Jack's 5th Birthday Party

Today is Jack's birthday, but we had his party on Saturday. All of his friends from preschool, Grandpa and Grandma, and our friends from down the street came to help him celebrate turning 5.

Grandma made Jack the rainbow cake he requested. It was delicious. 

Grandpa built a burning building, and the kids extinguished the fire.

L-R: Chase, Emily, Kendall, Max, Leah, Jack, Edward, Luke

Missing: Colton, Harper, Mairin, Thomas, and Edward's little brother

Jack anticipated and enjoyed this party more than any other he has ever had. I guess that's part of growing up. 

Snow Days!

We got a couple of inches of snow last week that led to two snow days for Jack's preschool. The boys enjoyed their first time playing in snow in two years. They had snowball fights, made snow angels, and used trucks to clear the "roads" in the backyard. The meteorologists are predicting that we are going to get up to 6 inches of snow on Wednesday. Maybe there is a little more snow play in our near future. 

Happy Paleontologist

Zoo

We finally had a day nice enough to get outside. Charissa invited us to join her and the girls at the Virginia Zoo. The boys needed the fresh air. They have tired eyes tonight. 

At Jack's Request

Before I took down the trees a couple of days ago, Jack asked me to take pictures so everyone could see the tree and ornaments he put so much time and effort into this holiday. He started by making a paper chain that reached all the way around his bed. It took him almost two hours, but he was determined to finish it all at one time. Most of his ornaments were Lego kits. We also melted perler beads and used craft sticks, salt dough, clay pots, candy canes, and Happy Meal toys. I enjoyed creating this tree almost as much as Jack. It's something he made certain to show each and every guest we had this holiday season. And now he is making certain I show all of you. You've gotta love that kid. 

And here is Luke's tree. He wasn't as interested in it as I had hoped, but that was the way I felt about most of the holiday with Luke. Honestly, the only thing he really loved was finding our elf, Buddy, every morning. Next year will be different I am certain. 

Our New Year is off to a shaky start. Luke slammed his left pinky in the sliding glass door on New Years Day, so we began 2014 with a trip to the ER. They took some x-rays while we were there and sent us to see a pediatric plastic surgeon. Thankfully, the surgeon said time will heal this wound. Let's all hope the rest of 2014 is a little less eventful at our house.