Super Saturday

Tonight we invited some friends over for a sleepover, a friend for Henry, a friend for Seth, and a friend for Caroline. (Evan actually asked, "Where's my friend?," but was quickly placated when we gave him glowstick sunglasses and when the boys let him "play" video games with them.) All three of the kids that we had over are from the same family. We met them when Henry and Dylan were in Kindergarten together.

These two have been close friends ever since.Dylan's brother, Will, and Seth are good friends too...they share a love of building block architecture. Of course, they play many different things when they are together, but I often find them doing this.They make spectacular demolitions of their skyscrapers, oftentimes conveniently planned for when a brother or sister walks by.Abbey is Dylan and Will's little sister. It was her first time to sleep over at our house. These two little princesses packed a lot into their sleepover: making glitter pony suncatchers, escaping from the boys and playing forEVER in Caroline's room, exercising and singing karaoke to Hannah Montana songs, playing dolls, house, restaurant. They were in there for so long that I had to keep checking on them to see if they were ok!

I was amazed that when it was time to call it a night, the boys fell asleep almost right away, while these two were going strong for about another hour.

Evan hung out with his Daddy a lot. Dave is finishing the basement, so lately Evan has been his companion/sometimes assistant. Evan loves the basement because that is where we store the toys that we aren't using right now. He uncovered his older brothers' set of Rescue Heroes and had a grand time. Eventually, all the kids did fall asleep, and actually slept in this morning a little bit. That gave me plenty of time to make pancakes and bacon for everyone.

Yum!

Seth AND his teacher in the spotlight!

Seth had big news when he came out of school yesterday. He told me that his teacher is now famous, that she got an award for being such a good teacher. He also said that lots of teachers, classes, and even the principal kept coming by their classroom and congratulating her. He said he was very proud of her! :)

Apparently, his teacher is one of the nominees for educator of the year in our district! So hats off to Mrs. Weimer...this award is well-deserved. She is so conscientious, caring, hard-working, fun, adventurous...basically everything you'd want in a teacher. We were so happy that she looped with Seth's class from 1st to 2nd grade. We've loved her so much that thinking about Seth not being with her next year gives me heart palpitations. ;)Seth and the second graders from our school were also in the spotlight today when they performed an parachute routine at halftime in the high school basketball game. They were quite impressive!

He's all talk.

This boy loves to talk on the phone. Of course he loves to talk to his grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles and cousins. He'll also try to talk to sales people if I let him. His older brothers were never like this, or maybe not to this extent. He definitely has the "gift of gab" like his older sister.

He always has a lot to say, and sometimes a lot to show. He is at that stage where he thinks if he has something in his hand he can show it to the person he's talking to on the phone. I need to get this boy on Skype. I just signed up for it, and I'm hoping that I can get his regular phone conversants on board with it too. That way he'll really be able to show what he's talking about. Wow...I have no idea if I'm making any sense right now...I am so tired.

Since I'm falling asleep at my computer, I think that I'll be going to bed now... ;)

Henry's New (Old) Look

We picked up Henry's new pair of glasses today. Isn't he handsome?

Look closely...

You might see a bit of extra sparkle on this little girl. (Click on the picture if you need a closer look.) See it? Sweet Caroline just got her ears pierced! She is on cloud nine, and checks out the sparkle in her reflection quite a few times a day now. ;)

She made a deal with her daddy that if she was responsible enough to keep her room clean for a week straight, he would let her get her ears pierced. She definitely held up her end of the bargain, even making her own chart complete with a picture of a girl with sparkly ears. She had the numbers one through seven at the bottom of the chart, and each day that her room passed inspection, she would cross off one number.

Well, yesterday she finally crossed off the number "7". She could hardly wait until after school for the big moment. When we were driving over, she was talking non-stop, obviously excited, but also full of nervous energy. She was reassured that I was going to get my ears pierced too, and kept going back and forth about who should go first. (My ears were pierced, but I haven't worn earrings for years, ever since we've had children. The holes were no longer there!)

We walked into the store, and her eyes grew wide in wonder, taking in the many, many earrings they had there. I wasn't surprised when she asked if I would go first. She helped me pick out my earrings, and held my hand, and VOILA, my ears were pierced. Then it was her turn...She was a little girl conflicted. She really, REALLY wanted the end result, but was very anxious about the part of the process that hurts. She finally made up her mind to do it, but only if she could sit on my lap.

She was very brave, and soon it was over. They showed Caroline her reflection in the mirror, and her sweet little smile showed how pleased she was. There it was. Another moment I'll always remember.

Unfortunately, a moment later she was a little woozy. Thankfully, with the aid of a cherry lollipop, she quickly recovered and was ready to show off her new ear look to everyone, including her family, her friends, her friends' moms, neighbors, grocery store clerks...the list goes on and on and on. ;)

Homemade Amusement Park Ride/Upper Body Workout

Warning: Do not watch this clip if you are prone to motion sickness.

There are hazards...

...to contend with when your older sister invites a bunch of her friends over.

If you don't watch out, you might end up looking like this...

I was preparing lunch when this beautifully decorated Evan rounded the corner quite pleased with himself. Apparently, he played a little boardgame of Pretty Pretty Princess with them.

Poor child. His sister dresses him up like this, and his mother documents it for future embarrassment. ;)

Evan's Photo Shoot

This little boy was soooo good for his photo sitting...I am so proud of him!! Family--Let me know your favorite poses and your favorite sizes and I'll order them for you.