Emily's birthday party

We celebrated Emily's 6th birthday with family on Sunday afternoon.  Emily was thrilled with her gifts, which included Lego Friends, Hello Kitty purse, personalized piano bag, books, crafts, a cash register and a cute new outfit.

We purchased space-themed plates/napkins/cups (not pictured), and Emily made all the wall decorations.

Emily found a Lego buddy in our international host student, Andjelka.

Frosting the cake

Emily has changed her mind so many times since she started "planning" her birthday party during Lincoln's party last May.  She talked about everything from rock star to Emily the engine to butterflies again.  However, she has had an intense interest in outer space for the last month or so.  I swear she has read every space book in the easy reader non-fiction section of the public library.  So, Emily finally settled on an outer space theme.  We checked out the star cake pans from the library again.  Emily made a miniature solar system that we covered in contact paper.  We even got special star & moon sprinkles.  I would not recommend black frosting to anyone, but it was the best choice for this one.  Emily helped me decorate.  Lincoln & Cousin Ryan helped with frosting clean-up.  Emily was thrilled with the outcome.  However, she ended up not even eating one bite of cake because she was afraid her teeth would turn black. :o)

Afterwards, Grandpa Boote gave horsie rides. :o)

 The boys also enjoyed racing plasma cars.

Emotions

Our homework assignment for Spanish class this week was to take pictures of different emotions to compile in a book.  The photos were too funny not to share.  Can you match the following emotions?

• feliz--happy
• triste--sad
• emocionado/a--excited
• enojado/a--mad
• cansado/a--tired
• nervioso/a--nervous

 

Lincoln's perspective

Lincoln still loves taking pictures with the camera.  Today it entertained him for 20 minutes while I practiced piano with Emily.  After paring down the 110 pictures he took (most of which were very blurry or repetitive), I put together a slide show of some of my favorites.  I think it's an interesting glimpse into his current perspective in life...

3 years + 5 months

Lincoln's big development this month was beginning to make /l/ sounds.  His name is now "Lincoln" instead of "Winkin'." :o)  It's funny listening to his tongue get tangled up as he tries real hard to say things correctly.  With both the /l/ and /r/ sounds coming in, I think it is much easier to understand what he is saying.

Lincoln is also officially completely potty-trained and accident-free.  He has even started kicking me out of the bathroom in order to do everything himself.  He still sometimes needs help pumping the soap and getting his underwear & pants back on the right way.  He is starting to realize that you don't have to completely remove everything from the waist down every time you sit on the toilet. :op

Speaking of clothes, the transition from sandals or bare feet to socks & shoes has been a bit tough for Lincoln.  Although not completely resistant, he was definitely not excited about having to wear both socks & shoes.  It's pretty much a given that as soon as you get in the house both come flying off before he even makes it out of the kitchen.  For awhile, that included stores and other places, too. :op  When removing his shoes he insists on completely undoing the velcro so you have to re-thread it every time you put his shoes back on (another reason why not to buy laced shoes).   He is also a bit particular in the order of dressing.  He much prefers sock-sock-shoe-shoe vs sock-shoe-sock-shoe.  What order do you put yours on?

Lincoln is going through a "cold food" phase much like Emily did at one point.  He prefers almost all his leftovers at lunch to be cold rather than reheated.  This includes pizza, noodle casseroles, fried rice & egg rolls, ham & potatoes, etc.  Blech!  He would also survive on fruit alone if you let him.  Sometimes that's the only thing he eats at a meal.

Lincoln had a mild stuffy nose for a good portion of this month.  While it didn't really run or require much wiping, his nose did get crusty and had some serious boogers.  I can't stand it and am notorious for cleaning noses out--especially at bathtime.  This was evident whenever I came after Lincoln with a Kleenex because he covered up his nose saying, "No, my nose is closed!  I want my boogers!"  Sometimes he would even throw a fit trying to take them back out of the Kleenex in order to put them back in his nose.  Silly boy!

Lincoln is mildly obsessed with the CD player in his room.  We have a collection of audio book CD's that he listens to at night.  He changes every night not because he gets bored with the stories, but just because he wants to be the one who actually changes the CD.  He wore out his first CD player and is onto a new (cheap) one. 

Emily & Lincoln have had a near-constant argument lately over nicknames.  Emily always calls Lincoln, "mister."  Lincoln insists that, "I'm not mister, I'm sweetie," which I'm sure he gets called a lot.  So they go back and forth.  Emily also takes joy in screeching "Lincoln Austin!" whenever she feels the need to reprimand him.  I very rarely have used his middle name.  This is partly because it really hasn't been required and partly because I think I feel guilty like I'm yelling at Austin.  I'm sure there will come a day, though...

Super shopper

Grocery shopping got a lot more fun for kids with the addition of some super-cute mini-carts at the Waverly Fareway.  Lincoln LOVES to go shopping with me now and wants to put everything in his cart, although it's usually full by the time we get past the produce section.  He's a great driver--even while eating a free cookie from the bakery in one hand.  I've heard complaints from others about the mini-carts being "ankle biters," but never really experienced it until I took both kids for two quick items the other day.  Emily ran into the back of my ankles four times in three aisles (and she didn't even have a cookie the first two times).  Now I try hard to only go grocery shopping during the school day!

P.S. Apologies for the lousy quality of the picture taken with my phone. :op

Balloon hat

Our international host student from Bosnia is back at Wartburg.  Austin was out of town for work, so the kids & I took her out for supper at the Pizza Ranch on Kids' Night.  They have an amazing balloon man who works the crowd every Monday night.  Lincoln loved his fancy hat!

Radish brain

Lincoln & I cleaned out more of the garden this afternoon and found a long-forgotten radish among the wildflowers.

Silver sparkle

I am a far cry from a fashionista.  The boots in our house are for wearing in the snow or rain.  I have never tried on a pair of jeggings (just the name is kind of creepy to me).  I usually don't buy trendy stuff for the kids either.  However, I've had a little fun with fall clothes shopping and got this cute little outfit for Emily.  I think she likes it. :o)

Thomas hat

We made a big trip to Waterloo this week to get all the necessary gear to survive another Iowa winter.  Lincoln picked out a new Thomas hat and has insisted on wearing it every time he goes outside.