Glow art

We've been slowly pulling William's birthday presents out so it wasn't all so overwhelming for them, between Christmas presents & then gobs of BD presents a few weeks later. This glow pad & light stick is one of their favorites so far:

From Big kid pics

Here is what it looks like with the lights off--it's a bit blurry since I couldn't use a flash:

From Big kid pics

And some of the stencils:

From Big kid pics

William has just recently gotten very interested in coloring & drawing, so this present had perfect timing. And, Mommy loves it because it's no mess ;-)

From belly-crawling to up on all 4's!

Colin & I took a trip to Chicago to visit one of my good friends from college and her husband. They have hardwood floors throughout their townhouse & Colin took complete advantage of it in order to learn how to drag himself around. Here's what he looked like the Thursday after we got home:

From videos

Thank goodness I got it on video because this was him just one day later:

From videos

He still doesn't realize that he can crawl for more than a few feet at a time, but he's officially up & running!

The Windy City

Colin & I flew out on Friday evening to head up to Chicago for the weekend. My friend Robin came out to visit us a few months ago & so we wanted to return the favor & get to see a bit of the city. Colin, as usual, did fabulously well on the flight. He didn't manage to get any sleep, but was happy & giggling for most of the way. He also managed to sleep through the night all three nights we were there--what more could a Mommy ask for???

Here is the happy boy on Saturday morning at breakfast:

From chicago trip

Robin and me heading out for some shopping:

From chicago trip

Us at dinner--her husband Nick was great enough to sit home with the bambino while we went to dinner:

From chicago trip

Nick and Colin had a fabulous love affair--Colin so LOVED that fact that Nick would get down on the floor & play with him that he rarely took his eyes off of him. When Nick would walk into the other room, Colin would look & look for him until he came back. Too cute!!

From chicago trip

From chicago trip

From chicago trip

From chicago trip

A couple of preschoolers

So, when I went to pick William up from school today, I offered to walk Shelby out, too, if Dawn would sit with Colin so I didn't have to pull him out of the warm van in this COLD weather. When I told William's teachers that I needed Shelby, too, he yelled out excitedly, "Mommy, is Shelby coming to play?" Since Shelby also looked pretty excited at the prospect, we asked Aunt Dawn if that would be okay and she happily agreed. So, William and Daniel had a playmate for a few hours today. The three of them played together very nicely while I was making their lunch. While they were eating it, however, things got a bit crazy. One minute, they're all eating quietly & the next my two boys are trying to outdo each other in an attempt to impress Shelby. All I could do was imagine their teen years & giggle. I heard repeated shouts of "Shelby, watch THIS!" punctuated by the other one yelling, "No, Shelby, watch THIS!" Shelby finally looked at the two of them a bit exasperatedly & said, "You REALLY like me, don't you?"

After lunch, Daniel had to take a nap, so the two big kids & I went down to the basement to play a game of "Remembery". Shelby managed to win the first game, which didn't make the William-man very happy. I pointed out that I also hadn't won and I wasn't upset. I then said that if HE had won, Shelby wouldn't have been having a fit. I asked Shelby what she'd have said if William had won, expecting something along the lines of "good job." She paused for a bit, then said, "Bad things." I guess no preschoolers really like to lose! Once I pointed out that a big high five and a "congratulations" were more appropriate, things calmed down & then the two of them did a great job of being happy for everyone who managed to make a match, as well as for the ultimate winner.

The day ended with a snack and a movie. Here are a couple of snaps of the two of them cuddled up in our big arm chair:

From Big kid pics

From Big kid pics

Gymnastics Party!

The timing on his party couldn't have been more perfect. They'd only been back to school after the holidays for 2 days when we got enough snow & cold weather to cancel school for the remaining two. So, my boys had been pretty much house-bound for 5 days (and with colds on top of it!) just before the party. William wanted to have it at the gymnastics place just down the road from our house where he & Daniel are about to start taking classes. Those ladies do a fabulous birthday party! We had about 25 kids turn up, so it was on the larger side and the gymnastics ladies ran them ragged!! They started with an obstacle course:

From William 5th BD

From William 5th BD

From William 5th BD

From William 5th BD

From William 5th BD

William got to lead the charge through it, and you know he LOVED that!

They also had everyone bunch together and yell, "Happy Birthday, William!" My little guy made sure to tell them it was his pal Drew's birthday, too, so then they all yelled happy birthday to Drewbie, too!

From William 5th BD

There were bouncy races on these little bouncy animals. Here is our neighbor Allie on one of the "dogs" with all the kids lined up with her:

From William 5th BD

William's friend Hayden bouncing for all he's worth:

From William 5th BD

Colin really loved those things (when he wasn't crying for Mommy, that is). Here he is with Nanny Dawn:

From William 5th BD

From William 5th BD

Aunt Dawn and Luke even had a turn on them:

From William 5th BD

They wrapped kids up in parachutes (and played lots of other parachute games). Here is Trevor getting wrapped:

From William 5th BD

And, Shelby:

From William 5th BD

And, Hayden:

From William 5th BD

And, they had lots of free-play time. Shelby and Anna:

From William 5th BD

Drewbie on the balance beam:

From William 5th BD

William on the balance beam:

From William 5th BD

William on the rope swing:

From William 5th BD

Will bouncing on another of the animals:

From William 5th BD

Luke on the trampoline:

From William 5th BD

Two cutie-pie smiles--Anya and Kaitlynn:

From William 5th BD

Madie:

From William 5th BD

Even the grown-ups got in on the action--Uncle Corey having a turn on the trampoline:

From William 5th BD

This is how cranky-boy spent the majority of the party. He ended up with Daddy's hat on in an attempt to quiet the fussing:

From William 5th BD

Shot of the birthday boy blowing out his candles:

From William 5th BD

And, one happy little boy having his cake:

From William 5th BD

More BD

William got to spend the day pretty much any way he wanted since it was his birthday. Unfortunately for him, he chose A LOT of time alone up in his room (too much BD excitement meant he couldn't stop himself from beating up on his brothers, apparently!). But, he also got to watch a lot of TV and have his "fravorite" food for lunch--PIZZA! Here he is getting interrupted in his TV watching by Nana & Grandpa Sam trying to wish him a happy birthday:

From William 5th BD

Can you say "Priceless"???

He got to open his presents from the family and friends who put them in the mail since they live too far to be here. His favorite gift so far is his Spiderman Razor Scooter. I guess Mommy & Daddy got it right this year! Here he is taking a spin on it:

From William 5th BD

He's really quick and his balance is great on it. Guess we're gonna have a little skateboarder on our hands.

And, this year, I found a bakery that can do dairy/egg free cakes. YIPPEE--no more baking for me! Since Spiderman was the theme of the day, she made the cake to look like a building & had Spiderman climbing up the side with his web. Check out the bricks in the icing! She did a great job. The darn thing was huge, tho. Weighed 30 lbs and was 6 layers thick. Cutting it into edible pieces was a bit of a challenge, but thank goodness we managed.

From William 5th BD

Overall, I think it was a great day for him. We finished it off with a very active party at the gymnastics place where the boys are going to be taking gymnastics. See the next post for pics & details!

Five Years Old!

My baby is five today. I'm not sure where the time has gone! Seems like yesterday, he was eating his FIRST birthday cake:

From Oldies

Not sure what it is about five--maybe because they start official school right around that time? Maybe because all of the baby fat is finally gone? (Not that William ever had much of that!) Maybe because some days, I swear my five year old is smarter than I am?? But, five is a BIG number. No longer a baby, officially a big kid. He stands 43 inches tall in his stockinged feet and weighs just shy of 40 lbs. He's a great big brother to Daniel & Colin, when he's not trying to be a little dictator, that is! He's been showing so much patience teaching Daniel how to play the board games that William so loves to play, and is even okay with not always winning!! Never thought THAT day would come ;-) He's developed a passion for building things, so our Lego sets and train tracks are getting great use. He built a train track all the way across the basement the other day, all by himself! He's finally getting interested in coloring and art projects, knows all of his letters and how to write them, and is doing some early reading. He's starting to sight read, so sometimes, he sees the beginning of a longer word & "guesses" wrong because he stops sounding it out when he thinks he knows what it is. He continues to be a bundle of energy and non-stop motion, and he's constantly amazing us with something new he's figured out how to do. So, here's to my sweet (most of the time!), smart as a whip, beautiful little boy--HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

The "worried Scott" look, as my family referred to this one:

From Oldies

The infamous "smile" once he figured out what cameras were for:

From Oldies

From Oldies

Big blue eyes looking at his favorite thing--something with WHEELS!!:

From Oldies

At almost three, with the same huge grin:

From Oldies

And a "now" picture--at his happiest tooling around in the monster truck:

From big kid pics

Happy Birthday, William!