Friday fun!

We had a good Friday.  Princess's 5th grade class headed to the fire station for a field trip.  This is their very last time - they will all move on to middle school next year.  Princess was pretty as a picture - but I am not partial or anything.  :)

She has a nice class this year and I love, love, love her teachers!  She didn't get her best friend in her class but she has done a good job of making new friends.

Even Duke got to come along for the ride!  He was really good - at three years old he CAN be good if he chooses to be and thank goodness he chose to be good!

Prince went to the Fire Station last fall and my little Knight will go in the spring.  Here are some pictures from when the Prince went:

Prince's Special Day

DadOf4 has been doing special days for the last several year.  During each child's special day, s/he gets to plan out an entire afternoon one on one with Daddy.  The kids have evolved from McDonald's and a movie to Cici's Pizza and Main Event.  Whatever they choose, the kids (and Daddy) have a great time.

Happy Birthday to my 7 year old Prince!

Math Pentathlon!

My little 1st grade Prince participated in a Math Pentathlon Tournament this weekend!  He earned a silver medal!

Photo Story Friday - Pinewood Derby 2010!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

My son, the Prince, was so happy to be able to join boy scouts this year!  The boy scouts have a Pinewood Derby every year and for the last couple of weeks, DadOf4 and Prince have been creating the "best pinewood derby car on the face of the earth!!" according to my son!

Prince does not look very happy here but he is really just irritated that I interrupted them from their work!

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Progress!  DadOf4 and Prince had fun hanging out together!

My little Knight sat so nicely while the big boys worked!

Happy Boy Scout!

Daddy and son!

"The best pinewood derby car on the face of the earth!!"

Happy Photo Story Friday!

Wordless Wednesday - Daddy and Prince working on Pinewood Derby Car!

Pictures!

We are missing the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins today!  Here are some pictures!

Taken 1/23/2010.  He is starting to look like a little boy!!

What a handsome and happy boy!

These kids are wearing Daddy out!

Playing Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots!

Brothers

The Prince and the Knight share a room. The Prince is now 6 1/2 and the Knight will be 5 in February. Bedtimes are a nightly challenge for us. The Prince falls asleep very quickly, but the Knight needs a while to settle down and fall asleep - he gets that from me.

DadOf4 can literally fall asleep in under 2 minutes after we have gone to bed. I know this - I have timed him. Me? I take at least a half an hour to settle down.

DadOf4 and I work this out by him falling asleep right away and by me either reading or watching a little TV in our room until I get sleepy.

The Prince and the Knight work this out by the Prince falling asleep right away and the Knight throwing toys at the Prince's head.

Yeah - this is not exactly working out for them.

The Duke (1 year old) currently has his own room. This was necessary last year when he was waking up three times per night. But now that he is sleeping through I am rethinking the entire roommate situation.

Princess is the only girl - plus she is the oldest (8 1/2). She gets her own room.

I would like to give Prince his own room too. He has put up with a lot from the Knight the last few years.

However, the Knight will start Kindergarten next year. I am just not sure it makes sense to separate the Knight and the Prince now. It would be nice to have the Duke sleep past the 6:00AM school morning wake-up call when school starts next fall.

This is my dilemma right now.

Any suggestions?

More videos!

More videos!

Photo Story Friday - The Eyes Have It!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

The kids and I were messing around with my camera, and we decided to take close-ups of their eyes. Here is my 4 year old Knight's eyes:

My 6 year old Prince's eyes.
And my almost 8 year old Princess's eyes:


I will add my baby Duke's eyes when he wakes up from his nap. His are the only eyes that are brown like my husband's. Our three oldest have my color. :)

More Videos!

Presents! :)

Blowing candles - take TWO!

Do-overs are OK if it is your birthday!! :)

Happy 6th Birthday my little Prince!

I cannot believe my little Prince is a big 6 year old! Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Photo Story Friday - Turkey Trot for Prince and Princess!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Running is something that is near and dear to my heart. I started running in January and it gave me such a sense of accomplishment. I ran my first 5K in April and plan to continue with my running starting in January of this year too.

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That is why I am so happy that Princess and Prince's school encourages running! Every day before the kids can go to the playground for recess, they have to run the track that circles the playground. At first this sounded a little mean - keeping kids away from their swings and slides, but in reality, it is great for them. It helps them run off excess energy and makes teaching in the classroom a whole lot easier!

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Here are some pictures from yesterday's Turkey Trot! The kids get to show off for parents and run around the track. The track is 1/3 of a mile. When the kids hit 3rd grade they have to run it twice. My kids only had to run once. :)

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Of course there had to be Turkey!

My little Prince is ready to race with the Kindergarteners!
Here he is running his little heart out!

Run like the wind, my little man!

No time for pictures! I've got friends to talk to!

Daddy came to cheer on Prince and Princess too! The Knight was so happy to see Daddy!

The Kindergarteners ran first, then First Grade, and then it was Princess's turn to run with the 2nd Graders!

Run, Princess, Run!

Princess ran her fastest!

The finish line was adorned with balloons!

Prince's class had already gone inside or he would be in this shot too. My little Knight is yawning but he did NOT nap yesterday. Too much excitement!

What a fun day! The kids were proud to show off their running ability, and I was very proud of them!

REAL music please, Mom!

I was happily singing Christmas carols to my self while driving the boys to pick Princess up from an after school program yesterday. The radio was off and I was just singing.

Then I hear from the back seat:

"Mom, can you turn on some REAL music now?"

Everyone's a critic! Even the 5 year olds!

:)

Monday Fun!

AB came over to play today! We had loads of fun! His mom had to drive 4 hours to get visas for their family's trip to China in a week and a day, so I offered to watch AB for the day! What an awesome experience for them! AB's dad was sent to China for work and they are meeting him over there.

Here is AB with Miney.

AB with Miney and Princess
AB, Princess, Prince, and the Knight playing outside. It was nice and cool so we spent lots of time running around outside!

More outside pictures!

Aren't they cute??

Their game was "raking the yard" and I didn't even come up with it! :)

All in all it was a super fun day!

Princess is on a Mission!

Princess is on a mission!

She are I are pretty outnumbered here in FamilyOf5Land. We have Dadof3, the Prince, and the Knight who are all boys. The cats are boys too, but since they are not using the toilet, they are not getting blamed for this one!

One of the biggest pitfalls of being girls living within a majority of boys is the Toilet Trap, otherwise know as sitting on the pot when the seat has been left up.

Ick!

DadOf3 is usually innocent. My whining and crabbing at him after such incidents has trained him to put the seat down.

The Prince and the Knight are another story.

Now that the Knight is officially potty trained (for the last 6 months - yippee!) it is time for another round of potty training: Put The Seat Down or Experience the Wrath of your Sister!

She came out of the potty the other day after having experienced the icky bottom bath of doom hopping mad. Luckily I caught her first. We talked about it and worked out a strategy.

We decided together that because I normally provide positive reinforcement as opposed to punishment, that we would continue being positive (although she really wanted to wallup somebody!). So we gathered the little boys together and made them a deal. Each and every time that they go potty and then come back to report that they put the seat down, they get a sticker! Stickers are BIG at our house and should do the trick. I am not, however, above raising the stakes.

Because...ick!

I am just doing my part to make the world a better place!

Boys and Girls

Having a girl and two boys, I am I am often a witness to the differences between boys and girls. Take this morning for example....

The Princess, the Prince, and the Knight were all happily playing together this morning with Tinker Toys - a family favorite right now along with the big legos.

Princess constructed a house that actually looked like a house and designed it to hold some papers so she would not have to carry them around all day. Cute, practical, and with a purpose.

What do the boys make?

"Pewers."

Pewers are gun/sword combinations that you point at your brother and yell "Pew! Pew! Pew!"

Yep, there are differences between boys and girls!

Friday Night Campout!

We had a surprise for the Royals at bedtime last night! We told the Princess, the Prince, and the Knight to get their sleeping bags because it was a special night. Here is Princess with all of her night-time things!
Here is the Prince and the Knight with their night-time things. The Prince did not want to stop for a photo!

Here is my little Knight with a curious kitty! The Knight was so excited!!!!
So, do you think 3 kids can sleep in this little bag?
First, it is time to sweep the deck!

Some assembly required! The kids put the poles together for the TENT! That's right! The kids got to sleep outside last night in the Prince's tent!

DadOf3 putting the tent together!

The Campers were so excited!!!!!!

DadOf3 securing the tent!

Here are the three little campers!

Of course they did not sleep out there all by themselves! We let them play until about 10:00 or so and then DadOf3 went out to sleep with them. The tent was right outside our living room. With the windows open, we could hear everything. There was a lot of running in and out, but they had a great time! I got a Get-Out-Of-Tent free card because I don't sleep well these days as it is. DadOf3 delivered my little Knight to me around 2:00AM. He got too cold to sleep there through the night so he came to bed with me. We were all up this morning at 8:00AM - tired but happy! It is always a fun time when the tent comes out!