Daniel's Birthday

Friday night we celebrated Daniel's 5th birthday with family!

We had a fabulous dinner of grilled chicken, macaroni and cheese, raw carrots, and salad....the menu was planned by the birthday boy.  He even requested an ice cream cake.  I've never made one, but it sure was easy and good!

The night was a good one...our last chance to entertain in our house for a few months! 

Sweet Daniel, it is hard to believe you are five.  I remember a visit to MD's when Morgan was born.  I was newly pregnant with you.  She had a picture on her refrigerator of two elephants...a momma and a baby.  I asked about it.  She told me that she read somewhere that elephants care for their babies for five years.  It was her reminder of the importance of the first five years in a child's life.  I have given you much over the past five years, but you have returned it all ten-fold. 

You are my snuggler, my quiet spot, my sensitive soul.  You have a deepness to you that seems well beyond your years.  You have a temper and an inability to pick up after yourself.  You are bright...basically taught yourself to read at four.  You are you and that is what I love most of all.

Cousins Come to Town

We had a great visit with the Watsons this week!  MD and I marveled at how well our oldest two (Philip and Merrill) and the next two (Daniel and Morgan) got a long.  They are both perfect matches!!

We didn't do anything too exciting.  Just lots of playtime together.  And maybe a late night (for us!) trip to Cold Snap!!

Sure do wish they lived a little closer!

Another Lego Party!

Yesterday, Daniel celebrated his 5th birthday with tons of friends.  While we only invited seven families, we had 24 kids plus parents when all siblings were added in!

We were thrilled that the Watsons and Springfields were in town to celebrate with us!

We played Legos...

built a Star Wars set...

and finished off with cupcakes and ice cream.

Daniel had a great time, but as we see every birthday, he just isn't a center of attention kind of guy.

He played Legos by himself for the first ten minutes.  Once he acclimated, he was full force at the table with all of his friends!

Such a great party...lots of fun.  Such a precious little boy!

Sniff, sniff

Today, sweet Philip lost two teeth!  His first ones!!

I'll leave you with his precious, toothless smile!

Do You Think He's Ready??

Remember my little boy that cried the last five weeks of preschool?  Well, recently he has taken to wearing a  SPS uniform around the house.  He loves it.  He sleeps in it...

plays in it...

eats in it...

rides his bike in it...

and on and on.  I hope this is a good sign.  I'm definitely not going to squelch this excitement!

Noah...how did you do it?

Seriously, Noah, didn't you have a couple of sons and lots of animals??  How did you survive?

I've been in the house with four little boys and a dog for four days now...not forty...but still.  We are running out of ideas and have lots of little boy energy stockpiled.

I sure hope the weather lets up soon!  I've resorted to forts...

indoor dance parties...

and playing in the rain.

and then just when I think they are calm and I deserve mom of the year for having a quiet house despite four sons, I get off the phone and find this...

Seriously, who's idea was it to "bathe" in the sink...how did they all get up there??...and why didn't anyone slip off the counter and bust their head open???  Mom of the year...I don't think so.

In My Head...

So many times in my life things in my head are much more awesome than they are in reality.

Take today for instance.  A few weeks ago, Chris mentioned the six of us attending "The Battle of the Bay"...a canoe and kayak race in the Mobile Delta.  A pancake breakfast...a boat ride for the boys...some time together in the sunshine.  Sounds lovely, right.

The reality was rain and lots of it.  The race was still on which meant Daddy still had to take the Whaler to provide course assistance for the canoe/kayakers.  Boy we must have looked funny headed down Springhill Avenue towing our boat in the pouring down rain.

We arrived and instead of all enjoying some time watching the race on the boat, Chris was off to launch the boat in the rain by himself.

Chris in the boat to the right of the orange bouy!

I was left to watch four little boys!  They had a blast and by the end I had given up on keeping them out of the rain.  They left the Blue Gill almost as soaked as Daddy.

Not quite what I had imagined for the day, but all in all it sure was better than spending it house-bound here!