Calvin's birthday party!

Whoa, it's been awhile since my last post!  And I can't claim that we've been super busy, but I have been super lazy.  Zach's been gone for over a month and sometimes it's just enough to get out the door with all three kids, let alone all three kids and a camera.  My parents and Aunt Earlyn were here last week and we had a great time with them.  But I didn't take many pictures!  Aunt did so I guess I should have uploaded her memory card before they left.  Lesson learned....

On the 14th, we headed down to Bonita (really just a part of the greater San Diego area, but about an hour from us) for Calvin's birthday party.  Calvin's dad was in Zach's squadron in Hawaii.  More recently, they drove through Leavenworth last year and stayed a night with us.  Since then, they've added baby Jane to the family!

The party was at a large park near their house.  The kids had a great time climbing trees, playing on the playground, eating hot dogs, putting their heads in the ice bucket (okay, just Ben did that), and whacking a pinata.  Dan was even the lucky guy who broke open the pinata!  It was nice to see old friends and give the boys a chance to run around on a not-so-sweltering day.

Dan said, "I don't want to eat the bread part." Um, that's cake, buddy.  Hand it over.

Dan's actual birthday

Dan turned 5 on Friday and started the day with his favorite breakfast: Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Toast (if you don't think that there's a right way and a wrong way to make cinnamon toast, check out her method).  I put one candle in each of his five pieces and he made a wish!  When Ben woke up a few minutes later, I gave them their last birthday presents: one little cactus for each of them.  Where we live is pretty desert-like and they have developed a bit of an obsession with cacti.  In fact, this was probably their favorite present!

Dan headed off to school with treats for all of his classmates--sprinkle donuts cut in half.  He said they were a big hit!  It's kind of a lot of pressure to have the first two birthdays of the year, but luckily for the other moms, I have set the bar pretty low.  He had a good day at school and then came home for lunch and rest.

After naps, my grand plan was to have a sitter for Hannah so I could take Dan and Ben to the Safari Park to ride the hot air balloon (minimum age is 3 years old, so the baby couldn't come).  The sitter came over and we headed out around 4:00 on an extremely hot and humid day.  When we got to the Park, we headed straight for the hot air balloon (Dan figured out his surprise on the way over) only to find out that it was not running because of high winds at altitude.  Too bad none of those winds were on the ground because it was HOT.  After a very small outburst ("My birthday is RUINED!"), Dan bounced back and we walked around to some of our favorite spots at the Park.  The highlight was definitely seeing the giant male lion on top of the Range Rover, trying to rest and stay cool.  I wish we could have seen him climbing up there!

To finish the day, the boys ate and played at Chick-Fil-A.  We wish Zach could have been here to join in on the fun, but we had a good day anyway.  I'm happy that Dan and Ben are 5 and 3 and very happy that the next birthday isn't until April!

Another time....

Ben's actual birthday

Although we started off the day on a low note (Zach headed off to the desert for five weeks of training) we ended up having a great day to celebrate Ben turning three!  I ran out to Peterson's Donut Corner, an Escondido staple, and picked up a few donuts for a nice, healthy breakfast.  The birthday boy got to blow out three candles before digging in.

Then the kids and I headed into San Diego to meet Lauren and Jesse for the Padres vs. Cubs baseball game.  We decided to meet near Lauren's office and ride the Trolley (San Diego's version of a subway, except it doesn't go underground) into downtown.  After filling our bellies with In N Out french fries, we hopped on the train.  Honestly, I think riding the train was the highlight of the day for the boys.  We probably could have saved some money on baseball tickets and just stayed on the train for the afternoon.

But we eventually made it to the stadium and went out to Kids' Fest, which is something the Padres have every Sunday: bouncy houses, face painting, a small field where the kids could hit and run the bases, etc.  The boys didn't want to leave that area, but I was getting tired of hauling Hannah around so we lured Dan and Ben into their seats with the promise of hot dogs.  Luckily, the area we sat in was pretty empty, so they boys ran around, over and under the seats and railings, and just generally wanted no part of actually watching the game.  We ended up leaving after the 6th inning, with the score tied at 0-0.  The game went 15 (!) innings, so I'm glad we didn't try to stick it out until the end.

After the train ride back to Mission Valley, I decided that we hadn't eaten enough terrible stuff in one day, so we hit a yogurt shop.  Whew!  Busy and fun day all around.  I'll have to think of something equally great for Dan's birthday on Friday....

First Day(s) of School!

Although Dan turns 5 next week and was eligible for kindergarten, we decided to wait another year.  He's definitely ready academically, but after doing a lot of research and talking with moms in similar situations, we came to the conclusion that there were more positives than negatives to waiting another year.  So Dan will be attending San Pasqual Union Preschool five mornings a week and Ben will join him on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

According to Dan, his first day yesterday was "great." Ben was a little more apprehensive this morning so I'm glad that Dan will be there to show him the ropes.  I think Ben's biggest challenge will be getting up in time to get dressed and have a good breakfast.  He is definitely not a morning person like Dan and me.  

Right now, the house is strangely quiet.  Hannah is taking her morning nap and I'm having a cup of coffee while writing this.  After a long summer of almost 100% togetherness, it's kind of nice to have a few minutes to myself.

Happy (early) birthday, Dan and Ben!

Zach will be away for a month and he'll miss the boys' birthdays, so we decided to celebrate a couple of weeks early!  And since school hasn't started yet and we don't have any new friends, we invited old friends that we knew in Hawaii and North Carolina.  The boys didn't mind having a small party; once they saw the cake, they declared the day to be the "best day ever."

Everyone came over around 4:00 and we went swimming in the neighborhood pool.  Lauren stayed back at the house and put the food in the oven so everything was waiting for us when we finished swimming.  We ate supper and cake and ice cream and the kids just played and played.  Dan and Ben had a great time and loved showing off the new house and yard.

It's hard to believe that Dan will be 5 (and living in his fourth house) and Ben will be 3 (and living in his third house).  This is a crazy life and definitely different from the kind that I grew up with, but I think it'll all work out in the end!