September/Summer Wrap Up

Pool Time
Thankfully the pool stayed open past Labor Day, because the temperatures certainly stayed toasty!

Library Time
The library near the school added some fun features, but it is for ages 5 and under, so Makin took advantage it the two weeks before he turned 6! He loved the train as well as the ball run. Lorelei was thrilled I just let her play at the computer while he was busy, because I had to be in this area with him the whole time.

















Not-So-Home School
I really want to branch out this year and have a little more fun with our home-school flexibility. The kids are signed up with Barnes and Noble Kid's Club, which means they get a free treat at the Starbucks in Barnes and Noble within 10 days or so of their birthday. Who can resist that?! We headed there after just knocking out about 1-2 subjects at home. Lorelei loved the freedom of sitting halfway across the room and I loved her being more motivated to do her own lessons and read from her own lesson plans! We may make this happen once a month if it goes this well the next time!












Joyce's Birthday
We loved heading to Jerry and Joyce's house to celebrate her birthday, complete with cake, a bounce house, Jerry's Lego/Train combo and water balloon/spray fun!

Friend Time
We always love our friend time and have loved getting to know some new classmates as well as kiddos from last year.

Makin and Charlie happy to be sister-free. Lorelei went home with a friend before the school picnic and we took Charlie with us.

We had 5 kids turn out for a last-minute kindergarten pool playdate. Was great chance for the kids to swim and moms to chat with our feet in the water. :)

We also had an after school Kindergarten park playdate which had a great turn out, only missing about 3 classmates. His class seems to have a great group of moms who are excited about GCA and getting the kids together outside of school.

We met up with one of Makin's classmates at the lake one morning. We had the day before more open because of parent teacher conferences so we were able to move most of our school work to Thursday.

Lorelei had fun at Macie's Mermaid birthday party.











And Savannah's movie party.

While we absolutely love summer, we are ready for fall!

Makin At Six

Makin, you are a wonderful combination of sweet, smart and funny.

You are still a natural at most things you attempt.

You love to learn new facts. You love us reading your Weird But True fact book.

You are having fun constructing with Legos more than ever.

You enjoy activities that require lots of energy and usually like a challenge...usually because sometimes you are just in the mood for things to be easy. :)

You love to whistle.

You have good discernment and I'm proud of your ability to lead at a young age.

You come up with really good questions. I am so thankful for Google!

Left: Rigged up a way to open his door from his bed.
Right: A bird, which involved a towel, clothespins, mittens (to have the wings attached to his hands)
and later attempting to fly...but Mom and Dad had a few too many rules for that to work out.

He likes to organize cars during quiet time sometimes.
Yes, they are organized by color.
And yes, he has way more under his bed.

Quotes:

"I prayed that my shoes would shrink." (After his sister got new shoes with laces...)

(Lorelei did something silly and I joked, "You need some coffee!")
L: I can't wait for coffee!!!
Makin: You know she is just being sarcastic.

"Can we just sleep in our swimsuits?" (Waterpark afternoon and pool plans the next morning.)



M: Did you like my Fasty (character in their made-up stories) stories?
Brad: Yes, I did.
M: My stories are like #1 readers. (Shorter than Brad's stories!)

(Husking corn.) "I want mine to be hairless."

Nana: If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
Makin: Um...probably Top Golf.

(Discussing the control tower at the airport...)
Me: How do you think they get up there?
Makin: I think they use trampolines.

(As I'm putting him to bed around 7:15...) "Can I have a midnight snack?"

"Lorelei's being really irresponsible."

(Tired at bedtime and crying, explaining why he doesn't want Brad to read him Green Eggs and Ham...) "He doesn't read it with strong feeling!"

(10 hours into our road trip)
"Stop it! Lorelei's touching me just to get an attitude out of me!"

(Lorelei was requesting our neighbor come to play again, I told her no...)
"And you are not going to let her bug you into it right?" (instead of talk you into it...so fitting!)

Lor: Could you turn off the light in the laundry room? That's wasting electricity.
M: (Turns off laundry room light, then turns off the light in the bathroom, where L is currently brushing her teeth.) That's wasting electricity!

You often say, "Thank you, thank you a thousand times!" when we do something you really appreciate. The other night you even added, "No, thank you infinity!"


Makin's Six Year Interview
Favorites -
Food: Mac N Cheese
Place: Urban Air
Movie/TV Show: DinoTrux
Color: Green
Thing To Do: Build Legos
Animal: Cat
Books: Berenstain Bears and Magic Tree House
Song: Ooooo this is hard...my sea horse songs.
Treat: Killer Brownies
Holiday: Christmas or Halloween

What do you like to do with Daddy? Build Legos

What do you like to do with Mommy? Read Books or Play Games

What do you like to do with Lorelei? Play Puppy and Kitty

What makes you happy? Hugs

What do you think about before you fall asleep? What we are going to do the next day.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Work at Clearwater Marine Aquarium (From Dolphin Tale)

Lorelei at Eight

This is how she feels about not finishing an
entire chapter book in one sitting.
Can't stand the suspense!

Lorelei, each year I cannot believe how old you seem, and this year is no different. You are a crazy mix of sweet and sour, keeping us on our toes.  This is nothing new, but I feel like eight may bring more of the sweet out.

You still have a huge heart for animals. The saying "wouldn't hurt a fly" is taken pretty literally for you. You defend flies if we eat outside and your brother wants to swat them, saying it is their habitat so he needs to leave them alone. You continue to ask almost daily for a dog and try many persuasive tactics and arguments.

You are full of energy and excitement. You love an adventure. Lately you have been asking for small surprises, like type of snack or what to pack you for lunch. "Just surprise me."

You think it is very important for everything to be fair. You are a good friend and friendly to everyone.

You still have crazy taste buds, loving lots of spicy foods and pickles, just to name a few.

You are getting tired of everyone telling you how tall you are for your age and wish you weren't so tall.

You are still our chatterbox. If I stayed, you would probably talk to me at least an hour about your day after you were supposed to be going to sleep for the night. I do love hearing all the details from you when we do have chatting time.

Showing off her girly side with some fake nails.

You are enjoying the essential oils we get from Mary. You are so cute when you talk about it and could be Mary's assistant saleswoman. When you put the oil on your right big toe you say it relaxes the right side of your brain and left toe for the left side. :)

You seem to have a bit of the gift of hospitality already. When people come over you love to put on your best outfit and spruce up your room. When Mrs. White came over to tutor once this summer you intentionally got the Frozen soundtrack playing for the tour.



You are a great big sister and you and Makin are so close. Your teacher even commented that she just loves how much you love your brother.

Quotes:

(Discussing how Grandpa eats corn on the cob - clean enough it looks like a knife cut it...) "Maybe he cuts it under the table when we are not looking."

"I want to wear slippers so I can feel chill."

(GPS on the way to the airport..."There will be a six minute delay...") "Oh great. That's just what we need."

(I corrected Makin saying to use eaten rather than ate, saying it was the proper way to say things...) "Is it the president's way?"

Me: We don't like to go to Walmart on Sunday because its always super-crowded.
Lor: On the day of rest!?

You are loving to emphasize the word THE in your sentences. Example. "I am, like, THE soccer sister."

L: Can I have my cookie before I finish my smoothie?
Me: No. Who do you think I am?
(Not missing a beat.)
Lorelei: Grandma.


Lorelei's Eight Year Interview

Favorites -
Food: Spaghetti
Place: Home With Mom and Dad and Makin and School
Movie/TV Show: Little House On The Prairie
Color: Pink and Purple
Thing To Do: Color
Animal: Dog
Books: The Berenstain Bears and Amelia Bedelia and Little House Books
Song: Any Music By Jewel, especially Jewel's Lullaby music
Treat: Sherbet
Holiday: Christmas

What do you like to do with Daddy? Wrestle and Read Books

What do you like to do with Mommy? Read Books

What do you like to do with Makin? Play

What makes you happy? Different hobbies like making things and reading.

What do you think about before you fall asleep? I think about what my dreams are going to be.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Work at Marine Hope Aquarium, where Winter lives!!!!!!

Makin's Rocket Party

This guy kept me on my toes as I prepared this summer for birthday season. Originally he was not going to have a party, but instead go to a dinosaur museum, because I don't love inviting his classmates when they only been to school with him one week. However, once he heard me start talking about Lorelei's party, he quickly changed his mind. Then after he decided he wanted a party, choosing the theme was quite a process. At first the rocket theme had me overwhelmed. Usually I am mentally planning these parties at least 6 months ahead, so I had absolutely no clue what to do for a rocket party, but eventually I got used to the idea and got excited.

We decided to limit it to "just" his class this year. He had a soccer game on the following Saturday, and we wouldn't know what time it was until after we would have needed to send out invites, so Friday afternoon worked out better. He had a great turn out. With a class of so many boys, we may have been in over our heads, but we did survive and Makin had lots of fun.

Decorations/Set Up

Rocket Built By Dad!
I wonder how many things Super Dad will have to build before they are 18... ;)

Coloring/Eating Table

The food table. We added orange punch, watermelon and space dirt after this was taken.
The kids helped watercolor paint most of the planets. Makin originally requested all the walls in the house be covered in black duct tape...so this was as close as we could get. ;)

Party Favors with Milky Way and Starbursts inside.
(Of course.)

Activities

(This party was all about the games. It's what Makin loves!)

Straw Rockets - each child colored a rocket and then we taped a plastic pipette on the back. Then they could shoot the rocket using their straw and see where it would land on the bullseye on the floor. About half the kids could have cared less about this game, but at least I had a few participants!

Stomp Rocket- Who wants to color a rocket when you can play with a stomp rocket? This was a huge, HUGE hit. I wish I would have gotten more pictures of their reactions. The left picture was before the party, but it showed the game better. We had a hula hoop set up for them to shoot the rocket through.

Moon Rock Rescue - This was sort-of a combination of Capture the Flag and Freeze Tag. I read an idea similar on Pinterest, but we put our own spin on it and changed a few things. Moon rocks (foil balls) were on the moon (cones) and the Moon Guardian could freeze the astronauts that were trying to get the moon rocks. It was a bit crazy and sooo hot, but the kids who played sure seemed to have fun! (I loved the frozen Makin in the bottom pic!)

Space Dirt!

What?!?! You don't know what space dirt is!?!
So, Makin loves the dessert, dirt. This was all his idea after being told I wouldn't make a cake.
The trickiest part of this was finding the Sixlets for the planets. They do not sell them at very many stores! (And thanks to my mom, the saint, who crushed and mailed me the Oreos. Yes, seriously.)

This is as close as I got to a group shot.
I didn't even try. Or I forgot. I don't remember which. So many running Kindergarteners...
Grayson, Asher, Gracelyn, Makin, Charlie, and Gentry

Family Picture

Survived Party #2

The Birthday Boy

Makin Turns Six

This kiddo is every bit of his six years. :) Somehow he seems so grown up yet it still my sweet baby boy, all at once. :)
















His morning started with his request of a breakfast-in-bed cinnamon roll.

Opening gifts...

This year he got only one gift from us, which he had been wanting for 6+ months. A robot cat. :) Doesn't shed, poop, or need to be fed, so we could oblige. ;)

He spent his day at school and celebrated with Krispe Kreme football donuts. For a kid who loves donuts this was so perfect. :)

















Makin was insistent that he have a construction cake for his birthday this year. When I reminded him of my rule of only baking one cake per kid, he agreed, without missing a beat, that they would just not have cake at his party, and have Space Dirt instead. So, I had the job of making one elaborate construction cake. Sometimes I really don't like pinterest...but really, this was my only big cake this year, and even though it is always stressful, I hope my kids really feel special when I make them their cakes.

"I want the slice with the trees and boulders..."

He chose pesto stuffed shells for supper. 

He may be the only super-picky eater in the world who loves pesto. ;)

Thankful for a fun day celebrating our SIX year old!

Lorelei's Artist Party

I have been planning this party in my head for years! I'm actually really thankful we waited to have it until she turned eight. What a great age for an artist party!

This was our first ever invite-the-whole-class party, along with our non-school friends mixed in. She had a great turn out.

I'm always so busy during the party I don't get nearly as many pictures of the moments as I would like! I also have to mention being soooo thankful for the moms that stayed (about six or so) who pitched in at every station in every way throughout the party. We were blessed.

Decorations

Super Dad really gets the credit for these decorations.
At least the balloons...the guy has developed a strong dislike for streamers. ;)

Not only did he figure out how to blow up approximately 145 balloons, he then strung and helped hang 108 of them. Oh yes, that is threading the needle with yarn and stringing them. All this guy.
After spending Friday night blowing up about 30 balloons ourselves, he decided the air pump would be a better idea. The the streamers department was up to the kids and me. I really could not have done this without them in any reasonable amount of time. They were super helpers.

Activities

Paint A Canvas

Paint The Wall

Draw With Chalk

Decorate Your Own Cupcake

Make A Fruit K-Bob

Guess who was still washing and cutting fruit as the first guests arrived and didn't get a pretty picture!?!
(This one is cropped from another picture!)

Creative Juice

(They chose the color of their drink, and could mix two together if they wanted.)

Cake and Presents Time

Group Shot!

Family Shot

Victorious we survived the party! :)

The Birthday Girl