Leo's 5th Birthday!!

I went a little overboard for Leo's 5th birthday party.  Now that his cousins live thousands of miles away, we can't have an impromptu party anymore.  It has to be planned, which is bad news for me.  Once the wheels start grinding in my head, I tend to over-do it a little.  Well...a lot...

Welcome to the pirate ship:







I made the Pioneer Woman Sheet Cake for the first time and another 1/2 recipe for the cupcakes.  It was really amazing!!  I found the idea for the cupcakes on this blog: http://greeneacreshobbyfarm.blogspot.com/2012/03/pirate-cupcakes-and-treasure-hunt.html.  The frosting was this recipe.  I just added a little cocoa powder to a little of it to decorate.




I had the most fun making the decoration over the chandelier in our kitchen.  I just tore up some of the old t-shirt scraps from the t-shirt bags I make for the local Farmer's Market!  I also hung 5 LED flickering candles from the chandelier for added effect.


For our activity, I made a treasure hunt/scavenger hunt for the kids to start the party off right!


Treasure Map #1.  None of them know how to hold it or which direction to go.  After about a minute we just yelled for them to go to the pergola :)


Same story with Treasure Map #2.  They held the map upside down and were completely lost.  TO THE LOGS!!


This one was easy.  I drew a pretty convincing fort :)



My fence was not as well drawn so we had to yell out instructions again.



FOUND IT!





It was such a rockin party.  I was sad to take down the decorations!!


5 years old.  I love the age of discovery he is in now.  The rational part of his brain is sputtering to a start and he is my best little bud now.  We chat about life, death, toys, friends, family, etc.   


He is a busy little dude with lots of sweetness and tons of energy.  He is all business all the time and loves to do goal-oriented work.


 




This birthday year was the year of the Lego:



We put him in swim lessons this year and I am SO GLAD I'm not the one teaching him.  He will cry hysterically when the teacher lets him go underwater.  But he forgives her easily and moves on.  There is no way he would do that with me! 


He also did VBS this year and is still performing all the hand motions to Kingdom Rock in his room every day.





One giant update!

It has been a while.  Things just got busy!!  But that is a good thing for us. We have places to go and friends to play with.  Possibly the best problem to have right?

So I'll just do a huge update:

This guy:

Is a complete maniac!!


I ran in their room today to see that Roman climbed to the top bunk and tried to get off by hurling himself over the side.  


There is never a dull moment.  I think Elena and Leo were like this too.  But I can't remember if they were this wild.


Leo and Elena were always timid and cautious.  But not Roman!!!  He is pretty fearless.  And instead of scaring me, I kind of dig it!  I like seeing him get into trouble.  *Famous last words right?*
  

Although all of the pictures depict him independent and free, these were the only photos I managed to take in between putting him down and doing chores.  This kid is "attached".  But it is only when other people are around.  So this is my proof that he does exist outside of my arms!!


In addition to running straight into oncoming traffic, he can usually be found scaling every surface in the house.



"Roman!  Eat your toes!!"


His favorite part is to look up at us and see if we are all cheering for him as loud as we can


Of course we are!!

He also knows how to wave 


how to hug



And always knows where to find the best seats in the house



You would think all of that activity would mean that he is sleeping through the night...nope!  And I just can't listen to him cry at night so I always go get him and console him.  But three days ago I started rubbing my homemade magnesium lotion on his belly at bedtime and two nights he slept completely through the night!

This little lady:


is SUCH a girl!!!



No matter how hard Leo tries to get her to play ninja or bad guy games with him, it just won't work.



Unless she is certain that he can't really get her.  Then she'll show him who's boss!



She is into making silly faces now



And being my best little helper

 


And her hair - of course - the most talked about attribute of any of my kids.  I can't bring myself to trim it but had to resort to cutting tangles out when they get too bad!!


This guy:


LOVES his little brother.
  




He loves Elena too.  Just doesn't remember it sometimes :)


And he is officially old enough to do stuff.  He went to a St. Joseph carpentry workshop with Jason and built this!



Leo is really into building stuff now.  He creates massive robots, contraptions, villages, etc. out of random toys.


He is also my most outgoing.  If you come to our house, he is going to annoy you to death with "Hey!  Wanna see my room?"...Sorry...

Leo also just started asking major life questions.  He recently learned that his Granny's name is not Granny.  It's Carla.  This news completely blew his mind.  

On to Jason! 


Jason finally got to make a real Texan brisket in a smoker for a Memorial Day bbq we hosted.

(See his garden behind the smoker?)

It was glorious!!


Jason has lots of projects he is working on.  Most of them are just the leftover chores that I don't want to do, but they all keep him busy enough.  He asked me recently if I was happy with our decision to move to Texas.  I told him, "Actually, yes!"  His response was "It's better than you thought it was going to be right?!"  He is a proud Texan. And wants to plaster my minivan with this:


And lastly - me!

This past month Jason and I finally bought a second vehicle.   I have been wanting a jeep forever!  I owned one when I was 19 and wanted it back ever since.  


It is a '95 and has lots of miles on it.  But we only need it to go a few miles each day.  I lovingly referred to it as my fourth baby and confused a couple people on facebook.  I'm NOT pregnant!  But the jeep is my favorite creation.

Look what popped up outside our house:

Does it make up for the hotter than hell days we have in Texas?  


Not a chance.

I have been super busy with the foodclub.  I usually spend about 20 hours a week working on it!!  But the absolute biggest part of my work with the foodclub has been addressing food questions the members have.  Most of us are in the beginning stages of bringing healthier foods home.  I am a little further into my journey, but everyone is quickly converting to local/clean eating!

That's it.  I make no promises about frequency of blogposts.  I feel a little "talked out" by the end of the day between the kids, the foodclub, and my friends.  So when I go to open up a new blogpost, I just stare at the screen and draw a blank on words to put down!  This is such a great problem to have and I wouldn't change it for the world :)
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