Everything BUT the Birthday

So in recapping E's birthday I left out some of the other pictures and tidbits from the last several days or so.

Like Autumn tried on the generic Baby Legs she got from Santa:


I'm still trying to figure out when someone would actually wear these and can't come up with much other than maybe when she's crawling and it's warm out so she's not going to be wearing pants so much but might want some protection on her knees. I hear potty training in the cooler months would be another good time for these as we like to do the pantsless approach and do it in the summer. If it were colder we could keep her legs warmer with Baby Legs.

As it was, Dalton didn't want to leave her alone for the pictures but she didn't mind:




And the other afternoon the boys were constantly squabbling. So they sat on opposite sides of the table with these boxes keeping them from seeing one another and they each played PlayDoh so nicely this way:


On Sunday Easton had another birthday party...this time as a guest. Tabor's birthday is 4 days before Easton's. Last year they had their parties at the exact same day and time. We weren't really friends with them last year. The mom didn't talk to me much and so I thought she was stuck up (she's SO not) and must not have liked me for some reason. The only problem was, Easton has always adored Emily and Emily and Tabor have been best friends since babyhood. So, when the birthday party invites went out, Emily understandably chose to go to Tabor's party last year and not to Easton's. So this year, now that Tabor's family and I are friends I made sure that we planned around each other for their parties since they like each other AND have many of the same friends. So she had hers on Sunday. I took just Easton and Jason stayed home with Autumn and a sick little Dalton.

Easton had fun. I had fun. Jason said that while I was gone, Autumn held her bottle herself for the first time! And that night she put her pacifier in her mouth herself too!

A great skill to have!

Dalton was silly at dinner:


The next morning Easton had school and I hung with the two littler ones. I wonder if they're going to be closer because they spend slightly more time together? It's hard to say because Easton and Autumn seem to adore one another equally. And then there's the whole part of Easton and Dalton being super-tight. I guess we'll see. Maybe they'll all just be really close which would be nice, of course. Easton's just so much older that he's really more of a caretaker type for his sister (which is super sweet!) But right now I capture a lot of cute moments between Dalton and Autumn while Easton is at school:


Then Autumn napped and Dalton and I made our first green smoothie. We're big smoothie fans around here and I can "hide" lots of healthy things in smoothies. But this was our first time to try hiding veggies (specifically spinach) in one. Dalton's favorite color is green so I knew I could get him on board. Unfortunately, it didn't end up looking too green. Even with a few drops of food coloring. But Dalton was still okay with it:

We both gobbled it right up without batting an eye. Yum!

Dalton, Autumn, and I then headed to the "library truck"/bookmobile. We picked up a few things including a book with a CD. It was Ariel. That is Easton's favorite Disney princess BUT he won't watch "The Little Mermaid" because of the fire in the beginning and Urusula the Sea Witch. So, at first he was super excited to read along with the CD:

Then he turned the page and saw Urusula and insisted that I turn it off right away. :(

He's so sensitive to the scary things. I think it goes over a lot of kids' heads (like Dalton's) but Easton gets it. Even though he knows it's pretend, evil and scary bother him. Especially lately.

But after school we headed to Chick-fil-a. I wanted to make it up to him for not taking him on his birthday. So we headed over there for lunch and playing. We got a 6 pack nuggets kids meal for all of us to share. Easton ate two nuggets, Dalton could hardly get down one. They both had a few fries and I had the rest of everything. This is right after Easton said, "One down...one to go!"


After we finished, we went into the play area. The boys ran about:




And TumTums had some milk:


But at one point some kid who hadn't taken off his shoes was stepping all over Dalton. :( And then later I hear a frantic, "Ahhh! Mommy! Mommy!" from inside the tube slide. A different bully was hurting Easton somehow and he couldn't even get away. I didn't know what to do with Autumn on my lap and Easton in the tube slide. There wasn't a single other parent in there supervising their children. Just me. So I just encouraged Easton to come down and get away from that kid. He did but he was so upset. Another kid came over to tattle on that bully because he'd seen what went down. I think the bully was waiting in the tube slide and hurting kids who tried to come down past him. :( I was looking around the restaurant through the window to see if anyone was paying any attention at all but no one was. So I just kept saying things so the kid could hear like, "Let's leave. We'll go somewhere where you're safe and no one will hurt you. We don't want to play with mean people." I continued saying it as we walked through the restaurant so hopefully someone would see my crying kid and know that their kid had hurt mine. :( Poor E.

We left and drove down to the Children's Hospital where we like to donate toys around Easton's birthday each year. So we did that. And Easton wanted to go up to the top floor to look out the window because he thought we'd be able to see "the whole world". We saw what there was to see and came back down to watch this cool ball thingy that they always like to watch:


Then we went to Baskin Robbins for Easton's free birthday scoop. At the last second he changed his mind and said he wanted strawberry. So that's what I got. But here he is realizing he didn't really want it and is trying to get me to get him something else:


But I did not. Meanwhile, Dalton enjoyed Easton's favorite flavor: mint chocolate chip:


Then we went over to Target where Easton returned a duplicate birthday gift and, with some birthday money from PaPaw he bought this remote control R2-D2 he'd had his eye on recently:


We also saw Kaitlyn from school while we were there and spent a long time talking with her and her mom amongst the toy aisle before finally coming home for the day. It was a long one. And as I said in yesterday's post, we spent a long, but fun, time out of the house on Tuesday too.

Now today (Wednesday) we're mostly hanging at home. Easton had school and the two littlest ones and I headed up to Target to pick out Easton's portraits and picked up just enough groceries for tonight before picking up Easton and coming home where I plan to stay for the rest of the day. :)

My Well Boy

...and a few darndest things...just from today! (Which this picture is not--from today, I mean. It was from Sunday night. I didn't bring my camera today which was kinda freeing in a way.)


Well, we started off our day leaving the house at 8:50 this morning and didn't get home till nearly 4 p.m. Yesterday we spent 5 1/2 hours straight away from home as well but we'll tackle that in a future post, I s'pose. Today we'll only talk about today.

So, yeah, we left just before 9 a.m. and headed for our regular Tuesday doughnuts. It has been a very long time since we've eaten inside so we did that today. As we were walking in Easton rushed ahead to get the door stating, "Never fear the 5 year old is here!" as he stood by with one hand on his hip all superhero like and the other hand holding the door. Cutie! The boys loved eating inside again for a change and we got 3 free "samples" for going inside so we got to bring a few home for the boys' breakfast tomorrow. Yay!

As soon as we finished our Krispy Kremes we headed up to Easton's 5 year well-child visit. It was actually his first time being a patient at Dr. Groovy's. Can you believe he hasn't had to go to the doctor since his 4 year well-visit last January??? Well, I take that back...he did take a short trip to urgent care to rule out a UTI in May or so but still...

Easton did really well for the nurse. She did his height and weight:
Weight: 32 pounds
Height: 41.5 inches

She said his weight was 10th percentile but it's really not. It's actually not on the charts according to the actual doctor and this calculator too. No surprise there. His height is roughly 25th percentile (21st if you want to get specific). I'm surprised he's that "short" with as much as he's grown height-wise recently. And he's not too short-looking compared to his classmates anymore but whatev. Comparing to his 4 year visit on this exact same day last year he's gained 5 pounds and 3 1/4 inches.

She checked his vision and hearing and all that and he did great and passed it all. No surprises there either.

He did really well for Dr. Groovy as well. He likes him and was super polite and friendly and listened well to all his instructions while he checked him out. Dr. Groovy says he still has a teeny umbilical hernia (which we were supposed to keep an eye on till he was 5). I'm not quite sure what to do next. Dr. Groovy thinks it's fine but I'm not sure what the surgeon would say. Then again, do I want to know what the surgeon would say? It's not like we want our kid to have surgery.

Anyway, there are no concerns about anything as far as Dr. Groovy is concerned. So that's good. But, to get ready for kindergarten Easton needed four immunizations today. :( I didn't know going into the appointment and told him honestly "I don't know" about shots. Then when Dr. Groovy was done and we were waiting on the nurse I still didn't tell him. I did have him take off his shirt and we just waited (and waited!) for her to come back. That's when I told him. He wasn't too pleased. He got two in the first arm and he was crying but not fighting it. Through his tears he said, "I don't want to come here for my appointments ever again!" He didn't know he was gonna get two more in the other arm and that was even sadder. "Not again!!!" he cried. :( But then we were done. Oh, poor guy. I very much believe in vaccinations but it's still no fun to get them.

After we left we headed across the highway to Chuck E. Cheese with Easton's free birthday tokens coupon. We had a great time at Chuck E's. Easton was sooooooooo over the top sweet with his brother. It was great. It wasn't at all crowded so eventually I sat at a table with Autumn and the tokens and she nursed and the boys would come back to get their next token and check in. I could see them for the most part anyway but still. It was a lesiurely time.

Then I told Easton that he could pick whatever he wanted for lunch. From home or from out somewhere. He came up with bagels. Specifically the Hawaiian ones we like and he wanted strawberry cream cheese so we headed over there. Dalton and Autumn snoozed in the car. We got our lunch and I was asking if Easton's arms were feeling better. I said, "I know shots aren't any fun" and he goes, "You said it, Mom." I burst out laughing and told him, "You're funny" and he goes, "You can say that again!" Ha! What a goob.

After lunch we headed over to the rec center where I was hoping to buy a family pass but didn't bring any proof that my husband and I lived at the same address. I thought my 3 kids 5 and under might be proof enough but no. She needs some mail or something. But that was no biggie because we were heading to play at the park there anyway. It's a beautiful, cloudless 60 degrees here today. We haven't played outside in soooooo long. So we certainly took advantage even with the unmelted snow covering the playground. The boys had a nice time getting to be out and about even more. And it made my heart happy to spend that time with them in the fresh air and sunshine and see their smiles and giggles. Even Autumn had fun in the stroller. Then she took a nap.

When we left we headed over to get a car wash. Not only did the car really need it but the boys enjoy it as well. On the drive Easton was talking about how when Autumn gets bigger they'll get to watch 3 shows at quiet time because they'll each get to pick one and then said, "And if we have another baby..." and I interrupted with, "We won't have another baby" and he goes, "Why?" and I just said, "Because we're done" and then he came back with, "Does Jesus know?" Ha!!!!! Oh boy did I think that one was funny too.

Finally we came back home where the boys are now doing a bit of quiet time and Autumn's napping before we head to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner tonight. What a day! Other than the shots, it's been a very happy day today for everyone. Yay!

Bowling Birthday Bash

Saturday morning Easton woke up and he was 5. He thought he would have grown a lot overnight. That not only would he be taller, but able to run faster and jump higher. Cutie.

Here he is at the exact moment he became five: 8:08 a.m.:


He was itching to open all his presents but we made him wait till after breakfast. He'd chosen chocolate croissants and I stuck a candle in it for him and we sang:


Then it was time for presents!

He opened some of the accessories from the space shuttle Santa had brought:



Love Dalton peeking in.

And the thing he most wanted (and the only thing he was asking for) was Star Wars Legos. He doesn't really play with Legos much so we didn't want to get a whole, huge expensive kit. AND the box says it's for 6+ but we went for a small kit anyway:


He was excited:


You might even say he was pumped:


Little Diddles did a great job while Bubba got to open all kinds of new things. Sweet G-Ma and July thought to send a little something for both Dalton and Autumn on E's special day. Dalton knew there was a gift waiting for him and he's just waiting to open it:

Little sweetie.

He got to open a little Melissa & Doug magnetic Joey set "like Gramoo has".




He got other things too. Here are several video clips of Easton during his gift opening, if you're interested. And you don't have to be. :)

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Once Easton had opened all his loot he moved on to assembling his Legos. Jason was there for coaching but he did a really good job with them and followed the instructions in the pictures and everything:






Meanwhile, Dalton got started playing with his new magnetic paper doll:


And I got to work on finishing up Easton's cake:




I also filled the party favor bags. At the last minute I decided to try to make them look like little bowling pins:


During all this, Easton almost seemed a tad sad. We weren't quite sure what was up. We thought he'd be playing with all his new stuff...and he was. But he just seemed a tad off. Jason gave him a snack in case that was the issue. Who knows?


But before long it was time to get dressed and head over to the bowling alley for his party!

We had never set foot in this particular bowling alley. We booked our party there sight unseen. I had no idea it was going to be glow in the dark bowling. But it was. So we got there a smidge early to meet our party host (Teddy) and set up a few things. Like my bowling lane cake:

I don't know why, but I have this thing that I always want to make the kids' cakes myself. I'm not a decorator, but I want to be. I should take a class. But I found this idea online and tried my best to copy it as best I could.

At the table before his friends started arriving:


As his friends arrived, Teddy would take their present and go get them some bowling shoes. Blessedly, Gramoo and Lauren were there to help me too. Even with Teddy doing most everything, it was still tough to think about balancing time with my birthday boy, his siblings, and our guests. They totally came to the rescue with the kids, especially Autumn. And even with his buddies there, Easton hung out with his Gramoo quite a bit:


We had a few stragglers for the party but Teddy went ahead and put their names into the computers BUT since they weren't there I was just letting the kids take turns bowling while we waited for everyone to show up. The parents of all but one kid stayed. And that was the one kid that needs a parent with him. The class rascal. I forget why we invited him, exactly. He's the same punk that threw sand in Easton's eye and the same kid that told Easton his shoes weren't cool. But Easton says "He's my buddy" so we invited him. He was a handful and later on the class room mom sort of took over helping me reign him in. Thank goodness! I'm not sure I saw Autumn much at all but Jason and I did get to spend a little time with our boys and with the party guests:






Jess and Janna also arrived at some point and hung with my kids a lot too:






Still it was hard to feel like it wasn't completely chaotic. It was dark and loud and I had lots of people I wanted to spend time with. Mostly my big five year old and while I was chatting with someone he came running over going, "Mom! Mom! I knocked all the pins down! Did you see me?!?!" And I hadn't. :( I missed his strike. Boo!



They were being such cute brothers out there but because it was so dark the camera took forever to snap the picture sometimes and this was the best I got:

Luckily Jason and I were both there watching them so at least we'll have that memory.

Easton and his buddy Jacob:


Haven't you just been totally loving Easton's little bowling shirt? We gave it to him that morning. He couldn't read his name on it because it was "all swirly". :)

It felt like things had calmed down a tad once all the kids were there and they could actually go when the computer told them it was their turn (minus Brock thinking every time was his turn, the rascal). But still it wasn't a ton of activity for the kids while they waited for the 4 kids in front of them to go. Easton even said he was bored at one point later on. :(

Party friends from school killing time:


Some sort of impromptu train dance thing:


After about an hour and fifteen minutes of bowling it was time for some pizza:




And his friends took turns signing their names on his souvenir bowling pin:


Then it was time for cake. Easton blew out the candles the second I lit them. Before we'd even sang. Goober!!! Hasn't he had 4 other birthdays before this one to get it right??? :) Heck, he'd even blown out a candle after the song at breakfast that very morning. Silly goose. Guess he was excited. So we did some cake:


Then presents:




Easton got lots of cool stuff and I think he had a nice time overall. I hope his friends did too. It was hard to gauge since I wasn't around anyone too much. Jason let me know the contents of our favor bags was lame. I pretty much let Easton pick it all out. Who really cares about goody bags anyway? Not me. Most of that stuff doesn't last anyway. And the cool stuff that does I can't afford for all those kids and bowling. :)

We came home. Poor Autumn was worn out despite a nap in Gramoo's arms:


E dove into his new stuff once we arrived home and we just snacked on stuff for dinner since we'd had pizza around 3:30 or so. He said he'd wanted to go to Chick-fil-a for dinner but really just to play. Not because he was particularly hungry. I told him I'd take him the next day, forgetting at the time that the next day was Sunday and Chick-fil-a is closed then. Oh well.

Easton finished up the day by staying up extra late checking out his stuff and having fun "when his Dad is home".

What a happy day for our big guy!

Cinco de Easto

Happy 5th birthday to our first born!!!!


He's come so far. Here he is just over a month old:

He was finally starting to fit in his little preemie clothes. Seems like so long ago, yet it's all still so fresh. I was just telling Jason my memories of that time in our lives and Easton's birth and near-death seem much more recent than five whole years.

But alas, it's been that long and he's just awesome. We're so proud of him and how far he's come. We're so thankful to God for getting him (and us!) through everything from just those first few scary days to the last five years.

Anyway, I did a little interview with him yesterday to capture his 5 year old self...it's not short. But here ya go:

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