More birthday fun

There will never be enough hours in the days, days in the week, or weeks in the year. I have often said if I could just stop sleeping I could get everything on my have to/want to lists done. Like catching up the blog more than twice a month.

Since my last post Shannon had a birthday! He was officially five on Sunday, October 4th. We went to church then came back home because James had to take care of a group here at camp. We celebrated his birthday at the restaurant of his choice, The Sunflower. Cleveland has so many options it was hard to decide. Or not- actually there are so few that eeny meeny miney mo is usually sufficient to help us decide if we're stuck. Our friend Amanda came in to eat as we were sitting down and joined us for dinner. She once spent a LONG day at our house with Amelia and Shannon while I was at the hospital having Avery. A true friend!

At The Sunflower

I'm five!

While we were in the restaurant a group of policemen came in to eat. They left as we were leaving, and it turned out that James knew one of them through the Jeep network. (There's a Jeep network, if you didn't know. Guys who like Jeeps and do Jeep stuff know each other around here.) He gave Shannon a special birthday treat by letting him sit in the car and showed him the police guy stuff in the trunk, and loaded him up with swag from the Police department- badges, stickers, pencils, all kinds of fun little boy stuff.

Remember Shannon, you always want to be sitting in the FRONT of the police car, not the back!!

Ready for action.

Thanks Officer Aaron!

Love this kid.

On Thursday of that week we had a joint birthday party for the boys. We can get away with that since their birthdays are only 11 days apart. Several friends joined us in the gym here at camp to eat, ride bikes, tricycles, and scooters, and to have cake.

The boys decided this would be a Jeep birthday, so we had Jeeps playing in the mud. Avery requested that Bob the Builder be in one of the Jeeps, but I couldn't figure out a way to pull that one off.



Elizabeth is very ambitious and insisted on riding a bicycle.

I like to get at least one shot a year of the whole family, and thanks to the kindness and patience of my friend Anne who was holding the camera, one turned out without weird faces. Anyone with multiple kids knows taking family photos can be mistaken for torture.

Here's Avery demonstrating why I instituted a cheesy chip ban at our house. Cheesy fingers and mouths = cheesy shirts and pants. I believe cheesy chips should be enjoyed while celebrating one's birthday though.

I just thought this one was funny because we look so BORED! There's plenty to be said for candid, unposed shots being able to capture the true feeling of a day, but I'm not sure this one did it.

Blow them out, the trees are on fire!





Birthday guests. It only looks like some of them are smoking cigarettes. It's not that kind of party. Shannon gives Avery the traditional Birthday Choke Hold.



Yay for presents!

The boys got boots from Grandmom and Grandad.

For me!!!

Elizabeth made off with a bag of chips while no one was watching.

Just goin' to eat this whole bag over here in the corner. See y'all later.

She also practiced some of her best moves on the balance beam in the gym.

But she's still working on her dismount.

Avery and his buddy John try out a birthday toy.

Sydney B. licked the Jeeps clean. I didn't really want the mud in my sink anyway, so it was very helpful.

Not too much else around here has been noteworthy lately. Just the usual stuff of life. James continues to ride his bike and has lost nearly 15 pounds! I'm proud of him. Amelia has conquered memorization of all of her addition facts (0's through 9's). Elizabeth has learned a few new words, one of which is "no, no, no!" accompanied by violent head shaking, unfortunately. She's still very cute, except maybe for the terradactyl screech that accomapies dissapointments or the low grade whining that's meant to remind me that she needs another bite, a cup of water, my attention, or whatever. She's learned to say please in her own way though, which we've been trying to teach her to replace the whine. She looks at you and says, "puh, puh, puh, puh," which is nearly inaudible...and if you're not looking at her and miss it THEN she starts the whine or screech again. We'll get there!

We had a well visit week before last for Amelia's 6 year check up and Elizabeth's 15 month check up. Amelia is now 60th% for height, and 40th% for weight. She's grown 3 1/2 inches this past year, which explains all the pants I've had to buy this season. Elizabeth now weighs in at 25 pounds and is 80th% for weight and 40th% for height. She's only been walking about 6 weeks though, so our doctor thinks that ratio will even out soon. She's a full five pounds heavier than Amelia was at the same age. Avery still had her by nearly two pounds at that age though. I am sure I will be permanently bent to the right after carrying heavy babies around these past years.

Amelia has reached some more milestones in the past two weeks. Last Sunday I took her to the barn with me and she rode Maverick all by herself while I rode another horse. She took him around the arena, over poles on the ground, and around cones. I was so proud! Sunday we had our Open House here at camp and she also climbed the climbing wall to the top. A camera would have been nice for both events, but I didn't have it with me, so imagination will have to suffice. (My imagination too on the wall one- I was giving camp tours and missed it!)

Amelia has also had some loose teeth for the past few weeks. The middle two on the bottom have permanent teeth coming in behind them, and have been very wiggly.

Look closely and you'll notice that she's pushing the bottom two out Bubba-style with her top teeth. Kinda gross to watch in real life.

And then, just a few evenings later we hear from the bathroom, "Oh! I pulled out my tooth!"

Another milestone reached.

The tooth fairy wrote her a very nice note (if I do say so myself), and brought her a Tinkerbell toothbrush and a dollar. I told her the Tooth Fairy was generous because it was the first tooth, but maybe not to expect green paper money next time.

Amelia knows the Tooth Fairy's true identity, but that doesn't seem to make it any less fun. Last year when she was eagerly anticipating losing her first tooth I asked her what the Tooth Fairy was supposed to do. She said, "Oh, you'll have to ask Maggie" (her year and a half older buddy who had already lost multiple teeth and was an expert!).

To wrap up this post I leave you with an insight from Shannon this past week. The kids were eating boiled peanuts at the table and one he was eating squirted Amelia. She used her good table manners and observed that it was peeing. Shannon said, "Huh, maybe that's why they call them "peenuts."

Next up (when I get to it, that is)-- Week O' Fieldtrips

And then he was three

As of September 23rd, our family now has a three year old again. It was on a Wednesday, kind of a lame day for a birthday. So we made it fun by going to INK. Then we crammed in some school work before shoveling in some sandwiches and heading off to church. Shannon will be five on Sunday the 4th, so we'll do a joint birthday celebration on the following Thursday. Avery got his present from us, a Spiderman bike helmet so he can start riding bikes with the siblings. He has never learned to peddle a tricycle, however, so we'll see how it goes! (Funny how some things are overlooked when you get past two young 'uns in the house.)

I'm three!!



Your friendly neighborhood SWAT guy.

Yep, this is my ride.

Did I mention I was THREE today?



Amelia used the stage at INK to put on a one woman show. There was singing and dancing aplenty.





Avery wasn't so sure he liked what he chose from the dress up closet. Though he was excited that the sweater looked like Bumblebee from the Transformers. Bumblebee doesn't shop at second hand stores however, so he has a sleeker look.

Act Two.



Elizabeth loves climbing in and out of chairs. She spent her whole time at INK investigating everything that could be sat in or upon.







I did it. I sat in everything they had to offer.

The kids love crawling through this thing. They really get a kick out of exiting the OTHER end. I'll forego reciting the commentary for you.

This guy took me wherever I wanted to go.

Princess in training.



The many faces of Diner employees.







I'm struggling to think of anything else noteworthy that has occured in the past nearly two weeks since my last entry. We've mostly done the usual stuff of life; church, hosting weekend groups at camp (yay for business in the off season!), getting up early to feed and ride horses, playgroups, trips to the library, grocery store, Wal-Mart, and feed store, school with Amelia, reading lessons with Shannon, gymnastics, Thursday night dinners, and Sunday night church skipping so we can play with each other or with friends. We are Sunday night church skippers. It's one of the best things we've done for our family.

James has taken to riding his bike again in the past month. He dusted it off after six years (incidently coinciding with the birth of our first child...the same year I all but stopped riding horses), and has hit the trail at least three times a week lately. He also has a borrowed road bike and is giving that a go. He's on a mission to get in shape, lose some weight, and beat Year 40, which is peeking its nasty head just around the corner. He really does love it, and I'm proud of him for making it a priority in an already over-stretched time budget.

Speaking of James, following are some random photos of the the kids on their jungle gym. This kind of thing is a nightly occurence around here.







Not sure why the middle one is half-naked....

Fall has fallen around here this week. Overnight temperatures have been in the 40's, and daytimes in the high 60's/lower 70's. I've been in a flurry of seasonal clothes changing over for all of the kids, seeing what we can salvage from last season and what we need to buy. I dreaded hemming mountains of pants for Avery again, but turns out he's truly in a 3T. It's Amelia I'll have to hem for this time, as she's just out of 5's but 6's are too long. I haven't been through Shannon's stuff yet, but that's on the week's agenda. Elizabeth is in all of the 18 month stuff I had for Amelia, some of which Amelia wore well into her twos. Elizabeth isn't going to be able to do that.

We enjoyed a fall weather playgroup at the park this week. Elizabeth is on the verge of dropping her morning nap, and can muddle through without one on days we have other things going. Right before we left I found her like this though, all ready for a nap.

She did fine without one though, thankfully.

One thing I always forget about this time of year is that I need to go ahead and add 15 minutes to the leaving the house routine. It takes it to get four pairs of socks on, shoes tied, and jackets on and zipped.

I'm still trying to teach Shannon to pump his own swing. He's on his own after he turns five.

Tozer sends out a, "Whazzup" to all his peeps.

A.J. and Shannon

Who says playgroup is just for the kids? Alison and I agree that the plasticky slides at the playground would be so much better if they didn't generate 168 volts of static electricity as you slide down. Nothing like injuring your kid while you're trying to catch them at the bottom. Besides, everybody knows the giant metal slides from back in the day that send you whizzing down at mach speeds are so much more fun anyway.

Amelia loves finding treasures at the park, like a Coke can with a sharp, jagged hole ripped in the side, just primed and ready to spread tetnus to children.





Avery and A.J.

Alison's mom Mary was visiting from Ohio and wanted to make sure the swings were safe for kids.

This hasn't been a week of big, earth shattering events, but it has been a week of gratitude. Gratitude that God has blessed us with enough resources to own an extra freezer and the ability to have not only what we need, but EXTRA food...even if the plug it's attached to stops working and it thaws for three days. Gratitude for the ability to go to a library full of FREE reading materials, to a FREE story hour, and to own a purse with usable credit cards and cash, even if it does get left at said library and isn't realized until arriving back at home at lunch time with four hungry kids. (It was still there, by the way, being guarded by a very diligent librarian.) Also gratitude for the ability to own a nice vehicle, with four car seats to safely buckle in our four healthy children, and the ability to freely go to church to worship God on a Wednesday evening...even if after getting out the door on time with all kids dressed and fed the vehicle says, "click, click" instead of "vroom, vroom" upon turning the key. And gratitude for the resources to jump off the dead vehicle, even if the male (vehicle fixing) half of the relationship is riding a bike to church for excercise while the female (frankly, scared of jumper cables) half is trying to figure out what to do. And grateful EVEN AFTER 25 minutes of working on the thing with four kids strapped in the vehicle produces no results, and even after deciding to move all the seats to the truck and having no success with the stupid clippy thingy that makes the lap belt in the front seat safe for use with a car seat.

I can truly say I am grateful to have the problems I have had this week, because it means God has blessed us with SO MUCH STUFF!! Now whether or not James was grateful to have to keep the nursery without me while wearing spandex is another story. (I had the clothes he was going to change into in my dead car!)

I'll leave you with a few funny things from this week.

Wednesday morning I fed the horses but didn't have time to turn them out before coming home so James could leave, so I brought the kids out with me after breakfast to do it. A week ago the owner of the minature horses found them a new home and moved them, so I moved a couple of full-sized horses up to the paddock they were in. Amelia looked in it as we passed by and with a very serious and confused voice said, "Somehow I think those minis keep getting bigger."

After breakfast one day this week Avery said he needed to go potty, but told me he was wearing a diaper, which I thought was weird considering he doesn't wear them at all during the day. Shannon said, "Oh, I put it on him. Just in case." Then Amelia said, "I helped with the fastening part." They did a great job, it was placed just right and was fastened tight. I told Shannon I was going to let him start changing Elizabeth and he told me he could just put them on, but couldn't do the wiping part. Hmmm...I think he could be trained....

Shannon is forever finding creative ways to use toys, tools, equipment, whatever. Elizabeth affirmed his efforts by crawling right in the Cozy Coupe "boat."







Until next time, whenever that will be. So long!