Halloween '18

Shark Family...
Doo, doo, doo

Collin (9) as Steve from Minecraft
Brennan (7) as Squirtle from Pokemon
Ethan (5) as The Hulk

Collin with his best friend Jayden as a Creeper from Minecraft

Kate with her best friend Calvin as a robot

Ethan is FIVE!

Happy 5th birthday, Ninja Ethan! 

On Ethan's actual birthday, he woke up to his requested cereal - peanut butter balls. After sending his brothers and sister off to school and a quick grocery pickup at Walmart, we met his best friend at Chick-fil-a for brunch. More than anything, Ethan wanted a kids' meal for his birthday. (Middle child syndrome has had him sharing an adult meal with at least one sibling most of his life, and he wanted the toy. You got it, man!)

His buddy Evan gave him a little pack of M&Ms wrapped in hand-colored paper and a homemade card too. It was cute. After eating, playing and then picking up Kate from school, Ethan got to go to school too.

This year - instead of bringing a treat or picking a favorite book to be read to the class - he got to help teach his class something he enjoys. Any guesses?

You got it: He wanted to give ninja lessons to his friends. So I grabbed Collin from school - because I don't have the first clue about being a ninja - and let him come with me.

I read them The Three Ninja Pigs (cute fractured fairy tale to kill some time), and Collin demonstrated a front kick and a jab/punch combination.

His taekwondo school let me borrow a board for breaking and hand pads for punching, so then we headed outside for the kids to all try it.

His buddy Evan - that went to brunch with us in the morning - is the one kicking in this pic.

Birthday boy ninja kick!

It was great fun! No one got hurt, and none of the equipment got broken, so I'd say it went well. Collin was a great instructor, and Ethan was super proud to be the little brother of someone so big and cool. ;-)

When he got home, I'd inflated a giant Ninjago character balloon as a surprise, and all the kids have fought over it ever since. For dinner, Ethan requested cheese quesadillas, queso and chips.

Then he opened his present (a Ninjago shirt to wear to his party on Friday, keepin it real over here) and we sang and did cake and ice cream.

He's so easy to please that even though the day was super simple, he was the happiest little man. The real FUN was Friday!

* * *

Ethan REALLY wanted to have a birthday party this year, and I was willing except... for the budget constraints. His first list of friends was over 15! So I convinced him to only invite boys and for the theme to be Ninjago. The final list of invitees was 6, but one boy had to go out of town and couldn't make it. Five kids plus my own 4, yikes!

Due to the aforementioned budget constraints, despite the large number of kids, we decided to do games, pizza and cupcakes/ice cream here at our little house.

When they each arrived, we tied on their ninja bandanna I'd made.

They did a craft while waiting for all the kids to arrive. The craft was "design yourself as a ninja."

After the craft, they got to pick between two games - "pin the eyes on the ninja" and a throwing game with ninja stars (provided by origami master Collin due to a mess-up by Amazon) into a Chinese take-out box pyramid.

We played a game of seek-n-find for hidden ninjas next. Little ninjas were hidden all around the house, and they placed the six they found into their gift bag.

Then, by birthday boy request, we had to have a pinata.

This pinata was a beast though. After all the preschoolers had their try...

...and then all the big brothers, Daddy had to take a few good wacks.

 Finally, Ryan ripped the thing open and dumped all the candy on the patio.

After the pinata, we let Ethan open his presents. He got a few Lego sets, a dancing robot and a Nerf bow-and-arrow. He was so excited! 

Next, we had kid-approved pizza for dinner.

After dinner, each boy got a foam sword to try to keep a balloon in the air the longest. We took them outside for this one.

Then we sang and did cupcakes and ice cream.

Last, Ryan ran Ninjago Bingo while I got the house ready for parent pick-up.

Inside each gift bag the boys took home were two sheets of Ninjago stickers, a ninja bracelet, and all their stuff from the party (bandanna, ninja star, sword, pinata candy, ninja figures, ninja art and a balloon).

For as many kids as we had in the house, I was expecting it to be CRAZY loud and insane, but really all the boys were so calm and respectful. He really does have a cute little group of friends. No one got hurt and everyone had fun, so I call that a win.

I love planning this kind of stuff, but it is definitely a lot of work. Ethan couldn't have been happier and that really was my goal. He gets ignored a lot - middle child between two difficult siblings - and I want him to know that we haven't forgotten about him and we love him too. He is super easy-going and flexible and generally happy and easy to get along with, and when you have a kid like that in the midst of two others who are none of those things, it's hard to remember he needs time and attention too. This party was my effort to show him he matters to me too. Love you, Eefie!

Happy birthday, my little ninja!

Family Pictures 2018

Family, standing

Collin, age 9

Brennan, age 7

Ethan, age 4

Katelyn, age 3

Family, seated

Us, heads

Us, bods ;-)

The Kids

A princess and her daddy

CANDIDS

 

Happy 3rd, Princess!

Blueberry Girl

text by Neil Gaiman

Ladies of Light, Ladies of Darkness and Ladies of Never-You-Mind,

this is a prayer for a Blueberry Girl.

First, May you ladies be kind.

Keep her from spindles and sleeps at sixteen; Let her stay waking and wise.

Nightmares at three, or bad husbands at thirty; These will not trouble her eyes.

Dull days at forty, false friends at fifteen; Let her have brave days and truth.

Let her go places that we’ve never been; Trust and delight in her youth.

Ladies of Grace, Ladies of Favor and Ladies of Merciful Night,

this is a prayer for a Blueberry Girl.

Grant her your clearness of sight.

Words can be worrisome, people complex; Motives and manners unclear.

Grant her the wisdom to choose her path right, Free from unkindness and fear.

Let her tell stories, and dance in the rain, Somersault, tumble, and run;

Her joys must be high as her sorrows are deep, Let her grow like a weed in the sun.

Ladies of Paradox, Ladies of Measure, Ladies of Shadows-That-Fall,

this is a prayer for a Blueberry Girl, Words written clear on a wall.

Help her to help herself, help her to stand, Help her to lose, and to find.

Teach her we’re only as big as our dreams, show her that fortune is blind.

Truth is a thing she must find for herself, precious, and rare as a pearl;

Give her all these, and a little bit more, Gifts for a Blueberry Girl.

Happy 3rd birthday, Katelyn -

May you have all the blessings of a "Blueberry Girl"

***

My baby is 3! On Saturday, Ryan and I took her to Build-A-Bear. (Now that Collin is 9, we sometimes let him keep the other kids for short periods. He did great, and they even had lunch while we were gone!) 

She wanted a unicorn, but the only ones in stock were white, and I know better than that. She got this adorable little girl that she's calls Dolly. We also got her this bear for only $3, and she hasn't slept without them since. 

Kate loves salad, so we took her to lunch at Panera afterwards. She loved her blueberry muffin too. 

Her actual birthday was Tuesday. It was only the second day of preschool, but she dressed up in her tutu and tiara with her birthday badge. She took a little princess dip and animal crackers to share with the other kids. 

After her nap and running her brothers to their after-school sports, we met Dad at home. As requested, we had pizza and queso for dinner. ;-) 

After dinner (and some sweating on the trampoline - look at her hair!), she opened her presents. Back at Brennan's birthday, she decided she wanted a princess backpack and a princess cake. 

And Mom delivered! She also got some princess stickers because she LOVES stickers. 

Her cake was pink (strawberry) with purple polka-dots. I also got her pink (strawberry) ice cream. She was in little-girl heaven. She wouldn't admit it, but she had a great day. 

*** 

Her birthday was a good day, but she's a tough little thing to handle most days (lots of public tantrums still). She is VERY stubborn, and she doesn't like to admit when she is pleased. If you give her what she asks for, she changes her mind so that she can't be happy. If you don't give her what she wants, we all pay the consequence! 

Her fits are a sight to behold. I was going to try to keep track of when her "good days" were, but the last one I remember was before the boys got out of school for summer vacation, so that'll give you an idea of what I am up against. 

If she ever complains that she doesn't have a sister, I am going to remind her of her behavior as a toddler/preschooler, and make it crystal-clear that it's her own fault I couldn't handle more kids. ;-) 

She loves salad, carrots, cucumbers and Ranch. She loves chicken nuggets but not really pb sandwiches. She loves pasta noodles and rice but not really meat (hamburger, bacon, sausage, etc). She is a great eater and will try (and usually finish) everything I give her. She loves ice cream. 

She still takes one afternoon nap from about 12:30-3pm. She is doing 2-mornings per week "mommy-taught" preschool this year with some friends from our neighborhood. She loves music (especially Imagine Dragons) and twirling. She loves swings at the park. 

She loves "Baby Shark" on YouTube and "Sophia the First" on Netflix.  She enjoys story time at the library and music makers at church. She loves going to nursery, and she calls everyone her "friend," especially little girls with ponytails. She loves all things pink, purple, turquoise (yes, she knows that color) and/or sparkly. 

A purple bus showed up at the park, and a picture was demanded

She loves princesses and Legos. She loves super heroes and dragons too. She loves to do puzzles and for me to read her stories. She loves the trampoline too. She loves her princess blanket and her two "ba-ba"s. 

 

She loves water and sand and rocks. She loves the swimming pool and paddleboarding with Dad. 

And she LOVES HER DAD. She is permanently attached to him if he is around (vacations, weekends and evenings). He is almost always carrying her around. 

She is a better helper than the boys ever have been, wanting to empty the dishwasher, fold the laundry and mop the floor. She puts away her shoes and clears her spot at the table without being asked too. 

At Ryan's family reunion this summer, she started going up to all the old men (Ryan's uncle and Ryan's uncle's brother-in-law) and calling them "grandpa." Then she'd ask if she could cuddle with them. She'd sit in their laps when she'd never even met them before. (Her own grandpas weren't at the reunion.) This happened several times over the course of several days. The old guys loved it! It was shocking and sooo super cute. Now we say she "likes older men." 

She was almost totally potty-trained, but then we decided to put her into pull-ups to be safe while on vacation this summer (long car rides and hiking isn't complimentary to little girl bladder sizes), and now she won't have anything to do with it. I plan to hide her pull-ups in a few months and try again. 

We are so grateful Kate is in our family. She bosses her brothers around like she's the oldest, but we are grateful she's our caboose. Love you, Baby Girl!