A Lego Birthday!

 

 

Luke's "Lego" Birthday on Monday was wonderful.  We took baseball shaped Krispy Kreme donuts to school in the morning, and Luke was the special helper in his classroom:

 

 

Mark came home from work early, and we had a family party with the birthday boy in the afternoon, complete with Lego-shaped presents and decorations:

The item at the top of Luke's wish list was a World Atlas.  We gave him a State Atlas for Christmas, and our fact-loving little boy has studied that tome from cover to cover for the past few months.  The expression on Luke's face when he opened his National Geographic Kids World Atlas was priceless: 

 

There was a definite trend in Luke's presents this year, with a science kit, a "tornado lab", a detective super-sleuth kit, and a robotic arm.  I think I blinked, as little boy toys have been replaced by these big kid gifts.  However, it is fun to enter a new stage of presents and interests that make our inquisitive, curious son so happy:

 

 

 

 

Of course there were LOTS of Legos:   Lego City sets, Minecraft Legos, Lego Chima, a Lego book light, Lego sticker books, and subscriptions to "rent" Legos.    Luke has spent the afternoons after school this week constructing many of his new sets and is over the moon with all of his new creations:

 

There were also games, "birthday cash", and many other fun presents.  We giggle at Leah posing in many of Luke's birthday pictures.  She took her job as birthday "helper" very seriously, and wanted to be in every picture with her brother:

 

One other fun present this year was an "autographed" program and trading card from Luke's favorite WFU basketball player, Dinos Mitoglou.  We've watched Dinos play in several games this season, and Luke loves him!  I am savoring this age, when a quick phone call/e-mail to the Wake Forest sports marketing office resulted in our little boy's dreams coming true.  Not sure it will be so easy when his sports idol is a Major League player:

 

Winnie is such an important part of any present-opening celebration in our family, and is often just behind the scenes and not captured by the camera.  She waits patiently beside the gift-opener, and gently "assists" by tearing off the paper and shredding it on the ground.  She's done this since she was a puppy, and it is one of the great joys in her life.  A party isn't complete without Winnie's help!

 

 

 

Luke requested Elizabeth's pizza for his birthday dinner, and afterward we had "Lego" cake.  This was one of my favorite (and easiest) birthday cakes to make, and it was a big hit!

 

 

Luke also had a baseball game that evening, so after cake, we cheered on our birthday boy as he played in his second game of the season.  Such a fun, full day celebrating our 7 year-old! 

Happy Birthday, Luke! 

 

The Birthday Begins!

 

We have a new 7 year-old!   Luke's birthday week commenced with a trip to Williamsburg to visit Bean and Poppy last weekend.  B&P took the kids to Busch Gardens on Saturday, which was a very special treat (pictures coming soon!).  We kicked off Luke's Lego-themed birthday celebrations that afternoon with cupcakes and presents from his grandparents:  

This birthday boy was VERY excited to be the center of attention, and received some of his favorite things as gifts:

Super Hero Legos!  Is there anything more exciting?!

Luke's favorite cars are Mustangs, and every time he receives birthday $, etc., he tells us that he is saving up to buy one someday. 

We have begun a new era of Star Wars toys, which is really fun!

 

  What a wonderful beginning to our special boy's birthday week!



Spring Break

This is how we spent Spring Break last week:

 

 

Poor, sweet Leah was sick, and it broke my heart to see my baby so miserable.  We were homebound until mid-week, when we finally ventured out for more tissues and cough medicine.  I tried to keep Luke entertained with games, books, and Legos so that Leah could rest, and by Thursday, Peanut was finally feeling better.  Luckily, the rest of us were spared from catching her illness, but we weren't sure if we were carriers of any germs, so we stayed close to home and played here to avoid potentially infecting anyone: 

Coloring their rocket ship.  I love that boxes can sometimes be the most fun toys!



Post Bike Ride Painting.  The fact that the kids wore their helmets for this activity makes me giggle.

 

By Saturday, after a looonng week, we were ready to get out and enjoy the beautiful weekend! 

So we headed to a place that always makes us happy:  Wake Forest!

 

We watched WFU's Spring Football Game on Saturday afternoon and had a blast:

 

 Now that we have resumed our routine and everyone is back to school, I have a chance to post pictures from some other fun outings that we've made lately.  Here are our kiddos at the Greensboro Science Center, with their buddies, Will and Kayla.  Will and Leah are in the same play group, and are cute friends: 

Our family also visited Marbles Kids' Museum in Raleigh a few weeks ago.  Luke was interested in visiting the birthplaces of the three North Carolina Presidents on our way to the state capital (Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, and James K. Polk, my six-year old informed me), but in the interest of time, he instead agreed to a sighting of several commemorative plaques near the capitol building downtown.   Marbles was lots of fun, and it is neat to see our children transitioning to the older kids' exhibits and out of the younger kids' play areas.  L & L were drawn to the Science Demonstrations and looked cute wearing their safety goggles: 

 

Luke also found his niche in the sports exhibit and played "ice" hockey for over an hour.  Marbles really was a wonderful museum and a great day trip:

 

Leah and I explored yet another childrens' museum this week when we met our Greenville friends in Huntersville, NC.  We visited Discovery Place Kids with them, and Leah and Colette were thrilled to be reunited again.  "We're BEST friends!," the girls shouted, and they loved their special day together:

 

Lastly, we are rejoicing that both of our girls have recovered from recent medical procedures.  Winnie had surgery to remove several benign tumors, and after several weeks of being in an e-collar, our furry girl is fully healed!     

 

Leah fell (YET again!) last month and required stitches in her chin (for the third time since May).  She has since declared that she has a "breakable chin" and I have turned into a complete helicopter parent in an attempt to keep my little girl safe.  Leah doesn't seem to catch herself with her hands when she falls, and that sweet chin keeps splitting open when she lands.  We're pursuing physical therapy for some coordination and balance issues, but in the meantime, if anyone wants to send us a padded chin strap, we'll take it! 

 

Life is always busy and full around here, and we're now gearing up for a big birthday in our house next week!  Stay tuned!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter last Sunday, which began with a visit from the Easter Bunny: 

After much negotiation with the children (who concocted a very elaborate plan to stay up and spy on the Easter Bunny), we convinced them to sleep through the night on Saturday... and to ONLY come downstairs if the clock read "7:00" a.m. or later".   I am thrilled to report that I woke up on Easter morning and found Luke quietly reading in his bed.  He was patiently waiting for Leah to wake up so that they could check out their Easter baskets together... (NEVER in a million years would I have predicted this from our eager 6 year old!)

  

The kids' reactions to the toys and goodies in their Easter baskets were priceless, and we even managed to capture this picture, which often sums up the moods of our little guys: 

 We have many discussions about choosing to be a "storm cloud" vs. a "ray of sunshine" in our house...

Leah and Luke got right to work on their Easter crafts and Lego projects, which kept them occupied as we got ready for church:

 

 

 

We took family Easter pictures, and loved that Mimi was here to celebrate Easter with us again this year.  Afterward, we went to church for breakfast and Easter Sunday service:

 



I couldn't resist posting this one, which shows what actually goes on behind the scenes when we try to take a picture of Mommy and Daddy together.
 

 



We had a family Easter Egg Hunt in our yard in the afternoon (which brings the grand total of Easter Egg Hunts to 5 last week if you count Leah's preschool party and Luke's class scavenger hunt), and the kids made out with coins and cold, hard cash this time!

We ended a beautiful day with Easter dinner at home and a homemade triple layer carrot cake (which Mommy and Daddy thoroughly enjoyed after giving up sweets for Lent!). 
Happy Easter!