Today was the end of the year picnic for Malcolm's school and the kids had a great time. Last year, Malcolm really wanted to go down the giant slide, but was a little uncertain. This year, he was not scared at all and spent most of his time sliding over and over and over.
Running with his friend to the slide.
Wee!
After lunch the kids were ready to get back to playing before I was done eating. Malcolm headed for the slide and Dorothy wanted to go dig in the sand. The sand wasn't too far away, there were a couple of other moms there, and I could see her from where I was sitting, so I let her go. She was playing happily, so I took my time finishing up. When I finally went over, I saw why she was so happy sitting there playing. There was a little pond not too far away and Dorothy had really wanted to go in. We had a long talk about staying away from the water and I was happy that she had been listening so well. Well, she didn't go to the pond, but the other kids had brought the pond to her. There was a big trench with a stream running through it and Dorothy was sitting in the middle of a moat, wallowing in the mud, having a great time.
Notice the little boy in the background with the straw...
...this is what pond water tastes like.
Of course, I did not have a change of clothes for her. I rinsed her off at the water pump as best I could and put a clean diaper on her. She had left her raincoat in the car, so she wore that home. It was a mess, but she had a great time and both kids slept hard when we got home.
Last summer, we found a CedarWorks playset on Craigslist for a steal. Instead of buying a new one, we bought the used one. It was much bigger than we probably would have been able to get at about 1/10th the cost. This Spring, for Malcolm's birthday, we bought three accessories to add a little fun; a two-seater glider swing, a skateboard swing, and a rope and bucket.
Dorothy inspects the box contents.
Some assembly required.
The kids got right to work, helping out.
Dorothy loved the box of hardware.
She also knows her way around a torque wrench.
Here it is all put together.
The rope and bucket, for hauling treasures up to the top.
The glider swing and the skateboard swing.
The skateboard swing is the hit of the neighborhood. Malcolm, Dorothy, and the two kids from next door all like it a lot and it holds two five year old boys pretty well. It is hard for the girls (age 2), but they can both do it. Well, they can stand on it and wobble a bit. None of the kids have gotten it to swing much, but I have. I admit that I tried it out while the kids were napping and had a lot of fun on it.
She got on all by herself.
She likes to make it wobble instead of swinging, but she has fun. I'm sure she will figure it out soon enough.
I am pretty happy with our new additions and hope that the kids get many years of fun out of them.
In March, Malcolm's school had a raffle fund raiser and he won a birthday party at a local martial arts center. He was a little uncertain at first, but eventually he was very excited and now wants to take lessons. Thirty days of free lessons is part of the package deal (and a free uniform), so we will see if we can work it into our schedule.
I was trying to think of something interesting for a goody bag instead of the normal bag of junk. Malcolm had been to a super hero party at the facility last year and I made him a cape to wear. I offered to make capes for all of his friends, but he shot me down in favor of a bag of junk because, "Little toys are the best!" We had a small compromise where I bought some ninja cookie cutters and made lemon poppy seed ninjas in addition to buying bubbles, glow stick bracelets, and a Gogo and sticker in each bag. I also used the cookie cutters to trace little ninja guys on paper bags. I was going to use Chinese take-out containers, but the bracelets wouldn't fit inside.
Each child got two ninja cookies and one star. I had a little trouble keeping the guys doing a high kick in the correct form when moving them to the cookie sheet. As you can see, he is kicking really high and leaning way to the side. That is not how the cookie cutter looks, but I kept accidentally reshaping them in more of a high extension dance tilt than a karate kick. Oops. They are still cute.
First up was a short warm up and mini class where they learned blocks, punches, and kicks. Dorothy did her best to keep up with all of the 4-6 year old boys and did a pretty good job following the instructor's directions.
All
of the kids got white belts to wear during the party (and to take home)
and Malcolm got to be a black belt for the day. Here he is getting his
black belt. He also got to help lead the class during the mini lesson.
For part of their warm up, they played a little running game where they had to duck, jump, and weave based on what the instructor said. I only caught the end, but the kids were all giggling and having a great time.
Kicking
Dorothy and friend who attends the center practice punches.
Standing in their "ready" pose.
Excitedly waiting for the next thing.
After warming up and learning a few basic moves, they set up an obstacle coarse for the kids to run. They were moving so fast that I couldn't get very good pictures, but I did get a few.
Tim leaps the hurdle.
Going over and under.
After all that running, they were ready for cupcakes! The facility supplied the cupcakes (and everything else) and they looked really good. I checked out the label on the box and will have to give Herb's Bakery a try. I didn't get to taste one, but the kids all ate them very quickly and were sent home with frosting on their faces.
After cupcakes Malcolm opened presents at warp speed. It was a bit chaotic, but he was genuinely excited about each one. We had talked beforehand about being polite no matter what the present was and other than one small slip about two Lego trucks being the same (they weren't), he did very well. He did get several Lego sets, but they were all different, and they are his first real Lego's. I have been holding off getting him any because I figured that the odds were good that he would get a set or two at his party. I am always amazed at how generous everyone is. We have started writing thank you notes, but it will take a little while to finish since his attention span is only as long as about two notes at a time.
Finally it was time for the pinata and all of the kids were very excited. They each got to take a whack at it and Malcolm and two other boys got a second turn before it came down.
The feeding frenzy.
He was exhausted, but we let him skip his nap and stay up putting together Lego's with daddy. His first one was a dump truck that actually works. I had to take over the ninja motorcycle, but I made a mistake and Kevin is going to have to take it apart and fix it. I was shocked that it had 53 pages worth of instructions. I don't remember my Lego's being so complex.
He had a great day and loved getting to hang out with so many of his friends. For a group of 13 boys and one two year old girl, the kids were very well behaved. There were only minor reminders to remember the rules a couple of times which is impressive. It was a fun party that was very low stress for me since the facility took care of just about everything. I wouldn't have ever thought of doing a party there if we hadn't won it, but I'm glad we did. I think the guests had fun too.
This was our most quiet guest, Emma. She slept through almost the entire thing, but I was able to hold her for a little bit and get some good baby snuggles and sleepy baby sighs while the boys were being picked up. She is just gorgeous!
Malcolm turned five last week, and I still can't believe how grown up he is getting. On the day of his birthday, my parents, aunt and her husband were here visiting. My cousin and her family came out that evening to celebrate with us. A few weeks ago I asked Malcolm what kind of cake he would like for his birthday, but he said that he wanted to go out for ice cream sundaes instead. Perfect. We ordered in pizza and went out for sundaes. It was almost no work on my part, and I'm OK with that.
We opened presents that morning so that the kids could play with them during the day. Here is Malcolm, eager to get started.
Dorothy was very good about letting him be the one to open all of the gifts, but she also kept a close eye on him in case he missed anything. She never tried to grab or open things herself, but she really wanted to.
New jump rope.
These are little electric tea lights. For months, when I would ask him what he wanted for his birthday, this was all he would ask for. When he opened them, he exclaimed, "I've wanted these my whole life!"
New grain wagon to go with his tractor. He was a bit jealous at Christmas when his sister got a tractor with a discer. He already has a tractor, so this was just the implement to go with it.
We went to a birthday party the week before and he had mentioned Gogo's on the way there. At the party,
the birthday boy opened a package of Gogo's and all of the kids were highly impressed, while all of the parents were simply bewildered. I bought him a small set of Gogo's and he was quite thrilled with them. His real gift is two new swings (skateboard swing and two seater swing) for the play set and a rope and bucket with a pulley to haul treasures up to the top, but they were not going to get here in time for his birthday. I bought these as a small something to open, and he is so excited by them. I still don't get it, but I'm not a five year old boy.
Dorothy was a bit less thrilled with all of the the attention that was given to her brother.
After pizza that night, we loaded up and went to a local place for some ice cream sundaes. I guess since it was a frozen custard place, they were custard sundaes. Either way, they were very tasty.
Dorothy has recently mastered swinging at gymnastics and now likes to practice it every chance she gets. While waiting for us to all order, she grabbed a hold of the counter and began swinging. No, her feet are not on the ground. I took a quick picture before telling her to knock it off.
Malcolm ordered a vanilla custard with crushed Oreos and gummy worms. It sounds terrible to me, but he ate it very quickly and seemed to enjoy it.
Malcolm, Dorothy, and their cousins enjoying their sundaes. I had a plain chocolate fudge on vanilla, but we need to go back so that I can try some of their other option. Kevin and my dad had the butter pecan and said it was very good. There is only one flavor per day, besides chocolate and vanilla, and we were there on butter pecan day. The store is moving soon and will be in walking distance for us. I could be in trouble.
Dorothy gets every last drop.
It was a very fun day and I am glad that we were able to celebrate with just family. I think Malcolm had a great day and was very happy playing with his new toys and his cousins.
