The Day He Turned 5

The day Harper actually turned 5 we took him to Chuck E.Cheese for a few hours. He’d been asking to go for quite awhile and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make the little guy happy.
We bought some pizza and a zillion coins and he was the happiest little five year old boy in the joint.



After spending all of our coins and cashing in our 1000 tickets for some AWESOME prizes (nerds, a purple bracelet, a couple whistles, a few tiny dino’s etc.) Harper asked if we could stop at Dunkin Donuts for ice cream…and, of course, we did.


When Landon ordered his ice cream he said it in a funny way and we were all laughing about it. At the table Landon couldn’t quit giggling about how silly he’d sounded and I recorded him saying it the way he’d said it to the ice cream guy:

Chuck E. Cheese is definitely not my favorite place but it sure made my little guy happy! Happy Birthday to the best 5 year old boy I know!

Hex Bugs and Other Video's

Harper got a couple Hex Bugs and a track for them to run on for his birthday.

He loves them and plays with them nearly every day and I got a little video of him talking about them...I think he feels like they are his pets or something. :)

I forgot about this little gem of a video when I posted about Harper's birthday stuff. Dakota told me she wanted to make something with stickers and when she was done she told me it was a card for Harper for his birthday. My heart nearly melted. She is just the sweetest little thing.

And, finally, a video of my kids being crazy. Landon was crazy dancing in the kitchen and of course the little kids started acting silly too. Well, Landon and Harper got a little too close to one another while dancing and Harper got a knee to the cheek...

It wasn't funny at the time it happened but once we realized we'd gotten it on video we laughed our asses off watching it. (Harper cried for about 1/2 a second and then couldn't help but laugh and laugh at the video with the rest of us!)

Sports Camp, Week 6, Tennis

We missed two weeks of sports camp because of vacation. We were gone for one Monday and since we got home late the following Sunday we just weren’t ready to go the next morning. We did make it back last Monday though and both kids were happy to find out that the sport of the day was tennis. Yep, you read that right, both kids.

The kids began by running across the court and then the coach gave them their own ball and racquet and some terminology to go with it. Once they’d been given the rundown there were told to try to just hit their ball with their racquet.

There was a lot of chasing of balls going on.

After about 5 minutes of running after their ball they were told to try to balance their ball on top of their racquet while crossing the court end to end. Harper had a really hard time and just couldn’t get the hang of it so I showed him how to cheat. (Good parenting right there, people! Take notes!) If you wanna cheat like us all you have to do is hold onto the handle with one hand and with the other hand hold the top of the racquet. It’s just about fool proof I tell ya!

They got to practice hitting the ball while trying to hit the ceiling and then she pulled out a little net for them to practice hitting the ball over. Surprisingly most of the kids were able to clear the net at least a few times. I was busy helping both of my own kids so I don’t have video to share this week, but I’d have to say that this may have been a favorite sport for both of them.

At the end of class both kids anxiously awaited their turn to choose a stamp.

National Building Museum, Washington D.C.

"The family that plays together stays together." If that saying is true I don't think we'll ever have to worry about not staying together! 

A friend of mine posted about a recent trip they'd made to "The Beach" and when I saw her cute picture I knew I wanted to go with my family. I'm so glad we did!

"The Beach" is a HUGE ball pit in the middle of the National Building Museum. This building is dedicated to all things architecture and I'll admit that it isn't something I ever would have dreamed of visiting if there weren't something this cool going on inside.

Tickets to this event were not cheap and since I saw that there were other neat exhibits besides this one we went ahead and bought an annual membership. (It was only slightly more expensive.) There was a LONG line in order to get into the "water" but despite the signs saying it would be upwards of an hour wait, we were in in about 20 minutes.

Harper and Dakota were a little apprehensive at first but the rest of us were ready to jump right in! It was a good thing they didn't just jump right in too because you could seriously get lost in there. As we'd be moving around someone would just kind of pop up out of nowhere...you really had to be careful!

We had such a great time playing together. The kids enjoyed jumping in and of course throwing the balls at us and one another. 

 

When we'd all had our fill we went outside and bought hot dogs, chips and water from a vendor that was right outside the door. We ate beneath the shade of some gorgeous trees and then headed back inside for our time in the Building Zone. (You are required to reserve a time to build and each session tends to sell out. The sessions are 45 minutes long and we felt like that was plenty of time.)

There were many different kinds of building materials and we all had a good time playing in the Building Zone. Dakota's favorite was the play house while Landon and Harper enjoyed making the ball track on the wall.

We may have stayed a little longer to look at other parts of the museum if we'd been able but we'd already committed to having dinner at Mema's house.

Now that we have an annual pass I guess we'll have to go back down there sometime!

Harper’s 5th Birthday Continued…

After the pool party we went home to open gifts. I really hate sitting through parties where the birthday kid opens gift after gift while the other kids have to sit and watch; it just seems so wrong. So, we opted to have Harper open his gifts at home. Harper was kind enough to let his baby sister help and she was happy to oblige!

When Mema and I went shopping for birthday gifts for Harper, Dakota found something she wanted so Mema was nice and got her a little something to open of her own. Dakota was SO happy!

Harper got some really great presents and I felt like everyone was right on the money about what he’d like. He couldn’t wait to rip through each present and as soon as all the paper was off he wanted every box opened.

We saved his big gift for last, the bike. I had a feeling he wouldn’t be too excited about it and I was right. He’s not a bicycle lover. I think he’s a bit scared and his first bike was so difficult for him that he’s become very apprehensive about the whole bike riding thing. But, Tony and I decided we’d get him a new bike that may be a bit easier for him to learn on and I plan to spend some time in the next few weeks getting him used to riding. I’m hoping that with a little work he’ll come to love riding.

Harper’s 5th Birthday Party

We celebrated Harper's 5th birthday last weekend. Colin, Harper’s friend from preschool, has a birthday very close to his so his mom and I decided to throw the boys' party together. We had a Lego/pool theme; both boys love Lego and it's August so the pool is always a good idea! We were able to use our community’s pool for the party which was really convenient.

Lisa and I each made some of the party décor and we each made our own child’s cake. We served hot dogs (Tony grilled them right before the party and we kept them warm in a crock pot) popcorn and pretzels with lemonade and ice water to wash it down.

Lisa made the cute little goodie bags and decorated the yellow cups with Lego people faces. She also put together a couple Lego inspired banners and made a “5” sign using Lego’s, of course!

Lisa made these cute little Lego treats with marshmallows! Adorable and so tasty!

I gave Landon the chore of making a cute napkin/fork/spoon holder. I kind of gave him direction and he carried it out. I love how it turned out…and the Happy Birthday was a great touch!

While Landon was working on the Lego thingy above, I was busy making Lego shaped crayons:

And little coloring books to go with them:

(The Lego coloring book cover wasn’t my personal design. I found it on Pinterest and the original can be found here.)

Here are the cakes:

Lisa’s cake for Colin

My cake for Harper

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dearest Harper…Happy Birthday to you! Make a wish…

I thought both cakes were so cute! I loved making Harper’s. It was fun to be a little creative with it. It was just a simple cake mix with a can of white frosting, but the little Lego men and banner dressed it right up. I ordered the molds for the crayons on Amazon and the box came with three different molds. Since I only used the one mold for the crayons I thought I’d make little chocolate men to go around the cake. I found yellow melting chocolates at Michaels and they were super easy to make.

The party was from 11-1pm and it was the perfect amount of time. Landon said he thought it was too short but I think the timing was good. It wasn’t that warm out and after everyone had cake they didn’t really seem interested in getting back in the water. (We also committed to a bbq later that afternoon so we needed a little time to get ready in between.) We had a great time and I thought everything worked out pretty smoothly.

I’ll do a separate post on Harper opening his gifts since this is so long!

Hopscotch, Dakota Style

We have been so busy these last few weeks (months) that I just don't even know where to begin blogging. I've got so many things to write about and every time I sit down to start I get overwhelmed and end up in my bed reading instead. I always regret not posting but it's just intimidating when I've been away so long.

Here's a short list of things I'd like to get on here:

1. Our 7 day cruise (AMAZING! FUN! OVER SO QUICKLY!)
2. Harper's Birthday party
3. Harper's actual birthday (Chuck E. Cheese)
4. Howard County Fair
5. Sports Camp
6. Bike Riding
7. Six Flags

The list goes on and on, but those are the most important. So, without further whining, I guess I should get started...

How about a really cute Hopscotch video to begin?