Double the Birthday, Double the Fun! Part 1

J.D. and Gigi turned three-years-old last week.  We waited until yesterday, Sunday, to celebrate their special day with a family birthday party.  The party was simple, no frills, just ice cream cake, presents and plenty of family surrounding the happy birthday boy and girl.  Amazingly, this party went off without a hitch.  Very little complaining, no crying, just a few behavior corrections to be made (and these mainly to the two big sisters, who were a little over eager in their helpfulness).  

As I sat back and observed the whole party scene, I realized how novel this simple, uneventful birthday party really was for my family of four under six.  Birthday parties for us usually mean a whole lot of planning and stress, crying and tantrums, and the kids usually act out quite a bit, too!  Our kids have always been so young that birthday parties meant a crowd of little friends who show up and the drama and chaos can at times, go through the roof!  

Take, for example, my oldest daughter's fourth birthday party.  When E turned four, Cubby was only 2, and the twins were only five months old.  We threw a princess party, but the twins were kept secluded in the house with Grandma Donna the entire time.  Cubby got over-tired and felt neglected while E's friends took precedence over her as new sidekicks, and had a little fit toward the end.  However, this became the norm for birthday parties.  Danny and I now fully expect parties to end in a meltdown; both he and I don't handle stress particularly well, and neither, apparently, do our children.  I guess they've watched mom and dad stress out too often.   

However, this party on Sunday broke the historical mold of birthday party craziness.  We hosted a simple, sweet, fun, and harmonious party for only our family members.  It worked like a dream.  I was sick, so I couldn't plan anything anyway, and I think God taught me a little lesson in that.  He took away my ability to control everything to death, therefore He was ultimately in charge since my headache took away all my uptight perfectionist planning abilities.  And therefore, we had a perfect party.  Who knew God was such a magnificent party planner?!  

Check out some pictures below of  this simple, yet wonderful, blessed affair.  

Here they are, J.D. and Gigi, waiting patiently for the cue to open their presents.

Big sis can hardly wait.....!

And the very first present is a huge winner.  "A mo-cack-oh!" yells J.D.  That's motorcycle.

See her feet?  Gigi got a little distracted by the stickers in one of her cards. It took her a while to remember to get back to her present opening duties.

Meanwhile, J.D. walked around showing all the menfolk his new motorcycle.  They all approved.

Then Gigi opened her new Tinkerbell nightie from Aunt Bette.  She immediately ripped off her special birthday party dress, and insisted on wearing the nightgown.  Princess for a day!

Then she went ahead and gave a big hug to.....the wrong aunt for the nightie.  No matter, Auntie Carrie didn't mind a bit!

Big sisters can be very helpful when they want to be!  

A big box of tools?  Just what J.D. needed!!!

Gigi is still donning herself in her outfit.  Luckily, she had Tinkerbell shoes stowed away in her closet.

Oh baby.  And here's the big gift from Daddy and Mom.  I actually had no hand in this at all.  Danny picked this out weeks ago, and the goggles were a bonus gift.  J.D. saw the bike and his reaction was priceless...I may have to post the video.  He just started yelling, "My bike, my bike!"  But it truly wasn't in a rude way, he was just super thrilled.

I picked out this piano for Gigi a few weeks ago, and I can't tell you how happy I was that she liked it!  I took a big risk, not knowing how she'd react, but she loved it! Yay!

2 kids=2 cakes

First, we sang Happy Birthday to Gigi.  The cake blow was very dramatic.

See what I mean?

Again, another awesome reaction from J.D. Just watching his cake make its way over was exciting for him!

His cake blow was actually really....wet.  Lots of spit.  Yeah.  I had a piece of Gigi's cake.  

He loved the red car on top.  But he had a really hard time blowing. It's hard to make spit land directly on three tall flames.  

So his sisters swooped in to help out.  Gotta love the drama on Gigi's face.  

And there you have it!  Once the cake was eaten, we headed out to the yard for some outside activities.  I'll be sharing these later!  I love you twins!  You are such an awesome blessing in my life.  

Our Royal Father's Day Celebration

My two oldest girls love holidays and parties.  They enjoy the entire spectacular chaos that is organizing and decorating in preparation for all types of entertainment with a family of four kids under age six.  The night before Father's Day was no different.  They were excited about the holiday in itself, of course, but these kids are crazy about their dad, so they were even more excited to have an excuse to honor him.

The night before Father's Day, the big girls and I whispered our plan of decorating attack for the following morning.  While Danny took his shower, completely ignorant of the plan being laid out for his ultimate enjoyment, we made breakfast plans, shared decorating ideas and agreed to wake up early to get everything done in time.  

So on the Sunday morning of Father's Day, just like clockwork, Danny headed out the ranch at 6:00 AM.  Emma, who has always been a farmer's daughter, heard the click of the door closing, and hurried me out of bed to help her begin the preparations.  She worked on her homemade card, while I rousted the other three kids from their deep slumbers. Once they remembered it was Father's Day, their sleepy eyes opened a little wider, and they all went to work on their cards, signs, and decorations.  

Meanwhile, I began cooking breakfast, and this is where I had the idea to make Daddy a royal crown to honor him on his special day.  Emma was up for the task, of course. But since we didn't have yellow paper, we opted for purple, since purple is the color or royalty, you know.  

Danny arrived home just as we put the final touches on his big surprise.  As he walked through the door, the kids yelled, "Happy Father's Day, Daddy!"  They ushered him to his royal throne, surrounded by flowers, gifts, and cards.  The crown was placed on his head, and it was as if he transformed into a king before our very eyes!

See what I mean? You thought you were looking at King Arthur at first glance, right?  That crown is uncannily authentic!

Since we have an unwritten requirement in our household that one member of the family is always nude, J.D. happily filled the bill.  He is proudly showing Daddy his homemade card.  

And a very Happy Father's Day it was!  I can't even tell you how incredibly blessed I feel when I look at these five faces.  God gave me such a wonderful husband and father for our four children, I am forever thankful. 

First Day of Pre-School...Sort of.

I think I've yet to mention it on this blog yet, but I got a little part-time job.  I am the director of children's ministries at my church.  I've been working since April, and boy, has it been a roller coaster!  We have a fairly large children's program, but the biggest challenge has been planning Vacation Bible School!  

I had never attended a VBS program, even with my own children, so the thought of directing the entire week of activities for 250 children seemed pretty daunting. Luckily I was paired up with an awesome co-director and this church has a huge core of people who volunteer wholeheartedly for any and all service projects.  So many people return to work at VBS every single year, and have sharpened their roles to just about perfection.  We finished up our final night of VBS last Friday, and I am still recuperating from the weeks' late nights, but also the stress of the busy weeks leading up to VBS week. 

Anyway, one of the awesome perks of this part-time job is that my kids get to attend pre-school classes at First Christian Childcare.  Today was their first day of class.  Now let me point out that Cubby, my red-haired five year old had already attended pre-school with our beloved, but now retired Mrs. Green.  Cubby is entering kindergarten next year, so she is only a couple months away from not being eligible for attendance at FCC.  

Now the twins have never, ever attended any kind of class.  They've been homebodies for all almost 3 years of their lives.  The nice thing is that they know the church really well and didn't get nervous, because nothing was unfamiliar to them.  They even knew a couple of the kids on the playground...including their cousin Eddie.  That's another story....

So here they are all dressed up to head out to their first day of pre-school class:

They had the best time...I mean they played, made an adorable craft, and ate french toast sticks for breakfast!  Sounds fantastic, right?  

Here comes the best and final part of my little story.  When I picked up the kids and was strapping them into their carseats, I asked Gigi, "Did you make any friends today?" She quickly said, "Yes." So I asked her, "What was her name?"  She thought for a moment and then responded, "Jamesy." For all of you who don't know, that's her twin brother.  Love it.   Yep, the person she has woken up and seen first every single day of her life is the "new" friend she made today.  So darn sweet.  

The Most Fun, Low Budget Art Project on the Planet!

My kids LOVE to do art projects.  

The two big girls especially seem to enjoy getting all the art stuff out, and creating  paintings, cards, and drawings.  We even have an "art center" at our house, which is usually a thrashed mess of papers, crayons, and other supplies.  At the moment, we cleaned and organized the whole area, and it makes me happy just looking at it!  Everything has its place.  The crayons have a labeled container, the scissors sit happily in a bucket just for them, and the coloring books stand neatly on a shelf.  Ah....the simple things that make a stay-at-home mom happy!

My four kids request permission to paint all the time.  And I usually turn them down.  Too messy. But it's not the paintbrushes that make painting so messy, just the paint.  So I decided to get rid of the pain altogether, and therefore create the most fun, low budget art project on the whole planet!  

I bought big, fat, fun paintbrushes at Lakeshore last time I was there. So yesterday morning, I grabbed those brushes, filled up some buckets with water from the hose, and yelled out to the kids, "Anyone want to paint?"  I don't think the kids even realized that the paint was missing.  They painted all over the sidewalks, and due to the heat, they constantly had a blank canvas on which to paint.

I'm sure I don't need to point out the obvious, but J.D. is painting a backhoe, as he is clearly telling you in this photo.

 

Little G, who is one of those eccentric artists who insists on painting in the nude, drew faces and rainbows.

A good time was had, by all!

The girls then moved on from the sidewalk to painting the column.  

The paintbrush is mightier than the sword.....well, at least Emma thinks so!

See what I mean?  Painting with water on a sidewalk is a fun, and practically free art activity.  My four kids loved it so much, they asked to paint some more today.  And I am not about to say no!

Giddy Up!

Today marks the girls' last day of five consecutive days of horseback riding lessons.  And I might also point out that today also marks the fifth day that all four of my young children woke up at 6:45 AM to get out the door by 7:30 AM to make it down to the ranch in time for an 8:00 AM lesson start time.  I'm not sure which one I am actually more proud of at this point: the fact that my oldest daughters can now independently ride a horse, or that we made it to the lessons on time....every single day!    So, you get the point, right? Today was a pretty big milestone, for a variety of reasons.  

Back to the horses.

Now my girls come from a long line of horsewomen.  My mom is a true lover of horses, riding from a young age and continuing to ride as an adult.  She passed on her love to me.  As a very young girl I remember my long legs dangling on the sides of our Shetland pony, Precious.  I learned to ride bareback, and so I had to learn balance pretty quick!  

We moved on up from Precious to Poco (the name fits, super slow and easy going), then Tequila (the horse that will forever be known for passing gas all the way down the stretch after rounding the last barrel), next was Cincinnati (a beautiful bay horse that was skiddish, but really exciting to ride), then Ginger (our family's favorite all-time horse, a gentle, sweet mare), and finally Sissy (an appaloosa that was quick on her feet and ready for anything).  

These past few years I had hoped the girls would start expressing an interest in learning to ride.  They've always enjoyed going down to the local horse arena, and walking along petting the boarded horses, asking about each one's name.  They've been on pony rides at the fair, and even a short trail ride this last summer in Julian, but they've never learned any skill or technique.  Not until this week, that is.

Only five days ago, Emma and Cubby were sitting atop their horses, nervous and wobbly, each with an adult at the reins, holding tight as they circled and circled the small arena.  Their trainer, Mrs. B., coached them in the basics of horse care, from the five reasons for brushing your horse prior to riding to care of tack, and proper saddling technique.  She provided them with tips into horse psychology, calling the girls the horse's mommies, indicating that the girls were "in charge" of the horse and had to show the horse that she was in charge.  

Over the past few days, the girls improved their skill and expanded their learning. They now ride independently, and have gained much more control over their animals.  I am so proud of them!

Now, while the girls were taking their lessons, the twins were also getting a solid lesson in ranch life.  They explored every nook and cranny of that property, and did quite a bit of work along the way, believe it or not!

What follows are pictures from our final day of lessons at the ranch.

First, the girls learned why and how to brush down their horse prior to riding.  This is Cubby with her lesson horse, the 19 year-old Appaloosa Arab mix, Dawn.

Emma is busy brushing down her 23 year old Quarter horse, J5.  

Poor Dawn has light colored eyes, so she wears a fly mask all the time to avoid irritation.  On the second day of lessons, Dawn's eyes felt so itchy that she rubbed her face hard against Cubby.  Cubby wasn't ready for that! She got bumped into that wood pole right there and is now pretty shy about going in between Dawn's head and the pole!

Mrs. B taught the girls to take care of their tack.  Here is Emma hauling out her saddle.

Here's the horsie line-up!  We had a beautiful view of Mt. Signal.

And then Cubby grabbed her saddle....

...and reins. 

Time to mount up!  Mrs. B is all about fostering independence.  The girls learned to mount the horse by themselves (with the help of the step due to their stature) on the very first day of lessons.

You go, cowgirl!!!

Yee-haw!!  Love that smile!

They practice by playing follow the leader, Simon Says, and other games. The girls barely knew they were taking a lesson, they just had fun.  

It's hard to tell in this photo, but Cubby is learning how to get the horse to trot.  She bumped along at a trot for only a few steps, but loved it....she's got the horse bug!!

On this last day of lessons, Danny came along to watch the girls while I watched the twins, for the most part.  

Gigi and J.D. loved this old tractor.  They were pretending to drive it, and were moving levers around, when the owner came up and asked....

...."Would you like to go for a ride?"  Oh yes!!  J.D., who doesn't like loud noises, was quick to say an emphatic, NO!

Then we moved on from tractor driving to an attempt to free the baby goats.  Thankfully, Gigi was unsuccessful.

And of course, for J.D., there was plenty of work to on the ranch.  By the way, I apologize for the hot pink hat, buddy.  I couldn't find your hat anywhere and I figured a pink hat is better than a red neck.

On top of the above poop raking that had to be done, there was plenty of hoeing to do as well.

Sometimes one tool is simply not enough.

That rake got a lot of action, let me tell you!  That ranch would be wise to hire this boy full-time.

And the morning's lesson ended on a happy note.  The girls were dusty and tired but pleased with  their accomplishments throughout the week.  Some tears were shed by Cubby when she said goodbye to Dawn.  We'll be back for more lessons in the fall, we promised. And we'll some apples for our new horsie friends.  And then it was time to mosey on into the dust-laden mini-van for the long trek back to our homestead.  We hope to see y'all real soon, now!