Caedmon Turns 7!

We have a big seven year-old now! I can’t believe how time has flown. And we celebrated for an entire week.

The Thursday before Caedmon’s birthday, we invited two of our homeschool friends and their siblings (and Moms!) to go bowling with us. Oh, and we brought cookie cake.

We had a ton of fun with these friends and are so grateful they could celebrate Caedmon’s birthday with us.

Caedmon loves all things Minecraft these days, so of course he asked for a Minecraft birthday cake. It was my first time to use fondant, but I think I managed pretty well. We celebrated on Saturday, the day before his birthday.

We invited some friends and neighbors to come have cake and ice cream with us.

The kids had a blast, and Caedmon enjoyed his birthday celebration and gifts. And now, he’s a big seven year-old!

Oh, and this kid enjoyed all the birthday partying, too. She’s already planning her next party.

1st Grade and Mother’s Day Out

We did actually start 1st Grade and Mother’s Day Out. Our schools start early here, so we were actually in full swing by the second week of August.

When Caedmon started 1st grade, he was about to turn seven, had already lost two teeth, and loves all things Minecraft. And yeah, when you homeschool and it’s still blazing hot outside, you wear shorts and flip flops to school.

Honor is three and a half. She loves pink and purple, but is into superheroes too…thus the hand-me-down Captain America t-shirt she chose for her first day of class. With a bow, of course.

They are both doing well and are enjoying their classes!

Tales from Upstairs

Now that we live in a two-story house, I often send the kids up to their rooms and/or the playroom/guest room to play. (They’re not unsupervised, they’re just audio supervised.) Some of the things that I hear (and sometimes have to respond to) are interesting, or let’s be honest, just plain ridiculous. This is a chronicle of a few of those times.

*****

Sending Caedmon up to watch a movie on the guest bed for his rest time, I warned: “Don’t get up until I come to get you.”

“But what if my movie is over before rest time is over?”

“If you fast forward through all the slow parts and watch all the good parts of your movie before time is up, then have to go back and watch the slow parts again, that’s not my problem.”

(The lesson hasn’t been learned, by the way.)

*****

The kids were upstairs in their respective bedrooms for roomtime. (Roomtime is when they play alone in their rooms for a little while each day. It’s a wonderful practice.) Caedmon was told he must pick up his room before he was allowed to get other toys out to play. As this was not the news he wanted to hear, he proceeded to pitch an epic fit – behind his closed door. Before I could get upstairs to put a stop to the tantrum, I heard Honor yelling across the hall, “Caedmon! Stop your fit crying! You’re ok!”

It’s good to know the fullness of my gift of mercy is being passed down.

*****

While playing together upstairs:

Caedmon: Honor, my LEGOs are in the playroom, and I don’t want you to mess them up. So, I guess we can go in your room and have a tea party. *deep sigh*

Honor: YES!

*****

(A different day than above)

Caedmon: Honor, do you want to have a tea party?

Honor: YES!

Caedmon: Ok, but will you let me shoot all your stuffed animals with my Nerf gun if I have a tea party with you?

Honor: No, that’s not fair!

Caedmon: PLEASE?!

Honor: Ok, you can shoot them.

There’s a heavy price to pay for a decent tea party around here.

Caedmon Turns 6!

Caedmon was quite specific about his birthday. I have no idea where he gets it.

Last year, Caedmon had a full-on friend party. This year for his “friend party,” Husband took Caedmon, two friends, and their dads to see Planes, followed by ice cream. It was so much easier than the big party, and they had a blast. But we couldn’t skip celebrating on the day.

Caedmon wanted a Monsters, Inc. cake. So, that was our theme. After he went to bed on the eve of his birthday, I finished his cake and Husband and I decorated.

(I could not get those 6’s to stay straight!)

Caedmon was greeted by this when he woke up.

And was surprised to see this in the kitchen.

I also picked up Monsters, Inc. balloons, but managed not to get any pictures of them, somehow.

M3 joined us to celebrate, and we started with gifts.

(Yes, College Game Day was on during the gift opening.)

I think it’s safe to say that Caedmon loved his gifts from everyone!

Then, it was time for cake and ice cream.

Y’all know I agonized over this cake. At first, Caedmon insisted that he wanted a Mike Wazowski cake…not just with Mike on it…one that was shaped like (and looked like) Mike. There’s no way I could’ve done that. So I convinced him that a round cake with green frosting and characters on top would be sufficient.

I hadn’t let Caedmon see his cake while I was making it, so he was surprised to see the finished product. And he loved it.

But he was even more surprised to see the inside.

Then, Uncle M3 brought out his gift. Laser tag guns! Of course they had to be tested immediately.

And Honor needed in on the action.

We went to Chick-fil-A for lunch and spent the afternoon watching football and playing with army men. It was a good day.

We had so much fun celebrating our big six year-old!

Knock Knock…

Husband has been trying to teach the kids the fine art of knock knock jokes. I’m not sure that it’s going very well.

I don’t think Caedmon really understands the “punny” part of the joke. In fact, I’m quite sure he doesn’t. Most of the time, Husband’s attempts to tell (and then have Caedmon reciprocate) knock knock jokes ends up with Caedmon answering some sort of “eyeball” and laughing hysterically.

Eyeballs are funny, right?

The situation got even further complicated when Husband introduced Honor to the time-tested, “Guess What?” “Chicken Butt!”

And then we all laugh uncontrollably because hearing “Chicken butt” come out of Honor’s mouth is…well, hilarious. And I do not have the parenting skills to not laugh at that.

The problem is that they are now getting them mixed up. As I was getting ready for church Sunday morning, Honor came and knocked on the bathroom door. I asked, “Who’s there?” (We do like to at least try to teach manners around here. Sometimes.) Her response was, “Chicken butt!”

We’re really going to have to get this straightened out.

The Army Man Principle

Recently, some of our neighbors were approved to be foster parents. They are a young couple with one child less than a year old.

Less than 24 hours after receiving their foster parenting approval, they accepted three children into their home for emergency placement. They instantly went from having one infant, to four kids up through early elementary.

Overwhelmed would probably be an understatement. At least, it would be for me.

I asked if we could bring some toys over – toys that Caedmon was ready to part with. She readily accepted the offer. Three older kids with only baby toys was going to get old quickly.

So I talked with Caedmon, and we decided he would look through some toys during his roomtime and choose some to give them. We periodically donate things, so this wasn’t a new concept for him. But I knew it might be hard, giving toys to kids we’ll see playing with those toys. And maybe playing with those toys again, but leaving them at their house. But he was willing, and knew I wouldn’t make him give anything he didn’t want to.

I handed Caedmon a box before roomtime, and let him choose some things on his own. After roomtime was over, I went up and checked out the box. In it were some Hot Wheels cars and a few other things. But there were also these army men.

Caedmon loves his army men. He plays with them on a daily basis. We have tanks, airplanes, helicopters, and all sorts of “army” things. He’s asked for more for his birthday. He could spend hours playing with them. So I was surprised to see some in the giveaway box.

I asked Caedmon if he was sure he wanted to give the army men. He quickly replied, “Yes. I have a lot. I can give them some to play with.” Then he walked over and added a helicopter to the box.

And just like that, with a quick reply and kind heart, my son spoke truth into my life.

While it’s true that Caedmon will not likely miss that handful of army men, and he’s (highly) likely to acquire more in the future, that wasn’t what he was thinking about when he chose to share them. He thought about the boy who was living in a new house with no toys of his own to play with. He realized that something he enjoyed could be a blessing to someone else. And he just did it.

We give and donate things all the time. But it’s usually things that we don’t use anymore, don’t need, or just plain don’t want. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But how many times am I guilty of not sharing something because it’s something I truly love? I’m not talking about the chocolate hidden on the top shelf of the pantry. I mean other stuff. Stuff that might affect my comfort. Or my time. Or my ability to live in my nice little world surrounded by my favorite things.

My son both humbled and made me proud that day. And reminded me that Jesus told us to have faith like a child for probably more than one reason. That pile of army men is so much more than just a pile of little plastic toys. Each time I pick up one of these little guys (or step on one in the dark), I will be reminded of the Army Man Principle…to give because it blesses others, not because it’s comfortable for me.

Camping & Girls’ Weekend

This past weekend was the 2nd Annual Three-Generation Campout for the guys, and Girls’ Weekend for Honor and me.

The guys left on Friday to head to the campground. They got set up and ready for a weekend of fun.

(All of the camping photos were taken by Husband. Thanks, Babe!)

Meanwhile, Honor and I picked up Taco Bell and went to have tires put on Husband’s car. Yay! Honor got to stay up past her bedtime and entertain other customers in the waiting area. She had a blast. After we got home and Honor finally got to bed, I ate ice cream in bed and watched a movie.

Saturday, the guys woke up super early and went fishing, where Caedmon caught this whopper.

They also went canoeing. Caedmon was a little unsure about that adventure, but he actually enjoyed himself, though he was a bit uptight about it.

Honor and I watched cartoons together and had a little bit of a lazy morning. Then, we went out to the campsite to drop off supplies, have lunch, and hang out with the guys.

We tried swimming in the lake, but Honor was having none of it. She kept asking to go to the pool to swim, poor girl. So we went back to the campsite and played some more.

Caedmon rode his bike while Poppy and Honor walked along behind.

Honor and I left the guys at the campground and went home to the air conditioning. We hung out and watched some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Doc McStuffins, which are her current favorites. After she went to bed, I read a big ol’ chunk of my book club’s monthly book. I haven’t stayed up late reading just for fun in a long time!

The guys ended up going to the movies to see Monsters University. Some camping trip! It was perfect though, since we’re gearing up for Disney in the fall. Except that I wanted to take Caedmon to see it. Because I want to see it, too.

My motives are pure, y’all.

That’s ok, I’ll take him to a different movie. One that I really he wants to see.

Sunday morning, Honor and I were just getting up and around when I called to see when Husband thought they’d be home. They were 15 minutes away. They’d gotten up early and gone fishing one last time before they loaded up to come home.

So, they got home, we unloaded and put stuff away, I started the laundry, and sent the guys to the showers. We spent the rest of the day being as lazy as possible. It was great.

We had a fun, busy weekend. And I’m looking forward to another one!

Mr. Baseball

It’s officially summer baseball season. This is Caedmon’s first year to play baseball.

We’ve had a few practices get rained out, but the practices we’ve had have been fun and I think Caedmon’s learning.

Here, he was getting some batting coaching from Coach A.

And here? Yeah, he was filling his glove with dirt.

When you’re five, you just can’t pay attention at second base all the time.

Our first game was on Saturday. The chaos of warm-ups.

The coach brought some eye black for the kids. They were loving it. And doesn’t he look so big? Where did my baby boy go?

Honor wore her brand new baseball shirt. She was a hot mess. The game was during nap time (and started late), so she was in rare form.

The first inning, Caedmon played right field.

He got to bat in the first inning, too.

(In this league, half the team bats in the 1st & 3rd innings, the other half bats in the 2nd & 4th innings. And all kids rotate positions and must play an infield position at least one inning. The coaches pitch to the kids, and if they strike out, they get to hit off a tee. No official score is kept, but, um, unofficially, we won this game 9-7.)

Second inning, Caedmon got suited up to play catcher. I think he was kind of excited.

He was about swallowed up by the catcher’s gear, but he looked so cute. Ahem, I mean, handsome.

Meanwhile, Honor was feelin’ sassy. Everybody at the ballpark was fully aware of it, too.

The other innings, Caedmon played outfield. He got to bat again, too.

It was hot and long, but Caedmon had a blast.

And that’s a good thing – we’ve got 10 more games left to go!

I’m thankful for the four (yes, four!) dads who are giving up their time to coach these kids and wrangle them at practices and games. And for the big sisters who come and help manage the dugout, keeping the batting order going and helping gear up the pitcher and catcher. I am thankful for their sacrifices and baseball wisdom. Because there’s no way I would know what to do about any of it!