We now have a 4 year old in the house. On Monday morning, Caleb’s birthday, he came into the kitchen and yelled “I am 4 now!” It was so cute. He has been so happy this week and just seems to have grown up over night.
We had fun finishing off our spring break last week. Thursday we went to the park to play. The kids had fun digging in the dirt and making a little castle. After we were at the park I decided to take them to lunch at Jason’s Deli. We had four coupons for free children meals there. It was a lot busier than I had expected and it took awhile for us to get our food but the kids did great. They were so excited to be at a restaurant and were a little loud. They all loved the fact that we got ice cream with our lunch, they have a soft serve dispenser in the dining area. Lunch took longer than I had anticipated and I was getting tired trying to keep them in line, so I was glad when we got to go home. We just had a restful afternoon after that.
Happy Spencer
Friday was our big adventure day. We started off visiting the Waco Suspension bridge. In Andrew’s cub scout book it said to visit a historical place in your city and tell why it is important. We had fun looking at the bridge, reading the historical markers and seeing the statues. It was a toll bridge built in 1870 to help get cattle across the Brazos river. We have been there before but every year they have added more statues and there is getting to be a lot of them. While we were there Caleb tripped and hit his face. He got a bloody nose and was so sad. What a fun way to start our day.
We then went to the Mayborn museum at Baylor, our favorite museum. The kids had a lot of fun in the traveling exhibit on the United States. There were lots of fun little things to do there. We spent all morning in that room. Then we ate our sack lunch we brought. We had some time to play in a few of the discovery rooms. Then we went out side to the pioneer village to see a blacksmith demonstration. The fun part with that is that both Ruth and Andrew were chosen to be helpers. It was interesting to learn more about branding animals. This went along with our bridge trip too. It was fun too that we met up with our friends. It was good to have some time with them since they are moving at the end of the month to Idaho.
Ruth had fun with things, even though most of it was geared to smaller children
I had fun getting some profile pictures while they played
I was taking this picture of Spencer and Caleb ran into the view right as I clicked. I thought it was cool it turned out like a ghost Caleb on the side.
Andrew was so excited about buying these shorts. I wasn't so sure about the color, but he has worn them whenever they are clean. Now we just need to work on getting him to match shirt color with them.
We enjoy the pioneer room. Spencer had fun pretending to be a cowboy. I wish this one was in better focus.
Andrew had fun playing with Ollie
Ruth was chosen to help the blacksmith brand the goat skin.
Andrew also got a turn helping
They had baby ducks, geese and chicks to look at
Saturday everyone was healthy so we invited friends over to play. It was a bit crazy having three extra boys in the house, it was raining so they couldn’t go outside, but it was fun. I am glad that they could have friends over.
That brings me back to Caleb’s birthday on Monday. He was so excited about it. After we got the kids off to school I took Caleb to get a donut. He has been talking about donuts for awhile now, but we don’t eat them very often. I took him to a donut shop and let him pick what he wanted. He was so cute with it. The ladies working there commented on how excited he was to get a donut, so I told them it was his birthday and that made it fun. Then they surprised me that they didn’t charge for his donut and said it was a birthday gift from them to him. So sweet. He was cute while he ate too, he kept saying how delicious donuts are and when he was done he got up and was jumping up and down laughing. We left and I got him buckled in his seat and then a lady called to me from her car. She commented on how cute Caleb was and how it made her day to see how happy he was. Then she gave me a dollar and asked if she could give it to him for his birthday. That was sweet too. I told Caleb he got a gift from a stranger because he had made her happy. We then went to the Mayborn museum, again. That was Caleb’s choice of what he wanted to do on his birthday. We had invited friends to join us and many came. It was a fun morning playing. He was pretty tired after lunch so it was good we had some quiet time. In the evening he was so excited as we ate dinner and did things to celebrate him. For dinner all he wanted was cucumbers and grapes. So I added a casserole he likes. I made him a train cake and he loved it. We had fun looking at some baby pictures of him and doing things with the family. We were getting late and the other kids were already in pajamas when he finally got to open his gifts. He was so excited about it all. I didn’t know what to get him so I had got small things, new paints, play dough, chalk and foam letter stickers. He was so excited about it all.
Caleb's train cake for his birthday, it took a whole package of oreos! Caleb wanted to have monkeys riding the train. We settled with seeing the monkeys smiles in the end of each car.
Caleb opening his gifts
Some video of Caleb's birthday. I tagged on the end a short clip that Neal took a few weeks ago showing Caleb playing with trains.
Tuesday I taught the preschool class for Caleb. He was happy to have his friends come over. We did the letter S and Caleb wanted to do things with snakes, so we did. Andrew had helped me gather things that begin with the letter S and found a big bag full of things, he had about 25 objects in the bag. The kids thought it was so fun to take turns pulling things out and seeing what it could be. I think it was fun for Andrew to think about what he could put in the bag.
Spencer has been so happy this week. Like this morning when he got up he came bouncing and giggling into the kitchen and gave me a big hug. It is fun to see him so happy. The kids have enjoyed the fact that I have been letting them use the computer more to play games to practice their spelling and math. Caleb loves to watch them too. Interesting thing is that it is helping Caleb learn his math facts better and he is spelling many words now. (He loves his new letter stickers.) Caleb has even taken turns with some of the games.
Ruth had to decide what fine art elective she wanted to do next year in 6th grade. We talked about it and she decided to put down art as her first choice and then band. It was actually hard for me to fill out the paper and sign it because I really wanted her to do band. But it was a good learning experience for me too, to realize that I can’t have my kids do my expectations but I need to let them explore their interests on their own. I will continue to encourage music in her life and maybe she will still learn the clarinet. I think I needed to learn this lesson that I can’t make her do what I want her to do. I am sure she will enjoy an art class.
We are hopeful that spring really is here. It has been cold some days and we even had a frost again last week. Our garden isn’t doing well. I don’t know what we will get this year. I plan on planting tomatoes this week end. Our peach tree lost most of the blossoms in the late frost, but does have a few opening this week.
I have lots of pictures this week. I hope you enjoy seeing them.
What a fun and busy week! -Holly
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