Sinatra Turns 5

Sinatra turned five on April 6th. He kept asking me how many fingers he was away from his birthday. We have been counting down from about 25 days and using all our fingers and toes to make the number of days left. Finally, we got down to one hand and he didn't need help from there. It was so fun to count down with him.



His own Nerf gun!



Cash in a card!

This birthday was the first time that it has been a really big deal to him. We had to have friends, a car cake, a remote control monster truck and a fishing pole. Between our friends and us we fulfilled every wish.



His cars cake.


On top of all the rest, we visited the local zoo at the natural science center just to see the tigers. Shakespeare had a Lego robotics class there that day, so it was one stop for two kids. Top that off with a happy meal at McDonald's (Sinatra's favorite) and you have a superb birthday.



Notice the tiger in the background.



And here he is smiling at the meerkats.

Happy birthday, little man!

Belated Birthday

Happy birthday to my sweet girl! Gem turned 12 on February 24th and I haven't blogged about it until now. She was the one to get the party this year, so she invited 5 friends to go ice skating and spend the night.



We started with presents and cake.



Then we headed to the ice skating rink. Friday night was packed. Open skating was from 7-10:30. We stayed from 8-10:15. I even skated for about 15 minutes. What an experience. I hadn't been on skates in about 13 years. The girls did really well.



They started a chain.



And it grew.



And grew.



Who ever heard of a snow cone at an ice skating rink!

Happy birthday, sweet girl. I'm going to enjoy the last year of pre-teen.

Shakespeare at 10

Well, the boy broke into double digits 3 days ago. Here is the celebration! He had an impromptu party at home with three boys from our homeschool group. We just invited them over for a play date after our group met and had presents and cake and pizza. No one had to bring presents and we didn't have to plan anything extra. Lovely!

It's Gem's year for the party. She's having a slumber party tonight with 5 girls. Pictures will surely follow.

But, here is the boy blowing out his candles and opening his presents. So fun!





Anything Lego and Star Wars is always a big hit. He also got the mid scale Star Ship.

7 Years Young

Popcorn turned 7 years old on Wednesday. Next Tuesday is Shakespeare's 10th and next Thursday is Gem's 12th. Three birthdays in 8 days. This year Gem gets the friend party, so Popcorn celebrated with us.



This is the cake he wanted. Gem made it!



He and his daddy decorated it.



The birthday boy won!



Some presents were liked.



Others were not. It was a cheap cloth-type frisbee from the dollar isle and the first present he opened. He was thinking grand and got ???? What is this?



We sang happy birthday and clapped as he reached for his first present.



He requested Chinese take-out for dinner. : )



Earlier in the day, he requested brunch at Cracker Barrel. He enjoyed his pancakes and sweet tea (hey, you're only 7 once) and then all the birthday kids blew birthday cash on Webkinz and Mazin' Hamsters (which were buy one get one!).

What a wonderful 7th birthday!

Jon's 35th!

Yesterday was Jon's 35th birthday!

Here he is with the kids right before opening his presents.



Here he is excited about opening socks.



Here he is excited about opening underwear.


Good sport. He also got a wallet that he'd been admiring on our trip to Tennessee. We went out to a late dinner at a nice Italian place. Lovely evening celebrating the life of My Love!

My Birthday

The other day I turned 35.

She Turned One

I forgot to post the pictures from Sugar's first birthday (April 25). No presents, just cake--and cuteness, of course.

One

Sugar turned one on the 25th. We did not buy even one present. We only had a cake. So here's Sugar enjoying her sweets.

Sinatra isn't "Free" Any More

Now he's 4 years old! On April 6th we celebrated his birthday. It coincided with our last day of homeschool group, so it was quite the day. We ended up at his favorite place in the world, McDonalds!



Gem and Shakespeare and I grabbed some presents and bought a cake while Jon took Popcorn and the Birthday Boy on an extra long golf cart ride around the campus. Then our troop descended on Mickey D's. We showed up at 7pm and no one was in the play place. We almost had the place to ourselves. What a treat for our little guy.



He loved blowing out the candles and was thrilled with his Mickey Mouse balloon, but the best part, of course, was the presents. Ripped right through them.



Everything he opened had something to do with wheels. Cars, trucks, and other manly vehicles. He is such a delight!



4--a wonderful age!

Boys and Bikes

Popcorn loves to ride bikes. He learned when he was 4 and hasn't stopped since--until now.

We bought him this new bike because his younger brother will be taking over the trainer bike that used to be pink but we spray painted blue. Also, it wasn't too late to cash in on making this one a late birthday present.

Notice the pleased, yet not-so-sure look on his face.




now genuinely happy...



fell off and whined for 10 minutes about his injuries.



He's only been back on the thing when forced. It's just going to take him a while to warm up to his big bike.

She Turned 11

Gem turned 11 on Wednesday. We gave her money. That's what she wanted. Amazing. I have a kid that only wants money--well, also a cell phone,a laptop(which she did NOT get). We took her out to Longhorn for a special dinner and to The Princess and the Frog, Disney movie. She had to order from the adult menu at the restaurant because the kid menu was for 10 and under. Ha! She was thrilled.

It's such a joy to have a kid like her. She is a gift--a blessing. I love her tender heart and her quick mind, her beautiful eyes and abundant smile. She's makes her parents smile. The messy room and the occasional roll of the eyes and sigh do not define this tween. She's sweet and lovely. She has a beautiful soul that is teachable and humble. What a delight!

Love you, sweet girl! Happy birthday!

6

Popcorn turned six years old yesterday! Here are a few shots from his birthday party.

Disney Again

I've seriously failed in the blogging realm. Two posts in January is just pitiful. With three birthdays in this month I should do a bit better. Life just keeps rolling along, leaving little time for informing our adoring public about our captivating lives.

My mind has stayed occupied with things like fractions, long division and teaching reading. By the way, teaching a child to read is probably the single most rewarding thing about homeschooling--not that you have to home school to teach a child to read. It's just that with home schooling there is no other alternative. Sinatra is going from two letter blends to three letter words right now. So much fun to see him get it.

Well, here is the meat of my post: more Disney pictures.


You might think that nothing is wrong with this picture.



Or this one.



But take a look at this one and you'll see that my crazy kids were swimming in 50 degree weather. Disney keeps their pools exceptionally warm during January. They played for nearly three hours.



Here is Sinatra on his first roller coaster--The Barnstormer, in ToonTown!


Gem and G-Pa with Tom Sawyer's river boat behind them.



Here is another one of Gem in Canada.



And one final group shot of us shivering on Main Street at MGM. We caught the final night of the light show.



Oh yeah...This is my Dad (with Jon). It was his birthday on Groundhog Day. Happy Birthday, Dad! I thought this picture was a good one for blackmail, but maybe it's just a nice "celebrating" type of photo. He and Jon were the honorary limbo pole holders at O'Hana (Polynesian Restaurant). "Aloha, Cousin!"