mud

Mud is a main source of entertianment at our house.  The boys (mainly Isaiah and Levi just follows along)have created several mud/dirt based "games" that they love to play.

Isaiah LOVES to sit out and dig in the dirt and mud.  He has a few bigger dump trucks and several little construction trucks (Thanks Great Grandma!!) that he will play with to create his own little work sites.  This is an activity that he does at least 5 days a week!  Many times he is "working" for 30+ minutes all by himself! (A win-win for everyone, right?!:)

Isaiah and Caiden love to create a "car wash" out of mud.  Rather than washing their outside tractors in water, they wash them with mud.  They get their hands completely muddy and then rub the mud all over the tractors/cars to get them clean :) 

We've also had several outdoor projects that we've been working on all spring and summer that have created mounds of mud in our driveway and in our yard.  The boys have loved to get on top of them and dance, dig, and just about anything else to be in the mud.  A few times this ended up in a mud fight!  (Thanks mom!:)

My grandma was over just the other day and she said mentioned that her friend always talks about how kids just aren't what they used to be because they never get to go out and play in the mud - mainly because their parents just don't want to hassle with the cleanup.  Well, I don't know if she's right, but she sure isn't right about what goes on around here! :)  What about you, do you let your kids get down and dirty?

rain, rain go away...

My little boys were getting so restless with all the rainy weather.  They were longing to get outside (and so was I!)  We decided to take a trip to the library.  Just before we were leaving, Isaiah says, "We must take our umbrellas!" Great idea! So out we went...

Levi was loving it so much he did NOT want to stop walking around.  So it took us about 20 minutes to get in the car for the library! :)

 They looked so cute!  Although, I'll take the sunshine and the park anyday over the rain - it was still a fun way to get outside on a wet Saturday morning!

even in preschool.

Our small group (5 couples from church who meet a couple times a month) started a new topic this fall on positive parenting.  One topic that came up last week was silly bandz.  (If you have kids, you probably know what they are - basically a rubber band formed into all kinds of shapes that kids are wearing as bracelets.)  Most of our small group has young kids around Isaiah and Levi's age, but one couple has a daughter just a little older in elementary school.  They mentioned silly bandz and how she always wants to wear them to school,  but it is their rule that she doesn't get to, however, she often comes home with one on that a friend has given to her.  As we had this conversation in group, I was thinking about the fun I had to look forward to in a few YEARS -- well turns out I was wrong - it was a few DAYS. 

Wednesday Isaiah, Levi and I were outside playing and Isaiah says, "OHHHH I almost forgot to show you...let me go get it!!!!" he goes inside and comes back out with .... you guessed it -- a silly band.  He says, "look what my friend at school gave me!!!!"

So... I guess the fun begins - Isaiah is one of the cool kids now because he has a silly band.  (I'm afraid to ask him about it again because I think it may be lost! :) For the record, it was shaped like an umbrella.

This post is for you Mindy! :)

a bowling party!

Isaiah's friend Erika had a bowling party last Sunday to celebrate her birthday (which is September 13)! How fun! Isaiah hasn't been bowling since he was under 2 years old when Kammy used to take him, so he was very excited! I was also excited for him and couldn't wait to see how he did!

The bowling alley was having a HUGE tournament going on before the party so the kids got to have cake and do a pinata before the bowling began. The kids patiently waited and watched the bowlers until it was our turn.

It was so cute to see all the little ones in bowling shoes - I was impressed that they had so many pairs of size 9 toddler shoes!

They had the bumpers set up, really lightweight balls (4 pounds) with 4 finger holes and these metal rack things to help if you wanted. Isaiah easily got the hang of it and had a blast! He scored 64 points! (Erika was the winner with 68! She got the only spare of the game on her very last turn - way to go girl!) With four kids on a lane and potty breaks for everyone, the kids had to wait for their turns. I was so impressed again by the patience!

Look at all those cute little ones -- 7 girls and my 1 little boy - he didn't seem to notice :)What a fun party Erika, thanks for inviting us! Happy Birthday!

he's FOUR! part 3 - birthday buddies.

I think it's so neat that Isaiah and one of his best buddies have the exact same birthday. Who would have ever thought! Both Isaiah and Caiden were born on 9-11-06! Isaiah is technically older being born at 8:10 in the morning and Caiden sometime in the afternoon (I forget the time). They were the only two boys born at the hospital that day! His mom and I met at the breastfeeding support group a few weeks after their birth and have been friends ever since! It has been fun for me to watch them grow up and see how much they are alike, but also just how different they are too.

Caiden's been coming over to our house before and after preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays so the boys have had some fun being buddies these last weeks. A few days before their birthday we walked to the park and I took some birthday buddy pictures on the way. I felt like I was at a track meet in this picture, maybe I'll have another one similar to this in years to come, only in a different setting?And this is who they are...silly, funny, crazy 4 year old boys.

he's FOUR! part 2 - the updates.

Isaiah has grown and changed so much this year. There is truly a big difference from 3 to 4! Here are some "Isaiah updates" or things I just don't want to forget about him.

~ His 4 year well-child checkup was on August 30 and he measured in at 39 inches(42%!!) and 40 pounds (75%). He's completely healthy!

~ He continues to be "all boy" loving to be rough and tough, dirty, up high, trying new things, climbing up and jumping off of all sorts of everything, full of energy, and so much more.

~ I'd have to guess his all time favorite thing to do is wrestle with his dad and brother. They are rough, wild and crazy and real when they wrestle. Isaiah is tough and loves it. Mark is sure good with them, and tough himself - he will jump from the top of the couch onto Mark's stomach and they will both laugh and keep on wrestling.

~ Isaiah has no interest in sitting still, unless it's to play with some "people" type toy like his castle. He almost always declines to color, draw, read books, etc. (however, he'll paint or cut paper just about every time you ask him). The rare occasions that I do "make" him color (to make birthday cards, or thank yous, etc) he usually draws a building, a dragon or a person. This takes him about 30 seconds and he is done.

~ He's moved on from the color purple. His new favorite color is red (again, just like Jayda - although this time I'm not sure if it's from her influence).

~ He continues to be a good eater - eating just about anything I make, and lots of it! :) Some of his favorites are: chicken - plain or any type of chicken casserole , mac & cheese, strawberries, ramen noodles, apples & pears (with the skins cut off - his favorite is when I will peel the whole apple/pear and let him eat it whole without skin), carrots, broccoli, chinese food :), chips and salsa, go gurt and drinkable yogurt, and any type of candy! Really I could go on and on, he's not picky!

~ He continues to like having company around. He doesn't like to do things by himself - good thing he has a brother! If he's playing by himself too long, he will come find me and say, "I want you to come play with me." For this reason (and so I can chat with my friends), I continue to have playdates regularly.

~ He loves kids and friends around his age and under. But will become shy and clingy when new adults come around. He will typically warm up to them in a few minutes, but the personality that comes out when someone new comes around is the complete opposite of who he normally is.

~ He is learning to beat box (making sounds/beats with his mouth) from his dad. He's actually getting very good at it, but is shy about it and will typically only do it following his dad's lead when he thinks no one is listening. :)

~ He also has rhythm and has some crazy dance moves! :) He loves to dance/move to the music. I've got several videos to prove it!

~ He is very good at going to bed and is almost always in bed by 8:30 and asleep no later than 8:45 or 9. We have had the same routine for such a long time that he knows just what to do. Vitamin, potty, bed - 3 books a prayer and lights out. He always asks for me to lay with him, but I typically say I need to go check on Levi and come back a few minutes later to him asleep. He sleeps for at least 10 1/2 hours but usually closer to 11 to 11 1/2 waking up normally around 7:30 or 8.

~ He can ride his bike like a champ, and loves to ride it to the park. Which is another one of his absolute favorite places - the park. He isn't afraid of anything at the park and can "do" just about any activity found at a park (crazy climbing things, fireman poles, etc) except the monkey bars - he's just too short yet.

~ Isaiah is such a good big brother. Although he is so rough with Levi (knocking him over on purpose, taking toys from him just to show him he's bigger, etc) he truly loves him. He will often come find me and say, "Levi's making a bad choice." and he does this not because he's tattling, but because he loves him. He will say to me, "we don't want Levi to do that because we love him and don't want him to get hurt." When getting a snack or treat he will often take enough for him and Levi to make sure he gets some. There are times, and they are coming more and more often, that he'd rather have Levi than me (for example: playing in the yard or dirt). It's so sweet.

This list could go on forever, he has such a personality. We love you Isaiah!!

he's FOUR! part 1 - the birthday.

It's hard to believe that it was just 4 years ago that Isaiah was born into our lives. It seems like he's been a part of me for as long as I can remember. But I also recall the first time I held him as if it was yesterday. Strange how that is.

My family has always made a big deal out of birthdays - and I can now understand why. It is a HUGE celebration when someone is born and every year it's important to remind ourselves of how each and every person and each and every day is a blessing. So, as you read on, you'll see that we celebrated Isaiah ALL . DAY . LONG. And not just because we wanted to spoil him and make him happy - but to show him just how big of a celebration he is to us, our family.

So here's how the day went...

When Isaiah woke up, he was happy as can be. We've been talking about his birthday for months (literally). It was finally here, and he couldn't have been happier. I made him a smiley face pancake and also made him eat it - he was so excited, he just wanted to get on with things rather than eat :)Then we were off to Chuck E Cheese!! (okay Target first to get a few last minute things). Isaiah and one of his best buddies share the exact same birthday so his mommy and I couldn't help but have them celebrate together. No better way to celebrate, but Chucky's house (as Isaiah used to say). Silly me didn't get a good picture of the boys together (but that's okay, see part 3 of this blog series).

Caiden and Isaiah racing together...
and playing air hockey.
Isaiah convinced LeAnna, Caiden's mom, to play Mario racing with him.
and at one point, all three adults (Mark, LeAnna and I) made it up in the tunnels with the boys
Levi had fun too - here he is playing his favorite game this time (and when we went for his birthday too) the soccer game.
The boys exchanged gifts - check out Isaiah's smile when he opened this dragon! Thank you Caiden!
After we were all gamed out (and all 120 tokens were gone!) we went to go eat lunch with our friend Ronald. :)Isaiah LOVES McDonald's (who doesn't?) but we RARELY let him go there. He asked to go a few weeks ago and we promised him that he would get to go on his birthday. He was soooo excited - and not only did we get to eat McDonald's but we actually got to go INSIDE! My parents, my sister and Liahna joined us. Check out this excited smile! Then we came home to get ready for some down time before the big birthday party! We decided to let Isaiah open the gifts from my parents, my sister and us so that the party could be spent enjoying the friends there. My parents gave him a new Diego computer game (he has a Leapfrog Click Start) and a basketball game. Look at the excitement on his face!
Here he is a little later playing with it....
He was so amazed when he opened the big pirate ship from my sister's family. Both Isaiah and Levi just stared at the box, I'm sure thinking about all the fun they were going to have together with this. Thank you Nichole, Jay and Liahna!Then Levi's gift - Buzz Lightyear. Isaiah, Mark and I went to see Toy Story 3 in the theater together a few months ago and Isaiah loved it. With all the Toy Story stuff out in the stores, Isaiah had said for weeks that he wanted a Buzz. No one like his brother to fulfill that wish! By the way, Levi was equally excited about this gift and through a 10minute fit when we got home from the store and had to hide it.
It was time for the little ones (Levi and Liahna) to take a nap, so they went down and then Isaiah got to open his gifts from us. We bought his gift on Amazon.com and I opted for the free shipping which was 5-9 days. 8 days was his birthday - it was a gamble, but I wanted to save the $17 that it would have cost to ship it sooner. Earlier that week I had gotten notice it was to be delivered on his birthday (whew!) so Mark and I were sweating it all morning hoping it'd get here (I knew it would get there on his birthday as I called earlier in the week, and earlier in the morning:) It was just a matter of when. It didn't come and didn't come, so by 2 we decided to let him open the little things that went with the gift. Including the gifts from Grandma Michele and Great Grandma Mary, they went along with our theme for his big gift -- Thanks Grandma and Great Grandma!!!

The extra gifts were knights and dragons... he was so excited about them. He kept saying "WOH" everytime he opened a package (there were like 5 packages of knights and 2 bigger boxes with dragons) I've never heard him say "woh" before he was so happy. Here is the "woh" look! And just when he got finished opening the presents, this showed up...
it couldn't have been more perfect timing.

He was so surprised and excited to open his new castle!!! (it's the Melissa & Doug wooden folding castle, it's VERY cool)
Unfortunately it arrived about 25 minutes before the party was to start so he didn't have much time to enjoy it, but that worked out okay in the end.

Isaiah wanted his friends to come to our house and play games for his party, so that's what we did. We ended up playing several games - duck, duck goose, red light green light, clean your room (or something like that), balloon pop, and running races. I think all the kids had a good time. The weather was absolutely perfect (lower 70s and sunny!) now if we could just get rid of the mosquitoes! (sorry to everyone who got bitten up!!)

Red light green light - the parents had to help get some of the kids warmed up. I think eventually just about every kid took a turn calling "red light" or "green light" Clean your room. Fun game Mark found online. A little silly, but got everyone laughing.
Balloon pop - every kid had a balloon tied to their ankle and you tried to pop other people's balloon without letting yours get popped. Mark ended up winning after he took out Madison :)
As the games were winding down, I made all the kids pose for a picture :) Thanks honey for playing your little game that helps make the kids pose... here you see from left to right:

Izzy, Levi, Ashley, Madison, Emily, Carson, Jonah, Dakota, Isaiah, Rhea, Jayda (not pictured, sleeping Liahna, and baby Silas)

Time for cake. Isaiah told me all along he wanted a circle cake with Spiderman on it. We looked online together and found one like what he wanted. He also wanted the frosting red - I got it as close to red as I could and he put Spiderman on it himself. Happy Birthday to you!
It's not a party without a pinata.
Isaiah taking the first turn hitting it. From there we did youngest to oldest.
sit down and wait for your next turn.
CANDY!
The party got over and the boys (my dad, Mark, Isaiah and Levi) settled down to watch the (recorded) Iowa vs. Iowa State game (bad timing on our part for the party, game started at 2:30 party started at 3 -- oops!). We ordered pizza (thanks mom!) and then Kammy, Steven and Austin came over to wish Isaiah a happy birthday. How fun for the big boys to get to check out Isaiah's castle. Poor baby Levi is just too little to be allowed to play with it (too many little pieces, etc) He cried and screamed wanting to play too. I'm sorry big boy.
And needless to say we were all tired by the time we went to bed that night!

What a wonderful day!! Happy Birthday Isaiah Alec!