Birthday Week

Last week we had two birthdays to celebrate with Calleigh turning nine on the 17th (Tuesday) and Aubree seven on the 19th (Thursday).  As is becoming our new tradition, we did not have a traditional party.  Instead, the girls were excited to go to the American Girl store on Sunday and eat at the cafe there, with their dolls in tow, of course.  Since we had never done it before, it was "special." We brought Grandma along with us and we had a great time with just the four of us.  The cafe has a bunch of questions on little pieces of paper that you can answer while you wait for your food - - like "If you could meet three famous people, who would you pick?"  Without missing a beat, Aubree says "Papa! He's famous because he's a pastor!" The food was good, although the portions a little small, and then afterwards the employees sang happy birthday to them.  All around us other girls were having the same thing done and Calleigh and Aubree spent a lot of time staring at it all.  Following our meal, we made a stop at Toys R Us, where in lieu of gifts to open and a party, we had said the girls could have a certain amount of money to shop for their gifts.  It sounded like a good idea but when there are that many toys, it gets very overwhelming.  Aubree eventually picked out her items but Calleigh was just walking around in a daze.  I finally asked if she wanted me to buy her gifts so that she could be surprised and she readily agreed.  So that is my takeaway from this - - I think it's much more fun and easier to just get their gifts for them.

Lea enjoying her cup of tea.

They got to decorate their own cupcakes and one for their doll as well (which I promptly stole).

We had to get in a picture with Grandma to show she was there!

While we were at the AG store, Duncan took the boys to the Science Center along with Grandpa.

Colby got his shirt all wet and was not pleased with its removal.

Though we celebrated the birthdays on Sunday to some extent, I still wanted to do something special on the actual birthdays.  The main thing that Calleigh was worried about was..."We aren't going to have school on my birthday, right??" I could not ignore that plea so I conceded.  You know all those parents with kids in regular school who dread the summer because the kids are home?  Well, I'm the opposite of that.  Although I LOVE homeschooling, it is really nice when we don't have school because we can just go out and have a good time and not worry about having to get schoolwork done. Our outing on Tuesday took us first to US Toy (which has a lot of Playmobile, something the kids have been really back into this past week), the library, McDonald's, and finally to Jennifer's for art class.  I feel like I really accomplished something at McDonald's - - I have never, ever purchased a Happy Meal since it's all meat but we asked them if they could do a bun with cheese and they did.  So Happy Meals all around!  As it turns out, Brady wasn't exactly "Happy" about his meal since the sandwich still contained ketchup, mustard, and some other unidentifiable condiments.  Lesson learned.  Be very specific! I scrapped it off as best I could and he managed to eat about half of it apparently because he was so hungry.

Playing on the computers at the library. 

Yikes!

My newly minted 9-year old.

Jennifer was kind enough to bake some cupcakes, along with help from Blake, that we enjoyed after art class.

Tuesday evening we had ice skating and about 15 minutes before we were to leave, the skies turned dark and opened up with a deluge of rain.  The girls were COMPLETELY, and I mean COMPLETELY freaking out about it - - they were terrified we were going to get struck by lightening in the short distance between the garage door and the van. They were screaming and crying like the world was ending.  I kept reassuring them as I took them out one by one under the umbrella.  When I finished, I realized that I was totally soaked to the bone despite using the umbrella.  I could literally wring out my pants.  So I had to go back in and quickly change which, as you can imagine, created even more of a mass panic back in the vehicle.  Then I made the mistake of mentioning a little bit before our destination that I was going to drop them off at the front entrance and then park so they wouldn't get so wet.  That set off another wave of hysteria. Finally, we got there, I got their skates on, sent them on their way and could sit down in the stands for a breather. Whew.  

After ice skating (thankfully it was no longer raining), Ron and Elaine came over so we could have cake and open the presents.  Calleigh seemed pleased with her gifts which included some ice skating pants and matching jacket (which she opened on Aubree's birthday), Legos, a bow and arrows, and I think most exciting of all, a matching dress to her AG doll from Grandma and Grandpa.

Obviously if we were having a regular party we would have gotten a yummy fancy cake from Jennifer but since it was just us, we got a Publix cake.  Calleigh said she really, really wanted a cake with fruit on it and this was perfect.

We started a new tradition in our family with this red "You are special today" plate.  We will bring it out for special occasions such as birthdays (available on Amazon in case anybody is curious).

New shoes from Uncle Shawn and Aunt Camille.

The new doll dress!  She slept in it that night.

Wednesday was just a regular day for us although we did go to our homeschool PE class. They had a karate (?) instructor there teaching them a whole bunch of moves. Calleigh was really into it but Aubree was barely moving.  Not sure what her problem was.

Killing time while the sisters do PE.

Calleigh kicking

Thursday we got to do birthday festivities all again.  Aubree was very concerned that we do things exactly like we did for Calleigh.  She kept reminding us "Make sure you blow up the balloons, write on the chalkboard, and write Happy Birthday on my mirror." When Duncan went to snuggle with her in bed on Wednesday night which she usually loves, she says "Daddy, you need to get out of her so you can go do the balloons."  She didn't have to worry, of course!  Our travels this time took us first to Ikea.  Brady had yet to get into the play area there - - although he's been potty trained for at least a year, every time we've been since then, the play area has always been full with a long wait.  It's actually been really annoying.  This time we got there at 10:05 and it opened at 10:00 so I was thinking surely we would make it in.  Fortunately we did although Calleigh just barely made it because she has maxed out the heigh limit which is 54 inches. I did have a legitimate reason for being there - - we had only four chairs for our schoolroom table and now that there are five of us wanting to use chairs, it has almost come to fisticuffs a few times.  It's usually been solved by Colby sitting ON the table but I've had enough of that.  We now have two new chairs.

This is how I found the girls sleeping in Aubree's bed on her birthday eve.  I guess Calleigh gave her an extra snuggle in celebration. 

Waiting to go into the play area.  Oops, didn't realize we were suppose to put tags on the back. 

Colby consoled himself on not going into the play area by spinning around in this egg seat dozens and dozens of times.

Following Ikea, it was off to Toys R Us to return a couple of toys that didn't work out and then on to Mall at Millenia for lunch.  Aubree was really in the mood for Subway but since there isn't one there, we used Panera as our backup.  As we sat and ate and I looked at their shining faces, I was once again struck with how incredibly blessed I am. I mean, honestly, I still pinch myself almost daily - - to think that instead of going into an office to work, I'm out having adventures with these four awesome kids every day.  It doesn't get much better than this.  I love it all.

You can probably tell from the body language that this wasn't successful. 

Thursday evening Ron and Elaine came over once again for more cake and more present opening. Aubree was the recipient of many Lego and Playmobile sets and screamed like a pre-pubescent teenager upon opening each one.  Guess we can just be glad that she was glad.

As part of our birthday meal, we got (vegetarian) sushi from Publix.  We just finished up our unit on Japan so this was perfect.  Calleigh tried it but didn't much care for it. It was a little spicy.

Colby, meanwhile, chowed it right down....minus the chopsticks!  He had about three of the sushi rolls. 

Some other things that have been happening - - last Sunday marked the end of soccer for this season. I'm sorry to see it end because the girls get so much exercise out there on the field but it gets too hot and too busy for it to go much longer.  Next season, which will be in September, Aubree will be in the same age group as Calleigh again (7-10) and hopefully Brady will be joining in (he keeps saying he will play when he's "five.")  Aubree and Brady also resumed swimming lessons this past week with our teacher, Robin, from last year.  Brady is so much more confident in the water this year then last so it's off to a good start.  Also, we got Colby a bubble type thingy and he swims all over the place in it.  He's out in the deep water without missing a beat so he maybe the easiest of them all to teach to swim when we get to it eventually.

Calleigh with her coach. 

Calleigh's team picture. 

Aubree with coach.

Aubree's team.  As you can see, it's slim picking for the girls! 

Brady working on his float.

Before I get to a few other random pictures, I just thought this was cute from Brady.  He came down the stairs after quiet time the other day and asks me "What can I do? Besides kisses and tickles."  So yeah, guess that means I must give him a lot of that.  I can't help it though!

On a Sabbath afternoon bike ride with Dad two Sabbaths ago.

Whenever Aubree gives me a hard time, she'll often disappear shortly afterwards and come back downstairs with a card or note of apology.

One solitary green grape in a package of purples ones.  Never saw that before!

We just "flew" to Russia for school so I thought this was especially funny when I came across it. 

We did the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive with Jennifer and kids on Sabbath.  It was our first time and we loved it.  We saw nine gators, three turtles, and a ton of birds.  Lake Apopka is the fourth largest lake in Florida. 

Since you only go one way on the drive and the speed limit is 10 MPH, the kids are allowed out of their car seats.

This one was right on the side of the road. 

I may have mentioned that I'm taking a picture on this bench every Sabbath to keep track of what we wear but also because I think it will be fun to have a picture from every week.  Colby has not cooperated a single time!!

Have a great week!