Scooby Dooby Doo!

Xander has been into Scooby Doo for the past 8 months or so. Want to know what cartoon I HATED growing up? Yeah.....I probably don't have to tell you. But I love the kid, so I went along with his idea for a Scooby Doo birthday party. The plan was for the kids to make their own pizzas, play a few games, then do presents and cake. It didn't quite happen that way. Only a few kids made pizza, some refused to play games, one stood in the corner and listened to his I-pod, and they all practically sat in my lap while Xander opened his gifts. I think his whole video is going to just be me asking the kids (over and over) to scoot back. Let's just say that Xander's already been told he's not having 11 people over for his birthday next year.

I found paw print wrapping paper to decorate the tables and the kids snacked on potato chips and Scooby Snacks served in dog food bowls. We also had punch in Scooby Doo colors.

We played Scooby Doo bingo and one other game, and Xander enjoyed sitting with his "girlfriend." She lives down the street and they share a seat on the bus together. Each day they rotate who sits by the window, although I'm not sure if the coveted seat position is by the window or on the aisle.

Xander opened presents

Then we had cake and ice cream (Xander picked mint chocolate chip) and passed out goodies. Xander gave his friends cupcakes that had Scooby Doo liners, Scooby Doo Fruit Snacks, Scooby Snacks and Scooby Doo Band-Aids.

And then it was time to finish working on Jordis' party. One down, one to go.

Happy Earth Day!

Xander has really been into Earth Day since he learned about it last year in preschool. He was distraught last year on vacation when we were eating breakfast at our hotel one day. He noticed the cups had triangles on them and everyone was throwing them in the trash instead of recycling them. How excited we were when we just stayed at the Hampton a few weeks back and found that this particular location was using all biodegradable products in the breakfast room.

I was a little busy with the birthday parties this year to work on any fabulous Earth Day projects, but we did do a few things over the past week in recognition of the occasion. The first thing we did was take a walk and collect trash from the common areas. It was actually my attempt at getting Xander to take a walk. Who knew that offering up the opportunity to pick up other people's crap was more enticing than just walking for fun?

Not only did they fight about who got to each piece of trash first, but they keep asking when we can go find more trash. Huh?

We also ate sandwiches in the shape of flowers. This was Jordis' idea after seeing it in the Princess and the Frog cookbook my dad and step-mom got her for her birthday.

Last night Jason had to work second shift so I took the kids to Inniswood. This is a park where Jason and I had our engagement pictures taken and it's much closer to our old house, which is why we don't visit more often. But we should because it's absolutely gorgeous there. The kids both got digital cameras for their birthdays so I thought they'd enjoy using them to photograph the flowers. In the meantime I was able to take some pictures of my own.

Sensational Six

So the little man turned six last week. Or as Jason would say, he's 1/3 of his way to being out of the house. It's not so much that Jason wants him to leave, but the kids reaching adulthood is how he counts down the number of years he has until he retires.

More than likely Xander won't be out of the house at 18 anyway. He'll either find some way to become emancipated at 15 or he'll con us into staying until he's 30. Who knew the kid would be such a negotiator? Oh, wait, he's mine. Guess that personality trait was kind of a given.

Here is a look back at birthdays past:

And now he is six. We're so impressed with how smart he is and all that he's learning at school. His reading skills are above average and he's got a great vocabulary. He likes to write in all capital letters, which does not impress his teacher. He loves the color blue and his favorite food is pepperoni pizza without cheese. He has absolutely no patience for anything that takes longer than 30 seconds. His favorite show is Scooby Doo. He is all about creating new foods from whatever is on his plate. He is ALWAYS hungry. This kid tries my patience like no one I've ever met, but I still love him more than anything.

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

The journey home

Since Jason had taken off the week after Easter, we decided to break up our trip home from Tennessee into two days and do a few things on the side. Our first stop was at Louisville Slugger. (Assuming I don't have to tell you it's in Louisville, KY).

There was a museum, a tour, a movie and some adult/kids batting cages. It was definitely hard for our kids to enjoy since they were probably a little young for it, but they did get excited at the end of the tour when we were all given individual mini baseball bats. I was excited because the factory smelled like the woodshop my grandpa used to have in his basement when I was little. They were making bats while we were there so it was neat to see the process, although I was a little bummed that we weren't allowed to take pictures in the factory. We got these cute shots though.

After leaving Louisville we continued north, stopping in Newport to eat at Pompilio's, one of our favorite places. The kids shared a spaghetti, I tried the lasagna and Jason got his favorite dish a cheese tortellini with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes in an artichoke cream sauce. It's so good but I never get it myself because it's just too much cheese and dairy for me, so Jason always gives me a bite. We took a risk eating on the patio since it was about to storm, but we made it out of there just in the knick of time.

Back across the river we stopped for the night at a Hampton in Fairfield. We love Hampton Inn because they are so consistent wherever you go. On this particular visit the kids' sofa bed was broken and they couldn't sleep on it, so we were upgraded to a jacuzzi suite. The next day we took a trip to the Bass Pro Shop. Jason has been wanting to go and it's the closest one to where we live, so that's why we chose to spend the night in Fairfield. The kids didn't really make it a very enjoyable experience, but they were impressed with the giant fish tank and this Kodiak Bear.

I was impressed with what appeared to be a two-story Kohl's next door, but I didn't go to check it out because it could have been a little dangerous. My desire had been to stop at Jungle Jim's, so we went there after leaving Bass Pro Shop. Jungle Jim's is a large international grocery store. The kids really didn't want to be there so we didn't get to spend a lot of time, but they had some things I haven't been able to find in Columbus so it was a succesful venture. Before heading home we stopped for lunch at this yummy restaurant. The kids were very well behaved and Jordis even politely called the waitress over to ask for a refill. We were quite impressed. And now that we're back home, we just wait to see who gets the first injury from the baseball bats.

Easter

The thought of spending Easter away from home was a little daunting at first, but when it came down to it we had a really fun time. Saturday night before bed the kids colored eggs. Xander went last because he wanted to mix all the dye colors.

We were concerned that the kids might worry about the Easter bunny not finding them, but it wasn't a problem at all. All four of the little munchkins were so excited when they woke up.

Somehow we all managed to get ready for church.

And I thought some of these were cute as well.

After church we hid the eggs the kids dyed and had an egg hunt. Sarah bought them bunny ears to wear. We thought they'd put up a fight about it so we told them no hunting if they didn't have them on, but they actually seemed okay with it. To lessen the fighting they could each find a certain amount and then they had to be finished.

After lunch the kids played outside while Sarah and I made Easter dinner. We had a nice picnic dinner of turkey, homemade bread, sweet potato crunch, pineapple casserole and a black forest pie. It was a great end to a wonderful visit.

Weekend in Tennessee

Xander was out of school and Jason had scheduled vacation time, so we decided to spend Easter in Tennessee with Jason's brother and his family. We jokingly invited ourselves and then they said they had a 3-day weekend and how great it would be to get together, so we put the plan in motion. With the exception of some rain on Saturday morning, the whole weekend was gorgeous and we spent most of it outside. We also ate. We ate a LOT. I ate so much meat I thought I might turn in to a carnivore. But it was tasty.

Saturday was fishing day. Jason and Jeremy headed out for some brotherly bonding in the morning. Sarah and I packed up the kids and a picnic and went to join them after the rain. Xander gave up on the fishing after not catching anything in the first five minutes, and poor Dominic slept the whole time because he had a fever. So the girls fished with their daddies, and Sarah and I played photographer. Then Uncle/Parrain Jeremy took the kids out for rides in his boat.

I took over 100 pictures that day so I tried to pick just a few. There were so many good ones to choose from.