Mom's Birthday Dinner

My sisters & I took Mom out to celebrate her upcoming 60th birthday on Monday, June 17. She chose the Belvedere, and I made reservations for us. Even though it had poured earlier that day, we were still able to eat out on the deck because the tables had big umbrellas. The flowers on this patio were beautiful, and the setting was nice. Each one of us ordered something different and we were able to try each other's dish (all of them were delicious!). Mom got scallops, I had salmon, Becky had halibut and Jen had chicken. It ended up being a nice night. While it wasn't quite the 'party' I envisioned for Mom, it was nice to all be together for her birthday, which will be on July 19 - while she's away on vacation. Happy birthday, Mom!

Oregon Dairy Farm Days

On Wednesday, June 12, I had promised to take the boys to Oregon Dairy Farm Days. Aunt Becky was supposed to go with us, but she hadn't slept well the night before and decided not to go. So, we invited Mamaw to come along with us. It was PACKED by the time we got there (which was after I picked Joshua up from school and fed them lunch). Above are the kids on the wagon ride.

We rode through the cow barn and then got dropped off, where we went into the tent to get free samples of ice cream and chocolate milk and popcorn. Then I paid for the older two kiddos to ride on the barrel rides, which they love. Maybe next year Ryan can go - when I feel more confident that he would stay seated.

 Ryan was Mamaw's buddy that day, and she held him while his brothers were riding their ride.

 
 When they pulled back in, we walked to the next tent area (after watching a little of the puppet show).

 Ryan got to pet the bunnies!

 And all the kids enjoyed seeing the chicks.

 Then they played at the corn table, another favorite for all their ages.

 We didn't stay too long because it was so crowded (which really isn't Mamaw's scene). But, it was still nice to be able to go and have another pair of eyes and hands to help. The boys enjoyed it!

Happy 59-month birthday, Caleb Luke!

I can't believe my middle son will only be four for one more month. Five seems so old and grown up - like he's going to the next level of kiddo-hood.

Caleb seems extraordinary in so many ways, which I attribute to him being like his father. For example, he is a hard worker. If he doesn't understand how something works - AND IS INTERESTED - he will work hard until he's good at it. But, the key is that he has to be interested. If he's not, he won't even try. And he's stubborn! There's no convincing him otherwise. He'll say 'yes' to something and then walk away from it - he's extremely passive aggressive. He knows better than to say no, but he also lacks action if he's not desiring to do it. We as parents need to be consistent and follow through!

Caleb also has the unique ability to land on his feet when falling (dear Lord, please don't let him fall!). I've never seen a kid stumble and land upright as much as he does. He has great balance, and he is SO STRONG! He has the muscular build of his Daddy.

Caleb is also highly intelligent. When I hear him going over math out loud, his understanding is amazing. He also worked on a kindergarten paper of Joshua's, putting things in alphabetical order (now he did sing his ABC's to do so, but that's still great for his age!). His handwriting is very neat and precise, but it's his drawing ability that amazes me. He is so neat and orderly, and he truly thinks about the shapes and how they should look.

One of his favorite things to do is draw and color. He will sit with "Mario Coloring Pages" for hours, coloring them. I wish they made a coloring book so we didn't waste so much ink on this activity! But, he loves it. When we say no more printing, he'll draw his own. And they're pretty impressive. He'll remember to put the M on Mario's hat and the L on Luigi's and other details that surprise me for his age.

In addition to coloring, he loves to paint! And he loves to do all sorts of crafts. I sign him up for the activities at Universal. Joshua never wants to go, so Caleb also says no when I ask him. But when I sign him up "just in case he changes his mind" Caleb always goes (and Joshua never does). Caleb made this caterpillar above, and he also made a carrot goldfish snack and a 'beach' snack with jello 'water' and graham cracker 'sand.' He really enjoys these little activities off to the side.

Caleb loves one-on-one time. He enjoys times that we'll take him to the store or sit with just him and read, etc. He loves his brothers, but he also likes his space. He is truly a unique child, and I love him to pieces! He'll do little things like kiss our arms when he's near us to show us he loves us. He'll try to stay awake late into the night to steal some snuggle time with Daddy, and he loves to ask for peanut butter crackers at bed time. There are so many things that remind us of our "Caleb Luke!" Happy 59-month birthday, my love! Enjoy this last month of being four!

Game Day

On Monday, June 9, Mamaw came to our house to watch Caleb & Ryan while I went into Joshua's classroom for his postponed 'Game Day.' Unfortunately, it still rained on Monday, so all the games were held indoors. The kids still had a blast, though! They started their day by reading to a neighbor, so here are Joshua and Nathan reading together.

Next, the class traveled to the lobby in between the gymnasium and the auditorium.

Their first game was to get a hulahoop over their head and around their body onto the next person's without letting go of their hands. They were able to do it in under a minute at the end!

After the hulahoops, it was parachute time! They bounced balls on the parachute like 'popcorn' and went under if they were wearing specific colors and sat underneath and said their name, etc. It was cute! I used to love parachute time when I was little. :)

Next we went to the music room where the kids did relay races. The first one was taking a scoop filled with dried beans and filling a bucket on the other side. If any beans spilled out, the child had to pick them up and it took extra time. So there was a bit of a learning curve. Some kids overflowed their scoop but spent lots of time picking up beans while other children were extremely cautious. Joshua's team was more careful than others and won this race. They were thrilled!

Next they each took turns dressing in a grass skirt, lei and sunglasses; running around the cone; running back and undressing for the next person in line to go.

Finally, they had balloon races. In this one, the children each had to keep only one hand on the balloon and take them around the cone.

Then each person had to take just their head, etc.

The last one was taking the balloon between their legs.

Thereafter, the children moved on to the next station which was in the art room, I think. Here, they played duck-duck-goose. I was glad to see that Joshua wasn't one of the last kids picked but rather toward the beginning.

The last events of the day were outside for water balloon tossing underneath the covered overhang and then Popsicles. It was a shame it was raining, but the kids still had fun!

I took Joshua home with me when I left. I don't remember if I wrote this before or not, but the previous time I had helped in Joshua's classroom, I came home to beautiful flowers in a row on the side of our house that Mamaw and Caleb & Ryan had planted together. They had fun! It was nice to be able to go see Joshua and have the boys stay with Mamaw. I'm glad she's able to come watch them on occasion.

Thursday was Joshua's last day of kindergarten. I got a little teary when I picked him up that morning, but he reminded me once again that we have all summer together before he's in first grade and gone all day long. The week before he had gone to the cafeteria for lunch to experience what it will be like to go through the lunch line, etc. He is growing up so fast!

We got his report card on the last day. He finished the year "ADVANCED" in all areas that you could receive an "A" and "PROFICIENT" in all areas that were just either proficient or needs improvement. He is definitely ready for first grade. I asked him to finish the math calendar for June and read me all the first grade site words before getting to play electronics the other day, and he did all the activities quickly and easily when he was motivated. I was surprised at how easily he knew all the words. He had a great year in kindergarten. I dread him being gone all day next year, but I'll just use that as motivation to enjoy our summer time together!

More Ryan Birthday Trip Pictures

I forgot that I had taken some pictures of our trip on my phone. Here is more from the National Children's Museum. The picture above is the fire engine with all three boys. The picture below is the luggage I had mentioned in the earlier post.

 The boys loved this car that they could "drive" to get fresh produce.

 And here was the station to make your own car and test it out on different roads.

  Here was me and Daddy watching the boys.
 
 And here's Ryan enjoying his first cheeseburger that night.

The DC Zoo for a Boy Who's 2!

On Saturday, June 8, we went to the DC zoo as a family after breakfast at the hotel. The zoo is a lot of walking, so we opted to take the stroller and let Ryan walk some of the time and ride some of the time.

Based on where we parked, the first thing we saw were the orangutans. That was a great way to start as the boys said that this was by far their favorite part of the entire visit.

Two different orangutans came out of their stone house and climbed up this blue 'tower' (for lack of better word) to get on these cables that are way up high and go across the zoo.

 The minute they started climbing, a zoo worker told everyone to get off the markings on the pavement underneath these lines. I gasped and asked if they ever fall. She said no, that they have hands as feet as well so they are firmly on the ropes. I wondered why everyone had to move and quickly found out. A man stood to close to the area, and the orangutan pooped in his direction, and it splatted extremely close to him. The woman explained that when the orangutans poop on the watchers, they get such a big reaction (even at this 'show' people shrieked and laughed and made a big ruckus) that they try to get people now. They will literally try to hit the people below with their feces, so the zoo has marked off the path that people should stay off it (if they don't want hit) beneath these animals.

Here was Caleb, looking at the description of the "O-Line." The boys laughed and laughed at all the talk on poop. They thought the orangutans were hysterical.

 Next we headed up to the cat area, and stopped at the dinosaur fossil on the way.

 We saw the lion, who was out and about.

 Then we saw the tiger, who was walking pretty close to where we were (although fenced in, of course).

 
 We made sure even little Ryan could see the tiger - it was right in front of him in this viewing window.

 Near the window, there was this electronic game about where animals live that the boys played.

 I took a picture of them in front of a dinosaur sculpture.

Then we headed to the 'farm' area - somewhere we didn't explore in the past (since we have farms near us). But, we know that Ryan loves farm animals and this trip was for his birthday. So, we made it a must do on this trip.

 Here are the kids checking out the fish. There were so many!

 And then they went to see the pigs. Ryan was very excited to see them, and he snorted and oinked at them.

 
 Next, we checked out the cows - MOOOO!!!

Joshua read all the details on cows that they have there for kids. It's so neat that he can read the things for himself now!

 I loved the picture of the boys below, with the older boys looking at Ryan as he was interacting with the cow.

Ryan also checked out the donkey and met a new "friend" in an older person who was enthralled with our little buddy and all his chatting.

As we walked out of there, we passed this guy in his habitat (above). Joshua said that they live near Florida, he thinks.

The boys would actually stand in front of or on top of things and ask me to get their picture. Of course I had to say yes!

 We saw another type of monkeys in a different area, which is what the boys were checking out:

 You can see the monkey behind me in the picture below:

 And here's another monkey! Doesn't the picture below just deserve a caption? I cracked up when I took it!

 The boys asked for their picture in front of the elephant sculpture. We were headed to see them next!

 Caleb wanted one of him by himself there, too.

 Here were the elephants:

 There were two different ones.

The last couple times, the elephant exhibit/house wasn't open yet as they were constructing it. Now it's open and pretty neat to go into. This tire below is a "toy" for an elephant and weighs 750 pounds. It allows you to push as hard as you can and it will tell you how many pounds of force you're exerting. Joshua made 25 lbs! I made a little more than double that. No way either one of us were going to move a tire like that!

We continued to walk and take pictures of just a couple of the animals we saw. Before we stopped at the potty, we saw a deer in the field (not one of the exhibits - just an animal that came there to eat and was close to the people.

 Next we saw the seals and sea lions. They weren't out the last several times we were there, so this was another 'first' for us.

 They were really swimming and playing!

 Ryan got to see, too! He had been walking but we put him back in the stroller at this point.

Before we left the cave, we got a picture of the two of us. We asked the boys if they wanted to go to another section on the far end of the zoo, but they were all tired by this point and didn't want to walk anymore. So, we decided to save it for another time. It had been a fun day, and I think Ryan really enjoyed it! Happy birthday, our little Schnook!