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