march 2014

Grandma Ruth and Papa Van to Anna, Levi, and Caleb to an indoor bounce house place for Levi's birthday one night while Sam and I went to dinner. Part way through dinner I got this text that showed Anna's front two teeth missing! Apparently she had knocked them out while going down a slide when she hit her face with her knee. Blood was everywhere and Grandma frantically cleaned her up while Papa found the missing teeth for the tooth fairy. Anna was SO excited to be the first kindergartener with both front missing. One had already been very wiggly but the other was just starting to move. As of now (November), both have started growing back in. It makes me so sad to see those big grown up teeth in my little girl's mouth. Can't she stay little for a while more?

A picture Anna made with our magnet tiles

A dress she made for herself out of paper

selfie

Anna wanted to make a tennis outfit for her American Girl doll out of an old mylar balloon from Valentine's day. I helped her trace a pattern on to the balloon and we stuck it together with tape and staples. She made a headband, wrist band, tennis racket, and tennis ball all pictured below. She was so happy.  

The inspiration piece.

For spring break we got a campsite on Grapevine Lake. We set up a tent and played at the playground and had a picnic lunch. Later, Jacob, Katrina and Gordon and family, and Van and Ruth came out. We had hot dogs, chips, and smores. Papa took Levi and Anna "fishing" and the kids loved running around and playing in the tent. We had the best time and this is the only picture I've got. It was supposed to rain the next morning, so we decided to go home to sleep rather than stay the night. It ended up not raining, but we were all so exhausted from the day that it was still the best decision to go home. I can't wait till we can really go camping!

Levi turned 4 on March 25 and couldn't decide between a rocket cake and a moon cake, so I made both. He learned to read a few months earlier and was reading easy readers on his own by this time. He's mostly taught himself and can read pretty much anything he wants to by now. He's got great expression, too. I love to listen to him, though he's recently figured out silent reading, so he's sometimes silently occupied for up to an hour. At four he also loves legos and is expanding his curiosity to space and animals. He still loves cars, but they are not his entire world anymore.

I think he likes it.

Cousin fun!

Levi wanted macaroni and cheese, broccoli, and strawberries for dinner and we ate the rocket cake with our family.

Levi had been to Legoland (the mini one at GV Mills) once before, but was too young to ride the cars there, so we planned on coming for his 4th birthday because then he'd be old enough to ride. I made the mistake of noting we were going on Monday, one DAY before his birthday, and he latched on to that idea and absolutely refused to ride the cars once we got there. Or any other ride for that matter. 

So many other things went wrong that day, too. We'd planned on leaving to get Chick-fil-A for dinner, but found out there was no re-entry (what?! who does that?!) so when I saw pizza and hot dogs on the menu at the concession stand, I figured we'd eat there. At dinner time, I went to order and found out that no, they were just kidding, there was no hot food. So we sent Grandma, an annual pass holder who is allowed re-entry, to go get dinner and sneak it in in the bottom of a stroller for us because, no, you couldn't bring in outside food (I assume you're supposed to survive your whole day at Legoland, since you can't leave, on granola bars, muffins, and juice boxes). But when she left, her mom desperately wanted to go home, so she drove her home before bringing in dinner. The kids were fine, but my pregnant self was starving and hangry. I think the whole place had a terrible set-up with different music for each zone but no barriers for each zone so the race music, adventure music, and princess music all overlapped all the time in one unbearable, repetitive, cacophony. 

Needless to say, Levi had the time of his life. He raced cars down the track for at least an hour. He built to his heart's content, and watched every single 4-D short film, laughing hysterically every time he got sprayed in the face with water. I'm glad we did it because he loved it, but I have vowed never to go back, and have stuck to it. Thankfully, Grandma had an annual pass and takes him every few months, on which occasions he's happily driven the cars.

With his race car he sent down the track approximately one thousand times.

I invited all Levi's preschool buddies over for a play date for his birthday. We ate his moon cake at this party.

Yes, Levi's huge. He was in the 99th%ile at his birthday well check. All these kids have birthdays within a few months of each other.

The usual scene in the playroom.