Story Time

Lessons in Biking

Today I rode my bike. I had Delaney and Rylee in the bike trailer and the 3 older kids all rode their bikes to school. Callie was SO excited to be able to bike to school. It was cute. I felt like mama duck with my entourage of accompanying cyclists as my 3 plus the 2 neighbor children biked down the sidewalk in a long line. After dropping the big kids at the school, I biked to Delaney's preschool. It was her first day and it is just over a mile to bike there. I learned some interesting things while pedelling there. I discovered that the other elementary school starts after ours and that biking past it is a little chaotic and busy. So we may go the other way in the future.

I also learned that I may want to bring the diaper bag. There is room in the trailer, but I didn't want the hassle. I should have put it in. Rylee blew out her diaper when we got to preschool and I had resigned myself to taking her home all nasty and poopy, but the preschool came to my rescue and she only had to go home pants-less. But she had a clean bottom and a clean diaper!

Oh, and Delaney went right into class and never looked back. She didn't even look up when I said goodbye. I think she'll be okay!

Joshua's Birthday

Joshua had a birthday party yesterday. I had planned a pretty good party, if I do say so myself. We had planned some great lego games and such. The kids all get out of school by 1pm on Monday's so we had a 2-4pm party. 4 of the 5 boys came and it went pretty well. They played with legos and then we had cake and ice cream and then we were going to play the games.

The cake was a hit and Joshua was pleased with his decorating job. Delaney helped blow out the candles.

The cake and ice cream were devoured quickly. My girls got to participate with pretty much everything, which was fun for them. Joshua was a great sport and didn't care that they were hanging around doing everything with him and his friends.

Rylee thought she was hot stuff, sitting at the little table with Delaney!

And then she climbed on top of the table.

The balloons were a big hit with my girls. I let them do the decorating and they had a marvelous time with that. It made me happy too, since that was one less thing for me to do.

Joshua was not shy about diving into his loot. He actually was peeking well before it was time to open them because he has no ability to wait for things. He was happy with all his gifts, which mostly were legos.

We had some games scheduled, but there was a little difficulty with one of the friends. I knew he could be a problem, but I hadn't anticipated that he could sour the whole party. Joshua ended up taking all the kids downstairs (where Rylee couldn't go) and they played his new lego board game.

They actually spent most of the time playing the game! It worked out really nicely. With the problem friend, I suddenly realized the games might not go well. So I just left them to play the board game in the basement and everyone had a good time. They finished up in time to do the one game I knew they should all enjoy. And they did, except for the problem child who had a minor tantrum. Joshua told me it was the best party ever, which was great to hear since the problem child had told me "No offense, but this party is lame,"

So it was a mostly good day and it was still a good party despite one child's issues. Joshua loved it and that's all that really matters!

Should anyone else want a Lego party, here is what we planned: Build a Tower Game: Dump legos on the floor and see who can build the tallest tower in 2 minutes. Pin the Lego: Create a lego mural or landscape with one element missing. The children are blindfolded and try to place the missing piece in the correct spot. Lego Toss: Draw lego shapes on posterboard. Toss the matching lego onto the board and try to land it on the picture of it. (The blue square lego on the picture of the blue square lego.) Lego Drop: Kids stand on a chair and try to drop 10 legos in a jar below. Jar: Have a jar of legos and the kids try to guess how many.

The one game the kids did play at the end was this one. Race Cars: Walmart sells lego racer cars for under $6, so I got one for each kid and they got to open one, make it and then they raced them. That was also their party favor.

The Big Drain Saga

For this one, I'm gonna let the pictures do the talking. After Joshua's party, Delaney stole one of the instructions to his lego kit. She then ran off and threw it down the storm drain. Here is what happened next.

(Also in the drain were 2 party hats, a party blower, and a lego mini-figure. Delaney needs a talking-to!)