up with the constant jibber-jabbering from his siblings! He graduated from walking to running about a month ago and now is perfecting walking backwards and discovering the joys of climbing furniture. He hasn't reached any dizzying heights yet, but I am sure that will come soon enough. He is our first child to discover how to go DOWN stairs all by himself. We had to teach Nick and Ellie not to go head first/face first downstairs when they were toddlers, but William figured that out all by himself. Which is sort of a relief for me. He is fascinated with how things work, particularly anything electronic. But also enjoys slamming doors, defeating child safety locks, throwing (any) object, and generally following the big kids around like a puppy. He thinks they are too cool, and so are their dangerous toys!!

Health wise he hasn't had the best month. Gastroenteritis followed by about ten days of toddler diarrhea, followed swiftly by Croup. He is about a week out from the Croup now and still coughing, but feeling much better today thankfully! He is supposed to be concentrating on gaining weight (yeah, right) but all of these viruses are not helping! Ugh!

Hello? Is this the Overseas Operator?!

William's favorite new "toy" is the phone. Any phone. He knows how to turn it on, and dial numbers randomly or access the phone book feature. Be forewarned! If you answer a call from us and you hear only breathing, babbling, or "Hi Dada" (his first two word phrase! New this week! Of course it's always Dada first....) it's probably little guy reaching out across the miles!

Summer Silliness

A fairly uneventful weekend around here. Just house/yardwork and trying to stay cool in the 90 degree temps. William tried the kiddie pool for the first time. He was so fascinated with splashing in the "deep" water that I wasn't able to catch a photo of his face.

Sunday we decided to go for a picnic after church. After packing up the car with the requisite mountain of kid related gear, numerous trips to the potty, and filling up with ridiculously overpriced gas, we were off. An hour's drive into the mountains we had finally found the perfect spot and settled in for a scenic meal. When wouldn't you know it, the skies opened for an afternoon storm. Perfect timing. So it ended up being a picnic for five in the minivan. Not particularly pleasant. And now the interior is covered in sticky kid fingerprints of various colors and textures, gummy puddles of lemonade from the Capri Sun packets, and piles of crumbs. Guess what I will be doing this week?!

Now THIS is how you PARTY!!

Nick received a very neat painting easel for his birthday from Nonie and Grande. Both the kids love it and couldn't wait to try it out. Thank You so much!!

But as usual, Eleanor carried on the creativity a little farther than we wished.... Here she is in all her green and blue glory. "Mom, you have to feel your emotions" was her explanation for this horror. Not sure where that phrase comes from, but I was definitely "feeling" something!! I couldn't decide at this point if it would be better to have a glass of wine (or two), or to just throw in the towel and go to bed for the night!

The Scooby Doo Mystery Birthday Party

The big day has finally arrived. Nick was super excited and so was Eleanor. Paul and I were a little hesitant about the event, but how bad could it be?! I had lots of games and activities planned for the kiddos, and an elaborate Solve the Mystery Scavenger Hunt too. The Scavenger Hunt went really well actually, the boys were very into searching for clues and then trying to decipher the riddles once they found them. The other games however, not so much. Ellie as you can see below, is the only one playing the Scooby Snack Bone Drop.The pinata went over well though. Here is Nick taking a swing at it. We had a pull string pinata, but we let them beat the heck out of it with a stick instead. It seemed to be a little more up their alley.

Pizza and cake for all. We had planned to eat outside, but it ended up being 95 and sunny today. So we enjoyed the food inside in the AC, all the kids smashed up at one table. But they definitely didn't mind!

Nick's Birthday Party....

Eleanor at her brother's party. So sweet here. Stay tuned for her "new and improved " look later on....Nick and his best buddies Callan and Sam.


Nick and Sam, best friends since preschool.
We all survived the party. Whew! So did the house and William slept through the entire thing. I don't know how, as it certainly wasn't quiet! The boys got a little wild the last 20 minutes or so, but they all got a kick out of me teaching them to play Red Rover. No one had heard of it before. I thought that was a standard kid game, we used to play it in gym class. But maybe they don't do that anymore, and I just dated myself with that reference!

Thank you Anna and Holly!

Just had to say thank you for all of the wonderful goodies you sent in the big box! Ellie as you can see is in love with the light up Simba shoes. She wears them everywhere, with every outfit. Such a huge hit! Thanks so much! (This is her big "Ta Da" pose, just for you!)

Happy 6th Birthday Nick!

We had a quiet day today as Daddy was at work, and the big party is planned for Saturday. Nick had his first tennis lesson this morning. And he loves it! Yeah! He asks to play every day. Nick loved the big boxes from Nana and Papa- the pirate ship is perfect and he loves all of the coloring things and bug catching gadgets too! Thank you!
We had a small cake after dinner. Nick picked the most candy infused variety he could find at the store. Then he didn't like it as it wasn't chocolatey enough for him. Oh well.
I just couldn't resist taking a picture at precisely 8:59pm, exactly six years to the minute after our little first born baby arrived in this world.
Happy Birthday Nicholas!!

Thanks to all for the phone calls and well wishes today. It really made his day special, and we loved it!

Alas, poor Nacho Cheese Fish...

I hereby sadly report the demise of our short lived friend Nacho Cheese Fish (the solid orange one). He/She did not survive the daily bowl cleaning today. Oops! I gave him a final salute as I flushed him to his watery grave. I guess the clerk at the pet store wasn't kidding, they really won't live much longer than a week.

Trying to explain a dead pet goldfish to a three year old was interesting. Nick was very matter of fact about it, possibly because it wasn't his fish that died. Ellie had LOTS of questions about this topic today. We told her that the fish had gotten sick and died and that now he/she was swimming in heaven with Jesus. Now she is just sure that next Sunday she will be seeing Nacho Cheese Fish at Mass. In a big bowl, right next to Jesus on the cross. It should be an interesting service. Unless (hopefully) she forgets over the next week.

Here was her next line of thinking:

Ellie: Do good fish go to Heaven with Jesus?

Me: Yes, Nacho was a good fish and is in heaven with Jesus.

Ellie: Well, then the next fish we get should be an evil fish. Then he won't go to heaven and he can live here forever in our bowl. Now I want an evil fish.

Me: ?!?!?! (where does she get this from?! And how does one answer that!)

Our New Friends

Introducing "Nacho Cheese Fish" and "Cheetah". The kids have been BEGGING for a fish all school year and I finally relented on the last day of school. I know this just means more work for me. And Daddy doesn't know yet..... Surprise!!

The woman at the pet shop said (promised) that they won't live longer than 10 days. Do they give refunds if they do?!

I'm Going to First Grade!!!

Today was Nick's very last day of kindergarten!! He is officially a first grader!! He had a good year and did really well. He was in the top reading group in class and learned to write short paragraphs in his journal. He can count to 100, tell time on the clock, count by 5s and 10s, knows all of the coins and their values, studied chicks and worms and weather in science class, and made some new friends. His teacher Miss Boyles said that she will miss his wonderful stories, contagious laugh, and the fact that he is the only kindergartener she has ever had who "gets" sarcasm. Where ever would he have learned to pick up on that?! She said he cracked her up all year long. That's our Nick!

And next Tuesday he turns six years old. Summer is off and running! We have a couple of quiet days for the end of this week; and then it is tennis lessons, day camp, his six year old birthday party, and lots of fun in the sun. Happy summer vacation to all!

Cozy Coupe

William loves the "coupe-a-coupe"!! (That's what Ellie calls it.) He thinks that he is quite the big kid being able to ride in it now. He loves the door most of all, and spends most of his time opening and closing it. All the while with a big grin on his face.

William Meets the Sprinklers

William toddled outside today while Paul had the sprinklers running. He was simultaneously horrified and fascinated by them. Only slightly more intriguing is the drinking glass that he managed to get his hands on. (No, it is not actually glass. We aren't that daring, especially after Ellie's ER trip this week. Once is enough.)