n's 6th Birthday!

Handcrafted Goodness

n is currently learning about wood for his science unit in kindergarten. A dad of one of his classmates came in to talk about his wood-working hobby. He also made a mini dry erase board for each person in the class. I was seriously so impressed by its clever design! There is a hole on the top where the dry erase marker goes. The top piece of wood swivels to cover the hole so the pen does not fall out, and there is a small magnet to keep the top in place. Genius!

National Napping Day

Did you know that today is National Napping Day? I took this picture on Saturday, but I thought it was appropriate to post today. This is proof that n can still fall asleep anywhere. Keep in mind that this brief cat nap was taken before the switch to Daylight Savings Time!

Little Hoopsters Closing Ceremony

D and I served on the Little Hoopsters Committee this year, and both k and n played.  This was n’s first year and k’s last year.  D was able to take some pictures of n playing in our church parking lot, on one of the hottest days of the year!

n learned how to dribble…

play defense…

hustle on the court…

and made some friends. 

He was very excited to receive his first trophy!

Quality Time With My “Other Guy”

One thing that I know we should do more of is for D and I to take turns spending one-on-one time with k and n.  Saturday night we had that chance because D took k to an Angels game with her girl scout troop.  I ended up taking n to IHOP to redeem a coupon for a free “Rooty Tooty Fresh & Fruity” (“RTF&F”). 

We had the place pretty much to ourselves.  I guess no one really goes to IHOP at 5 p.m. on a Saturday night. 

Sorry for the blurry picture. Did you know that they actually took the RTF&F off the menu?  I thought that was their signature item?!  It is still available as a secret off the menu special.  I was surprised at the boatload of bacon they gave us.  Maybe I am just too used to IKEA breakfasts!

As an added surprise, I took n to Yogurtland afterward.  n was elated—it is not difficult to make him happy!  We ended our night at home by reading tons of books on a bed of blankets on our living room floor.  We fell asleep, and D and k joined us when they returned home after 11 p.m.!  It was a nice night of mother-son bonding. 

Last Tanaka Farms Strawberry Tour

I feel like n has been having a lot of “lasts” since he will be going to Kindergarten in September : last BSF a couple of weeks ago, last library storytime today, and last MnM meeting on Friday.  Last Friday we went on what will probably be our last Tanaka Farms strawberry tour after many years of going with our MnM group.

The berries were somewhat better than last year, I believe.

The berries were especially good where it was all muddy, which lured some pickers into the mud! (Not n, though. ).

Picture time can be chaotic with such a large group!

Rainbow Loom Love

We gave k a rainbow loom for her birthday back in December.  Surprisingly, n was into it, so we bought him his own loom for his birthday in March.  Being a crafty person, I like how it encourages kids to make things with their hands.  While the fad seems to have died down at k’s school, it is still going strong in our house, especially with n!

n wanted to wear all of his bracelets at once.  He has made a good number on his own.  His specialty is the “Triple Single”.

My favorite site for patterns is www.loomlove.com. 

Mazda Bring Your Family To Work Day

Last Thursday, n was able to go to work with D for the morning.  He was quite excited about it.  We chose not to pull k from school, although some parents did.  This was the first year that Mazda held this event, and it is nice that n has a better idea of where D goes every week day. 

I joined them for lunch (taco truck) and drove n home. 

Happy 5th Birthday to n!

On n’s actual birthday, we celebrated as a family, at home.  We tried to duplicate the ice cream nachos from Farrell’s that he loved so much last year.

For his birthday party, he invited a small group of friends and we went to BrewBakers in Huntington Beach for a root beer and pretzel party.

The place is quite small, and there was another large party scheduled right before us.  There was too much “down time” for my liking, but it all worked out in the end.  Here the kids are rolling out their pretzels.

Next came the brewing of the root beer!

They had the kids play “kick the keg”.

Next we were shown how to bottle the root beer.

Finally, we sang Happy Birthday and ate skateboard-themed cupcakes that I made for the occasion.

We let the kids enjoy some of the root beer at home.  It was really good, probably the best I have had.  The flavor had a lot of depth.  I’m still having a hard time accepting that n is really five years old!

A Laid Back IKEA Birthday Party

Ever since we went to Ikea in December for k’s birthday party, n has been waiting for it to be March so we could go to his.  k’s party was quite crowded—tons of kids, not much room to move.  It turned out that n’s party was almost empty in comparison—there were just four birthday kids!  We had an entire table to ourselves, and there was no need for Petals the Clown to speed through tons of kids for the face painting.  The whole thing lasted about an hour—half of the time we spent at k’s party. 

Different cake this time—strawberry cream with chocolate frosting.  Still very good.

This is what happens when there’s not many people at the party—Petals the Clown gives each kid extra balloons to take home since she has no need for them in “Clown Town”, where she lives. 

n’s Room Makeover

n’s room is still a work in progress, but I am here to report that progress has been made.  Just like k, I waited until n was four years old before decorating his room.  n has been quite excited about the process and likes the fact that he has a bed “just like k’s” now.  (Ikea Brimnes—pain to put together, but LOTS of storage). 

n’s room is quite small, and ended up being a dumping ground for a while.  As you can see, the closet was not working for our four year old boy, especially since he likes to change his clothes at least three times a day. 

I repainted his closet and room and installed a closet system.  Now n can put his clothes away by himself (with some prompting).

We also threw away his dresser (the drawers under his Brimnes effectively replaced it) and Craiglisted his toddler bed.  We went with an outer space theme with bedding from Target. 

I found this cute decal set at Graphic Spaces on Etsy. 

On Friday I sewed the Euro shams.  Kids’ rooms are so fun to decorate!

4.5

This guy is 4.5 today.  Our evening ritual is to spend some time in the front yard after dinner.  I thought I would record some of n’s current skillz:

n’s Nebulizer

Last week, n had his 4 year wellness checkup.  Aside from a mild cough, the doctor declared him healthy and “low maintenance”.  The next morning, at around 5 a.m., n woke up with a hacking cough and he was slightly wheezing with every breath.  I called his regular doctor, who was out for the rest of the week; the other doctor in the practice was booked until 4 p.m.  Pediatric urgent care hours started at 1 p.m. so we all went there after picking up k from school.  Urgent care was packed, plus there was some sort of medical emergency in the parking lot that sent all of the nurses running, so we ended up upstairs at another regular doctor’s office.  It was quite the ordeal but after about 3 hours we ended up with a nebulizer machine and prescription for 2 drugs, 1 to be given every 12 hours and the other to be given every 4 hours for 7 days.

That’s our n, smiling even while receiving his breathing treatment.

It turns out that it worked pretty quickly, so we didn’t have to do the treatments in the middle of the night (thank goodness) and we didn’t have to do it for the full 7 days.  n was a good sport about it and soon he and k were fighting about whose turn it was to plug in the machine, turn the switch on, etc.  The doctors said it could be asthma, or cold-induced asthma, given his history of eczema, but it’s too early to tell since this was his first wheezing episode.  Hopefully this won’t become a regular occurrence, but at least we are better equipped to handle it if it does.

Happy 4th Birthday, n!

Hard to believe that our sweet n is now four years old.  This year we are doing small family parties for both kids, so we just celebrated with dinner at my parents’ house.  Since it was the night before D’s marathon, we had pasta and carbo-loaded along with him. 

My mom also made a car cake for him with very realisitc looking edible rocks.  This was chocolate overload, for sure, just the way that n likes it.

One of the gifts we gave to n was a Kauzbot from Share & Do Good.  He’s into robots, so this one quickly became his favorite stuffed friend.  He also received a kids’ digital camera from D’s parents which became a source of contention because k always wants to take it away/play with it.  Aside from the fighting, it was a good, low-key birthday.