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Friday, January 22, 2016

Tommy's 5th birthDAY

Tommy's 5th birthday turned out to be a little bit of a mess. I had scheduled to have the day off and planned a surprise mini-birthday party after school was over. I hadn't told him anything about it, but I had invited one of his favorite friends from preschool to go bowling along with the the kids/cousins that Brooke baby-sits. He kept saying he wanted a birthday party with all of the kids in his class, but he gets so painfully shy that I was afraid if I had one, he would get awkward and weird and not really enjoy it. So I was keeping my fingers crossed that having just one favorite friend would go over well!

However.......his birthday was on a Wednesday and at some point during the weekend before, he starting having some asthma issues. And he was so junked up that he would cough and cough until he got sick. We bumped up his nebulizer treatments and he did okayish. Then him and Tessa started running really high fevers. He missed one day of school and was sick all the day before he was supposed to go back (he goes every other day). It was one of those "feels great on ibuprofen, but as soon as it wears off, he crashes" illnesses. I took them to the doctor and he had a respiratory infection and she had an ear infection.

But on the morning of his birthday, he woke up fever free and feeling SO good! I was SOOOOO glad. I decided to send him to school and go ahead with his little surprise party. I THINK I was more excited about his birthday than he was. We started out the morning with our annual room full of balloons........
My normally hard to wake up boy popped out of bed! We took his temp and it was normal. I listened to his chest and it sounded decent.  So I declared him safe for school and he was SO excited! We got around and he opened a few presents.....
 I asked him to hold up 5 fingers and got this gem of a picture..........
He's such a nerd. 

It was his day to take snacks to school and he had BEGGED to take chocolate chip cookies. I totally didn't feel like baking since I had spent the day before at the doctor's office and the weekend up playing nurse. So I totally went to McDonald's, bought enough cookies to feed his class and wrapped them in cute little birthday baggies. And he LOVED it. So that made me feel less guilty!

After we dropped him and his snacks off at school, Tessa and I went and did a little shopping until it was time to pick him up. We got to school and told him his friend was coming home with us and he was SO excited! I packed them up in the car, drove to Brooke's and picked up the rest of the kids and we headed to Gambino's for lunch. I wasn't so sure how well lunch would go with 6 kids, but they were SOOOO good. Well-behaved, not too noisy....it was nothing short of a miracle.

After lunch, we drove to El Dorado to go bowling. Tommy has been begging to go bowling for awhile now and I kept putting it off, so he was super stoked to see the bowling alley! And the kids had the BEST time. I tried MULTIPLE times to get a good picture, but this was the best one :)

  

I got to spend some time with my little Beezers!
 
Tommy was LOVING being with the kids and bowling. This was his signature bowling move.....
It worked really well--he ended up bowling a pretty decent game! Of course, bumpers never hurt....

After bowling, we went back to Brooke's house and the kids all played pin the tail on the donkey and had cupcakes and opened presents.


The kids all had such a good time playing together. I'm so glad we invited one of his friends and they got to bond a little outside of school! After cupcakes, we took his friend home and went back to our house for a little nap. We were worn out! Then when dad got home, we opened some more presents and enjoyed a quiet dinner together.



 We had gotten him a train table as his main present, so I kept telling him I was SO excited to give him his BIG present. We had it all set up downstairs, so when it was finally time, we headed down there to show him. I was pumped because he LOVES trains. We let him open a wooden train set first and told him to take them downstairs, so he did....
He saw the train table and I said, "LOOK, BUDDY!!!" He grinned really big, looked at it and said, "Cool!....where's my big present?"

Yeah. Talk about a let down. But after we explained that WAS his big present, he was still excited. We built his train tracks and got all the trains out and him and Tessa played on it for at least an hour! 

Unfortunately, he started running a fever again that night and was sick for a few more days. We ended up having to cancel his family birthday party that weekend. I felt so bad for him. He got a little teary-eyed when I told him, but we didn't want to get anyone else sick and he still wasn't 100%. But we made up for it by taking him to Chuck E Cheese with my family a few days later and celebrating with Nick's family about a week later. He ended up having so much fun at all three parties and certainly a spoiled, well-loved little boy!

Happy birthday, Thomas James!




Wednesday, January 20, 2016

To my son on his 5th birthday

Thomas James-

I can't believe you are five years old. You went to sleep as my sweet little four year old child and woke up my handsome five year old boy! Sometimes I find myself just stopping and thinking, "I have a five year old son. WHAT? A FIVE year old. HOW? WHEN?" It used to drive me nuts when people would same time flies, but then I had you. And boy, has it flown. A few days before your birthday, I said, "Tommy, I can't BELIEVE you're going to be five! What am I going to do with a five year old?" You said, "Don't worry mom! I'll still give you hugs and kisses!" And I cried.

You are turning into such a little man. I love it and hate it all at the same time. You say things that make me laugh almost every day. You've become much more responsible and helpful around the house. You're still a ridiculously picky eater, but you come by that honestly (mom's the same way!). You would eat a ham sandwich every day for lunch and dinner if we'd let you. You love your little sister but pick on her like nobody's business. You two are either hugging or punching each other--it's always from one extreme to the next!

You do NOT like me to do your hair. And every morning I tell you I need to fix it, you roll your eyes and say, "Fine. But DON'T make it a mohawk!" You're still shy around others and at school, but are making progress and being much friendlier! I'm SO happy about that--you're such a sweet boy and I feel like you have so much to offer people, but you're always so shy, so I'm glad you're finding your voice (which has certainly NEVER been an issue at home ;). You've started telling random people at stores hi and waving at everyone you see.

You are obsessed with our chickens and there's one chicken you always pick up and hold like a baby. And oddly enough, that chicken seems to love it.


You LOVE being outside and always, always ask to go with dad. Even if he's just going outside for a few seconds, you beg to go with him. You help him gather eggs and work in the barn. You recently got to go on your first big "hunt" and you guys got a few birds!

You are 100% boy--except for when it comes to getting hurt.You love dirt, trucks, remote control ANYTHING and talking about poop, farts and butts more than any human I know. But when you get hurt (and I'm sorry to say this), you are the BIGGEST wimp. If you get a splinter in your foot, you limp all day. If you bonk your head, you need ice EVERY time. If you pinch your finger, you insist on a band aid. I pray often for your safety and our sanity.

While you thoroughly enjoy doing "manly stuff," you also like cuddling with mom and reading books together. You've just started complaining about going to the store with me--you used to love it, but now you say, "Awwwww, man! I HATE the store!" You're grounded from your tablet at least 3 days a week because you're pretty mouthy, but we're working on that. I affectionately call you my little sour patch kid because you can go from SUPER sweet to SUPER sour in 30 seconds flat.

A few things you say that crack me up are:
"That is not wepropriate!"--meaning that's not appropriate
"Don't look at my privacy!"--meaning you're naked and don't want anyone to see your private parts
"Really?"--in a totally sarcastic voice, meaning in adult language, "Are you freakin' kidding me?"
 "________ is so disgusting, I can't even blink!"-- You're constantly talking about things you dislike so much                    they make you blink

Son, you can make me happier than anyone and drive me crazier than anyone else can in the whole world. My love for you is so strong, I can't even blink! Your sweet smiles, your sweaty hugs, your crocodile tears...all of it is wrapped up in the most perfect 42 pound, 3 1/2 foot tall blond haired bundle. I can't imagine life without you. I love you buddy!

Friday, January 1, 2016

New Years Eve 2015

On New Year's Eve 2015, we had a RAGING party at our house. Consisting of wine coolers, my sister and my brother in law and my cousin. Let me tell you, it. was. EPIC.

We prefer to stay in because we want to avoid any drunk drivers and....well, we're old. So we invited our family over and my mom watched the kids in the basement while we stayed upstairs and ate and played games. We usually play Taboo or Uno or something along those lines, but the guys really don't enjoy word games or card games (or anything that requires too much thinking). So this year, we mixed it up and played pictionary and Jenga! And I learned something about my marriage........

Nick and I can NOT play pictionary together and expect our marriage to survive. Just not possible. We are both competitive and get super frustrated with each other WAAAAAAAY too easily. A little dumb, yes. But it made for a tense game of pictionary. Now Jenga is every man for himself. And the guys rocked it. We had some serious Jenga towers going.

At midnight, we kissed each other and our kids, played games for a few more hours and then called it a night.

It was such a great night with such great people!