Happy 5th Birthday!

I remember bringing the twins home from the hospital the first day and thinking it would be a long time before they'd turn 5. Well, it hasn't seemed as long as I thought it would!  I hope the next five years go much more slowly.

We wanted to do something a little different for the kids instead of just going out to eat and opening presents, so we took them to Enchanted Castle, a little indoor amusement park. Jared and I came here a few months ago on our date, and we still had tokens left and a coupon for a go-cart ride.

After playing the games and riding some rides, we bought out go-cart tickets and headed for the indoor track. Jared and I had such a fun time together the last time we were here, and he was excited to ride with Steve this time and race me and Alexa.

I'm glad I took this picture of Steve and the kids, because a few minutes into our ride, I slammed into the wall and Alexa hurt her head pretty bad. She really wasn't tall enough to ride and the strap didn't hold her tight enough, so she slammed her head against the side of the car. She had a pretty big bump that swelled and turned black and blue. The management was understandably concerned, gave us lots of water and rolls of tokens. We hung out for a little while longer, but she wasn't feeling great so the kids cashed in their tokens and we left.

We were really hungry by then, so we went to Culvers right across the street. We didn't plan it but I remembered how we took them to Culvers on their third birthday, too.

I had bought a teeny, tiny cake from Jewel earlier that day, so after singing and blowing out the candles, the kids got down to business. Presents!

They were both pretty excited about their presents. Alexa's favorite was her DK History Explorers computer game.

Jared and Steve spent a few hours putting together his Bobba Fett Lego set. This was his only present from us because it cost $80. We told him that if he really wanted a big Lego set, it might be his only present from us. I was worried when he opened just the one and Alexa had five that he would this it was unfair, but he was absolutely fine with it. We give the kids allowance and they're really getting the concept of how much things cost and how long you have to save up for something big.

That weekend we had the kid's party with extended family at Steve's parents house. It's always a gamble as to where we'll host the party since our house is tiny and everyone wouldn't fit if we had it by us unless it was in the backyard. It was pretty rainy this year, so it didn't work out for our house. Alexa received lots of books, a butterfly net, and a much-requested DK World Explorer kit.

Jared, of course, received lots of Lego sets, including a $100 Scorpion Pyramid kit, which several people went in together for.

When most everyone left, Uncle Andy hung out with us for some badminton....

...and I don't think he counted on getting tackled by the kids.... and even me!

We came home and the kids stayed up late that night playing with their new presents. Here's to a wonderful, S-L-O-W 5th year.

March Birthday Parties

We celebrated two birthdays in the weeks before our three week Las Vegas/San Diego trip, so it was a hectic, crazy time. Add to that me attending a two day In-Home (homeschooling )Conference,where I met Sandra Dodd, Pat Farenga, David Albert and Cindy Gaddis (I'd highly recommend attending this conference if you live in the Chicago land area), well, it was an exhausting but inspiring time.

My best friend had a party at Chuck E. Cheese for her son, celebrating his 3rd birthday. Looking through my pictures, I realized I never took a picture with all three kids together! They were all moving so fast from one ride to another that it was hard to keep up with them.

Then, three days before our trip we celebrated Steve's birthday at his parent's house. We had a good time hanging out with family. I think the present Steve liked the most was the digital recorder for his guitar. He works so hard for us and is the greatest father I know, loving to spend all of his free time with me and the kids, that I feel bad he doesn't play guitar as much anymore, something he loves to do. I hope this present reminds him of his creative side, since finding sales tax refunds all day doesn't allow for this too much!

I really am the worst wife, though. The night before Steve's real birthday, we had a little family party and the kids gave him some presents. Then, the next morning, the day we left for our trip, I let him leave the house for work without saying Happy Birthday! I remembered mid-morning when his father reminded me. I felt a little better when Steve said his dad had called him to wish him a happy birthday and HE forgot it was his own birthday, too!

Even though it's not about birthdays, I included the picture below because besides Legos, tying figures up and dangling them from things is so what Jared is about these days. He can tie knots WAY better than me now.

Hanging out with Family & Friends

We've had some great fun hanging out with the family and our friends these past few months. The week after Christmas we went over to my friend's house to exchange presents with the kids. Both Jared and J love pirates so that was fun.

We also went a few times with J to the Max for their Bounce Days.

 We checked out a new place,  Jumps N' Jiggles. This place is so cool. They have an indoor carousel that you can go on unlimited times with the price of admission ($5). Wherever the kids go, they always find instant friends. They found a little boy they became attached to and loved playing with him on this helicopter play equipment.

We went to see Steve's dad play volleyball at the church.

We also made a few visits to their granddad at the church. Jared always wants to hold the dagger set someone gave Larry from Pakistan. Then we usually head down to the gym for paper airplanes and floor hockey.

We were also able to meet Steve at his job once this winter. He left early and we headed to the mall for a train ride.

A big part of our winter has been the kid's weekly gymnastics class. It's great because it's just a few minutes away and only lasts a half hour. For the most part, the kids seem to like it, although they don't do so well when the coaches have the kids standing in line too long (who would?)

And we've celebrated a few birthdays, too. We had a party Steve's dad at their house in February and for my sister's husband the beginning of March.

December Birthdays

Well, as I write this it's really the middle of January, so I have a lot of catching up on. We've had so many wonderful adventures, have been learning so many new things, and I've been pleasently distracted by new projects I'm working on that posting our lives to this blog hasn't taken much of a priority. It's still important to me, though, to chronical our lives and learning adventures, so I'm dedicating this week to catching up and posting every day for the next month.

December is always a busy month with four birthdays to celebrate on Steve's side of the family. We met for brunch in the middle of the month at Steve's parents home to celebrate Steve's sister's birthdays.

I really don't remember any of the specifics so far besides eating an amazing late breakfast with the family, watching the girls open presents and teaching Alexa how to crop pictures. I tell ya, just give that girl a camera and she's happy for hours. She saw me cropping some pictures, asked me how I did it, I showed her just one time, and she was good to go.

Here's a picture of Steve she took.

I think taking pictures will play a big part of her life growing up.

Birthdays Part 3

October is a whirlwind of birthdays in our family. We have mine, my nephew's, my mom's and my brother-in-law's. This year I celebrated my birthday for three days straight, so it was an extra special time for me.

The day before my birthday Steve and I went to the Art Institute (one of my favorite things to do) and then went out for lobster and crab legs for dinner (my ultimate favorite food). If you've never been to Miller's Alehouse in Lombard, please check it out. I had a combo 1lb snow crab legs and lobster tail for $16 - and that wasn't even a special. It wasn't the most fabulous seafood I've ever eaten, but the food is definitely worth way, way more than $16.

The next morning I woke to presents and cards from Steve and the kids. Then we headed to Blueberry Hill Pancake House in LaGrange  for a wonderful breakfast (another great place to check out).

Even though it was technically my birthday, we celebrated my nephew's birthday later that afternoon. My sister wanted to rent out his gymnastics room at the park district, and she could only do this on a Saturday.

The kids had a fabulous time playing with the gymnastics equipment. When they were in their six week gymnastics class through the YMCA, Jared didn't want to go after the third week. I've already written about that experience before, but I'm sure most of what he didn't like was the extreme structure of the class. This day was all about free play on the equipment, and he was all about that. In fact, he asked me several times after this day to go back to gymnastics again. I found another gymnastics class, this one specially designed for homeschoolers, at a different Y, so I signed them up. Its should be more about free play and exploration instead of strict drills and waiting in line. I'll report back soon on how it's been working out.

After an hour in the gymnastics room, we drifted to the party room for snacks, dinosaur cupcakes and to watch O open his presents.

The next day after church we went to my mom's house where she hosted my birthday party for the rest of the family. We mostly just hung out and talked, while Steve BBQd chicken quarters on the grill. Alexa, Jared, Amy, and my mom and I went for a little walk to check out some grape vines.

The next weekend it was my mom's turn for a birthday celebration. We reversed houses and held it at ours since the weather was nice. We have a small house, so we don't host many events where both sides of the family will attend unless it's warm and we can mostly hang outside. We played a little badminton, talked and then ordered pizza. We ended the evening watching the new Karate Kid movie with Jayden Smith. We all really enjoyed it. It's basically the same as the original movie, even down to the same lines in most places, but that's what make it fun for us. Jared was all over the place showing us his karate moves. I asked him if he'd like to take a karate class, thinking it would be fun for him, and he said, "I'll let you know when I do." Well, ok then.

About a week ago we celebrated our last October birthday, Uncle Z. His birthday is actually on the same day as my mom's, but Z and Steve's sister were doing their own celebration that weekend. It was a relaxed, laid-back time, eating pizza and hanging out talking. Grandma picked up costumes for the kids to play in, and they spent hours exploring stuff in the attic. Of course, the favorite activities of the night were eating cake and helping Uncle Z open his presents.