It’s Party Time! (Part 2)

What kid wouldn’t love to have a birthday celebration that lasts three days?  As the finale of Nathan’s birthday, we gathered at my parent’s house for an under the sea cake and the traditional singing of the birthday song.

Once again, fruit by the foot makes great seaweed!  Throw in some pull and peel Twizzlers and it was a cinch to make.

It Was a Zoo-tiful Day

Since Nathan’s birthday is always on Memorial Day weekend, we have a tradition of going to the zoo.  We had originally planned to go on Monday, but after checking the weather forecast, we changed our plans and opted to go today while there was break in the rain.  It turned out to be a perfect day: clear and cool, though not too cold and with a lovely breeze.  I checked the zoo website before going and discovered that discount tickets were available by going into any Les Schwab Tires location.  My in-laws came with us so with discount tickets and more adults than children, all three boys got in free.  You’ve got to love that!  (The discount tickets are good all summer so if you are planning a zoo trip I highly recommend stopping in to pick some up.) 

Once we arrived at the zoo, we discovered that Les Schwab and other retailers in the area have sponsored a super fun dinosaur element at the zoo.  So we felt like we got a 2-for-1: a trip to the zoo as well as a stop at the dinosaur museum.  When we rounded the first corner and spotted a triceratops, Matthew got super excited and yelled, “A trinocerous!” 

And then we came closer and the dino moved…and roared.  They were all animatronic!  So cool!  There were even a couple that spit.

Matthew was particularly intrigued by the t-rex.  It would move its eyes, then bend down low to take a peek at the passers-by.  Matthew commented, “It’s totally sniffing me.”

And unlike our last zoo visit, Matthew was unafraid of the fake elephant and posed willingly for the traditional zoo pic.

The boys also got to climb on a dino for a “ride” (and a picture)…

 …and Mattew was extraordinarily proud of himself when he figured out how to climb the rhino all by himself.

We ended our zoo trip by attending the bird show, always a favorite for us.  Daniel and Nathan were thrilled to be in a picture with the eagles while Matthew thought they were super cool…from a distance.  He's not a stupid kid, after all, and those birds are pretty much the same size as he is and a lot more dangerous looking.

After the zoo, Nathan got his birthday present from Kev and me.  I love that it is his favorite.  I’m always proud when I pick just the right thing! 

And as a little bonus, here is a peek into what life is like with a houseful of boys:

I love that Matthew is the only one who never says, “Oww!”  He may be small, but he is tough.

It's Party Time!

When it comes to parties, I'm not much of a decorator.  If I put up a poster that says "Happy Birthday" I feel like I've totally outdone myself.  But Nathan thinks differently so when he asked if he could decorate, I was happy to spend $2.50 on crepe paper so he could get his decor on.  And he did.  My boys are off-track right now and Nathan spent pretty much the entire day yesterday creating waves, under the sea scenes and Daniel even put his origami-mania to good use by populating Nathan's ocean with all manner of origami sea creatures.

There was even a giant eel slithering out of a big old hole in the stairwell, creeping around the banister...

...and peeking out from under the chair.

Nathan opted for dinner and a movie as party activites (Yay me!  No musical chairs or pinning the tail on anything!) and wanted fish cupcakes to match the under the sea theme.  All the boys helped me turn fruit by the foot into seaweed and stick everything on the cupcakes.  It took us a grand total of about twenty minutes to finish it all.

It was one of the easiest parties I've planned to date and yet everyone had a good time.  Of course, we just barely had enough pizza.  In the future I need to remember that my boys are reaching the age when they can eat their own body weight in pizza.  Multiply that by eleven medium sized bodies and it equals more pizza that I'm accustomed to.  I guess that is a battle I'll be fighting from now right on through the teenage years, so it's probably good to get in the habit of buying more than I think I need!

Mini Milestone

This morning was Matthew's last day of his first year of preschool.  He has really enjoyed it and has learned a lot, not the least of which is that he has learned to participate in class activities even when he doesn't want to.  For example, last week he painted his hands and his feet to create a work of art and although he didn't want to take his shoes off and stick his feet in paint, he did it anyway.  In September he never would have done that.  So both his teacher and I consider learning to cooperate and participate one of his most valuable skills for the year.

There was a very short program with a couple of songs, nursery rhymes, and counting but Matthew got scared and just stood there looking nervous.  I guess it's a good thing I've heard the entire program over the last few weeks, especially the last song which Matthew 1) has been know to bellow in his bed at night after the lights are out and before he condescends to obey my instructions to close his eyes and go to sleep and 2) was kind enough to sing for the camera as soon as we got home.

Over the past month he has made a book featuring all his friends at preschool and lots of wonderful artwork.  Matthew dedicated his book to "My dad because I like to eat lunch with him."  (We met Kev at work a few weeks ago and ate lunch with him.  Apparently Matthew really enjoyed himself.)  And I also got to see the infamous artwork created with hand, feet, and arm prints.  I told Matthew to show me which one was his . . .

. . . and then told him to smile for Daddy. 

What a cheeseball.  And a totally fun flower!  So preschool is over until September and I'm sure Matthew is not the only one who is going to miss it (no more lone mid-week grocery shopping trips for me).

Apparently I’m Very Conservative When It Comes To Naming My Children

This afternoon Matthew told me he had an idea.  The idea was that we could name our baby Darth Vader.  After assuring him that we would so not be naming our baby after anyone from Star Wars, he informed me that he had a “gooder” idea.  We could name our baby “Thomas…but not from the movie.”  I told him Thomas was a boy name and we are having a girl baby and he reiterated the “not from the movie” bit.  So I told him (again) that Thomas is a boy name.  After a minute he let me know that he had a “greater” idea.  This idea was that we could name our baby Malia.  I told him that was okay with me.

Once we had that issue all resolved, he moved on to Auntie Rachael’s baby.  (For those of you who don’t know my sister Rachael, her baby girl is due next month.)  He thought that she should call her baby Joseph.  So I let him know that Joseph is a boy name and Auntie Rachael is having a girl baby to.  And besides, Auntie Rachael gets to choose a name for her baby and maybe that name will be Kate.  But then Matthew got all concerned and said, “But Addie already has Kate!”  Addie is one of his friends from preschool and she has a little sister named Kate.  I then explained that Auntie Rachael doesn’t know Addie and she could have her very own Kate if she wanted to.

Matthew’s choice in names is definitely a reflection of some of his current favorites: Star Wars, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I know it is fairly common to name a child after a favorite character in a book or movie, but I’m glad that we have a good twenty years for his favorites to change before he is faced with naming a child of his own.  Because while “Thomas” and “Joseph” both have some great, normal names to choose from, if I end up with a grandchild named Qui-Gon I am definitely going to have to give him a completely ordinary nickname.  Like Frank.  Or maybe Bob. 

Of course, of the three previously mentioned favorites, Star Wars is actually the one he is least likely to outgrow.  And if he shows any inclination to become one of those thirty year old men with a Star Wars fettish living his mother’s basement, I will 1) kick him the heck out of my basement and 2) hope that he chooses Boba Fett in which case Bob would actually be a valid nickname.

But to be completely honest, I have high hopes that Matthew will grow up to be a nice, well adjusted, normal human being.  And if he fancies Star Wars on the side, so be it.  I can live with that.  As long as he has a wife that can live with a child named Obi Wan…

Mommy Dearest

In addition to beefing it up on Friday, I got several other things for Mother’s Day.  On Thursday Matthew came home from preschool with a card for Mother’s and Father’s Day.  It made me laugh out loud.

I think it is particularly ironic that he loves it when I clean the dishes since I haven’t really done that in about five months.  As with my pregnancy with Nathan, dirty dishes are a one way trip to nausea central.  And I truly wish I could add sewing to our job chart.  How nice would it be to be able to say, “Gosh!  I have to go quilt now.  It says so right on the chart.  You guys get started on the bathroom and I’ll catch up with you in a few hours . . .”

On the front of the card there was a cute magnet that had a picture of Matthew’s smiling face.  Apparently he has issues cooperating for photos when I’m the one behind the camera but when it is his preschool teacher he is all smiles.  Turkey.

Nathan made me a note paper and pen holder and some lovely pens to go with it.  And I was also the proud recipient of a jeweled crown hand-crafted by Nathan.

As for the standard chocolate I received at church, I shared it with my family which I think makes me the best mom ever (at least for that particular five minutes).

To Each Their Own

This afternoon I went to a quilt class.  All the boys went to see airplanes.  And everyone was happy.

There was a B-17 and a P-40 (for those of you who don’t know, these are World War II era planes) at the airport.  Apparently there is a group of folks who restore these planes and then fly them around the country taking people for rides (for a rather largish fee, of course) and letting people see them and tour the insides.  This is a hobby for them, worked around their regular day jobs.  Pretty cool (if expensive) hobby. Anyway, I live with a houseful of airplane buffs so they all went off the see the planes.  The boys were very excited when they got back and had all kinds of things to tell me about the planes.  (As a side note, how many four year olds do you know that know the word "bombardier"?  Further proof of how much all my guys like airplanes.)

The boys inside the B-17.

Peeking into the P-40.

Over the years I've learned far more about airplanes than I ever cared to know.  I happens when living with a bunch of boys.  And today's tidbits were actually pretty interesting stuff.  But not interesting enough to make me give up my quilt class to go with them!

Deep Fried Lifestyle

Last night Kev took me out to dinner to celebrate Mother’s Day.  I have been craving beef like crazy lately (I could probably eat an entire cow minus the icky parts if I had the chance) so we headed out to our almost local steakhouse (There are not a whole lot of things that are actually local for us yet, but a brand new McDonald’s just opened three minutes from our house so I expect further development is just around the corner.) for some serious meat eating.  When my meal arrived, I was completely surprised to discover that my baked potato was deep fried.  Now correct me if I’m mistaken, but I thought the fact that the potato has “baked” right in the title pretty much means it isn’t normally deep fried.  So you can see where my confusion comes in.

What kind of a crazy world do we live in where people think that everything must be fried?  Don’t get me wrong, I like a great batch of french fries just as much as the next person and some fantastic onions rings are high on my list of occasional indulgences, but there are things that I definitely don’t think should be dipped in hot oil.  Obviously there are those who disagree, which can be proven by the existence of such foods as deep fried twinkies, ice cream, candy bars . . . and baked potatoes.  Those of you who like these things, forgive me, but “EEUUWW!”

So I ate the baked portion and left the deep fried wrapper on my plate.  Because if I had been in the mood for deep fried, I would have ordered fries.  And then I happened to glance over and realized that the lemon half Kev had been given with his prawns was covered in a little elasticized mesh strainer (Remember those Saran quick covers?  Like that only tiny, yellow and mesh.). And I realized that not only do we live in a world where everything is destined to wind up in the deep fat fryer (the day my cheesecake comes batter dipped and fried is the day I start looking for a ship off this planet), but we are also too lazy to pick the lemon seeds off our seafood.

But the beef was fabulous.  And I have leftovers for today.  Happy me!