David is Six

David turned 6 on Sept. 2nd.

He requested pancakes for breakfast.


That afternoon we decorated cupcakes to celebrate.



That night after Jonathan and Daddy came home from soccer practice, David got to open one present. He was very excited about his new Webkin.


On Sunday, the 6th, David celebrated with a Transformer party.


There was an obstacle course.


There was a scavenger hunt. Here's David with a clue.


David enjoyed his cake.



There were two things that he really, really wanted at his party.

He wanted an Optimus Prime mask (and his buddy Luke has a Bumble Bee one).


He wanted a Pinata. At first the kids all took turns with a plastic bat. In the end, David got to use a metal bat to hit the pinata to pieces.



David had a fantastic birthday. It was fun to celebrate him.

Jonathan is a 3rd Grader

Yesterday was Jonathan's First Day of 3rd Grade.



His main complaint was that his best friend is not in his class. He also does not like that they only get two recesses. (I am pretty sure that's all they got last year, too.)

He was happy that he saw his best friend on the playground. He also really liked that they did math on the first day. He was thrilled to find that another boy now sits at his table in class. When we went to the class for open house on Monday, he was at a table with all girls.

Here are a couple more pictures of him before he left for school.

Birthday Pictures

I take a lot of pictures and I haven't share that many from the last month or so. I am going to try to catch up on pictures in the next few posts.

Here are my birthday pictures.

The kids decorated for me.



The boys each picked out musical cards for me.





We went to dinner at Red Robin. It was the boys' idea.





The kids were really excited when the Red Robin staff sang to me.


Elisabeth was really excited about the dessert.


Daddy made me a cake the next day. (Carrie, be sure to show Matt and Sarah these photos. Sorry I am so late posting- I know they wanted to see my cake.) The kids were really excited about me blowing out the candles.

Hamburger Seeds

Last night we had a quick dinner. I picked up some hamburgers and we had chips and fruit as side dishes.

When we were eating dinner, David asked:

"Momma, how do you grow a hamburger?"

David had noticed the sesame seeds and wondered what could grow from the seeds.

We have a small garden this year and the boys have been fascinated by the vegetables that are growing.

I did the right thing, of course. I grabbed a camera to take a picture of my sweet child and then I explained to him that you can't grow hamburgers.

Oregon Camping

Last Monday we decided to go camping -on Friday. We went to Cove Palisades State Park. Lake Billy Chinook was beautiful. The scenery was amazing. We enjoyed beautiful weather, playing in the lake, sitting around a campfire as a family, roasting smores, and playing outside.

We also learned a lot about camping as a family of six. If you haven't seen my post about that, go and read it: Camping Lessons Learned

I took a ton of pictures. It is impossible for me to share only a few. This is probably more pictures than I should share on one blog post. I just can't help it. Enjoy!

Setting up the Camp Site



The boys loved hanging out on these rocks


Enjoying Our Morning Cup


Seth cooking breakfast


Playing at the Lake





Scenery






Enjoying the Campfire at Night

Elisabeth was already asleep. We brought her portable crib. The boys fell asleep one by one by the fire.

Jonathan fell asleep first


I was holding David when I realized that Thomas was asleep.


I asked David to get up so I could hold Thomas a bit. David went to get a drink.


I looked up and about fell out of my chair when I saw David asleep.


Enjoying after breakfast smores




We had an incredible time. We are already trying to figure out when we can go camping again.

What Thomas Learned at VBS

Thomas: "Momma, God loves you even when you do something bad."

~pause~

Momma: "Yes, Thomas, he does. But, that doesn't mean it's okay to do bad things."

Thomas: "But, God loves me no matter what - even when I do bad things."


We got interrupted at that point. I'm still wondering why he was still thinking about that lesson.

"I did what you said"

David has been cracking me up this week. I could write post after post about what he's been doing and saying.

This week, I have a motto. I didn't mean to create a motto. It just happened after a few too many hours hiding inside from the 100+ heat outside. One day when the boys were getting ready to do something I said, "Rule #1: Don't do things to upset your brother." I have been saying that over and over this week.

This morning, David was hitting his brother with a pillow. His brother was saying, "Stop! Stoooooop"

Momma: "David, Don't do things to upset your brother."

He turns and (ever so gently) hits Elisabeth with the pillow.

Momma: "David! Don't hit Elisabeth."

David: "You said don't upset your brother and I did what you said."

One Less Place Around the Table

Seth was relaxing outside reading a book when the chair he was sitting in broke. It just crashed down with him in the seat.

The kids were playing in the water from the sprinkler when it happened.

Thomas was devastated.
Here are the boys checking out the damage. Here's what they had to say about Daddy breaking the chair.



We either have one really strong Daddy or we had one really tired chair.

Either way, we have one less place around our table.