Hannah's Head

What loving siblings to wait on her hand and foot!

  Hannah ran into a metal pole hard enough to knock her over.  I didn't see it happen.   She seemed fine, but two days later she has an episode.  She was just standing at the kitchen counter making sandwiches when she started crying hysterically and saying everything was getting smaller and she can't see.  She also was saying her head was hurting so bad it was going to explode.  This scared me to death!  I laid her on the couch and tried to calm her while I made phone calls.  Then we jumped in the car and I took Isaac and Genna to a nearby friend's house on the way to the ER.  She was starting to feel better by the time we were driving and the nausea had passed.  She was shaky and weak still.  They did a neuro exam and decided it was a mild concussion.  She has to be on light duty for a couple of weeks, no running, sports, or rough housing.

When we got home with everyone, Drew was ready for a nap, so Genna and Isaac took care of Hannah and got her lunch.  They were so sweet to their big sis.  After she ate and read a bit, she took a long nap and felt much better.  We are all very thankful she is okay!  Praise God!

Horseman Badge

All the Tenderhearts lined up and learning about horses.

 This was on Monday.  Hannah and Genna went to work on their horseman badge for American Heritage Girls.  This was a great opportunity for them.  The girls all had so much fun.  While waiting their turn to ride, they all came up with a plan to own a zoo together when they grow up.  So cute!  They were all excited to tell the moms about it afterward.

Hannah's on the horse.  This was after scaring the horse when she tried to mount the first time.  He started to walk while she was getting on and she screamed.  Kind of funny, but not a good plan.

Genna's riding at the back of the picture.

A Fresh Start

I once again find myself starting the school year in a completely new situation.  The first year I homeschooled the children, I had never homeschooled before and I had a two year old to deal with at the same time.  The next year I had never homeschooled with a 3 year old and a newborn.  Then this year, I have never homeschooled with a one year old.  These are all totally different situations since a year in a baby/toddler's life makes so much difference in how to keep them happy while we do school work.  An infant takes enough naps that you can work hard during the naps and have the big kids do independent work when the baby's awake.  A two year old can have some room time which gives some undivided attention to the school age children for more involved subjects like math.  A three year old also can have room time and can entertain themselves when they don't want to join in the lessons.  I skipped a one year old because I am not 100% sure how we're going to handle the one year old this year.  He is definitely not ready for room time, but he does still take a morning nap.  That will buy us some time at the beginning of the year, but I expect he will drop his morning nap before he is capable of room time or even blanket time (without me keeping a close eye on him.)  How I will keep him busy is actually for another post though.  I am working on bins for him right now.

My point is, however, that the one year old phase (minus the crawling phase which started at the end of the school year and we didn't really have to deal with it too much) is really the only year you have to baby proof the school room.  Before they are mobile and once they are 2 years old, they can handle crayons, pencils, and math manipulatives laying around the room without feeling the need to taste them.  This brings me to the point of this post.  I had to do an overhaul of the school room for this year.  Drew is more active than my other children and finds trouble pretty much constantly when you turn your back.  I will not be able to give him my full attention and so I have to have that one room fully Drew-proofed.  I worked on it all week with the children's help during Drew's naps.  I am thrilled to say it is complete and SOOOO orderly that I just want to sit down there all by myself and enjoy the organization.  I haven't let any kids down there since putting the finishing touches on it this past weekend, and I am tempted not to ever let them down there.  (Insert sigh.) Alas, that defeats the purpose, and I must let them down there when we start school.

If you need a "before" pic, go back in time to last year.

I feel like there is so much more space.  I needed to create some roominess because our co-op is going to be rotating through houses and we have 20 children, including babies and toddlers that will need to be in here. 

I still not-so-secretly wish that we didn't own the Foosball table, but I know it brings my husband so much joy about 5 days out of the year, so it is all worth the space it takes up in my schoolroom.  :)

 Behind each desk is a picture of a heart.  They drew and decorated one to be their reward chart.  If they fill it with small stickers given for "above and beyond the call of duty" behavior or work, then they can go on a special date with mom or dad.

You can't see this, but I wrote their names on their dry erase boards behind the desks.  I am fully aware that this seating arrangement may not work with them all so close to each other, but I am going to give it a shot because 1.  it is so visually appealing, and 2. it helps me when I am working with them together since we don't have a big table where we can work together.

This was a total mess by the end of the school year, so I revamped it and made room for Drew's bins and activities that he will grow into.  There is a shelf for every kid (the girl's share), a shelf for old books that we don't need this year, and a shelf for extra stuff like math manipulatives and school games.

Can you see the color coding?  I saw this idea in a magazine, and Hannah brought it to fruition by putting colored duct tape on the books in 4 different categories, history, science, Hannah's workbooks, and Genna's workbooks.  I am hoping it will help the closet stay organized when little people are returning books.

That's it, but expect many more homeschooling posts to come. 

Unlikely Duos

With every change in expression, Drew reminds me of a different kid, but rarely does he remind me of Genna.  Looking at this picture there is some resemblance though.

Genevieve is really trying to win Drew's affections.  She was the first one he walked to, and I tried to make a big deal out of that.  She said, "Mom, if I didn't have a yogurt drink he wouldn't have walked to me."  I told her that's nonsense and she shouldn't make light of the fact that he walked to her first.  Everyone had food, but he walked to her.  She's pretty easy to convince, so that cheered her up.

Hannah made this Captain America shield out of a paper plate for her brother.  Love her creative side!

Pirate buddies!

The Week the Woman Went

You might be wondering how my husband fared with the three "big" kids while I was gone for 5 days helping my sister.  He seemed unfazed and still sane, so I would say he did pretty well!  It did definitely help him to appreciate me more which is just what I was hoping.  He took off work and played Mr. Mom...sort of.  I found some pretty interesting clothes combinations in the children's laundry, and I can only begin to imagine what the girls' hair looked like.  I should have had him take pictures, but maybe it is better that I don't know.  With the exception of the clean laundry (that I had folded the night before I left) still sitting in the same piles all over our bedroom floor when I returned 5 days later and some strange unidentified smells in the kitchen and in the van, I can't complain at all.  He is nowhere near qualified for an episode of "The Week the Women Went."  He is a sweetheart to have let me go visit my sister and give some of his vacation time up. 

It was the longest I have ever been away from the children, and I missed them like crazy!  It made me feel better that every time I called to talk to the kids I was given the countdown on how many day until I got back.  Glad daddy is not the only one worthy of a countdown!

Drew is a walker!

Sorry about my annoying dialogue! I wish I could have figured out how to remove it when I added the music.

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Announcing my littlest...

and earliest WALKER!

Drew is walking a lot more in the last couple of days.  It is only a matter of time before he is walking everywhere.  Before he was (rarely) taking between 1 and 4 steps if we really, really encouraged him to do so, and then he would dive for us.  Now he is walking to people of his own volition and without the diving at the end.  We are catching him walking more times per day than I can count.  The first time he walked well and deliberately was in the kitchen during breakfast a few days ago.  He was walking between Hannah and Genna to beg bites/sips of their breakfast (bagel and yogurt drink).  He had breakfast hours before they did, but I may have mentioned before, this boy can eat.  You can't eat in front of him without sharing.  Since he isn't saying or signing "eat" or "more," his whines were going ignored and he decided to get some food he would kick it up a notch and walk.  It worked, and he was well rewarded!   My left hip is very excited at the prospect of a walking 23 lb baby!  Walking is a much more exciting milestone than crawling because walking doesn't increase the trouble they can get into, but does increase their independence a bit.  When a relatively immobile baby starts crawling you are happy that they are developing, but then the craziness starts and before you know it they are pulling up and really into trouble.  So, "Yay" for walking!

A fair is a varitable smorgasbord

Last Friday we went to the county fair.  Brian had to work a booth and so I was on my own getting the kids there and back, etc.  So even though I liked fairs when I was young, it's just not that appealing these days.  But, alas, I sacrificed for the children.  Was it appreciated?  I would say yes, at least until the end when they were all tired and "shaking" (according to Genna) from riding a way too scary ride.  I had my hands full and only had my Tab to take pictures with which resulted in very few pictures.

The girls!

Drew was a champ!  He stayed in his stroller the whole time.  He loves to watch all the action.

When we arrived, it was dinner time and we met my uncle at the  Farmer's Triangle to eat before the auction.  My uncle buys a steer every year at the auction.  Then he took Isaac to sit on some "big green tractors."

My uncle said he was "proud as a peacock."  :)

Then we had ice cream and pet some baby calves in the birthing center.  Some friends of ours were with us.  Genevieve and their 6 year old daughter were in love and asking to keep one as a pet.  Then there was horseback riding, if you can even count riding in a tiny circle on ponies as horseback riding.  My kids did not ride since they get to ride horses enough without paying $5 a pop.  Then the boys got to shoot corks out of guns.  Mr. B helped Isaac and he shot a can and won a ball.

Then the girls were dying to win a fish.  Everyone lined up and between the 7 kids old enough to play, we all won 4 fish.  Hannah won two of those and has graciously agreed to share one with Genna.  We now are working on a menagerie with the fish and the girls' pet ladybug.

Hannah named her fish Radish, and Genna named her fish Shimmer.  Love it!

The fish were kind of big, so we have since switched Genna's fish into the big tank with Hannah's.  Radish and Shimmer are inseparable now.

The last event before the melt down was the Pharaoh ship ride.  You know the type.  A giant boat that swings back and forth, higher and higher, until the people on the tip are about to be upside down.  Isaac, my fearful one, doesn't care for heights or rides, so he stayed with the moms and babies.  Turns out he wasn't tall enough anyway and the brave 4 year old was rejected when she got to the front of the line.  I thought the girls were having fun and everything was good, but I guess they didn't like it too much.  When they came up to me, Hannah's face was somber and she whispered, "I never want to do that again.  I need to talk to you in the car.  Can we go now?"  Genna started squirting tears out of her eyes the minute she got to me.  She said she was shaky and could barely stand up.  Did I mention it had started to rain big drops and Drew started crying right before they came back from the ride since it was past bedtime?  Time to go home!

Baby On Board

Drew has traveled a ton this summer, both by plane and automobile.  What this has shown me about my baby boy is that he is a much better car traveler than airplane passenger.  All my kids have been better as babies on a plane than in the car.  It kind of makes sense because they can be held on the plane and not in the car.  Drew is a different kind of baby though and is not a huge fan of being held.  He likes to be exploring.  If I could have set him free on the plane to explore and meet people, he would have been much happier.  Of course, he might have been the only happy one on the plane if that was allowed.  He can't explore in the car seat, but he seems to just accept that he is trapped when he's strapped into a car seat.  I should mention that the exception to that rule is when he can see an adult.  If an adult sits in the back, he seems to know that they have the ability to get him out and gets a little fussy, but still no screaming usually.

I never got around to summarizing the driving experience from earlier this summer so I will summarize both the car trips and the plane trips that we just had.  First for the car, Drew was between the ages of 8.5 and 10 months roughly during our insane cross country trip in the 12 passenger rental van.  Our drives ranged from 2-12 hours a day throughout the trip.  On the way to Texas, Drew was able to take his regular naps at the right times and for the normal length which really helped kill time.  The first drive was to Nashville and we did this one over night.  We left just before dinner and got there (unfortunately for our hosts) just a little early at 4:30am TN time.  I was nervous about this, but thought it was worth a try.  Everyone went to sleep right on schedule and slept the whole time.  It would be the perfect solution if Brian and I could have slept too.  :)

When he was awake, our main source of entertainment for him was a secret weapon named Hannah.  She is so great with him and could even read while entertaining him some of the time.  She did get tired of it towards the end of the trip though.  Drew is usually content if you hand him a new toy or object every once in a while.  Hannah only had to be "on" when we ran out of things to hand him.  We reserved graham crackers for the fussier moments and that was that.  He was amazing!  All our children have traveled starting very young via car, plane, train, and even bus.  Out of the four children as babies, Hannah and Drew have been our best travelers in the car.  Isaac and Genna did a good amount of crying/screaming on long drives.

If you are looking for ideas on what to bring for your baby, I think it greatly depends on your baby's personality, likes and dislikes, and obsessions.  For example, Drew is not a huge book fan right now and so I didn't bring as many of those on this trip for him even though a giant box of books would have kept Hannah happy for hours at this age.  Drew loves balls, and I packed lots of different balls that he could easily keep hold of, especially ones with holes or squishy ones.  Drew will eat as long as you feed him, so we brought snacks he could eat on his own.  Drew loves Easter eggs too, so I threw in some of those and other random toys I noticed him playing with a lot about a week or two before we left.  An important thing I do to make the toys seem more special is pack them up a week or more before the trip so they seem new to him.  Also, I try to keep the basket of toys hidden so we can dole out one toy at a time instead of allowing him to go through it on his own in about 10 minutes.  Then I look for household items or items in my purse that I know he would be interested in exploring (obviously safe things). 

Now for the plane trips.  It was about 3.5 hours long each way.  There was an additional wait in the terminal because I am obsessive about getting to the airport 2 hours in advance so I don't get stressed.  He was just about 11 months for these flights.  Timing of flights obviously makes a difference in how entertainable or overly tired your baby is.  On the way there, we left the house at 5:15am and we flew out at 8am.  Drew was tired and ready for a nap early as soon as we were in the air.  He had trouble settling down to sleep so I nursed him until he fell asleep which is not my normal deal, but you do what you have to when you are on a plane full of people.  He slept probably half of the flight, about 1 1/2 hours.  When he woke up we killed time by going to the bathroom for a diaper change.  Then I pulled out snacks because I hadn't eaten breakfast.  The last hour of the flight was entertaining.  Drew played with a single sticker for 10 minutes.  We put it on our heads and on the airplane window.  He thought it was pretty funny.  He played with a bottle of pipe cleaners for a bit.  He found my airplane cup super fun to crush after I was finished with my water.  He played with the window on the plane for a while.  He liked looking out as we landed.  It went pretty well and I didn't even touch most of what I brought to entertain him with.  What was difficult about Drew is that he wanted down, but not just to stand between my legs, but to crawl around which wasn't possible.  The instant he got tired of a certain toy or frustrated that he couldn't fall asleep, he would throw his body back and fuss.  He was fairly easily distracted, but this is not something my other children did more than once on a flight, if that.  He did it as a transition between each activity.

The flight back was a totally different time of the day and a much more difficult one, at that.  The flight was from 4:45pm to 9:15pm (with time change).  This meant his afternoon nap was in the car on the way to the airport.  So it was short and not good enough to have a happy baby.  The airport was smaller than Dulles, so we had to wait at the terminal a lot longer even with going to get dinner to take on the plane with us.  The flight was a tiny bit late as well.  He was bored and unhappy long before we boarded the plane.  It was time to nurse him and eat dinner when we were finally seated, but he was exhausted.  So I nursed him but he fell asleep.  (I should mention that when a lady sitting behind me saw me starting to nurse him, she offered to switch seats with me since she had no one sitting next to her and I was sitting next to a man.  That was a life saver!  I hope to pay that forward some day.  She said she had been there before.)  Anyway, when he woke up from a half hour nap, he ate dinner with me.  Then I pulled out almost everything in my bag trying to keep him quiet, happy, and not kicking the seat in front of us.  He is so wiggly!  He was climbing up me trying to see over the chairs and smiling and laughing at people around us.  He's just a lot of work, not naughty.

The toys I tried on the return flight that kept him happy for any period of time were, a small case with pom pom balls, a car, Chinese finger trap, a spoon, plastic tweezers.  He also played with the ice in my cup.  Things that were rejected were books and picture cards.  The toys I forgot to get out were a wind up ladybug, fake vampire teeth, and a couple random items that I couldn't describe if I had to.  He ate some Cheerios.  I made it take a long time by putting one Cheerio into a medicine cup that he had and he would take it out and eat it.  He likes taking things out of containers these days.  The time passed pretty quickly and I nursed him again as we landed because he was overdue for his bedtime nursing and his bedtime.

A funny story about going through security.  I kept setting off the metal detector with Drew in the sling.  I was taking bobby pins out of my hair, everything I could think of and still set it off.  Turns out it was Drew's overalls that set it off.  They asked me to take them off, but then felt bad and told me to try to pull them down and tuck them under him.  This worked for some reason.  Note to self: Never dress children in overalls when flying! 

11 months and 1 week: Drew has taught me the value of baby-proofing and 5 point harnesses!

Drew has been sleeping with a blanket that was actually Isaac's.  It has a frog head attached to it.  I call it his Ribbit, but since he isn't really naming things (other than balls) he doesn't have a name for it himself yet.  It is really cute, he balls it up under his tummy and sleeps on top of it.

 

Drew has taken a few steps without even realizing it, but if you try to make him walk he usually sits down and refuses.  If he is busy playing he just doesn't notice if he has to take a step or two enough to be nervous about it.  He is into climbing into his toy boxes these days.

Drew goes to and even asks for his daddy more than any other baby we have had.

 

The cutest thing he has started is laughing when the other kids are laughing.  He seems so much older when he joins in at the dinner table with a hearty laugh at someone's funny.  He is not saying any new words, but he is making the "Vroom" sound for cars which he has taken a sudden interest in this past week.  It is a little frustrating to me that he isn't a talker or a signer yet, for that matter, like my other three because what replaces talking and signing is whining, crying, and unpleasant grunting noises.  If I am treating him differently than the other three and promoting this lack of communication, I am not aware of it.  I am going to make a concerted effort to pay attention to my responses to his noises to see if I am responding too quickly to just make the noise stop which is possible in this house with all the other noise going on and my low tolerance for loud noises.  He has told the kids "No" several times and when he was standing at his daddy's night stand and looking at his glasses he said, "Oh, no."  Most of my kids said "No, no" when they faced a forbidden object at this age, but he says, "Oh, no."  That is telling.  He sure is trouble.  I am understanding baby-proofing so much more this time around.  I have to spend so much of my time telling him "No" and checking to make sure he is about to die.  With the other three they all had one or two things they consistently got into so I could just listen and check when they were near those things.  For Drew it is always something!  He always finds something new to get into or make dangerous.

Through it all, I think he has the cutest chin dimple ever and even though I only get moments a day cuddling with this guy because he is such a wiggler, I cherish every nanosecond of it!

Hard Working Family

Brian is on a mission to put in a patio in our backyard where the basement door is.  So he was in the throws of his project while Hannah was making money scrubbing our dining room chairs.  She only finished 3 before quitting though.  Isaac just played in the dirt/sand Brian was dumping into the hole.

Here is a view from our deck of Brian's project in progress.  I'll post pictures of the finished product when it is actually finished.  Rain stopped the progress this weekend.

Hannah earned a quarter a chair.  I made the payment low per chair so she would do them all, but in hindsight I should have made it a payment for all the chairs.  You do them all or you get nothing.

 The weekend was not all work and no play.  When the rain started, so did the sword fighting.

Brian was a lazy Captain Hook.

Drew was cheering them on with clapping and excited screaming!

And just because my little Batman is a cutie, I'll post a gratuitous photo.  Isaac was waiting for his oatmeal to be ready on Sunday morning.

My visit with my sister

I had the pleasure of taking Drew (and leaving the rest of the brood with Daddy) and flying to Texas to help my sister out after having her first baby.  Dylan is a great baby!  He sleeps a lot and is very happy to just look around when he is awake.  He didn't cry much at all.  He is up to 7 lbs now which is great.  He'll be an 8 pounder in no time!

Drew was sometimes in the way a bit.  He missed his siblings playing with him.  He is always so curious and into things, you know.  He tried to help out when he could though.  He helped me set up some toys, and, of course, he test drove a few for his cousin.

Just testing out the toys.  Drew decided that although this toy is super fun, it will tip a bit if a feisty baby is placed inside.

And you can get stuck if you try to get in on your own.  Don't try this at home.

When I got there my sister didn't start giving me things to do, so I thought, "What did I always want people to do for me?"  Cook, clean, and wait on me hand and foot.  Plus, change diapers, of course, and watch the baby while I slept some more in the mornings.  So that is what I did (not as much cooking since her husband is a chef.)  I decided to just do it and insist since it is not in my family's genes to accept help readily.  Since she is a new momma, I also tried to pass on any knowledge or how to's that I could.  I sterilized bottles, froze breast-milk, reorganized her kitchen to make room for bottles, and helped install the car seat tighter.

I made my sister this sling and we practiced using it.

Drew and Dylan!  The cousins meet!

Nursing is going really well for them, but I was able to help and encourage her a little in that area as well.  Dylan is a sweet heart and really going to bless his parents' lives.

11 Months: My Silly Little Guy

Again, this is my typical Drew.  I can't thank God enough for his spunky little self!

 Some things are just hard to notice the first time, like using his thumb and pointer finger when he picks up Cheerios.  He's been doing this for a while, and I don't know when it started.  I can't recall exactly when he started playing ball either.  Other things, like taking steps for the first time you notice.  He took three steps to me unassisted last week even with his bum knee.  He also is figuring out how to give kisses, but hasn't made the sound yet.

 Drew also got another tooth on the bottom in the midst of his infection business.   Poor baby!  He is still not one hundred percent yet, but I am hoping he''ll be better by the time the antibiotics run out.  He's already back to his old tricks.  Just this week he ate a fly, at least the parts I could not dig out ofhis mouth, he sprayed Pledge on his legs while I finished putting groceries away, and he poured out some dish soap on the floor.

My other kids were pretty good about repeating or copying me when I asked them to do something like say "Mama" or clap your hands or "How big is...?"  This guy kind of ignores me most of the time.  He will do it when he feels like it, but not just because I asked him to do it.  The only thing he is pretty consistent about doing when we cue him is this game Brian taught him.  When you say "Shakin' Baby" help starts shaking his head.  He always does this with a huge smile on his face, and I can only assume he just really likes it which is why he indulges us in this game.  He will also play "Where's Drew?" most of the time.

I am telling you that Hannah has a gift with babies.  She has won the heart of all three of her younger siblings when they were babies.  If only her patience extended to when they grow up.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  I, too, have no trouble being patient with babies, but when they grow up I have to work a lot harder and pray a lot more to be patient with them.

I have noticed that I have never been wetter after giving any of my children baths as I am with this silly little one.  He's a mover and a shaker!  Something cute he did the other day was look behind the book to try and find the baby behind it.  Of course, there was no one on the other side of the book.  The page had a mirror on it.  He seems to enjoy a couple different books now which is new.  His favorites are a monster Touch and Feel book, a number book where I make sound effects for each page, and some of the Lift the Flap books.

They all just adore him!

Poor guy has had major diaper rash from the heavy duty antibiotics.  This is his first diaper rash.  He is on the BRAT diet with as much yogurt as I can get him to eat.  Since the septic bursitis his schedule is all messed up.  He only woke up at night only for two nights during the worst of it, but he has been up super early and taking random short naps ever since he started improving health-wise.  This means he is temporarily back to three naps a day.  On top of that, I have been trying to gradually move his dream feed up to before bedtime since we got back from our trip. If you know what a dream feed is then you know he is way too old to still be having one.  For one I always love this time with my babies and don't really hurry to drop it.  And two, with our trip and everything going on this summer things just kept happening to ruin my progress.  So as soon as I get a chance that will be happening.  I am ready now.

Beyond her years

My Hannah seems so grown up sometimes.  I called home today.  Did I mention Drew and I are in Texas helping my sister with her new babe?  Anyway Hannah answered the phone.  She asked me what I was doing right away.  After I told her, she said, "Well, if you want to know what I am doing, I am helping daddy digging up rocks for the patio."  She goes on to explain how daddy was having trouble digging up some of the rocks and she told him he should dig out the rocks on two sides to get it loose instead just one.  She is such a thinker.
Before I left we had a pretty deep conversation about religions and how we know which one is right.  She asked questions that I was not expecting for a few more years.  Genna was there for the conversation too, bit she didn't ask many questions or say much.  When we were talking about heaven and martyrs, Genna pipes in with, "I want to be a martyr!"  This is when Isaac replies, "You want someone to kill you with a sword?"  This one conversation tells so much about my children's personalities.  Hannah's the thinker.  Genna's  the feeler.  Isaac is the fearful one.

My Matey's Birthday Cake and Dinner (not in that order)

I did promise my 4 year old a birthday cake.  You know how I love a birthday cake challenge.  I thought he wanted a dragon cake to stab, but he changed his mind just in the knick of time for me to swing a pirate ship cake.  We needed some friends to help us eat this cake so we invited a couple families over and my uncle to have tacos and cake.

I made this cake with one sheet cake, Rolos for gold, rice crispies for TNT, Cocoa puffs for cannon balls, Hershey bar for the plank, chocolate twizzlers for the rails, and some candles for cannons.  I printed out the Jolly Roger and a "Happy Birthday" sign for the sails and borrowed a mini pirate from Isaac.  It was so fun and much appreciated by my first mate.

The Party Substitution...Medieval Times!

Isaac agreed to trade in his birthday party for Medieval Times trip with our family.  We had a trip planned for Saturday to Baltimore for this very thing, but Drewy was still sick and I had to stay home with him.  We decided Brian better go on and take the big kids.  I was thinking Drew wouldn't really have enjoyed it anyway.  They all had a great time!

The birthday boy!  He wondered why there wasn't any rotten fruit thrown at him.  We read about that in a book.

Isaac loved all the weapons and knights!  It was funny to hear him discussing weapons with his dad.  They had different ideas of what the difference was between a mace and a morning star.  Brian had to look up the difference on the internet and find some pictures to show Isaac.  Now we all know that a mace is anything with a ball without spikes, chain or no chain, on it and a morning star is any weapon with a spiky ball on it, chain or no chain.

Isaac said the sword fighting and jousting was the highlight of the evening.

Someone's turning 4!

Isaac will talk your ear off about weapons.  He will cry if you call him a girl.  He likes pink now because Uncle Kent likes pink, and so that means boys can like pink, but still wouldn't be caught dead drinking out of a Princess cup.  He is only interested in a book if it has bad guys or weapons in it.  Isaac is a spontaneous hugger and the biggest cuddler of the family.  He. is. so. slow.  He buckles slow.  He gets dressed slow.  He eats slow.  I am perpetually rushing him along so that we can get something, ANYTHING, accomplished.  He's thoughtful, and giving.  He is impatient as the day is long, and really struggles with the concept of time more than the girls ever did.  Five minutes is forever and later is tomorrow to him.  He's a natural speller and has a great memory.  Often he'll say "I don't know" when he really does know the answer unless you press him.  He is sensitive and my most fearful child.  He sleeps facing away from the wall because he is afraid someone might reach up from under the bed and touch his butt while he is sleeping.  He is loud and gregarious.  He has a kind, gentleman's heart.  His cheeks and facial expressions put smiles on faces all the time.

I can't believe he is already four!  He is super excited about his four year old privileges... moving to a booster and trading in his afternoon nap time for quiet time.  (Although I have warned him that he still has to take a nap every once in a while if he is super tired.)  He really can't wait to turn five and chew gum, but I certainly can.  This growing up thing is just moving too quickly for this mom.  It seems like it was just yesterday when he was this BIG bundle we brought home from the hospital.  Now just look at him!

I made him this pirate hat last night because I had forgotten that was the only thing he actually asked me to get him.  I wasn't able to make it in black because this was the only felt scrap that was big enough.

The hat pattern and directions were from Simple Simon & Company.

Captain America

Batman

I guess this is Captain Annie Oakley.

Batgirl

This is a serious guy with a big iron on his hip.