Summer 2013 -- Week One

We enjoyed looking back at what our summer was like last year, so I thought I'd try to do a weekly recap again this year.


May 27 - June 2

We always finish with school by Memorial Day so that begins our official summer. This year we visited a couple new parks and had a picnic lunch.

Conner wasn't able to be with us for Memorial Day, but came home on Tuesday. Later in the week, we celebrated Liam's birthday. TWO! We spent the morning and the zoo and the afternoon with friends at a park in Golden. I think he had a really good day.

Two years old

BIG ball was a gift from a brother

Fun at the zoo

With Mom

With Dad, making silly smiles

birthday cupcakes

Brenna hadn't seen her friend Anna for 2 years

SIX

Our 5th-born, Zane, turned 6 on February 16. He was so excited and counted down to his big day for about a month.

When it arrived, we celebrated him all day, with his choice of breakfast and gifts sprinkled throughout the day. His big one was a bike. It had training wheels, but within days his big brother, Aiden, had taught him to ride without them. The joy of older siblings!

We took him to Chuck E. Cheese, his choice, for lunch. I think you can tell by the smile on his face how excited he was.

Air hockey with Dex

Zane is our rule follower. He loves order and routines. And he really doesn't like it when we deviate from them. He also loves to play baseball and to read.

Another Sweet Sixteen

 Our 2nd son, Chase, turned 16 on February 4th. He wants to take a few friends to either paintball or bowling, but we haven't fully worked out the dates and details, so that will be later this month. On his actual birthday, he wanted me to make homemade biscuits & gravy for breakfast.

Only I don't do gravy. I do not have the patience for it. So he made his own. :) Hey, I did make the biscuits from scratch, though.

For lunch, he wanted to try Pho. We went to a place recommended by a friend. I kept it simple, but he wanted to really be adventurous and ordered the one with tripe. Even though I told him what that was.

Yeah -- it ended up on another plate. :) But at least he tried it.

That night, instead of cake, he requested fudge. Hard to get candles to stick into that!

We weren't able to go out to dinner on his actual birthday, so we went a few days later. He chose Yak & Yeti -- yum!!  

He ordered the Lamb Masala and Scott had Chicken Masala.

I had Shrimp Korma, and I think we all agree mine was the best! :) And of course we had lots and lots of Naan bread. I LOVE that stuff!

Chase's main gift was a new Ipod Touch. His old one wasn't working properly anymore and he couldn't add any new apps. His siblings bought him a case for it -- a Marvel one of course!

I'm really loving this age. He has his permit, but not his license for 6 more months. So we get to spend lots of time together and that's the way I like it. Soon enough, he'll be gone all the time -- with a job, and places to be.For now, I'm going to treasure the next 6 months.

Birthdays

Scott and I have birthdays that are 2 days apart. So we tend to just go out time to celebrate. But this year since my birthday was on a Friday and his was on a Sunday, we decided we should do it twice! :)

My day began with dropping Chase off for his classes at FACE, then I picked up a couple of birthday freebies. Caribou gives you a free coffee, and Einstein offered a free breakfast sandwich.

After picking up Chase, I stopped in at Firehouse Subs for a free sandwich. That night we at dinner at Macaroni Grill -- yum!

Brenna made me birthday cupcakes, and all the kids made me amazing cards and I got a very special happy birthday call from Conner at college.  Scott brought home beautiful roses and a gorgeous gift from a sweet friend arrived all the way from Hungary.

Scott chose Red Lobster for his dinner. Chase made him a big breakfast and Brenna made a fantastic Oreo ice cream cake that I got off a couple friends' blogs (choosing joy  and jewels of my own).

These were Scott's "flowers".  

February

This month pretty much passed in a blur. Chase and Scott both had a cough in January that lasted two weeks. Then on Super Bowl Sunday, I developed a fever that continued on and off for a week. Then I got the cough and it lasted two weeks. Seems to be duration of that particular virus. During that time, life had to go on, but boy was I miserable.

Chase had his 15th birthday on the 4th. His main gift was a hammock. Not the best time of year for it, but he is definitely looking forward to getting a lot of use out of it this summer.

Zane turned 5 on the 16th. We went out for a family dinner to Olive Garden to celebrate both the birthday boys.

Zane got a lot of toys, the main one being a Leapster Explorer. He has spent a lot of time on it since then, I think it was a good choice.

Our nieces are still living with us during the school week, and Zane has been great about sharing.

We've continued to move along in our homeschooling. One of the preschool boys' themes this month was snow. We read several related books and did many activities.

 It  snowed a lot this month, so that helped. :)

This was a snow-themed lunch we had one day

Liam continues to grow and grow. Sometimes I just want to slow down time so I can squeeze him a little longer.

Zane is 4

On the 16th, Zane turned 4 years old. He and I spent a very fun afternoon alone together. We had lunch at McDonald's. It's an interesting thing -- my older kids grew up with Happy Meals but the more children we've had, the less we eat out. If we do have McD's, it's usually the dollar menu. So it was a big deal for him to be able to have his very own Happy Meal. See how happy he looks? =)

He was so funny -- he'd eat a few bites and rub his tummy, saying "Mmmm". We had to stay until he'd finished every single bite and he thanked me so sweetly afterward, telling me how much fun he'd had. And there wasn't even a playplace.

Next, I surprised him with a trip to Build-A-Bear Workshop. His older brother had recently given him his old bear, but I thought he should have his own. There was hardly a decision process at all. He went straight to the camo bear even after I showed him the array of other animals -- a monkey, a wolf, a horse, etc.

He spent quite a few minutes "washing" his bear.

Then he picked out a Rockies outfit and shoes for him. I asked him what he wanted to name his bear and he looked worried for a moment. Previously when we'd discussed what to name our new baby when he's born, he had suggested Joey. He looked at me and asked tentatively, "Could I name him Joey and we could pick a different name for the baby?" LOL Of course I agreed.

At home with the rest of the family, he opened his gifts which were heavy on the Toy Story 3 theme.

After singing "Happy Birthday" and having cake, his day was complete.