Will is FIVE

Well, my baby is now FIVE years old. Every year we throw a party to celebrate the birth of our children. It's just a little celebration with their/our friends. This year Will wanted a pirate party - a fun theme! I bought little bandannas for the kids and we made sashes out of red fabric - a sort of pirate costume for them all to take home. Joe made an excellent pirate treasure map and the kids all got to go on a treasure hunt to find their treasure boxes. Once they found their box, they got to paint it. After it dried, they all got to pick out treasures to put in their box - fake gold coins, stickers, little jewels, and candy. Every year I've made a birthday cake for my kids. I really enjoy making cakes for them. This year Will wanted a pirate ship cake - AHHH. Well, anything is possible with the Internet and I was able to pull that one off..... :-)

My favorite part of his party was when everyone was singing Happy Birthday to Will. My eyes teared up as I realized how many people love our little boy. He has made some wonderful friends over the past couple of years and it made me realize what a special boy we really have. One of his biggest strengths is empathy. He is able to really feel when others are sad, scared, or just unhappy. He has such a loving heart and I can tell that he really feels for others in need. I know that is a special gift and God will really be able to use him in a special way when he gets older.

He's also an amazing little kid. While he has some fears, he's also pretty adventurous. He loves to ride his bike (with no training wheels!), his scooter, and we're working on his roller skates and skateboard. Recently, he and Lauren have been playing out in the backyard more. They've enjoyed the swings (he flies like crazy on the disk swing), the slide, and just being plain adventurous in the back yard. He loves roller coasters and sports. He's tried his hand at soccer and basketball this year. He even scored his first goal in soccer! We're also doing a lot of swimming this summer and Will has really enjoyed his swimming lessons!

This year has been a big year for growth in his academics, too. He's learned how to read and he can sound out most phonetically spelled words with ease. He's made some great progress on his cutting and coloring as well. It's been awesome to watch him become a little boy instead of a toddler. We just love our Will and we can't wait to watch him develop even more. As we look into his 5 year old year, we see Kindergarten in the future! While I'll miss him being home M-F, I know that he's going to love school. He's always enjoyed going to school and being with his friends. We're starting to see how important his friends are to him - and we continue to pray that he makes some good lifetime friends while he's in school.

Camping

This past weekend we went camping with three other families in our Life Group. We spent two nights at Zilpo Campgrounds in the Daniel Boone National Forrest. It was great! The weekend was filled with swimming in the lake, building sandcastles in the sand, fishing, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, and sleeping in tents (even through a thunderstorm!). The kids had a great time despite the many ticks that we had to pull off of them - Will was not a fan of the ticks! Will and the boys in the water. They had so much fun splashing each other and running around.

Working together to build a sandcastle.

Building a sandcastle with me - they really worked hard to build a "really big one!"

Roasting marshmallows. I think Will ate two or three s'mores that night.

Waking up on Sunday morning after the thunderstorm (they slept right through the entire thing). Will is showing me his glow stick.

Fishing.... Will was the only big boy that didn't catch a fish. He was so patient. Right before we left, he actually caught one, but it got away as he was reeling it in. Maybe next time!

More fishing

The group fishing. The fish were really biting and it was so fun to watch their little faces as they would reel in the fish.

Fishing with Hayden.

Lauren and her buddy Zachy.

Another favorite activity - riding bikes and scooters between the two campsites.

Lauren asking Tyler if he's going to McDonald's with us on Sunday. We all hit McDonald's on our way out on Sunday. It was a great weekend with great friends. We can't wait to do it again!

Graduation

Will graduated from preschool on Friday. He is such a big boy and we are so proud of him. He got excellent marks on his report card and he progressed in his fine motor skills! We're all ready for Kindergarten in the fall - after a nice and relaxing summer! All dressed up and ready to go!

Walking down the aisle with Avery (his good buddy) while all the mommies and daddies take pictures!

Waiting to start a song.

Our cutie!

Will receiving his certificate.

Will and Ms. Marsha - she has been a wonderful teacher this year - just a perfect fit for our little boy.

Will and Ms. Vicki - another wonderful teacher and a perfect fit for Will.

Will and his buddy Michael. This was after the "ceremony." Heather and I decided to take the kids to the park for a picnic. The kids had a great time and they got a lot of energy out!

Flowers

I wanted the kids to have their own flower pots this year so that they could learn responsibility and they could also learn a little more about plants. They got to pick out their own flower pots and their own flowers. They of course picked out the same things (Lauren likes to do what Will does....), but maybe we'll have a little more variety next year! Will planting his flowers.

Lauren playing in her dirt....

Planting with Grandma and Mommy.

Water, water, water.

Lauren taking her turn with the watering.

Gymnastics

I've posted some pictures of Will doing his Trampoline and Tumbling class, but since I'm in the Lauren's class with here I'm unable to take pictures.... Since my parents were here, they were able to take some pictures of Lauren doing her thing. She has really "progressed" in her gymnastics and she just loves to go to class. Her leo doesn't fit anymore and we didn't buy a new one since we're taking a break over the summer. She doesn't seem to mind not having her leo. Doing our straddle stretches.

Lauren doing her V sit. She loves to follow everything Ms. Robin does with her.

She's really holding herself up in this picture. She's getting so big!

Doing a forward roll on the balance beam.

She loves her trampoline time.

Grandpa and Grandma

My parents were able to come up and spend a week with us a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time with Grandpa and Grandma! The kids LOVE having their grandparents here and they always have so much fun with them. Since my parents are retired, they are able to come up a little more often. Here are some pictures from their visit. Milkshakes at Red Robin with Grandpa. There's a picture almost exactly like this with Bradley and Grandpa, too.

Pancake breakfast before Will's last day of school on Wednesday. He didn't know that McDonald's served pancakes....

We went to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Will's birthday (in June - mom and dad wanted to celebrate with him while they were up here). Lauren LOVED dancing on the TV's there. It was hilarious!

Driving the cars together.

Lauren on the helicopter. She just liked to sit on it - she doesn't like it when the things move!

Dad tried to hard to get her to sit in this car so she could get her picture taken, but she would not have it.... stubborn!

Our loot....

Happy Birthday Will (and mommy...). Will got a Bible for his birthday. This week he moves up to the Kindergarten through 2nd grade class at church. They need to bring their Bibles to church because they look up verses during their life group sessions. He's getting so BIG!

The new rope swing from Grandpa and Grandma! Lauren tried it out, but it's mostly for Will right now.

Flying high.... he LOVES this!

Some more swinging fun!

We had a great week!