Happy Birthday Brady!

My oldest boy, the one whom I initially wanted to be my third girl, turned five on Wednesday (8th).  Oh, do I love that boy and oh, how I want him to just stay little forever.  I can still pick him up and turn him upside down and rain kisses all over him. There are some advantages for being little for your age!  Over the past few weeks I kept telling him that I had a secret potion that he could drink that would keep him four forever (because honestly, I think it is a perfect age) and he went along with it for awhile and then I think one of the girls told him that he wouldn't be getting any presents because he wouldn't turn five.  That put an end to that.  I am so curious to see him as a man someday but mostly I am just enjoying every possible moment with the wonderful, crazy, funny, happy little boy that he is.  I am blessed.

Ever since we went on the Chima ride at Legoland when we were there in March, Brady has proclaimed that he wanted to go to Legoland for his birthday.  Since I am a "horrible" mom and am not throwing parties and since we can get into Legoland on the cheap on the homeschool days, I was all for it! Of course, we can only go when those days are offered which is every Monday (and some others during off peak) so Monday it was.  I was hoping that Duncan would be able to go with us but he had some important quarterly meetings taking place Monday - Wednesday and there was no getting out of it.  Instead, we took Grandma and Grandpa and then Amanda Reeves and her boys, Noah and Jake joined us (Cory was at the same meetings as Duncan). Legoland also has a water park but since we usually go to Legoland in the fall/winter, it has never been open when we've gone.  This would add something exciting to the trip and the good thing was that it was only an extra $7 to get in.

Unfortunately, the weather did not look promising.  Sunday afternoon I realized that tropical storm Colin would be making landfall on the west coast of Florida on Monday bringing with it lots of rain.  Also unfortunately was that we had purchased our tickets in advance (as required for the homeschool rate) so as far as I knew, there was no changing it.  Plus, obviously we wanted Amanda to go and besides, the kids had VBS the next week so we decided to just make the best of it.  The advantage to possible bad weather was that the park wouldn't be very crowded.

The plan was to meet at the park entrance and then I got the brilliant idea that Amanda and the boys could ride with us because we now have eight seats.  It SEEMED like a good idea but after Amanda got the boys' booster seats out (one of which was rather complicated) and tried to put them in the van, we realized that three boosters or two car seats and a booster do not fit three across either of the rows.  So there you go.  I'm sure, no, I KNOW it is possible with some certain brands that may be thinner but it wasn't working here. Oh well.

One of my favorite pictures of these guys.  Planning their Legoland route.  Love how both Brady and Colby have their hand on Calleigh.

The rain wasn't supposed to come until around 1:30 so we tried to do all the things we really wanted to do before then.  The first thing was to ride Chima which we did covered in our ponchos.  I think it was as good as Brady remembered it.  Next was the Dragon rollercoaster.  You only had to be 38 inches to ride and Brady is now over 40 so the girls asked if he wanted to ride it.  He was hesitant at first but then agreed. Elaine took Colby elsewhere and then the rest of us went to get in line.  As you wait, they show you a video of the roller coaster.  Once Brady saw that, he got even more nervous and grabbed my hand.  I kept whispering to him that he didn't need to do it but he kept saying he wanted to.  At one point he quietly asked me if he could sit on my lap.  Poor thing.  Then another time I felt him shaking as he watched the video.  But he did it.  He got on the ride!  The beginning part of the ride takes you through the building where you look at different Lego creations including the dragon and then you go outside for the actual roller coaster part.  He held my hand tightly but didn't scream in fright or anything and seemed to like it fairly well.  But then when I asked him a little later if he liked the ride he said "Yes, I liked it but I didn't like the part when you come out of the building and then go up and then down."  So basically, the actual roller coaster part.  We shall see if he rides it again.

While the bigger kids rode the "horses," Grandpa tried his hand at winning a stuffed animal for Colby.

Mission accomplished.

We did a few more rides and then headed to the water park.  It's not a huge area like a full scale water park or anything but they have a a lazy river, wave pool, about six or seven slides, and some other stuff.  It was perfect for the kids.  Aubree, Brady, and Colby in particular absolutely loved the wave pool.  They had life jackets for the kids to put on so all three put those on and then just floated in the deep end bobbing up and down to the waves.  Aubree said, "Can we just stay here forever?"  It was rather nice especially since it was not crowded at all.  There was also a little island in the wave pool with a bunch of blocks on it to play with and Brady christened it "Block Island." Pretty sure that name is already taken but it was fitting.  Calleigh, meanwhile, found a couple of slides where you could ride tubes down and that was perfect for her.  She tried to go on some bigger slides but apparently she wasn't tall enough (Ron and Elaine were with her since I was with the other three).  We could easily have stayed there much longer but with the rain coming, I knew we should try and go do some other stuff.  We left about 1:15 and right as we went in to change, it started pouring.

Amanda and I trying to figure out the logistics of the lazy river.

Wave pool.  The boys are hanging out on Block Island.

The girls on their tube.

Snack break while they watch the girls on the slides.

For the rest of the day, it rained off and on although more on than off.  It never really rained horribly hard again but we were wet despite our ponchos.  They closed some of the rides periodically when they thought there was lightning in the area or if the ride wasn't conducive to a lot of water.  So we didn't go on that many more rides after having a late lunch.  But we did hit some of the shops and had some apple fries before we finally made it out to the parking lot about 4:45.  The kids would easily have stayed longer (the park closed at 7:00) but it felt like it was time.  Despite the conditions, a good time was had by all and we never had to wait that long for anything which was my fear with going in June.  Aubree declared that she wanted to go there for her birthday next year.  Done and done!

Lunch at the buffet 

Brady trying to show off his Happy Birthday button.

Now he's all wet and Colby is snoozing.

Can't leave without apple fries!

Pretty sure this isn't proper manners.

With Wednesday being Brady's actual birthday, Duncan and I spent Tuesday night blowing up balloons to decorate his room and kitchen chair.  I did feel a little bad because Brady randomly asked me a few days before the big day, "When do you think I can get a mirror in my room?"  I then realized that he was thinking about how the girls had "Happy Birthday" written on the mirrors in their rooms.  Fortunately, he seemed to have forgotten about it and it wasn't a big deal.

Eating his birthday breakfast on the special plate.

His first gift of the day was some cable locks (the items in red, blue, and green) and other locks.  He loves that kind of stuff! 

Lunch was SIX pieces of toast.  I usually only allow two but since it was his birthday...When I finally drew the line at six, he went back and ate all the crusts.

Tuesday afternoon I happened to see that Winter Garden Bowl had "Kids Bowl Free" for the summer so I decided that's what we would do to celebrate on the actual day. We did some school work and then off we went getting there around 11:30.  The lady at the register was really nice and put us on lane 15 after we got all the shoes figured out (you do still have to pay for shoes which came to $12 but not bad considering the strings are free).  She had to come put up the gutter guards (not sure where their official name is) and then I asked if the light for the lane would come on.  She had a guy try to do it but when he did, the pins went up and then never came back down.  I had to go back to the register and let them know.  The guy disappeared, ostensibly to fix it, but he never came back and it didn't get fixed.  I went to the register again and they assured me it was being worked on.  I looked all around and I saw plenty of empty lanes but I told the kids we would just look at the arcade stuff while we waited.  Five, ten minutes goes by so I finally go back to the register again and ask if we can just move to a different lane (this seems like an extremely obvious solution but it appeared the offer wasn't forthcoming).  The lady says to me "I just don't know if I can do that.  I need to ask."  I'm thinking, "Seriously???"  If they don't move us, are we supposed to just turn in our shoes and leave without bowling?  I wanted to crack a joke like, you can bowl for free but you don't actually get any pins but I don't know if they would have found it funny.  At any rate, a few minutes later she tells me they can, in fact, move us and so after probably what was a 25-minute delay, we actually started bowling.

Of course, every time we (although I didn't bowl myself) bowl with these "big" balls, I am reminded how much better it is with Candlepin and the little balls that go with it.  So much easier for the little kids especially.  We did have a ramp the three younger ones used at first but then eventually Aubree and Brady ditched it.  There is clearly no skill for any of the kids at this point because all of the concentration is just on heaving the heavy ball down the lane.  Despite that, it was a good time with Colby probably enjoying it the very most.  After he'd roll the ball down and watch the pins topple over, he'd turn around all excited and say things like "YES!"  We only bowled one string even though we get two free a day because it does take quite a while with four kids and very slow moving balls to bowl one entire string let alone two.

Colby was the winner but he did use the ramp the whole game.  Aubree finished first among those they didn't use it.

Ron and Elaine came over for supper and we had a nice time eating (I made a salad and we ordered in Pizza Hut), opening gifts, and eating ice cream cake.  The girls were probably just as excited as Brady about opening the gifts because they knew he was going to get some Playmobile stuff, which he did, and they couldn't wait to play with it all.  They were not disappointed!

The girls presenting him with the card they made.  They each made their own card but when you flipped it over to the back, they fit together to make one heart.

The gift they bought him with their own money.

Paw Patrol from Grandma and Grandpa.  Colby was SUPER excited about this gift. 

Playmobile from Papa and Gigi. 

More Playmobile from Mom and Dad.  Love his (and Aubree's) reactions in these photos. 

Had to recruit Dad to put together the Playmobile Tree House.

They declared that since it was Brady's birthday, they should stay up as long as they want and play with his new stuff.  

Fell asleep with some new Wild Kratts gear on.

Thursday we had Brady's well visit appointment.  There are some shots that we knew were coming but the girls didn't get them until age six so each time it was mentioned about going to the doctor, the girls and I always assured him that he would not be getting any this time.  So, you can imagine my chagrin when the nurse informed me that he WOULD be getting them this time because Dr. Smith likes to do them at age five (the paperwork says to be given between the ages of four and six). I knew I could just talk to Dr. Smith about it but I asked Brady if he wanted to just get it over and done with instead of waiting and having to think about it coming up next year.  I also told him there might be a little gift included if he were to do the shots now and he readily agreed.  Everything checked out fine and then the nurse finally came back in to do the shots.  I held his hands and he did so well until the last one went in and he started crying.  I did take comfort by how sweet Calleigh was being to him though.  She kept telling him over and over again how great he did because when she got them, she cried the whole time and he only cried at the end (I have no recollection if that is even true but it was sweet of her).  She pulled him off the table in a hug and held him on her lap to comfort him while I was getting everything gathered to leave the room.  He soon stopped crying when she started talking to him about his new Pirate Playmobile set (yes, I was a sucker and let him get one as his gift.  I felt so bad about saying there weren't going to be any shots and then there were).  For the whole rest of the day, the two of them were a team, playing with all the pirate Playmobile stuff together (the new set came at 6:00 pm) and then they were on top of the moon when I said Brady could sleep in Calleigh's room with her.  They even went so far as to ask Duncan to switch Brady's carseat with Aubree's booster so that Brady could sit in the back with Calleigh....which he did.  It makes this mom's heart very happy.

Brady - 5 Years

Height - 41 inches  (10th - 25th)
Weight - 35 pounds (25th)
BMI - 14.8%
Blood Pressure - 82/52
Clothing Size - Shirts 5T, Pants/Shorts 4T
Shoes - 9

I can't locate Aubree's stats at the moment but at five, Calleigh was 45 pounds, 44.5 inches and wearing size 11 shoe.  He is such a little guy compared to her!

After the shots.

Going back to earlier last week, on Sunday morning we attended Blake's 10th birthday party - - a football theme at a park.  We got to wear all of our Patriots gear which was fun.  As you might imagine, the theme was the Bears since that is their team.  Brady was quite perturbed with this and at one point told me that he wasn't going to eat any of the desserts since they were all Bears stuff.  He was completely deadpanned for about 10 seconds and then says "Just kidding!"  I knew there was no way he would resist chocolate. They had a big game of flag football (which has changed by the way...now you pull off the whole belt with the flags rather than just the flag.  Who knew?) with Duncan as quarterback.  Aubree was concerned that she wouldn't be able to play with the bigger kids and she didn't play for awhile but then apparently came around (I was in the playground with the boys) because by the time we had to leave, she wanted to stay and was asking when we could play football again.  She did catch a pass and Calleigh had two touchdowns - - I'm sure it helps to have your dad as the QB!

I wish the lighting was better for this one!

My friend Rosa's (who teaches art) husband came and took some footage for a short video they will be showing at church for Father's Day. 

Talking more footage (although you can't see him recording here)

On Thursday we sort of, kind of, marked the end of our school year.  I say sort of because we still have a read aloud (David Livingstone) that we haven't finished and there is one geography piece I want to do.  And now the girls are telling me they still want to do school but only the parts they like which is Bible, Geography, and Science and oh, maybe English Calleigh says.  That means Math, Spelling (although not for Aubree who loves it), Handwriting, and Reading would be toast.  Next week we have VBS and then we have various trips during the summer so we really won't have time to do much school even if we really wanted to.  To celebrate the "end" we made a stop at Menchie's yesterday for some frozen yogurt since they are under the impression that is what everyone does at the end of the school year.

My students on the last day.

Calleigh finished but kept her spoon and stalked the other three and kept asking "Are you going to finish that?"

Some other random pictures...

The evening before Legoland, Duncan and the girls joined the Reeves family for laser tag to celebrate Noah's birthday.  I think it was right up there near the top of the list of the most fun thing the girls have ever done.  They loved it so much.  And got really, really dirty. 

Duncan's sister, Kristin, got a Golden Retriever puppy named Sydney.  I am SO, SO jealous.

More plank creations. 

More Playmobile fun.

Some belated gifts came in the mail.  Always a fun surprise!

Colby is now obsessed with this book.  I have the Scholastic video of it which I happened to put on and he wanted to watch it over and over again.  Then he discovered the book and the girls have probably read it to him a dozen times in the last 36 hours.  The funny thing is that he keeps forgetting that they are called "wild things" and no lie, he has asked me "What's the name of it again?" like 20 times today.  

Getting ready to be sung to in Sabbath School.

That moment when you sit down in church and realize that BOTH of your shoes are broken.  I hadn't worn these shoes in years.  I have no idea what happened to them in the interim.  Thankfully I made it all the way to walking out of church before one of the heel's finally came off.

Yup!

Have a great end to your weekend.