Because the Birthday Boy Loves Green...

My baby boy is now seven. SEVEN! I am so proud of the young little guy he has become. There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't just melt my heart. I asked him the other day if we could just not celebrate his birthday so he wouldn't have to turn seven. "As long as I can still open the presents, we don't need party." Well...that's not how it works. "Then I guess I'll have to turn 7." Ugh. I know he's *only* seven, but I carried him to the bus stop the other day. I'm not going be able to do that for much longer...

 I just love him so much! Just look at that cute little two-year old face of his!

He's been anxiously awaiting his birthday, especially this week, as his presents started arriving from his relatives and stacking up in the corner. I ventured out earlier this week with little C to Toy 'r Us knowing it was going to be a rough trip. She did alright all things considered. There was a lot of reminding going on..."We're here for JP. We're looking for something he will like, not you." Her willingness to not pout through the entire store won her a trip to the pet store to look at the kitties. Win win I would say! Because dad had to go into work early today, I let him only open one present before we managed to scoot out the door for school. (Thank goodness my little sister called *at the crack of dawn* to talk to the birthday boy, or we might have all over slept since my alarm was set for 6pm...)

 I had every intention of getting a really good jump start on his cake yesterday. I baked it first thing in the morning and then while it cooled I took upon the task of painting the ceiling in the dining room. Not all of it, but some of it. But since I did that, I figured I better just go ahead and paint the short wall so we could put the old curtains back up. And you know, the other wall is only a couple feet wide... so by 5:30pm H was cooking mac 'n cheese for dinner. So much for working on the cake. Today was the deadline and JP was already asking about it at 7:30a. Such a procrastinator I've become. I remember when I'd start cakes on Tuesday to be done by Friday night! C tested her patience by holding spatulas and beaters and later danced her Barbie dolls around the kitchen while I she tested my patience. I finished it up with 15 minutes to spare - just enough time to dust off the powdered sugar and walk to the bus stop to get H, JP, and one of JP's new friends.

He misplaced his glasses somewhere in the house last week and we've yet to find them. He looks so young without them on! You knew he was going to have a green cake, right? He's that predictable. A couple weeks ago I realized we hadn't had the "birthday cake chat" yet. He rolled his eyes and knowingly said, "A lego cake, of course." Of course... I made H a lego cake for his 6th birthday, but yeah, we'll do legos again. As his big day neared, he made it known that he specifically wanted a Lego Ninjago cake, but didn't specify which one. I should have messed with him and made the blue or yellow one. 

I resisted and made Lloyd. I gave him yellow hands at first but his hands were struggling to stay up (you know since I procrastinated...) so I switched it up and used black. He looks a little more Ninjago-ish with the change. 

Though we didn't originally plan it, we had an impromptu sleepover with his friend. I didn't realize it until it was bedtime, but this was our first sleepover! JP has been to a sleepover before (I don't think HD has though...) but we've never had the opportunity to have a friend stay the night so the boys were extra excited about that. Getting three boys settled down for bed is no easy task, but we conquered :) They seem pretty excited about puffy pancakes for breakfast!

A Lego Table Project Takes Us to the ER

I loved playing with Lego's growing up so naturally I'm excited my kids do too. Even Charlotte loves playing with the boys' Lego's, though we're constantly reminding her to get them out of her mouth, at which point she takes them out and throws them across the room like the world is ending... Drama queen. We bought Hunter a small starter box of Lego's for his birthday when he turned 5. For Christmas a month later he and JP both received a couple Lego sets where there were directions on how to build the specific item. They loved those so much that I bought them a few more to keep them entertained. Eventually Perry climbed into the attic and brought down his big tub of Lego's, which I later found out is only half of them. Since he brought it in, the tub has been sitting under our table so the kids have easy access to it, but is still out of the way at the same time.

Without it being verbally said, Perry and I both have wanted to store the Lego's somewhere else but hadn't been able to figure out where....until this last week. I've been on craigslist daily looking for a long,  but short dresser that I could use as storage for my sewing/craft room downstairs, and then use the top of it as an ironing board, like my mom does. In preparation of finding one, I moved my sewing room around to accommodate it. In the meantime I brought the little table Grandpa John made for JP in to the area so JP could do Lego's downstairs while I sewed. Then it hit me. I should just make them a Lego table. They could store their Lego's in it, and build on top of it. It would work perfect and then we'd get rid of our Lego problem upstairs.

I immediately hopped back on craigslist to see what I could find for coffee tables with drawers. I found the perfect one and I had already started envisioning what it would look like once I was done painting it. Turns out it was already sold. But a few days later I found a sewing table that I knew would work even better! And I would be able to use it too when I needed to quilt something. Win win! Can't get better than something that has multiple uses!

As soon as I was done with my weekly yoga class, I hopped in my car and headed downtown to pick the table up. I had a heck of a time getting it in the car on my own, but I did it! I hauled it into the basement and the look on JP's was priceless when he saw it the next morning. He was already in love with it and it was even ready yet! I had Perry come look at it and give me his best opinion on whether I should spray paint it or just use regular paint. He was convinced which ever one I used was just going to wear off. He didn't understand, nor did he want any part of, my silly project.

Saturday morning was SO peaceful in our house. Because Hunter was at Grandma's, there was no one to wake us up in the morning. Perry and I slept in until 9 am. I'm sure Charlotte woke up around earlier but was entertained with all her books that she could care less about leaving her room. JP slept in until 10 am. No joke. It didn't help that we kept him up super late, but still. If Hunter goes to bed at 10pm, he still gets up at 7, if not earlier. After a peaceful breakfast, Perry, out if no where, brought my table upstairs to look at it. We three laid under it for quite some time trying to figure out how we were going to make it into a Lego table without modifying it too much so I could still use it. We spent a good hour discussing different ways. Turns out we just need two more hinges and then a bin for the Legos, which can be removed when I want to use it.

With a plan in place, Perry hauled my table out to the garage to get measurements while I went out and picked up a pair of stools, also found on craigslist, for $5. They don't know it yet, but I'm going to paint Ninja Turtles on them... When I got back I started working on the pile of laundry in the laundry room. JP came up to me with our health insurance cards he found in my office. I promptly told him to put them back so I would know where they were in case we needed them.

I kid you not, one minute later, Perry came busting into the house yelling, "Sadie!!! We have to go to the ER NOW!!!" With that I scooped up Charlotte, who was supposed to be napping and only wearing her diaper, and decided I didn't have enough time to get her dressed, so I wasn't bringing her. I hauled her naked little self (and forgot her blanket!) and shouted to JP to come with as I sprinted across the street to the neighbors house. I knocked a couple times and then busted in, handed off Charlotte and said, " Can you watch the kids? I have to take Perry to the ER. I think he cut off a finger." They kind of didn't have a choice because I was gone before I got an answer. I ran into the house and grabbed my shoes and hit the road.

All things considered, Perry was pretty calm about the whole thing. Often times we ask each other silly questions that start out with, "Would you still love me if..." so it only made sense the first thing out of his mouth once I got into the car was, "Will you still love me if I'm missing a finger?" I couldn't help but to laugh a little. Yes Perry, I will still love you - it's only a finger. He was even cracking jokes with his (male) nurse. Perry *absolutely hates* needles so when his nurse asked him which arm he wanted his tetanus shot in, he quickly retorted with a, "Yours" for an answer. It took the other guys in the room a few seconds to get the joke, but I caught it right away. Silly Perry...

(As a warning - a picture of his finger, which is kind of cool, is posted just below this picture of Perry in the ER. Feel free to scroll on past!)

We finally left the emergency room two hours later with a splint and a bandage wrap on his finger and a handful of prescriptions to be filled. They didn't do a darn thing to the wound itself other than clean it up, so it's still an open wound as of Sunday evening. The ER doctors thought he might need part of his finger amputated because he hit the bone, so we left the emergency room with discharge papers saying *amputation* in bold print. Kind of daunting. Here's the picture of his finger...

I did have to help him re-dress it Saturday night as it was still bleeding. I nearly fainted three times. Hang on Perry, I need to sit down for a minute. Okay I'm good. Okay I need to sit down again. Okay let's do this fast. Oh damn, I can't see anything, I'm laying down now... Poor guy! I'm such a wimp! He did not express that he was in pain, nor did I see any blood so I have no idea why I was getting woozy. Just the thought of it I guess...

After a low-key weekend, we headed to see the orthopedic surgeon first thing Monday morning, only to find out they didn't have any record of Perry in their system, and the doctor we were supposed to be seeing wasn't going to be in. Ugh. Luckily his nurse came in and informed the desk staff that because of the numerous accidents over the weekend, he was coming in that morning. Perry was able to get in right after the guy who shot his hand and had a pellet stuck in it...

When we finally went in for his appointment, the doctor unwrapped it, looked at the x-rays, then pulled out his ruler and determined that NO AMPUTATION was needed. They re-dressed his finger and sent us on our way. No stitches or anything. Just left us with that gaping hole in his finger. We celebrated the fact that gets to keep his finger by eating a box of Swedish Fish on the way home. (He couldn't eat since the night before in case he needed surgery.)

When all was said and done, we both (probably more so for Perry) felt like we just won the lottery. He played Russian Roulette with his miter saw and won! For now the Lego table is on hold for a while. Since I took a shop class or two in my day, I feel like I could probably finish the project, but Perry won't let me...I was hoping to have the table done by the end of spring break but that clearly isn't going to happen. 

A Lazy Saturday

I don't understand my children one bit. On the weekdays they are a *pain* to get out of bed . I usually get Hunter up and going around 7:15 and JP usually wakes up on his own in all the commotion but is super grumpy about it, or he'll wake up when Charlotte does since her room is right above his. I've recently wrangled Perry into helping me a little with Hunter in the mornings because I am *so tired of fighting* with him. Put your toys away and get dressed child! Then the weekend rolls around... Perry and I are super excited to sleep and what's that I hear? Whispering on stairs? Foot steps in the hall? Charlotte giggling? You're kidding me. It's 6:30 in the morning, on a SLEEP IN day! Whatever. Let them play... But seriously, nothing is more annoying than saying, "Stay in your room and be quiet when you wake up," and finding them bouncing off the wall in their sister's room... Or letting her out of her room... 

This Saturday started out similar, expect it was just Hunter bouncing off the walls in Charlotte's room. JP crawled into bed with me in the middle of the night after getting sick in his bed. Clearly I didn't process that. Because only minutes from me getting out of bed after Perry, I rolled over and asked JP how he felt. He just said his body felt icky. And then he erupted on me. Not once, not twice, but three times. Needless to say, our Saturday was already off to a grumpy start... I hate laundry.

 After breakfast Perry decided to surprise the boys by getting his Legos down from the attic. JP had been building with Legos a few days before and became very frustrated with his structure because his platform was bent. Perry agreed to get them some new flat board to build off of, but didn't say when. As soon as the kids were dressed, he brought them in and their excitement could not be contained!

 He has a lot of random pieces in his Lego collection. Just like our boys', his Lego collection was created by mixing sets of Legos together. He has pieces from ships to castles, to trees to spaceships, and the usual police cars and race cars. (And a few miscellaneous things like marbles, rocks, screws, and puzzle pieces.)

 Of course you can only keep Charlotte off the table for so long. She loves digging around in the boys' Legos. And nothing makes them more upset. There was a lot of "CHAW-LEE"s being shouted. 

 She thinks she's just soooo funny! Stepping on Legos like it doesn't actually hurt...pssh.

 Perry had a lot of Medival guys in his collection so Hunter and I set them up in our ships. The guys below are playing racquetball, while the guys up top are actually fighting. 

 Some of my guys ran out of weapons to hold so they fought with oars, and a stop sign. 

 JP was content building rockets. They were entertained for HOURS. 

 By the time dinner rolled around, I was feeling very unmotivated to cook. I've been overly tired the past few weeks where it's a struggle to get through the day without a power nap. When Perry suggested roasting hot dogs over a campfire, JP ran to the door yelling, "This is going to be the best dinner EVER!!" 

 Charlotte was very cautious of the fire, saying "hot" every time she looked at it. Literally, every time. 

It was a little chilly out but perfect none the less for our first cook-out in 2015. After dinner we all sat down and pulled out the directions from 1996 (he's a Dustin...) and Perry and Hunter worked on building a massive pirate ship, while JP and worked on making a yacht. Because there was actually two tubs of Legos, and we only had one of them, both groups were missing key pieces so we all quit and got ready for bed. Our bed was still drying after I shampooed it from the mornings "incident" so Perry and I opted to camp-out in the living room. Worst night of sleep ever.