a challenge race birthday party

A few weeks ago Julianna attended a birthday party that was like a mini Amazing Race.  Those 12, 13 and 14 year old girls were all over the city - riding buses and subways - chasing victory (they are city savvy kids, but each team also had a college age friend along!)

Julianna had a blast and I got an idea.  Hmmmm.  Could we do something similar, but within the confines of our apartment complex, for my boy?  So one Saturday morning Matt and I sat down to create a series of challenges, shaped into a race, for my boy and his birthday party friends.  Y'all.  It was so fun.  

Two teams of boys, competing the same 9 challenges but in different orders.  Darts.  Nerf guns.  Soccer.  Basketball.  Running.  Stair-climbing!  

We explained the rules, passed out the lists, and ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, GO!!!

They were all over the complex 

and these two were shocked and thrilled when they won!

The challenges were the same, but arranged in different orders for each team, and they thought they were behind the other team - but victory is even sweeter when it's unexpected :) 

We came inside for pizza and cake and a movie and sleepover.  Whew. 

{Julianna left in the middle of the party for youth group, so Lydia and I were severely outnumbered in the girls vs. boys category!}

and the next morning, everyone was awake and ready for a game of Pandemic before breakfast!

Isaac's birthday

Friday morning Isaac woke to the happy news that he was already 9 years old!  He was my earliest arriving baby - right after 5am on March 16th!

We love Isaac and we loved celebrating his special day!

His breakfast request was roll-up pancakes with strawberries and bananas.  It looks like a breakfast taco (and tacos was his dinner request!)

Mid-morning the girls snuck out of the house to go purchase this gift!  They were so excited to be giving this turtle and had been eager to bring one home but I convinced them to wait until the last minute.  "Girls, where are you going to hide a turtle anyways??"  Isaac was thrilled!  The yet-to-be-named turtle has taken up residence on Isaac's school desk ;)

We also squeezed a little cake baking into our morning routine - green batter, black and green icing.  He is still a UND fan, even from afar!

After dinner cupcakes and candles with our oldest son, who brings much joy!

And wow was he excited to receive this game - so we cleaned up the table and started playing :)

I had an evening meeting to run off to, so left Matt home with the kiddos engrossed in Pandemic!  And the birthday lunch date with Dad got moved to Saturday but these two are so fun to watch as they leave on their bikes for a manly lunch - ribs!

shucks. wrong S. oh well.

So this evening everyone is happily scrambling.... wrapping gifts for the birthday boys (Isaac turns 9 tomorrow, Luke turns 6 on Sunday).  It's a bit chaotic, with plenty of "no one come in this room!" and "who has the tape now?" and loudly whispered secrets from one sibling to another.  I love it (and maybe I love it a bit more when Matt is here but he's on a train and will be home late and ready to wake up and party in the morning so yay for that!)

And Luke is at the kitchen bar labeling his gift with a marker when I hear, "Shucks.  Wrong S.  Oh well."

The "To: Isaac" line is a little tricky to decipher when the S looks like a backwards 3 but man at that moment I was just so thankful for a laid back little boy who kept on writing :)

and who stays busy gathering packages!  It's been a week full of present talk and it brings much joy to see them choosing how to best bless their siblings.  Lydia and Julianna have quite the gift picked out for Isaac and I can't wait to see him open it!

Last Friday (before I headed out of town) a friend and I met at the Provincial Science Museum downtown.  A few years ago we visited somewhat regularly but then the museum closed for a complete remodel and neither of us had been back.  And it's newly re-opened and wow did they do an amazing job!  It's gorgeous!

We covered only a bit of the territory and already have plans to head back again.  The space and flight exhibits and pretty cool.

and they have a neat little "headless magic" too ;)

My trip was a delight - just a treat to see friends and engage with them in my world.  And I enjoyed a pretty amazing sunset on the flight home.

I also picked up a pretty amazing flag for my Lydia.  She won 2nd place in a writing contest that she entered while we were living in North Dakota and the prize was a US flag that has been flown over the Capitol Building in Washington DC.

It is really really cool.  And we are so proud of our daughter.

So tomorrow the birthday celebrating begins.  woohoo!

another week in the rear view mirror

So we are loving Geography.  Just loving it.

This is turning out to be really fun and I'm so thankful I bought a set of maps for the little boys.  Their maps don't look quite like the big kids, but it's definitely engaging for them and maybe if anything they will learn to love maps like their mama ;)

The older kids are filling in the details so nicely and I'm eager to see the finished product, though we are weeks away from that!

And another school photo - that's all I seem to be taking these days, but it's where I spend my mornings so that's that :)  I travel this weekend and Matt will be handling the schooling on Monday so the little boys wanted me to take this photo to show him what they "look like" when they are at school!  Except they are never still (like this photo suggests) - I guess Matt will figure that one out for himself on Monday!!

And one last fun shot from today - the girls (especially Julianna) have large collections of foreign currency (that they have collected themselves or traded with others).  They both bought coin collecting notebooks and spent much of the afternoon and evening organizing coins and bills.  There is lots of labeling and organizing left to be done, but they are off to a good start and it's fun to watch them enjoy this hobby!

Matt's birthday

These weeks are just intense.  It's full - of really good stuff, and really hard stuff (we are definitely moving, need to be out of here by June 4th and have exactly zero leads on other potential housing options).

But in the midst of all that is swirling around us we've had some incredibly sweet days.  School is rolling along (mostly) beautifully and I'm loving this new little season.  And last week we celebrated Matt's birthday with a juice bar - it was really fun!  

First up? An afternoon trip to the market to prepare.

John Paul kept a close eye on the pineapple he purchased.  Yay for fruit sellers who do amazing work prepping fruit to be served!

Then we headed home to put the finishing touches on our gifts (almost everyone gave fruit - different but super super fun!).  Isaac was dead set on gifting this dart board.  Magnetic.  obviously.

After dinner we got out our juicer and set to work.  It was awesome.  New tradition? Maybe!

One more birthday in the books for my favorite man.  And one more celebration for our little family.  We do love birthdays and I'm not sure what's more special - all the talk and discussion in the days before, or the actual celebration itself.  We've got two more birthdays coming our way quickly (as the birthday boys are quick to remind us, daily!)

homeschool week one: we did it!

Back to homeschool!  It was a sweet first week and I'm so thankful to call these people my students :)

As Matt says, "Enrollment is up at our little academy and we aren't adding any staff!"  So I've got a few things to figure out as we transition to 5 at the homeschool desks :) We walked into this week nice and slow.  Math, a little spelling/handwriting, and a whole lot of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  We started Charlie on Monday and finished before lunch today.  It was the perfect read-aloud start and exactly what is sweeter than a roomful of sibs listening and laughing together?

But read-aloud isn't going to get us through the entire semester, and we will be adding to the course load each week until we ramp up to full speed.  In the meantime I'm thankful for a few weeks to adjust expectations (mine and everyone else's) as we get started in this new phase.

With an imminent move (unless a miracle happens we are looking at moving to a new apartment by early June) I'm not making any major changes to the schooling layout.

My big kids moved right back into their desk area on the school porch.

These girls are tackling a huge math text this year!

And I set my two new students up at the kitchen table - strategically placed at opposite ends for maximum concentration potential :)

One thing I tried this week and I'm definitely keeping is that each boy is assigned a "sister" for the week.  My vision for this is that there would be 15-30 minutes of content (some days? most days?) where the boys work alongside a sister.  This gives me a chance to work individually with someone else, and gives the girls a chance to develop some teaching skills too (how to correct, how to encourage, how to challenge, how to motivate...).

Lydia already made up a little sight word flash card game for Luke.  And while there are definitely times that no one will settle for anyone other than Mom, both these guys are pretty smitten with the big sisters too.

Here's to week two!

helping his mama

This boy right here?  He's one of my favorites!

And one day I hope God gives him the gift of making some other woman very happy when she realizes how his handy-man skills bless her household!  He cannot stay away from a tool!  And with his new birthday tool set he is ready to work!

Yesterday he tightened the screws on one of my homeschool filing racks.  He was proud as a peacock and walked around the house saying, "If you want something fixed I'm right on the double."  {his slightly altered version of "be there on the double" that I love more than the original.}

I was bursting with pride, my little guy already a helper.  Then I heard Julianna say "JP, I'm not sure momma wants you to fix that."  Yep, he still needs a little guidance and a tool-carrying John Paul is half blessing, half risk factor around this household. ha!  But I'm excited to see where this personality bent leads my little man.

Whew! We made it!

Almost 8 weeks after we moved out of our Grand Forks home we have finally landed somewhere permanent!  HOME AGAIN!

We got in mid-afternoon on Tuesday and the past few days have been super full.  Mostly of good things and happy re-unitings (with people and places and food and memories and roller blades) but also a few reality checks (has my washer always sounded like a helicopter? was the dryer really this slow? is the sky usually this gray?).  Oh, and Julianna's "I knew we were home when I smelled the air" comment.... "home" smells like air pollution?!?  yikes.

But mostly it's been full of amazing-ness, so good to be back.

It's also been full of roller blades :). And everyone loves it the most when Daddy gets out there too!

When they aren't playing roller hockey they are building Legos.

I've been baking (6 loads of bread and counting) and washing laundry (yesterday I finally got to the pile of clothes we wore in San Francisco in late January!) and shopping (hello empty fridge and pantry... going to need to fix that).  Matt's busied himself trying to register with the local police, pay our electricity bill, get cash from the bank, and catch up on the thousand details that get left behind when life hits the road.   Simple tasks take a long time, and traffic is crazy, and the internet is slow and we are re-adjusting our expectations to our current reality.  One day at a time!

{I'm going to back-post a few things from the first half of February so stay tuned!}

Daddy days (in Bangkok)

So on the drive north we mostly slept

And also got a very discouraging phone call that Matt's flight was delayed.  Oh I was so so so sad.  And feeling like this was just not fair!  We hadn't seen him in 12 days and he was stuck at an airport!  

So we checked in and checked out our view (of the Chao Praya River) and went to get lunch and killed time in the room trying to watch the Olympics (no luck, but we channel surfed Thai and international television for a good long while before calling it quits).  And then finally! 

The boys were wrestling with Daddy on the hotel bed about six minutes after he walked in the door!  It was a great time reconnecting and our little ship just sails smoother with Daddy at the helm! 

The next morning we woke to gorgeous skies and a day to kill in Bangkok!  We bought some breakfast at 7-11 and found a quiet spot by the river to enjoy.  Then it was off to explore - Lumphini Park, a snake farm (I skipped this one but the kids and Matt watched them extract venom from poisonous snakes) and then a late afternoon skytrain to hotel river taxi adventure. 

It's a busy river and captures your attention.  I smiled all day just glad to be with my man again!

Jan 31 - Feb 11 (aka we miss Daddy)

On January 31st the kids and I said goodbye to Matt and flew south.  He had many many days of work ahead, and instead of attempting to do hotel-conference-life as a (essentially) single parent, we decided the best option for the family was for the kids and I to re-locate to a retreat center.

These guys just get more fun as the years pile up.  One short flight and one long drive and we were there!  

We filled our days with swimming and beaching and card-playing.  It really was a sweet spot to be.  But man we missed Matt.  

Fruit shake consumption was at an all-time high!  The little guys zipped through their allowance in record time :) 

Apart from one rainy day we had hot sunshine day-after-day.  I suggested these guys cool off with a "water picnic".   Fridge chilled water is so refreshing! 

A highlight of our time here is always the other families - some old friends and some new acquaintances.  This year the theme seemed to be football :) 

We read so many books!  I read Esperanza Rising to the big kids at the same time I was reading The Worst Hard Time.  It was neat to read these two books - set in the same time period - simultaneously.  Both were excellent.  After Esperanza Rising the bigs and I got hooked on The Penderwicks! We laugh out loud - those girls are so funny!!  And I read Born a Crime (filled with crass language, but so insightful, I liked it despite the language issue) and Small Great Things (loved loved loved it!) too.  

These four girls were quite the pack - always together, always finding something fun to do!

The pool was our typical morning spot, and afternoons we hit the beach (with a late pool trip to help wash off all the sand!)

Hermit crab races :) 

and a pretty seashore with Thai fishing boat in the background :) 

Our days passed quickly and we slept like rocks and I was thankful to be in such a sweet spot.  And really thankful the day we loaded the van and headed to Bangkok, eager to meet up with Matt!