...What Now?

The Boy had his sixth birthday a few weeks ago.

I'm very proud of him, and all that, but...six? We're pretty much out of the "early childhood" stage, here.  And almost all of my experience with kids is with early childhood. 

I don't really know anything about six-year-olds. At all. So I kind of feel like we're flying blind. We'll see how it goes. 

So far, six seems a lot like five--but with the ability to say a lot more. Our conversations with him are more involved. But conversations in front of him are pretty much over. Unless we want him repeating things to his Primary class that he, uh...shouldn't.

(As far as I know, that hasn't happened. But it's just a matter of time.)

They Say It's Your Birthday!

Today is not Friday. It's Thursday. But I'm posting something silly anyway.

Because besides being Thursday, today is also my brother's birthday! I know, it's like all-birthdays-all-the-time around here lately.

Sooo...in honor of my brother, Thane, turning really really old, here's a funny little song. [Please ignore Ringo. He apparently doesn't like birthdays.]



Happy birthday, brother!

Happy Friday!

It's my best friend's birthday today! So, in honor of that, here are some adorable birthday-themed coloring pages:

Happy (birthday) Friday!

Happy Fifth Birthday!

Little Boy turned five this year.

Five.

(No, I'm not going to tell you exactly which day. Yes, I'm that internet-paranoid.)

We kept his birthday low-key, at his request. He asked for chocolate cupcakes, chocolate frosting, and sprinkles. Oh, and chocolate ice cream. Wonder who he inherited that from?

Mmm...a plateful of cupcakes.

And this? It's the face of a satisfied birthday-boy.

An Elephant's Faithful 100%

So I've liked elephants for...I dunno, forever. Actually, when I was little I was into cats, so who knows what happened there.

Anyway, I had a little birthday money left over from my birthday a couple months ago, when I found this while I was browsing Etsy one day:

Ta-da! Something to spend my birthday money on. It's an elephant locket with a bitty bit of sea glass inside.

Here's one nice thing about shopping on Etsy--the shop owners are really nice. (Yes, I just said "nice" twice. And then I rhymed.) The owner of the shop where I got my elephant pendant packed it in this shiny little box:

And she sent a little free gift:

And it all arrived in the mail right on time.

So yeah, I highly recommend SAMISEAGLASS on Etsy. She has beautiful jewelry, and she'll treat you right.

Twenty-Seven

{picture taken by my beautiful sister; edited by yours truly}

I turned 27 earlier this month. Two things about the photo: one, yes, those are bunny Peeps. Two, no, I'm not crying. I'm laughing at my family's terrible rendition of Happy Birthday to You. We kind of have a tradition of singing it more loudly and out-of-tune at every birthday.

Turning 27 has had a weird effect on me. It's kind of like, "Hey, we're not kidding here. Time to be a grown-up." Time to focus on the choices I'm making. Time to stand up for those choices after I've made them. Time to recognize that I'm not always like other people, and that that's not a bad thing. So...here's to 27, and focus, and courage, and...and I don't know what else. I'll get back to you on that when I turn 28.

Me + My Sister + A Cake

A couple weeks ago, my little (but much taller) brother had a birthday. My sister and I were asked, at the last minute, to decorate the cake for our little family party. It was a Sunday night, and cake-decorating supplies were low. Also, we aren't exactly...good at decorating cakes. Aaaand...really, I shouldn't blame the cake on the lack of decorating supplies. I should blame the cake on the combination of my sister and me. Because when you ask the two of us to do something together, things are going to get a little silly. The cake didn't turn out badly. It actually turned out kind of cute. And the birthday boy liked it. It was just a little... ...different, that's all.

Birthday Boy, Part 2

So...I guess the pictures from my last post aren't showing up. Sorry about that. I'll have to work on that later tonight, since right now...I'm supposed to be making dinner. And I'm blogging instead.

Anyway, part 2 of Little Boy's birthday. After presents, lunch, and cupcakes at Grandma's house, we headed to a local park/farm/playground to meet up with some friends.

 

Our friends weren't there yet, so I made Little Boy look at the flower gardens with me. He was not impressed. I think I might do a post just about those flowers. They were gorgeous. Moving along...

 

There are usually some farm animals around, but this year...not so many. The bunnies are always a kid-pleaser, though. (Yeah, that's a bunny up there.)

 

And the main event--the playground!

 

We wandered around the grounds for awhile, and Isaac showed them how to climb over a little fence to get to this big tree. *Sigh*...yeah, the fence is probably there for a reason. Anyway, Running-Around-the-Big-Tree is a super-fun game.

 

When we got back from the park, Little Boy's birthday package from his other grandparents was waiting for us! Yay for more presents!

 

And it included Little Boy's first-ever set of Legos. He LOVES Legos--I think he got some kind of loves-to-build-stuff gene from Isaac. The two of them were in heaven working on this set.

Birthday Boy, Part 1

Little Boy turned four this year. Four! We keep birthdays pretty low-key around here. We haven't had any big parties with a million little kids running around. Yet. (I think next year we'll probably throw him a "real" birthday party. But I'm putting my foot down at half-a-million kids.) So here's the first part of his big day: Presents from Mommy and Daddy first thing in the morning--because what little kid wants to wait until after breakfast to open presents? I've wanted to get him a set of pattern blocks forever...his birthday was a good excuse to finally get a set. After breakfast, we went to Grandma's house. There were cars. Cars are important to Little Boy. See the drum on the left? He asked for a drum specifically. "With two drumsticks." How old are you, Little Boy? (Those are the chocolate-frosting-with-sprinkles cupcakes he asked for.) Coming up in Part 2: birthday fun at the park! And! More! Presents!

Birthday Queen

Little Boy helped me make a birthday crown for my mom's birthday last month. I did the cutting, he did the sticker-choosing and -placing.

Keepin' It Simple, Birthday Style

Little Boy's birthday is, um...soon...[I'm too paranoid to post exactly when, sorry]. And when I asked him what he wants for cake and ice cream, he told me: any flavor cupcakes, as long as they have chocolate frosting on them... sprinkles on the chocolate frosting... and vanilla ice cream. So that's what we'll be having. {frosting photo source, sprinkles photo source, vanilla ice cream photo source}

My Baby-est Brother

It's my youngest brother's birthday today. I post more about my other siblings than about Blake, so I thought I'd introduce y'all. Here's Blake through the ages [sorta]:

 
This is the oldest picture I have of Blake. I stole it from my grandma [I'm pretty sure she had a double]. This is probably about...1991? Playing in my grandma's front yard.

 
He skateboards [this is from around 2002]. At least, he did. I'm pretty sure he still does. I think. Maybe.

 
And he snowboards [also from 2002]. Dad and Thane ski/snowboard, too. The girls...don't.

 
He's super cute with Little Boy [2007]. Little Boy calls him "Batey".

 
Like any sibling, he can be a stinker [2007]. But most of the time...


...he's a sweetheart. [Senior pic].

 
Did I mention that he drums? Oh. Well, he does. [This is the worst-quality video ever; I apologize.] He's playing Isaac's brother's drum set--I assure you that Blake drums much more loudly on his own, bigger set. Haha.

 
This is our most recent family picture--well, our most recent sibling picture. From left: Thane, Blake, Little Boy, me, and Kaylyn, with Isaac down below. You can kinda see in this picture that Blake and I look more like each other than like our other siblings [2009].

 
And this one's from Christmas Eve. Yeah, he's a little silly. But that's why we like him. 

So, there ya go. That's my mysterious, seldom-blogged-about little brother. Happy birthday, Batey!

Shyness in Candy Land

{source}

[Side note: I remember playing this old-school version of Candy Land at my grandma's house when I was a little girl. Good times.]

Little Boy went to his best friend's [okay, my best friend's daughter's] birthday party today. The party theme: Candy Land. Awesome, right? It was pretty fun. All the kids had a good time.

Little Boy said he had a good time, too, but...he's just so shy. Whenever we're in a social situation, he spends more time with me than with the other kids. I've tried encouraging him to go play; I've tried not encouraging him to go play. I've tried putting him in more social situations, but it hasn't seemed to make a difference.

Here's what really bothers me: the fear that it's my fault. Maybe I'm sheltering him too much, but I don't notice it. Maybe he picks up on my nervousness when I'm around other people [family and best friend's family not included].

And I do get nervous around other people. I can remember being just as shy as Little Boy when I was a little girl. Did I somehow pass that on to him?

I'm definitely better now than when I was a kid, though. That gives me hope.

The Year of the Tonka

Sorry about the lack of posting. My grandparents were in town last week, and we were off adventuring.

So anyway, Little Boy had a birthday a few days ago. He's three. [I know, right?]

 

Cupcakes = perfect size for little boys' hands.

 
He got his first balloon ever. He likes to run up and down the hallway with it, looking over his shoulder to watch it float behind him. He hasn't tripped yet.

 
And...there were presents. Including, but not limited to...

 
a little wooden train...

 
and trucks. Lots of trucks. Fire trucks and dump trucks. So many trucks. They're everywhere.

His grandma sent him the little hat he's wearing in that picture--it used to be Isaac's. He wears it all the time now. Pretty stinkin' cute, if you ask me.