A Science Birthday Party!

I've been meaning to post some pictures from Colin's science themed 6th birthday party! It was so much fun!!

While we tried to steer Colin in the direction of having his party at a location other than our lovely home (because it's on the small side and because it just seems easier to have it somewhere else), what he really desired was a birthday party, at home, with a science theme.

And because he's so cute, well, we just couldn't say "no"!

Also, my in-laws are scientists (a huge WIN when your kid wants a science party). Lucky for us, they were totally on board for helping to make this party a success!

My father-in-law started the party with a science show. It was such a hit! My absolute favorite part was how when a cool reaction would happen, the children would yell, "It's magic!" and without missing a beat, my father-in-law would correct them. "No. It's SCIENCE!"

 

I also got a kick out of the fact that none of these kids had any idea that they were in the presence of a man who speaks all over the world and whose contribution to science has literally changed lives.

After the show, the kids broke up into small groups and moved station to station doing experiments and making sciencey stuff (a technical term), to take home.

Here's how the stations broke down:

Station 1: Flubber (Jessica's station).

The recipe, if you're interested, is so easy!

You need:
3/4 cup cold water
1 cup Elmer's glue
liquid food coloring (we used green)
1/2 cup hot water
1 teaspoon borax

Steps:
1. In one bowl, mix together the cold water, glue and a few drops of food coloring.

2. In another bowl, mix together the hot water and borax, until the borax is completely dissolved.

3. Slowly add the glue mixture to the borax mixture. Mix it all up and pour off any excess water.

Station 2: Lava Lamps (Chris's station)

Here's how they did it,

You need:
Small water bottles
2 tablespoons of water
Enough vegetable oil to fill the bottle, the rest of the way to the top
5 drops of your chosen food coloring.

Steps:
1. If you are using water bottles that are full of water, pour out the excess water and leave about two tablespoons of water in the bottom.

2. Pour in the vegetable oil until the water bottle is filled up again.

3. Drop in the food coloring of your choice.

4. Tighten the lid!!! Another option would be to actually glue the lid shut. Trust me, you don't want oily water spilling everywhere if your kid decides to loosen the cap. :)

Station 3: My father-in-law helped the kids explore electricity with batteries and lightbulbs. He helped them form a circuit by using two wires, a D volt battery and a 2 watt light bulb. The kids loved this!

Station 4: Germination. My mother-in-law guided the children in planting seeds, that they could then take home and watch both the roots and the leaves grow.

Here's how she did it,

You need:
Small plastic cups
Coffee filters
Seeds (we used pumpkin, radish and another flower seed)

Directions:
1. Put the coffee filter in the cup
2. Place the seeds in between the coffee filter and the cup, on the sides (not the bottom)
3. Wet the coffee filter slightly
4. Keep wetting the coffee filter daily and watch the seeds sprout!
5. Once the seeds sprout, transfer them to a small pot if you like.

The stations ended up being very successful in terms of keeping the kids happy and occupied, while passing time.

Next, we had cupcakes and opened gifts. It was organized chaos, in a mostly good way, haha.

I want to say that we are SO appreciative to Chris's parents who really helped make this party so special for Colin and us!

GO science!!!

Taken during the science show..... he was so so happy. Can you tell??

I suggested a great big Happy Birthday balloon, but Colin really wanted the American flag balloon as part of his balloon ensemble.

This week

Dear Colin,

This morning I got to go with you on your first kindergarten field trip. It was so fun. I think you have such a great teacher and a wonderful group of kids in your class. It seems like you are making friends and very happy, which in turn, makes us so happy!

Hayride with my boy

Other snippets from the week:

Since starting school again, Colin has been very into playing school at home. Finn, God bless him, has been the only one willing to go along with this play idea. Basically Finn sits at the table, while Colin, the teacher, sits at his desk and teaches him all sorts of stuff.... and I'm just going to say it, sometimes it comes off a little bossy. You are a good sport Finn!



Story time for the younger boys.



It has been a week of warm, beautiful weather and it's supposed to be a beautiful weekend too. We're planning to hit up the apple orchard tomorrow. I'm hoping my crew picks enough apples that we can make and can applesauce on Sunday because I know come January we're going to appreciate it.

First Day of Kindergarten!

Colin's first day of kindergarten went so well!

We woke up early (I had to set my alarm to make sure we'd be up!). When my alarm went off, I realized that everyone but Colin had crawled into our bed during the night. (We have a ginormous family bed.... which is probably a topic for another post- haha). Anyway, it only felt right to go wake Colin and ask if he wanted to come cuddle with all of us for a few minutes before starting the day.

We all savored a little extra cuddle time in bed, while Owen crawled over us. We talked about how it was Colin's first day of kindergarten and he seemed really excited. Such a contrast from this day huh? 

Then Colin jumped in the shower, Chris went downstairs with the others to make pancakes and..... all hell broke loose. Seriously, meltdown city. The trips were just having such a hard morning! And I felt so bad for Colin, that this was his first day of school and his brothers were such a mess and things felt so chaotic. Really, we underestimated how sad they were that Colin would be going to school all day, most days, from here on out (something we'd been talking a lot about and preparing for, leading up to yesterday). Later that morning, once settled, they would share things like, "I didn't want Colin to go to school" and "I'm sad that Colin is at school" and "Can we go get Colin yet?" 

Thankfully, despite the morning hiccups, we were still on time getting out of the house. Before leaving, we took a few pictures on the front steps. To our pleasant surprise everyone smiled!

And then we were off. Colin left with a huge smile (maybe he was thinking, "Finally, I'm out of the nut farm for a whole day!") Who knows the reason, but Chris and I were just thrilled, that our sometimes shy guy, was so excited about school. 

Once at school, I watched him line up with his classmates and then they were off. He seemed suddenly so grown up. 

I had high hopes that life with one less child at home during the day would seem infinitely easier, and we adjusted our wonderful nanny's hours as a result. But turns out that caring for three, three year olds and a 15 month old is still exhausting! At one point, one was dumping glitter glue all over the dining room table while Owen was splashing in the toilet. Before we knew it though, it was time to pick Colin up from school. Carter, Everett, Finley and I headed over to the school and man oh man, I wish I had a video of him coming out the doors. PURE JOY. 

To all you amazing, dedicated teachers who make it your business to help children love school.... THANK YOU.

My favorite after school picture, complete with a photo bomb from Everett.

Letting Go

Today Colin said that he wants to ride his bike to school for the first day of Kindergarten.

"Okay, sure."

"Hey, do you want to try and learn how to ride without your training wheels today?" I asked, secretly fearing that all the other bike riders would be arriving without training wheels.

"Sure!"

And so we all headed over to Colin's new school where we had the parking lot to ourselves. We'd had a sense for a while now that Colin could probably give it a go without his training wheels, but in the busyness of day to day life in our family, we just hadn't gotten around to trying it. Plus, Carter also loves riding Colin's bike and for sure he still needs some extra support when riding.

Chris played on the playground with the younger boys and Colin and I got to it.

We started out by having him peddle while I ran next to him holding the handle bars and his shirt, tightly. Gradually I began to loosen my hold and give him the reigns. Slowly but surely he found his sense of balance, control and confidence. At one point he said, "You know, I think the faster I peddle, the more stability I have." 

Umm, okay, what grade are you going into?? Stability?? I didn't know that was in his vocabulary, haha. He was right though. :-)

Eventually, when I was only ever so slightly holding onto his shirt, he said that I could let go but, "Stay close Mom!"

Round and round the parking lot we cruised. Him peddling and me running beside him, ready to catch him if he fell.

And then, kind of suddenly it seemed, he said, "Mommy, you don't need to run beside me anymore."

Colin, although I was so out of breath from running that I felt like I was going to collapse, I wasn't ready to let you go! I wasn't sure you were ready. I mean, what if you fell? But I kept my mouth shut, stopped running next to you and let you go.....

And you took off flying. With confidence, with a smile, and yelling, "Hey Carter, you see THIS?!"

Last Day of Preschool for Colin

Back in September of 2012 when Colin first started preschool, he did not want to go. He was so worried and anxious about school and it was hard to leave him on that first day. Remember that??

He has grown so much in these last two years of preschool. Preschool should be all about learning to love school, building relationships with peers and teachers, and playing. By those measures, his time in preschool has been a huge success. He knows now that school is a fun place to learn and make friends, which makes him talk with more excitement than nervousness about what kindergarten will be like.

After school, Chris and I both picked him up (it was a surprise for him to see Chris there too) and took him out to brunch to celebrate. Just the three of us. We let him order whatever he wanted, which was chocolate milk, one donut and three pancakes with butter, whip cream and syrup. We talked about how proud we are of him, asked him what he wants to do this summer (catch a frog, duh!) and talked a touch about how he'll be a big time kindergartner come fall. We said that in celebration of preschool ending, and because he'd worked so hard, he could get an aquarium to keep his future frog in.

He was very happy.

At one point, in between bites of donut and soaking up alone time with mom and dad he announced emphatically, "I'm so glad God made me!" 

Chris and I laughed our heads off.

And, we agree completely! You are a miracle straight from God.

"Mom, this is my frog catching cart. See, my net and my cage and my shovel to dig in the sand." (Last time he caught a frog it was buried in the sand, probably enjoying a nap when Colin found him)

Mr. Independence

Dear Colin,

Last Saturday your brothers and I were supposed to travel two hours over to Mom-mom and Pop-pop's house while your Dad renovated the guest bathroom. Then on Saturday, some of your brother's weren't feeling well and so we made a decision to have Mom-mom and Pop-pop go ahead and then we'd meet up on Sunday when hopefully everyone was feeling better.

Just before they were to leave, you announced that you'd like to go with them! By yourself. Without your brothers and without me.

"Mommy PLEASE can I go?" you said.

I didn't think you'd really go through with it. This idea had never occurred to you before.

But there you were excitedly packing your backpack and asking me to take your picture.

Just look at that confidence!

That is a five year old boy, heading off to his grandparents house for an adventure!

Still, I thought once you got in the car, that you'd back out. You didn't.

Then I thought that you'd get an hour down the road, miss us and want to come home. You didn't.

Finally, I thought for sure that before bed, you'd start to get homesick and miss me. I worried about how I'd get to you over two hours away..... because of course I'd have to come. But you didn't need me.

You had a blast going out to dinner with them, eating popcorn, getting the toys ready for your brothers..... and basically doing all the special grandparent/ kiddo stuff that you get to do when you sleep over. Yup, you were fine. Me, not so much! I missed you like crazy. I kept texting Mom-mom, "Is he okay??" but of course, you were just fine. Doing awesome actually.

Then Mom-mom texted me:

"He's asleep. He took his camera to bed because he said in case he misses you he can look at your picture. Before he went to bed he looked at your picture and said, "I love you Mommy". But he wasn't sad, he's excited to be here and to see you guys tomorrow."

Ummmm, cue tears! I was a mess. And yet thrilled for you that you were having this positive adventure at Mom-mom and Pop-pops and that you were doing so well!

Mom-mom said that in the morning when she went to check on you, you were sitting up in bed fully dressed! Mr. Independence!

I gave you the biggest hug when we arrived on Sunday! You excitedly showed us around and told us all about the special things you did together!

When I see these growth spurts happening, it makes me so happy for you. But I also have to stop myself from thinking too far in the future and how your growing up so fast.

Now as a parent, I can only imagine how hard it must have been for my own parents to put me on a plane to Africa (at 22), and wave goodbye for two years (although I came home for a visit during that time). I suppose they loved me enough to let me have my own adventures and follow my dreams. But man, it's hard to let go. I know, I know, it was ONLY two hours away and it was ONLY one night!

For now though, Mom-mom and Pop-pops is far enough! (and I'm proud of you)

Brother's just know

Before I get to the triplet's birthday party details I want to share something I thought was so sweet and so telling about the bond of siblings. Before the trip's birthday, I took Colin to Target and told him that he could pick out gifts for Finn, Carter and Everett. I thought it would take forever for a five year old to pick out gifts. I thought maybe it would be hard for him to focus on others and not get ideas for himself. I thought he'd need help and guidance to find appropriate gifts for each of them.

However, Colin knew exactly what he wanted for each brother and they weren't things I'd have necessarily chosen. He was adamant about a jack hammer for Carter. "Are you sure he wants one of these?"

 "Mom, he really wants one of these!"

He chose a Disney puzzle assortment for Finn. "Are you sure?" I'd asked. 

"Yup! I'm sure."

Finally, he picked out a pretend birthday cake for Everett. "I saw him playing with this toy at Edie's house and he really liked it."

His presents were the first ones that his brothers got to open as soon as they woke up on their birthday morning. They LOVED what he'd chosen for each of them and Colin stood there with his arms crossed, proud as could be.

12 month photo project: March

Have you heard of The 52 Project? I feel inspired by other parents who are taking a photo of their children every week. I think it's really neat. I'd love to do this but I'm not sure I'd be able to keep up weekly photos, so I've decided to try for once a month! 

My goal is to take a picture once a month, of each of my boys. Hopefully the photos will capture something unique and special about them. 

But here's the deal, I'm not going to do much, if any, editing to the photos because I just feel like I don't have time for anything these days. My initial goal is just to get out my camera once a month, move around the house with it, and capture my boys. I'm excited to look back on these over the next year and see how the boys change! So here we go, March:

Colin, LOVES his new shop vac. He begs me for stuff to vacuum with it. Even vacuuming out our disgusting mini van didn't deter him. I can't wait to remind him of this when he's a teenager and this vacuum is but a distant memory to him.

Carter, with those blue eyes. Carter asks "Why?" or often it sounds more like, "Whyyyyyyyyyy?" after almost anything someone says. It cracks us up and sometimes by the end of the day, drives us nuts. He really does want to know the why behind everything though! Hmmm, maybe a budding scientist like his grandpa? Although Carter himself says, "Me shy", he has made huge strides, attending swim lessons without any tears and also going to the kids area of the gym so I can exercise. 

Finn. This is such a Finn face right now. Mid laugh, and/or about to say something hilarious. The other night in the bathtub, he was staring off and so I asked him what he was thinking about. "Bout how Jesus loves me since I was born." Oh, okay, typical bath time thoughts. Yesterday, I asked the boys what meal we should make Daddy for his birthday. When I got blank stares, I followed up by asking them to think about what food Daddy really likes. Suddenly a light bulb seemed to go off in Finn's head. "I know! Let's make him salt!"

Everett, has been very attached to his bag lately. In it, he carries the things that are important to him, like play-doh, a notepad, a pencil, his luvies and occasionally he'll sneak in a snack too. Last night, after it was lights out and time for sleep, I thought I saw motion by Everett's bed. Upon closer inspection, there he was sitting up, peeling and eating an orange that he'd stored in his bag. You never know when you'll get hungry I suppose.

Owen, is motoring around and pulling to stand every chance he gets. He's one of the guys and he knows it! Always wanting to be where the action is at, this one.

Five Years

Dear Colin,

On the night after you were born I remember being surprised at how frequently newborns wanted to eat. I honestly thought babies slept for longer stretches. HA!

Boy did I have a lot to learn about babies! And YOU. You taught me. You taught me how to be a Mommy.

We were buddies instantaneously. I often think back on that first night after you were born, when I held you against me, in that quiet, dark hospital room. I remember feeling like there was SO much I still didn't know about babies and yet also feeling so completely whole and at peace. I'd love to go back just for a few minutes and relive that quiet, snuggly night getting to know you.

Time marches on and now you are FIVE!

From the kitchen counter where I prepare meals and clean up, I have a direct view of your workshop. Most afternoons you can be found there working and tinkering with things.

Here you are today, being silly. You built that swing door for when you want to close shop. In other words, to keep your brothers out. haha!

You built most of this. For example, when we took a plastic cover off an IKEA picture frame (which would have been discarded) you swooped in out of nowhere saying, "I'll take this!". It became the front of your workshop and it was a clever solution to a problem you were having. Little hands reaching in and grabbing things.

We say that it's your responsibility to keep your workshop tidy but truthfully it's a mess most days! You know where everything is though. To you it's not a mess, it's just a busy work zone!

Know this, I LOVE watching you work. It makes me smile every time I see you in there happy as a clam, building stuff. It makes loading the dishwasher and making meals much more entertaining!

Today, we had a blast celebrating your birthday. So much fun, that I'm exhausted! So I'm going to post pictures from your "workshop party" tomorrow!

We love you so much little c and thank God for you every day,

Happy Birthday!!!!

Here you are with your brothers, excitedly waiting for your party to start!

Snow Day

Today was a snow day. I woke up early with the boys and we marveled at all the now. Yes I'm using the word marveled. It was just beautiful!

All of the local schools were closed however, this doesn't affect us much as Colin is the only one in school and he only goes three days a week. At first we thought it was too cold to even go outside but by afternoon the boys were stir crazy, so out they went! It was very sunny and it took a lot of work to move through the snow so they warmed up quickly. Some lasted longer than others but I think they all had fun. There was so much snow! Just TONS!

The boys dug a tunnel through a huge pile of snow. They were so proud!

In other news, Owen is getting very close to crawling! Every day he gets a little closer.... 

The other night Colin happened to pick out the same pajamas that unbeknownst to him we'd already dressed Owen in too. They were new for Owen (size 12 mo!) and it was fun to watch how excited Colin got that they were dressed the same. 

I haven't been consistent about blogging lately.... and I hope to get better about that.... but I assure you, life is good.

The Christmas Card That Never Was

This will be the last post about Christmas 2013, promise!

I had every intention and hope of sending out a Christmas card this year! But....it didn't happen :(

Did I ever tell you how last May I found a pile of stamped, sealed, addressed and ready to go Christmas cards that I never mailed? I felt terrible! I vowed to do better this year and even took some pictures of the boys to use on the Christmas card before Thanksgiving.

But then December just went and FLEW by on me. I blame December. It got to the point where I realized that I could either be stressed about getting this done and spend a good chunk of time addressing cards or I could let it go.

I chose to let it go.....and vowed that next year I will start in September getting pictures taken and getting the cards ordered! (If that really happens people, it will be a Christmas miracle!)

It was the right decision this year. Once I decided not to worry about sending cards, I instantly felt lighter and space for other things opened up. Like playing in the snow with my kids, helping the boys make wrapping paper and sending my 93 year old grandmother hand made ornaments and drawings from the boys. I can honestly say that we really enjoyed the holidays this year in part because I let much of my "to do" list  fall away. 

For a minute, can we just pretend this is our Christmas card? Can you pretend that the mail man just arrived and you are opening our card? And could you maybe pretend that it's not January 13th??

From youngest to oldest, here's the crew!

Owen

Finn

Everett

Carter

Colin

Wishing you a blessed 2014!!!