Catch Up and 6th Birthday!

Posted byNatalie King

It’s been a busy and fun 2 weeks. Xander had his first school picture day. The boys are rocking swim lessons- Xander’s class went to the big pool last week and I could see that he was surprised and nervous, but he did great! He’s learning to tread water and Gussie is doing SO well putting his face in the water and being comfortable jumping in. 

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Gussie is loving his Wednesdays with Grandma Debbie, and Xander continues to feel like it’s a deep injustice that he has to be in school EVERY day, while his brother gets to be at Grandma’s. 
 

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We spend every afternoon after school outside in our front yard. After school-dinner is playtime for everyone, and then we all go inside to eat, and then after dinner more neighbors join in until we all set a group timer to make the kids go inside for bath time. It is so wonderful and I hope the weather cooperates for as long as possible! 

Xander got some level one reading books from Grandma Renee and has been doing SO well. He can read full sentences and even read to a bunch of his friends one afternoon. His personality is so much like Nate, but every now and then, he bosses everyone around, commanding them to sit and be quiet and listen while he reads, and I think, “oh there’s some Natalie in him as well!”

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Last weekend we went to 2 birthday parties- on Saturday we went to a party at the apple orchard. It was totally insane, but I got to meet some of Xander’s friends and their parents, the boys got to run around, play, and take a hayride, so it was good.  Nate was at a golf tournament with Jake, but you’ll have to take my word for it, because taking a photo is easily forgotten! 
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Last Sunday was Phoebe’s birthday, so Gussie and I got to go hang out with all of his friends, while Xander had some one on one time with Grandma Debbie. 

This week was homecoming at Xander’s school, so Monday he got to wear PJs to school. Gussie and I were busy at home and at the park. 
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Tuesday was swim lessons. 
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On Friday our neighborhood had a pizza party- similar to our chicken sandwich tasting extravaganza of the summer. This time we sent 4 families to 4 different local pizza places. We got a large cheese and a large pepperoni (thin crust only) at each. We tasted Davannis, Skinners, Italian Pie Shoppe and Carbones. We rated sauce, cheese, crust and overall. Italian Pie Shoppe was the winner, but Davannis was a close second. The kids drank kiddie cocktails and ran around. It was a fabulous night. 

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On Friday night, right before Xander went to bed, he asked me if there would be anything surprising in the morning, “ya know, like streamers or balloons or a scavenger hunt?” For the record, the answer was no, I had NOT planned any of those things- I had planned a birthday party only. But my darling boy has gotten used to special days being extra special, so after I tucked him in, I printed off some lego heads, wrote down some clues and set up a scavenger hunt. I put up a few streamers and went to bed. 

He woke up at 11pm (Nate and I were both already asleep) and 2am asking to get up. At 6am, he basically DEMANDED one of us get up so we could help read clues. We made him wait until Augustus woke up and then they ran around the house finding the clues. The prize was that next week (on Xander’s first day off), we are going to Legoland to buy legos, but both boys were a little disappointed that there wasn’t an actual prize in hand. 

The morning was LONG as we waited to head to the park for Xander’s 6th birthday party! But finally after lunch, we loaded the van and headed out. We rented the park building (which we’ve done several times before), but this was the first time we’ve needed it. “Light drizzle” as the weather had predicted was actually POURING RAIN. The kids decorated lego guys, ran around screaming (in a fun way), we cut the cake, played a game, and then the rain cleared up and they got to play on the playground. It was a very fun day! 
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Xander got 2 lego sets he already had, so this morning, we stopped at Target to return them. Xander also got a giftcard, so yes, I let my 6 year old free with $70 to spend. He still has no concept of money, because he picked one small thing and generously agreed to buy a toy for his brother and only spent $13 total. At this rate, he will have many more shopping trips ahead of him. He was VERY proud to be able to ring everything up and pay for everything himself. He’s a very grown up 6 year old! 

Today the boys were at Grandma Debbie’s and Nate and I relaxed all day. It was a wonderful day, with 2 very tired boys at the end of the evening.