Sam's #5

My sweet five-year-old had one fabulous birthday.  We decided to do away with parties, and have a fun-filled day instead.  So, we gave him five surprises for his fifth birthday.  

Sam's Lloyd the Green Ninja Birthday Cake

Surprise #1:  Meeting Aunt Janet in Cranberry to go birthday shopping

$10 to spend at 5 Below!!

Surprise #2: Lunch at Chick-fil-A with Grandma, Aunt Janet, and the family

Home after lunch for cake and presents (not a surprise)

Surprise #3: Phipps Conservatory with Aunt Janet

Roar like a dragon!!!!

In front of Phipps

Surprise #4:  Dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse.  They were celebrating their 40th birthday and had a balloon guy and face painter there.  That's supposed to be batman on his cheek.  

Green baseball hat, golden sword, and ironman balloons

Surprise #5: Ringling Bros. Circus!!  This was actually a surprise for all of us as tickets became available to us about an hour and a half before the show.  Thankfully, we were just a few blocks away eating dinner.  God is good!  No, we didn't originally have a fifth surprise planned.

Check out those seats!  We arrived a few minutes late, and our seats were occupied.  So the usher had us sit in these vip seats with a counter and comfy rolling chairs.  I guess the monitors are on during hockey games, too.  It was nice to have as much legroom as we wanted and have some space to move around.  

The clowns did a skit called, "How many clowns does it take to change a light bulb?"  They were up and down silly ladders, falling all over the place and eventually it looked like the one clown electrocuted himself.  Sam was sitting on my lap and belly laughing so hard.  His unique laugh was echoing through the Consol Energy Center.  We all had such a fun day and enjoyed it so much more than a birthday party.  Isaiah's already looking forward to what his eight surprises might be on his next birthday.  :)

Who are you and what did you do with my boys?

We went to a Lighthouse event this past Saturday at a really amazing and unique local toy store, Playthings, Etc.  We went with our boys, but we came home with the Hulk and Batman.  

Awning

Last summer, my mom took down her awning over her back patio and had a roof built instead.  My mom's patio is 14'x20'.  Our deck is 14'x15'.  After much measuring, many geometric calculations :), and sparks flying while cutting metal poles, we had the frame adapted to our house.  

Putting up the frame

We were short one bracket because the frame would attach to our house slightly differently than it attached to my mom's house.  After an unsuccessful trip to Lowe's, I loaded the boys in the car and drove an hour (or more? seemed like forever) to the company that made the awning to buy a $4 bracket.

Just about finished

We laid the giant awning out in our yard no less than 4-5 times to calculate, measure, calculate, and measure again exactly how much fabric my mom would need to remove with her industrial machine.  I know 5 feet shorter, right?  True, but deciding where to take out the five feet was tricky because of the poles and the way the awning attaches to the poles.  A few days later, and tada! There it was.  Fortunately, we had helped my mom put up her awning at the beginning of the summer several times, so we knew how it went up.  It's been so nice to have another room of sorts.  The boys love to be out there, with the neighborhood kids, of course, :) when it's raining.  We plan to enjoy many hours there this summer.

T-ball

The boys had their first homeschool t-ball practice today.  Since it was the first day, there seemed to be general confusion about where to go and what was going on, and it wasn't just me.  :)    But once things got rolling, the kids were all having a blast.  All was well with the world when Sam and Isaiah were standing opposite each other, throwing the ball and catching it.  When Isaiah's line of kids went to the outfield to practice, and Sam's line stayed in the infield, I saw my little four-year-old in tears, with his glove over his face.  (That's a picture I should have taken... ).  After a while, when he was still crying, I went over and he was sobbing and saying that he just wanted to be with Isaiah.  So he sat with me for a while, then I stood with him in line for batting practice.  After that he was able to pull himself together and stay in a separate group from Isaiah.  

After it was over, two sweaty dirty kids played at the playground for an hour with some new friends.  The greatest part?  The boys were exhausted for the rest of the day.  They watched a video, sat in the yard, and were generally mellow.

Staying cool

Isaiah got this ball for his birthday last year.  We finally pulled it out and used it during a hot afternoon last week.  

Strike a pose

Washing the car!