Happy 6th Birthday, Karl!

My baby turned six today, and, as per our custom, the birthday boy started off the day with a pile of presents to open and doughnuts for breakfast. (I'm not sure how the bakery run became part of our celebrations, but we're not going to change a good thing!)

See that yucky Star Wars Rancor? I hid Karl's presents in the trunk of my car, and for weeks every time I opened the trunk that nasty creature would scare me half to death. If you're wondering what the thing on top is, it's a reading light that Laura gave him, so he can read in the car when it's dark, just like she always does.

Yummy doughnuts! Note to Dad: Laura is your biggest fan. She chose to skip the doughnuts because she knew we got some of the cinnamon bread you baked last night. She ate four slices of cinnamon toast and a carmel roll.

One of Karl's gifts was a regulation-sized football. Now he can throw just like a pro!

When asked what he wanted to do today, Karl said, "Well, I want to wake up and see all the presents on the table and have doughnuts for breakfast, and I want to work on my quilt and have macaroni and cheese for lunch at Oma and Opa's [he does this every Tuesday], and I want to go to McDonald's for dinner!" And so he did.

Happy Birthday, Karl. You are a wonderful little person, and we're so lucky you're ours.

Justin's First Birthday and an Early Thanksgiving

The birthdays just keep coming around here. Today we went to Angie and Jason's to celebrate Justin's first birthday.

Mom and Aunt Carolyn

Enjoying the sunroom: Dan, Matt, Dad, Mom, Aunt Carolyn, Wayne, and Peggy.

Cousin buddies Justin and Wyatt

The bigger kids got to play outside (Thank goodness for nice November days!): Colin, Karl, Damon, Luke, and Laura

Justin is about to discover how tasty chocolate cake is!

After we left Angie and Jason's, we headed over to Pam and Fred's for an early Thanksgiving dinner with Tanya, Jeff, the girls, and Barb and Gord. We only got one decent picture because the kids' moods were a little iffy by this time...

Here's Aly, Laura, and Emily.

An Evening with Eight Kindergarten Boys

Karl had his friends over yesterday to help him celebrate his upcoming sixth birthday. They're all such nice boys, but I learned quite quickly that I had to have activities planned for every minute, because the moment we finished a game they would head straight for Karl's stash of light sabers and blasters, and the house became a full-out war zone. Watching Karl with his friends still amazes me, since I never had a little brother and am much more familiar with the childhood tendencies to carry around baby dolls and color. Apparently Laura knew very well what this birthday party would be like, because she never considered staying around; she spent the evening at Pam and Fred's, where they have her "two basic needs-- PBS television and books."

Each of the boys made his own pizza for dinner. This was fun because it took up a goodly amount of time.

While the pizza was baking, we played party games.

All the party guests, going around the table starting from the left: Ty, Nick, Montgomery, Ben, Tony, Karl, Mason, and Austin.

It's funny how excited the kids were to watch Karl open his gifts.

I didn't have an activity planned for the boys while I got the cake ready (meaning: take the cake out of the bakery box, stick a candle in it, and unwrap the cake plates), so the boys took the opportunity to reignite their light saber battles. We made them check their weapons before they could sit down for cake!

Laura's party will be in a couple weeks. We're going to sit around the kitchen table and decorate Christmas cookies. Maybe giggle a little. It will be very pleasant.

Stay tuned for Tuesday: That's Karl's big birthday day!

Kicking Off the Birthday Season

Today was the official start of the holidays for Laura and Karl, as we celebrated birthdays today with Aly (November 3rd) and Emily (November 26th). Laura (December 6th) and Karl (November 24th) had a great time with the Schneider half of their Meissner cousins (confused yet?).

Laura(8), Aly(7), Karl(6), Emily(5). Since everyone has a different cake preference, Tanya and Jeff wisely brought an assortment of cupcakes.

Laura's candle was stubborn, and wouldn't go out!

Finally, time for presents! These poor kids had to pose for pictures with the first ones, since they were from Steve and Megan (in South Dakota) and we had to get pictures.

Yay! Jammies and slippers!

Karl had been waiting to perform for this party, because he knew Aunt Tanya plays guitar too, so the party guests got the full run-down of Karl's repertoire: "Hot Cross Buns," "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

Laura played "O Christmas Tree" and "How Much Wood Can a Woodchuck Chuck."

The rapt audience.

The kids sneaked in a quick game of freeze tag before the girls had to go home.

And here are Laura and Karl after their baths tonight. Thank you for the cute pajamas, Steve and Megan!

Laura's Top Ten Favorite Things

Last night we had parent-teacher conferences, and one of Laura's teachers handed us a list that Laura made of her top ten favorite things. She thought they were so hilarious that she had to share them with us. I'm sure you can guess many of them, but here they are, in descending order:

#10. Beds

Laura, not being a morning person, often has trouble leaving her "comfy comfy bed" to get ready for school every day. Her bed is also her favorite place to read.

#9. Wrapping Paper

Why wrapping paper, you ask? Because we all know that the best part of anything is the anticipation, and wrapping paper is what makes getting presents so fun--it makes it a big surprise!

#8. Christmas Trees

"Because they're pretty, and it means Christmastime is here!" This is a picture of our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve last year, after the kids were asleep and all the presents were set out.

#7. Sprinkles

#6. Maple Syrup

Anyone who knows Laura knows how much she loves maple syrup, and sprinkles are found on some of Laura's favorite foods, like pancakes and doughnuts. Last year on Valentines Day we had waffles with lots of whipped cream, maple syrup, and sprinkles. Laura was thrilled.

#5. Perkins

So if a girl loves maple syrup and sprinkles, it's only natural that she would gravitate to Perkins. Luckily she has grandparents who also love Perkins, and parents who are willing to go there every week to indulge her need for Rainbow Pancakes (read: lots of sprinkles and maple syrup). Laura discovered Perkins at a young age, as evidenced by this photo from December 11, 2005, when Laura had just turned four.

#4. Movies

"Clifford's Really Big Movie" was the first film that Laura saw in the theater. She was two years old, and hated it because Clifford was not as sweet on the big screen as he was on his PBS television show (this picture was taken before we went in to see it). Laura kept referring to the movie as "that angry Clifford show" and didn't want to see a movie again for a long time. Luckily, she's recovered her love of movies to such a degree that they made her top ten list!

#3. Books

There's never been a time in Laura's life (seriously; her WHOLE life) that she didn't love books. No surprise here! Last summer, she camped out with me in the St. Paul library while we waited for Karl, who was across the street at the Science Museum in a class.

#2. The Mall of America

"It has a waterpark nearby, it has an American Girl store, and Nickelodeon Universe."

And here's Laura's absolute favorite thing:

#1. Waterparks

Here we are at the Waterpark of America last summer. Laura likes any kind of waterpark: indoor, outdoor, large, or small. They're her favorite things in the world!

Halloween 2009

Halloween was extra fun this year, since it landed on a Saturday and we decided to celebrate Dad's and Lamiae's birthdays too.

Last year Laura was a leopard. This year she was a pink leopard, and I wore her cat ears from last year so we could be both be cats!

Karl was a dragon this year.

Cousin trick-or-treaters: Karl, Laura, Colin, Luke, and Baby Justin.

The kids had a meeting with the scary clowns (a.k.a. the Hageman twins) during trick-or-treating.

We walked down 11th Street, then went by our house on our way to 12th Street, when Laura decided to just go home because she said she had enough candy (can you believe this child is mine?!?). When the rest of us got back home, Laura had washed off her makeup and put on her pajamas! Mom and Angie were nice enough to get dinner ready while Matt, Connie, and I were out with the kids.

Lamiae just got back from Morocco on Thursday, so she was very excited to dig in to some crescent roll hotdogs and chili!

After dinner we had an impromptu music recital. Karl played "Hot Cross Buns" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb." He had so much fun performing that he also demonstrated some of his warm-up exercises.

Laura never turns down a chance to play some her piano pieces.

And, not to be outdone, Colin demonstrated his rock star moves with the Hannah Montana guitar.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Laura remarked at bedtime that she doesn't remember Halloween ever being so much fun! It was fun, but now I have the enormous task of eating all that candy (because it's always up to me, as I seem to have failed to pass on the chocolate gene). Hope everyone had a great weekend!