BIRTHDAY BOY CAEL!

Monday was a very busy day getting ready for a small cake and ice cream birthday party for Cael. We had to run several errands, pick up our provisions at the grocery store, wrap some presents, and bake a homemade cake. I was grateful for my family in town to help, I don't think I could have done it all alone.

 

SLEEPY CONNOR

 As hard as I tried to keep him awake, Connor just didn't make it for the party. Ben had a little fun pulling a new ventriloquist act and we all had a good laugh. That little kids seems to fall asleep a lot before fun parties or bigger events.... we tried to wake him but it was to no avail.

 

 PRETTY PRESENTS

 We knew the very first present Cael opened needed to be a beautiful one. He really was so funny as he opened his fancy crown and earrings. It was almost scary how good he looked with them on.

 Aunt Amanda and Uncle Joseph also joined in on the fun. Cael really was excited for his TRIANGLE-LANG (and he has had to rescue it several times from off of our roof)

 LOVE THIS BIRTHDAY BOY!

 Our good friend pulled a traditional joke on the birthday boy. "Doesn't this cake just smell so delicious? Your Mom really worked hard to make it...." SMASH- Face in the cake trick does it every time. The frosting (and cake) were surprisingly solid so not too much stuck to Cael's face. Still funny then and now :)

 DANCE PARTY

To wrap up the party we had our finger laser light dance party. We got a dance circle going and everyone who wanted got to do a solo.... Love to giggle watching these funny kids bust a move.

Joseph and Amanda VISIT!

 

FIELD DAY

 Cael ran in the mile during field day at school. He was the only 3rd grader and finished 10th with a time of 7.09. I couldn't believe it! He has improved almost a whole minute from just a few weeks ago. I can't keep up with that kid, so much energy and determination. While in the "Run Club" he also wanted to make sure he had the most blocks filled in on his chart and so he ran an extra 3 miles everyday after school. I would either following along on my bike or make the tally marks as he would run by. He wasn't running fast, but he had a good pace and stride. Now we just have to buy him some new running shoes. The ones he is wearing now are all torn up.

 

NUREMBERG

 We have had some family come to visit, Joseph on his way home from Singapore and Amanda from the states. Right after getting picked up from the airport Ben took them to Paris for a few days and then we had them here at home to explore some of the sights nearby. Of course we went to Nuremberg for an evening stroll and up to the castle, the main center of town and up to the Imperial Castle. We tried to catch the Dokumentationzentrum (a museum about how the National Socialist rose to power) but we got there an hour before closing and they said it was "impossible" to go inside. Next time...

 We bought cherries from the last fruit stand open in the main platz before we left for home. I just love how he looks like a gnome with that paper sack on his head. He even gave the boys a double-cherry for an earring and we all enjoyed the sweet fruit on our stroll.

 This guy had a sweet set up of buckets and bubble solution. The breeze up the street was just enough to make the bubbles fly. Ben kept saying that this guy was a genius- set up a jar for "donations" and let people have at it for as long as they want. Could be a nice little side job someday....

 Brielle just wasn't happy with the bubbles in her face so our bubble friend came over to make her a balloon doggie. She would cry out with that sad face and we just laughed because she was being so funny!

 

 Look at that family and cherry faces!

 OF course we needed to go to the Sommerrodelbahn.... Cael insisted it was well worth our time.

 

ROTHENBURG ob de TAUBER

 We had never been here yet and it is so close. This little town is adorable, walled, and medieval-- completely charming. We walked around...

 Took some pictures

 Joseph and I are making a U and W for the best university in the world!

 Connor was still flexing from a previous picture. Love have our Aunt and Uncle here with us!

 And found the famous street! I insisted we find this place before we started on the Night watchman's tour- FUNNY and a good little walk around the town. We had divided out the children so each adult had one child to watch over. Somehow by the middle Ben actually had the 3 little ones while Cael and Joseph had each other.

So happy we made it to Rothenburg and enjoyed the night life and city with our family and visitors too! Can't believe we haven't been there more times! It is well worth it!

CONNOR on 2 WHEELS

Ben had been experimenting with Connor and occasionally taking off his training wheels. Each time ended with Connor voicing his frustrations "I want my wheels back". Then out of the blue, I came outside to find him on the little red Schwinn bicycle with our neighbor/sister Gabby. It is the same bike that the older brothers learned how to ride without training wheels- AND now we can say that Connor can ride that bike all by HIMSELF! SO PROUD!

I helped him get started and realized after a short time that he didn't need me to help him balance the bike. Ben had mentioned a few days earlier that he thought he was ready for the big step-- BUT I wasn't quite sure. I ran behind cheering him on... so happy for him... also realizing that he is not my little one and how fast he is growing up. At times he would lean too far over without pedaling and he would just stop, I'd call out "keep pedaling- YOU are the driver-- WATCH OUT!" All in excitement and not ever mad of course. I want him to be safe and always think about what is going on around him, never give up, and "keep pedaling"!

I watched with a little pride in my heart (the good mommy kind) Obviously because I was there for the momentous occasion. After I knew he could do it I ran in and grabbed the camera to capture those special moments and ran along to cheer him on. He really grew from a little boy into a "big" boy that day.

Family Pictures- Germany

Funny things to remember:
1-Starting our photo shoot in the forest might seem like a good idea. The sun was still a little too bright and we needed to find shade. Mosquitos and their itchy residue did not make happy boys during the rest of the shoot. They were still pretty good sports, but let that be a lesson to us all!
2-While in the fields, Brecon slipped and smeared brown/green goo all over his backside. It was fresh and messy! We kept taking pictures to get as many shots as we could and still managed to get some good ones. One of the boys favorite is when they all got to show their backside to the camera.
3-Goofy faces- normal faces... who can tell anymore?

EASTER

This was a fun adventure for our family. To rule our appendicitis we took Brecon to the same hospital were Brielle was born after he had been having severe abdominal pain. It wasn't a big deal or anything, but just to be sure the hospital staff admitted him and we stayed there for 3 days. I think Brecon actually liked being there in the hospital, it was like going on one of our trips and the "HOTEL" was actually bringing in food to our room! Plus, when Ben was the parent there he let Brecon play as much video games as he wanted. This wasn't so great for me when I actually read him a story, we brushed our teeth, and went to bed... He got real emotional and said "I want Dad to be here." That's what I get for being the MOM!

 

In the end, all the results from the labs came back normal, and our weekend was spent between our house and the hospital when Ben didn't have to work on Friday or Monday!! GRRRR!!

 

*also funny to note: One of our adult friends went in that following weekend after some severe pain and she actually had her appendix removed !!

 

Our poor Brecon hooked up to an IV with his sister crawling all over him. The rest of the crew sat nearby eating our picnic.

EASTER EGG HUNT

Our Family Readiness Group for the medical clinic hosted an Easter Egg hunt, face painting, and balloon rocket/animal fun! Ben volunteered to help out with the balloons and the kids went crazy blasting them off into the sky. It was fun to watch Ben work his magic around the kids and there was a good line to get their rockets pumped up with air. He roped in a couple of assistants to handle the crowd and the kids all got way too much candy from the hunt.

 

APRIL FOOLS

Here are a few highlights from the month of APRIL:

 

CRAZY NAP HEAD and FACE (my sick kids)

We had some wicked bug fly through the three young ones. Connor and Brielle handled it the best, but poor Brecon honestly didn't leave the bathroom floor for two days! We brought in a small bed for him, so between the "out both ends" violence and sickness he could rest. I felt like I was on full-time comforter mode, snuggling was nice, but  there was nothing else I could do until it was all over. I felt so horrible for them all. It was a relief for them all to be healthy again.

 

 

BEAUTIFUL WINGS on an ANGEL

Connor's hair had been growing out for most of the winter and it was so beautiful and curly, here is the blown-dry version before we took him over to our neighbors house who just LOVED when he came strutting over to play.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!

To celebrate our amazing man, Ben took us all to the store and bought everyone in the family a present! The boys were thrilled and excited to get a gift on their Daddy's birthday. They even were heard saying "I want to do this for my birthday". They spent the rest of the evening building their guys and playing with them together.

 

I got out a little art activity for the boys one afternoon. Paint and goo  and little hands all over the place. By the end our entire table had their creations spread out to dry.

Brecon got a little bunny basket from kindergarten with a few pieces of chocolate and a real brown egg inside as well. He has also had some big changes going on in his mouth with different teeth falling out or being extracted from the dentist (poor guy) and lately I have been calling him the "Toothless Wonder".  To top it all off-- he also no longer has his two front teeth! It makes me giggle to hear him talk and watch his little tongue work around all the gaps in his mouth.

 

FAIRY WARRIORS

Ben has this amazing talent with making balloon animals and swords. Little did me know he is also great at making the neighborhood into fairy warriors with balloon wings. The kids all loved running around with their wings on, only popping them on the wall a few times!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIELLE!!!



A first birthday just isn't complete without a shower to wash off the birthday cake mess. Actually this is a pretty normal occurrence after any messy meal, but we can still pretend that this is the traditional birthday bath!

To celebrate this special day I made angel food cake for the first time from scratch and it  took forever!!! Add some flour, gently fold in the flour, separate 12 egg white (WHAT?!?!) Beat for 20 minutes until stiff peaks form.... you get the idea. SO just in case my cake from scratch didn't turn out I made a Betty Crocker back-up--- YES, now this was more like it. There didn't seem to be a preference for either one and Brielle seemed to enjoy the strawberry shortcake and whipped cream. She is such a sweet little girl and growing up so fast! We all love her!

 

RED HOT READER

Cael worked really hard to be a gold medalist for the Red Hot Reader month at school. This included reading for an hour on school nights and 2 hours on the weekend. I was impressed to see him dedicate that time to reading, even if he really wanted to do something else. He is competitive that way and he really does love to read!