DINOSAURS

As  I was putting away the Christmas ornaments this morning, Ben and I started talking about his birthday party. He wants a volcano theme and I'll be honest, I am a little worried about what I can do with that. So I asked him if we could combine it with something. He responded with," Oh, you mean like soccer or something?" I told him I was thinking more like dinosaurs or something like that. He spend the next five minutes telling me the following:

"You know my favorite dinosaur, right? It's the Spinosauraus. It has sharp claws, powerful jaws, and it has a spine. It is the biggest and awesomest dinosaur. It can eat any kind of dinosaur. Well, if a crocodile is trying to get it, it uses it's claws to scrap it's side. It eats alligators. Wait. It doesn't eat alligators. It eats tiny dinosaurs and it eats Long-necks. It's teeth are not sharp. They are coin-sized. They grab it and shake it around and get some meat out. It will break the dinosaurs neck that it is eating. It throws it on the ground and the dinosaur is dead. Then he does something else. We're not sure why it has spines....."

"Soo...." I said, "We can make this a dinosaur and volcano party?"

"Yes. I want brown cake. Frosting on the side and in the middle. Then green frosting on the top covering the whole thing. Then, um, kind of like put brown, brown, brown stripes, then red shooting up, then brown going down. I want a round top on the Spinosaurus, then a long tail and a red eye. Put a long snout with it's mouth open. Make the teeth like this.....demonstrated. For the claws, put the arms sticking out and then put three claws- like this- curves his fingers- on each side. K mom? Okay? Put two of those guys on one side and one on the other, okay? Then we need a couple of black shirts and two pink shirts for the 'grils'.  We are all going to draw volcanoes in boy or gril colors. Then we are going to play with arrows, so make a target and stick it somewhere with tape. Then we can throw balls at it. Then we are going to draw some T-Rexes on plates and then make a frisbee. You can draw whatever you want on the front and whatever you want on the back. Then we will play a tiny bit of dinosaur soccer. The invitations will be volcanoes. The time will start at 'Four firty'. There will be games and treats and a pinata. They can be dinosaurs or volcanoes. And there is going to be a candy cane on the side of them....."

Oh. My. He kept going. And going. And going. But my fingers cramped up and I couldn't type anymore. Heaven help me that I get this party right.......:)

YES GIRL

The last couple of days, Ben and the kids have been enjoying asking Kate questions. Her answer? Always a head nod to the affirmative. The game starts with questions like,"Do you want some milk?" And quickly progresses to "Do you want to go to bed?" once the boys realize every answer out of her is the head nod "Yes!" This morning Ben went straight for the big guns, just to test her. The question was "Can I smack you on the face super hard?" She gave him a little smile and nodded that it would be okay. He put his arms around her and said, "Of course I would never do that!" But it's nice to know she would be up for it.;)

I love these kids and watching them with our little Kate melts my heart. They look out for her and cuddle her and she trusts them to take care of her. She is learning to tickle and tease and play chase while they are learning what a special responsibility it is to be an older sibling. Olivia knows what a special relationship she and Kate will have since two sisters always stick together. She comes home from school and asks to go get Kate up from her nap. She talks about how she's going to take her shopping when she is older. Yesterday she was very surprised when Kate called her "Sissy" for the very first time. It was cute. Kate and Nic's relationship has really been growing lately and I am surprised how often they seek each other out. She can rough and tumble him and he just laughs. But then he can cuddle her with all the lover and tenderness in his heart and enjoy every second of it. Ben and Kate are two little buddies. Ben gets her out of bed every morning and brings her downstairs to watch cartoons with him. Often he gets her breakfast and they eat together. He chases her and she screams around like something is going to eat her. He lets her play (aka destroy) in his forts and has taught her to build blocks. He is so patient and shows his love for her in everything he does. I love it!

HOMEWORK

Kitty was "helping" her Sissy with homework tonight......XO

GRATITUDE

We are starting something new this year for the month of November..... A gratitude tree! Sure, it's the 11th already but we can catch up. I am hoping that it will give us a visual reminder of all the many blessings we enjoy every single day. We cut out a million leaves last night and the kids practically jumped into the leaf basket when it was time to get started. Nick kept saying "I just have so many things I am thankful for!" BINGO! I am thinking this tree will work out nicely.;)

First leaves of the season:

Nick- The 3 Godheads
Olivia- The weekend!
Ben- Water world
Jenn- Chris' yummy Sunday breakfast
Chris- Dr. Pepper