Thursday, August 20, 2009

What's new?

Not a whole lot these days. We are having fun for the summer. I took the kids to the pottery painting place the other day. Ellie really enjoyed it. She got into it big time. Jayden didn't want to do anything when we got there, but after we'd been there for nearly 2 hours and Ellie and I were almost done with our art, he helped me a little and decided he wanted to do his own. I'll pick them up next week and post pictures.

Jayden starts school next week. FIRST GRADE!!!

Eliana starts back in pre-K on the 1st.

Janea and I will have a lovely time with each other while the big kids are in school. I'm looking forward to some down-time.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

This week with the Stahl's

we had an exciting week! Jayden's 6th birthday was Monday. I can't believe my baby is 6!! While some days it feels like my life has always had these adorable little people in it, some days I remember being carefree with no one to attend to but myself. I look at pictures of Jayden when he was just a baby and I can hardly remember him being so small. Now, he is 6 years old, 3 1/2 feet tall, and 45 pounds of pure stubborn joy.

We celebrated his birthday with family on Monday evening. I got so friggin' drunk I can't even say! I must have consumed an entire bottle of wine in a little over an hour by myself! I was busy puking my guts out while the kids slept out the final hours of Jayden's birthday. Never again! I will never again drink THAT much in such a short period of time! I think I was still drunk when I woke up in the morning!

We had a party for the kids on Friday. All of Jayden's special friends came to the party and had a good time. We started out with a little craft. They made paper airplanes, puppets, space scenes, and decorated goodie bags that they ended up not needing. We played two games. Pin the moon on the earth and Meteor wars. For pin the moon on the earth, I used the felt solar system wall hanging I bought Jayden for his birthday last year (he's never seen it) and cut out mini "moons" from the edges of the felt. We used special velcro strips to stick them on. The kids were all good about the game and seemed to enjoy it. Meteor Wars was even more fun than I expected. The kids were commissioned to protect the earth from the balloon meteors that were coming in to attack it. They had to pop the balloons. It was fun! :) After that it was prizes (mini flying discs and punching balls--more spaceships and meteors) and playtime while we waited for Dave to get back with the pizzas. We ate pizza and cake and ice cream. Followed that with more playtime. I think all the kids left happy. :)

Yesterday, we took Jayden to ToysRUs to spend his gift cards and exchange a toy he got that was broken. He had a good time. He picked out a Diego PlayDoh set (that he is playing with now with Ellie, but he is afraid they will mix the colors!!), and a transformer toy. We supplemented with other things. And, then we went out to eat at Chili's. This is where Janea made her big breakthrough! She learned to use a straw! That is so awesome because it opens a world of drinking for her. Using the straw will make going out and feeding/hydrating her so much easier on me! Plus, she loves it! :) She was so proud of herself yesterday when she got a mouthful of water! :) I love milestone moments!