Happy 6th Birthday Buddy!

Happy 6th Birthday B!

What a joy you are....the endless conversations we have had, the many times you have kept me on my toes with your quick thinking and negotiating ways, listening to your sweet voice as you tell JB "good morning", your laughter as you and J play, your relentless picking of your scabs so that they take weeks to heal, the way you will hide your toys under your blankets after I put you to bed, the ease with which you make friends at the park, your phrases that you say that remind me of my words, your totally random questions like "how is your tongue connected to your mouth" as we stood in line to get ice cream and all bystanders' eyes fell to me with smiles as they awaited my answer, your sly little grin when you are trying to get your way, your amazing memory for details and scripture, watching you dance recently in the aisle at church as they played your favorite VBS song, watching you still (every once in a while) wear your shorts and shirts backwards, hearing you whine and your absolutely illogical thoughts when you are tired, your willingness to try 'no thank you' bites, your nurturing ways with younger kids and your insatiable desire to work on your hand/eye coordination through video/computer games. I am looking forward to seeing you learn to read, ride a two wheeled bike, perfect the 'pumping' while on the swing, running and playing with JB as he gets 'his legs', growing bigger and stronger and coming that much closer to outrunning me and hiding more of God's word in your heart the next 365 days.
We celebrated B's birthday on Saturday. 5 friends were invited to the park where they played, we made mini marshmallow guns out of PVC pipe, took swings at the homemade pinata (4 layers was not as strong as I thought it was, although it held up through most of the kids), threw waterballoons, opened gifts and had homemade ice cream sandwiches. (These were really good and did not require any plates, spoons, etc). I love celebrating birthdays but honestly the one thing I do not like is the presents. I always struggle when my boys have birthdays because I don't want more stuff, but I know kids like getting things. This year however, was different. Every gift received was just perfect and has not become more 'stuff'. He received a headlamp that had a cute little lego guy on it (very practical and all his for when we go camping), a nice super soaker that happens to be one that is also perfect for J's little hands to pump and shoot it, a slip and slide (ours was worn out last summer), an army tank, that although it has 27 pieces, has gotten much playtime already and some money for a Wii game. So begins hopefully many lessons on saving money for things he really wants. I think the Wii might finally be the one thing right now to learn more responsibility - hopefully.
The boys enjoyed VBS this past week. Several mornings J woke up not wanting to go, but of course quickly changed his mind when we got there. Every year the host church brings in a group from Alabama to help with the week. J connected with a guy named Josh and according to Josh, he will be back next year so will be fun to have that connection.
This week B will attend a Peacemaker club. It is a biblically based 'curriculum' on conflict resolution. It will be 2 hours each morning. Today we will drop him off and then afterward, go to pizza with one of his friends (to celebrate his actual birth day) then off to Game Stop to see if we can find a reasonably priced Wii game.
We have had amazing weather the last 2 weeks or so. Today, however, we are suppose to finally hit 90! (We had a lazy weekend but wanting to get back out this week with the kids and get some bike rides or walks in.)

Busy week

The older two have been at Vacation Bible School during the mornings this week.
JB is still working on his pulling up and stair climbing.
JR is plugging away at work, getting ready for a week off where he will go immerse himself in the backcountry, somewhere - location yet to be determined. He still has a week to figure it all out.
Me, I have been buying and cutting PVC pipe, paper-maiche-ing and filling water balloons for the big event this weekend!!!!

We are Home!

We safely arrived home on Wednesday, after a 14 hour day in the car. We did have to stop for about an hour due to a wicked looking storm. The wind was so strong, many cars were exiting the freeway.
4800 miles, 26 days, 11 states(North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Wyoming), 6 different beds, lots of sun and the only car problem we had was a dead battery. Fortunately it happened at my sisters, so it did not leave us stranded. Bought a new battery and had no more problems. We all stayed healthy and not a one of us ended up with a sunburn. (The cheapest gas I found was 2.39 in Chillicothe, Missouri!)
In North Dakota, which seemed like a long time ago, stayed with an good friend. Here is a picture of B just after he rolled down a grassy hill. I love this photo cause it is his nature grin, not the cheesy posed kind he loves to use.

In Wisconsin stayed with some friends who have 2 boys that are close in age to B and J. They use to go to church with us...here is a photo at the playground.

They loved all staying in one room, playing in the backyard and park and eating rootbeer floats.
We also had a short dinner stop with some other friends who we have almost known since moving to MT. They also have two small boys. We ate burgers and hotdogs and then headed to another park. Here are the two youngest
.
A night on the road in Indiana and finally arriving in Ohio. We saw my oldest niece graduate from high school, another niece run in two track meets, a third niece play soccer and my fourth niece play softball (they are a very active, busy family). We spent lots of days at the pool and I got out several times by myself to go shopping. We hit the beach (Lake Erie), ate lots of ice cream and just hung out. The day before we left, I took my four nieces and the three boys to the beach for donuts. It was a lot of fun. The weather was perfect, just about had the beach to ourselves, we all ran around and took some goofy pictures....




After we left Ohio (my camera never made it out of the car again), we headed to Illinois and stayed 2 days with a family I use to nanny for in North Dakota. The boys had a ball playing with the legos and the barbies/Ken dolls and their big convertible cars. (We have no GI Joes, barbies/Ken so it is interesting to see how much J enjoys playing with these when he can). They had a pool and a huge yard for the boys to run around. Was fun catching up with them and seeing how the 4 girls have grown. The oldest was 6 when I lived with them and the youngest was 18 months. Now they are a junior in college and 15 (the middle twin girls were not home that weekend).
We had a short breakfast stop with a cousin in Springfield before making the long haul to our next stop in South Dakota. Saw some friends that hopefully we will make it back to their wedding in September. Nate has the coolest yard, where the fence line was 2 rows of pine trees. The boys loved playing hide and go seek and running wild. I had hoped to stop at Mt Rushmore when we left but all the boys were sleeping and I had forgotten that it is not right on the highway. So, hopefully we can plan that stop in when we go back for the wedding.
All in all a great trip. The boys did really well, they loved seeing all the family and friends. They have made some friends back in Ohio so will have boys to play with on subsequent trips out there. Lots of sun. All three of the boys did really well in the different pools. B actually went down the long twisty slide several times and loved it. He did jump off the diving board at our friends in Illinois, so his comfort level in the water is much improved. We arrived back home to weather in the 50s, which was a nice change to all the humidity we had in Ohio.
JR sure was glad to have us back, chaos and all.

The last couple of days have been nice. Not much has been on the calendar. Hanging at the pool, kids playing games and outside. Today I took B and J to an Amish community (JB stayed at my sisters). We saw all kinds of buggies on the road and had fun talking with the boys about the amish and the life they live. B thought for sure that he could not live without electricity. Stopped at a good ol general store that had all the flavored sodas in bottles. My boys that it was cool how you had to pop the top off. Picked up several kinds of cheese. Several of our stops coincided with some tour buses. I have found that the older generation either ignores us, strikes up friendly conversation or gives us the "been there done that don't annoy me" look. We came back to the house, had dinner and my sister and I went for a bike ride. Then we took all the boys and one niece to the pool from 7-9. JB had a blast. One part of the pool goes from zero depth to 3 feet. I sat JB down on the edge and he instantly crawled until his chin was touching the water. We repeated this many times. He loved it.
Tomorrow and Friday should be beautiful so we are hoping to hit the beach in the morning and the pool all afternoon.
We will be leaving Ohio on Sunday. We hope to spend Sunday and Monday in Illinois (will be seeing the family I use to nanny for), Tuesday and maybe Wed in South Dakota, hit Mt. Rushmore and be back home next week.

Ohio

We obviously made it here safely. The boys did great. The only issue we had was I left a suitcase at our stop in Wisconsin. With the exception of Chicago, the driving was great. It was bumper to bumper through Chicago at 9pm at night. The only cool thing was as I saw the skyline just off to the left, there was a huge full moon.
It has been busy with graduation festivities, family, swimming and trying to keep B from playing the Wii all day. That kid is relentless. I will tell him no and often times I get the 'mom, just listen. would you prefer if I play in 10 minutes or 30 minutes.' To top it all off, my family decided to surprise B (more so a surprise for me) with a Wii for his birthday. So, I am already trying to figure out the best way to monitor this when we get home.
Tomorrow we head to Columbus to watch one of my nieces run in the state track meet. She is a freshman so will be neat to see how she grows in her abilities on the track throughout her high school career. My oldest niece Kelsey is now officially a high school grad and getting ready to head off to Western Michigan.
JB now has 5 teeth and has figured out how to climb up one step. He is pulling up more and walking along the furniture. B has been loving the pool, throwing and diving for objects. J alternates between playing in the water and wanting all the snacks in the pool bag.
A few pictures of our trip thus far......