Isaac turns 5

I bought a groupon to the Incredible Pizza Company for Isaac's birthday.  We had such a blast there and stayed for three hours.  Isaac's birthday was on Sunday so we went Saturday evening.  We got to eat pizza and jello and ice cream and do lots of games.  Their favorite was this roller coaster simulator. 

We did tons of games--this was a motorcycle race.

Another favorite was the car that went around a track.  

  A tiny carousel

We even played some miniature golf and Isaac went with Blake on some go-carts.   The kids had tons of fun and I was so glad we did this for Isaac's birthday!

The next morning we let Isaac open his presents first thing.  His grandmas wanted to facetime with him and see him open their presents and we thought the best time for that would be before church.  

Isaac got some games this year--we've been having fun playing candyland and go fish.  Isaac had no problem learning and playing by the rules.  He also got some legos and a puzzle so we were busy all morning playing with all his presents.

I think everyone knows how great I think Isaac is--I love him so much!  He is such a good boy.

He got a soccer ball for his soccer clinic in July.

Ooo-a remote control car!

Later that evening we had some friends over for cake.  I wasn't going to do a party this year since I did one last year, but some of his friends have invited him for cake for their birthdays and he really wanted them to come for his.  And he wanted to decorate the cake.  He put lots of mountains on the sides and I helped him draw his family on the top. 

I can't believe it's been 5 years!  

And that is it for Isaac's birthday. 

We've been swimming every day this week.  It is still a little chilly but the kids LOVE it.  James didn't love swimming last year but he does this year! He is kicking around in his floaties and jumping in by himself.  Isaac is diving for toys and sometimes using floaties to go around the pool. 

kick kick kick

Isaac diving for toys

Isaac received a bubble gun for his birthday and it is the new favorite.  We have been through a few bottles of bubbles. 

One day Isaac used almost an entire bucket of chalk making a huge train track.  Or roller coaster, depending on when you asked him. 

It went all the way up and down the sidewalk

And up to our door, so everyone knew who was responsible for that monstrosity. 

We played train many times up and down. And James wanted a picture of his lawn mower.

Happy Father's Day!  It has been a great day for us--Blake finished his last day of second year yesterday and tomorrow we are on vacation!!!

Trip to Chicago plus Isaac goes to school

For memorial day weekend Isaac, James, and I drove up to Chicago with my brother Andrew.  I will say nothing more about the trip other than there were some highs and lows.

We switched Isaac to a backless booster.  He looks so small in the car without a carseat around him.

The kids did great in the car. 

We went to the beach and did not touch the water.  Too cold. It was fun anyway and very pretty. 

James wanted to watch the dogs catch balls. 

James loves Andrew and wanted him to carry him nonstop. 

Jeremiah and Andrew are trying to cheer James up. 

Oh, now he's happy!

Zeke was loving the swings.

How many people can go down the double slide at one time?

Going to a sculpture park.  Forgot a stroller, whoops!

.

This is back home at Tower Grove park.  I took pictures of a family there and James always insists on having his picture taken too. 

Isaac will find craft ideas in workbooks or magazines and will beg me to do them.  I am not a fun artsy mom!  But sometimes I will get it together and do the craft he wants.  Lately we have made and painted penguins and this is painting prayer rocks. 

When Isaac had his kindergarten assessment they invited him to participate in a free summer school in June.  So this is the first time Isaac has gone to a real school (I have traded with other moms to do preschool for two years).  He was so excited to go and didn't even look back or say goodbye when he checked in with his teacher and sat on the rug with the other kids.  

Of course James needs a backpack and waterbottle too.

This is picking him up from school.  He had fun and met new friends and played on the playground but "it was a long time!"  When I told him his kindergarten in August was going to be longer, he was not so sure about that.  This pre-k program is 8-12 but in the fall kindergarten goes until 3. Yikes! 

Blake was so excited to see how Isaac liked school that he had me wake him up after working all night to go pick Isaac up. 

And in other news, James likes to pretend to use the potty like Isaac.  Just this week he actually started peeing in there.  Incredible! So now he will ask to pee every once in a while and this morning he asked to pee so we let him go to the bathroom.  He didn't want Blake to watch so he left.  Then Blake heard an "uh oh" and James had pooped on the floor.  Whoops--next time sit down!  It is amazing how differently kids can learn to do things. I think James will be way easier to potty train than Isaac. 

Happy birthday Blake 2013

Yes, we play inside sometimes.  But only once in a while.  James loves playdough (but the picture of him was blurry). Isaac likes it too. 

James watched me take pictures of another family and then he was all ready to get his picture taken.  

I get my mom pride on every time we go out and someone says, "Oh, he is so cute!  Look at that hair!"

And Isaac is super cute too.  And hilarious. I can just hear him saying:  "Ok, well, then I'm not going to..."

Playing at Blackburn park

Oh, finally I get to show off how Isaac is riding his bike!  He is honestly still a little scared of it--I think just because he is still a little small for the bike.  But he can ride it really well--he just needs a confidence boost. 

My kids are always dirty!  Always digging in our dirt, playing in the sandbox, getting sweaty running around, and James likes to crawl underneath the parking structure. 

James likes to ride his "coo coo". 

And Blake had a birthday!  We made him a good breakfast when he got home from his night shift.  We did a scavenger hunt for his presents since Blake did that for my birthday.  Isaac really wanted to do that again.  Blake slept until 2:30 and then we did Insanity together and he took the kids to the sandbox while I finished putting together our pizza picnic.  We took it to Forest Park where it got a little windy but we still had fun running around the World's Fair pavilion.  Andrew met us there.  We went back home after we were all tired of playing tag and had cake and ice cream.  The next day I took Blake on a date to a mexican restaurant. 

This is Blake, sailing along through life and looking ahead to what the next year will bring...

Other than that, we've just been doing our usual stuff:  going to the park as a family, going to the zoo, going to the science center, reading Berenstain Bears, playing at the sandbox (James could dig with a backhoe for hours), running too many dumb errands (buying new running shoes, getting wheat from the Bishop's Storehouse, getting free clothes at Kohl's) but the kids are always so good to go along with me and do whatever we need to do. 

Of course, life is not always awesome: I've put the kids to bed alone for 12 nights of the last 14.  Isaac and James find plenty to argue over--the lastest and most controversial being whose turn it is to pray.  Oh boy, do they both love to pray.  Isaac's usually are short but James sometimes will go on and on.  "Please bless have a nice day.   Please bless daddy stay home and James stay home and Isaac stay home and Mommy stay home.  Please bless the food and the watermelon and the pizza...."  One night we took a picnic to Blake at Demun park in between his clinic and his night shift.  We had a great time and I let the kids stay a little after Blake had to go to work.  Then as I turned around for 10 seconds to shut the gate to the park James walked right out into the street to get to our car right as a big SUV was driving down the road.  James almost died and I almost died.  Oh my heck, just when you think your kids know all the rules and are so good, they do something dumb like walk into the street.  ok, so James was not even scratched or touched and I remember when Isaac scared me to death when he did that when he was 2, so hopefully that is our one James street incident.   Through the next few days we had a lot of reminders about street safety.  Oh, and one night I awoke in a panic because a cockroach was crawling on my arm.  Yuck!  We had the guys spray. 

Just showing a true brother moment: all smiles but fighting over toys!

Next up: a trip to Chicago for Memorial Day! We are excited.