Boys' and Girls' Weekend

Our church had a father-sons camp out last weekend and so Kelly took Benjamin.  He's been taking Benjamin to this annual event since Benjamin was 1 year old and they've always loved it.  Benjamin counted down the days for weeks prior and told every one he knew that he was going.  They had a great time cooking over the campfire, shooting off bottle rockets, and fishing in the river.  Too bad it poured rain the next morning or they would have stayed longer.  I can't wait until next year when Christian can go too.  He was quite sad to see Daddy go without him.  "Mit!" he kept screaming.  ("with" in German)  I pointed out to Kelly that Christian is the same age that Benjamin was when he started going, but it's harder when you've got a 5 year old and a 1 year old because you're having to do everything for the 1 year old and the 5 year old gets  neglected a bit. Kelly really wanted this to be special for Benjamin.  So, sorry Christian, you'll get your chance next year when you're more self-sufficient (and hopefully potty trained)!

Kelly had the camera, so I didn't get any pictures of Bella and my (and Christian's) girly weekend.  I got out pen and paper and had Bella make a list of all the things she wanted to do while the boys were away.  Eat marshmallows topped the list and was by far her favorite part of the weekend.  She just couldn't handle the idea that Benjamin would get s'mores and she wouldn't.  Marshmallows were followed by painting nails, shopping for jewelry, and going swimming.  So that's what we did.  She ended up buying a Hello Kitty bowl and water bottle rather than the necklace she'd planned on buying, but she was still thrilled.

Cute story to go with that: I'd gotten Bella a necklace for her birthday and Christian liked it so much that he was always playing with it against her will.  Last week he pulled on it too hard and snapped the chain.  She wanted a new one, but we're trying to teach our kids to take better care of their things because they're constantly treating their things poorly and when they get broken or lost simply saying, "Oh well.  Buy me another one!"  So I refused to buy her another one and said she should have put it away and then Christian couldn't have broken it.  Benjamin, however, felt sorry for her, asked how much a new necklace would cost, counted that much out of his piggy bank, and gave it to her so she could buy herself a new one while he was camping.  So generous! When he came home from camping, he immediately wanted to see which necklace she'd chosen and was so happy for her that she bought something she liked with his money.  What a sweet kid!

Bella and I had a great time together.  I especially love that Bella likes board games like I do. Benjamin calls them "bored" games and will only play them as part of a deal to then get to play something else.  But Bella will routinely suggest we play one and I love it.  I could play board games all day long.  So happy to have someone to play with.

Another instance of not taking care of things.  Memorial day was HOT and so after our church picnic, we came home and got out the slip-and-slide for its inaugural use.  The thing hadn't been out 5 minutes and Benjamin jumped with all his might on the part where the water runs through the tube.  We'd told him not to jump there because it will pop, but he did it anyway and before he'd even been able to slide down it, the thing was busted.

This is Benjamin fuming and Christian equally displeased.  Of course, there was no "I'm sorry."  Just a "Okay, buy me a new one."  No way.  Kelly pulled the hose out of the slide's tube, attached a sprinkler, and told him to make due with his slip and slide that was now no better than a simple long sheet of plastic.  I'll know what to buy next time.

Luckily his bad mood didn't last too long and he still had a fun time sliding.

Here Benjamin and Bella sit in what used to be a cute little pool at the end of the slide before it split open and drained out.  They're pretending it's still there.  That worked for longer than I would have thought it would.

Finally, here's my adorable little Christian.  He's grown more and more fond of books.  Each of our kids has developed a love of books and I'm so happy about it.  I love walking in on one of them and finding them sitting quietly by the bookshelf reading by themselves or side by side with a sibling.  So cute!  This was my favorite sight this week, though.  I'd read this book to Christian three or four times in a row and then I finally insisted we stop and get him ready for bed but he didn't want to give it up.  He took it with him and read it the entire time I changed his diaper and then I had to read it twice more before he'd agree to sleep.  So funny how, even bare bottomed, he intently stared at the pictures.  The love of reading in the bathroom starts early with men, I guess. :)

More Birthday Fun

This past week, Bella's birthday fun continued.  We went to Greenfield Village to ride Thomas the Train, as she had wished.  We had fun with all the other activities they had there that day too.  

 Benjamin LOVES magic tricks.  He ended up choosing to watch this dinky little free 15 minute magic show rather than ride Thomas that day.  Good bye money which I spent on Benjamin's ticket.  I will never make that mistake again.  It was worth it though to make him so happy. He got selected to help out in the show and it was the highlight of his day.  That and all the great climbing trees he discovered the village has.

Our version of a backyard pool.  The kids did this last year all the time and the first chance they got, they wanted to do it again.  Something about cooling off in a cooler.  They just love it.  I love it because it uses a lot less water than those big, shallow kiddie pools.

As soon as the big kids finished and went over to a neighbor's to play, Christian got right in.  He loved it just as much.

Our other hot day activity - the river.  Christian has no fear here and thus, I do.

Without any hestiation, he'll stride right into the cold rushing water up to his chest.  I try to find places along the river where it's not so deep, so he can't get in too much trouble.  I have no desire to go diving into that sludge to rescue him.

He also LOVES looking at the ducks.  He'll follow them around and even get in the water after them.  He found this male duck sitting next to a dead female.  It sat there keeping vigil all afternoon and never left her, even as kids and dogs came close.  He just quacked warning quacks but never left her side.  No idea how long he'd already been there by her or how much longer he stayed.  So sad.  I googled it after we got home and found that this is actually pretty common behavior for ducks.  My heart hurt for the guy.  I wished I could have done something for him.

A few days ago we had one of those "I'm so bored, there's nothing to do!" moments.  I noticed our "warm fuzzy" jar and said, "You could have a pom pom war."  Don't remember where I got the idea from.  Probably pinterest, like all good ideas, but in any case, a strip of tape and two straws later, everyone was happy.  We used mostly white puff balls, with two green ones which were worth extra points.  They had to blow them across to each other's side until the timer dinged and then count up their points.  Except for the spit on the floor, it was a very fun, clean activity which lasted a long time.

Finally, Bella's last birthday bash - her party at Pump It Up.  I kept Benjamin out of school that day so he could join us too and I think he had the most fun of anyone.  They were both moving so fast I had trouble getting anything but blurs of color in my pictures.

Group shot.  Benjamin and 15 preschoolers.  So funny.  He didn't mind at all. He had a blast.  Bella (can you see her?  She's to Benjamin's left) had a great time too.  Pump It Up never disappoints.  We had Benjamin's 4th year party there too and it was just as much fun.

Benjamin was thrilled when one of the employees, completely out of the blue, offered to do some magic tricks for the kids.  He called Bella and Benjamin up to help him and then proceeded to do fun little tricks with pennies.  In this one he pretended to throw the coin through Bella's stomach to Benjamin against the red wall.  He ended up yelling, "oh no, it got stuck in your stomach!  Cough for me!!"  She coughed and he "found" it in her mouth.  "Eeeewwww, it's slobbery!" he declared.  The kids thought it was the greatest.  He did a bunch more that Benjamin's been trying to recreate every day since.  Such a fun day.  Now I think the birthday celebrations are finally over.  Time to get ready for Benjamin's!

This past weekend we went "treasure hunting."  Kelly told the kids were were going to look for treasure in the woods and they were stoked.  We got three geocache sites up at Kensington Park and had a great afternoon looking for them and riding our bikes around the park.

We were pretty tired of it all by the end.  Bushwhacking in the heat wears you out! Christian had the hardest time by the end.  Life's tough when those fallen logs are up to your hips.  I ended up carrying him and Bella back to the car and we shared a snack while Benjamin and Kelly looked for the last one.

I think Bella's favorite part of the trip was the food.  She ate 3 granola bars, a Cliff bar, 4  pancakes leftover from breakfast, and an applesauce pouch.  Then she whined the rest of the way home that she wanted more to eat and was still hungry.  She's crazy.

Today was Bella's last day of preschool, so now we have just 3 more weeks until Benjamin's done and then Summer!  I'm so ready to be done rushing Benjamin in the morning.  He just HATES getting ready for school.  It is such a struggle.  I found a book called "Let's play in the forest while the wolf is not around" which originated in a game to help kids get dressed in the morning.  We've played that every morning since and it was  pretty successful for a few days, but again today, he got bored of it and fought me on getting ready.  How can I have a girl who changes her clothes 15 times a day and a son who makes a war out of getting changed once!??!  We really need to spread the wealth around a bit.

Bella's Birthday

I found my camera, so now I can post some pictures.  (It was in the backyard, by the way - thank goodness it didn't rain last night!)

I asked Bella weeks before her birthday what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said, "I want to go to a farm, I want to ride Thomas the Train, and I want to have a party at Pump It Up."  So, that's what we're doing.  What??  Too much??  C'mon, you only turn 4 once!  No, actually, it's so easy because her preschool already had two of those things planned as end-of-year field trips, so all I had to pay for was the train ride!  She didn't know that, though, so I look like Super Mom and everyone's happy.  The day before her birthday we went to the farm.  Bella was in true Bella form leading the pack - first into every pen, first onto the hay ride, leading the entire class in an impromptu game of follow-the-leader around the field, etc.  She had a blast.

These are still from the farm trip.  She is in a different dress because she insisted on bringing a second dress to change into half-way through the trip.  The sheep got a bit of a strip show, but luckily everyone else had already filed out.

She was thrilled she got to touch an egg fresh from a chicken.  "It's still warm!"  I should put an egg in boiling water at home and see if it makes her as happy.

On her birthday we did the usual cake, decorations, presents, singing, etc.  She also got to pick what we ate, where we ate (she chose Mexican for dinner), and pretty much everything else we did all day.  Drove Benjamin CRAZY!  "It's not fair!!!" was shouted at least a dozen times.  "Wait 2 months and it'll be your turn," is hard to deal with at 5 years old.  We also had an all day fashion show as she couldn't decide which of the great new outfits to wear, so she wore them all over the course of a few hours.  Thank you Mimi and Grandma Dalton for the wonderful clothes.  She was giddier over those than anything else she received.

Today she celebrated her birthday in preschool with a crown she got to decorate, everyone singing to her, and a snack of her choice - croissants with strawberries and whipped cream.

Saturday we're riding Thomas the Train, and next week will be her party at Pump It Up (an inflatable bounce house place.)  I'll post more pictures then.  I like this way of celebrating birthdays because it's not such a let down when the day is over.  It just keeps going and going and going! :)

She's actually also excited to see her doctor for her 4th year check up.  She wants to know how much she's grown.  I want to know why she's 4 and still can't keep things out of her mouth!!!  She's the most orally fixated child I've ever met.  Coins, jewelry, toys (especially legos and polly pocket items), clothes, pencils, and not to mention her thumb, are in her mouth all day long.  I say "Don't eat that; it's not food! Spit it out!" probably 25 times a day.  Alas, you take the good with the bad, right?  We love you Bella! :)

Happy Birthday Sweet Bella!

Isabella turned 4 today!  She is an amazing girl in many ways.  So outgoing, friendly, and loving.  Loves to cuddle and hug.  She is very much a people person.  Loves being the center of attention.  Will do anything for an audience.  Mostly for that reason, she's the terror of her Sunbeam class and I feel deeply sorry for her teacher, but at home she is a lot of fun.

She gave her first talk in Primary on Sunday.  She got up in front of everyone and recited her talk without fear.  Projected her voice and spoke clearly and I couldn't have been more proud.

The other day Benjamin fell off his bike while trying to ride without hands and she came over to him as he cried and said, "I'm sorry you got hurt, Benjamin.  I'll let you have my turn to pick TV if you want."  They get 30 minutes of TV a day and they trade off picking what to watch.  It was Bella's day to pick and they are very careful about keeping track of turns, but she gave it up to comfort him.  That's true love.

I took her swimming alone on Friday for the first time.  Benjamin just wasn't in the mood, so it was just us girls. We had so much fun!  I haven't laughed that hard in weeks.  She is such a generally happy, bubbly girl.  Benjamin's moodiness rubs off on her too often, but get her alone and she's a crack-up!  Very optimistic and light-hearted with such a contagious laugh!

We wish you a wonderful coming year, Bella.  We love you!!!

(Had planned to post pictures from her birthday activities today, but I can't find my camera!!!  Ugh.  I think I spend more time looking for things than any other single activity all day.  So frustrating!  Glad I don't have an even bigger house!  Anyway, more pics to follow when I find my camera.)

Almost Summer!

We're not quite in Summer mode yet, but it sure feels like it.  These last couple weeks we've done so many fun Summery things again that we hadn't done all Winter.  Greenfield Village (finally reopened!), the Zoo, water play in the backyard (which always becomes mud play after a short time), backyard picnics with friends, boating on the lake and hikes nearby, and Soccer started again.  So much fun!  I love this time of year!