Daniel's Birthday

Daniel turned 5 on the 24th!  He has been looking forward to this birthday for so long.  Every time we asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said, "Lots of presents and boys' night out."  He always insisted that Emily and I were invited, however.  He wanted his boy's night out to include watching The Avengers.  Later, he also requested a trip to Pump it Up.  He talked about all of this almost daily.  While the big kids were at school, I took him and Jonathan to Pump it Up.  Daniel had fun, but after about 20 minutes he said he wanted to go home.  Afterwards we went to McDonald's for lunch--his favorite.  That afternoon, when everyone got home, we took Jonathan to a friend's house and we all went to see The Avengers.  Again, he liked it at first, but he wanted to leave about (any guesses?) *20 minutes* into the movie.  The Avengers is not a short movie.  He made it through, however, and was excited every time Iron Man was on the screen.  After the movie, we went to Cici's Pizza for dinner and then home for cake and presents.  I think he had a wonderful day!

These are the cupcakes he took to his preschool class.  They are homemade, and we put a Squinky on each one.  They were a big hit!

Here he is with "lots of presents!"

He hangs this lantern in his room for a night light.

A new Thomas Blu-ray, Day of the Diesels

Unfortunately, this toy is already broken; it was a Cars 2 tin lunchbox.  I thought he could keep toys in it, but it's in two pieces now.

Here are his homemade presents from Nathaniel and Emily.  That's a giant paper airplane that Emily made.



He had to wear his new outfit from Papa and Nana to his last day of preschool.

This toy takes the prize for favorite, I believe.  All of the kids have been playing with this racetrack this weekend.  This double loop is really cool because the car goes around many times before it stops.

Happy Birthday, big boy!!!!

Recitals!

It's that time of year again!  May is always full of recitals.  This year we went to a piano recital for Nathaniel, and two dance recitals for Emily.  We also had State Technology Fair.  Nathaniel and his friend Fowler won second place for their color-sorting robot. 

The proud winners!

Piano recital
Nathaniel did a great job!

Here he is after the recital.  That's his teacher on the left.

Emily's Tap and Ballet Recital

Emily's Baton, Jazz, and Gymnastics recital



It is so wonderful to watch them perform, after all of their hard work and practice!  Great job, guys!

Random Fun

Here are the kids having fun in the sand pile.  Nathaniel buried Andrew, and Andrew loved it!

"Ta da!"  Jonathan loves puzzles, and he has started saying "ta da!" every time he finishes one.  It's so cute.  This is one he did in the nursery at church on a Wednesday night while Nathaniel was at Scouts.  His nursery teachers went out and got this state puzzle for him because the other ones were too easy for him.  He is such a smart little guy.  He is talking so much more these days, too.  His new favorite word is "now!"

Here is Daniel playing with his friend Lizzie.  They are great buddies!

Emily has had a lot of projects lately.  This one is her Bottle Buddy project.  She had to use a 2 liter bottle for the body and a styrofoam ball for the head to represent the main character of the biography she read.  I'll let you guess who it is; the flag is your biggest clue. :-)

Here is her solar system poster.  She did this on Saturday.  I have to admit I wasn't really looking forward to doing this project with her, but I shouldn't have worried about it.  She did the whole thing herself!  The only thing I did was type the labels and help with the gluing.  She even wrote the report herself.  I am so proud of her.  I think she did a great job!