Walking To School

Because Haley and Abby's school is only about a mile away, we try and walk to school more often than not.  It means having to get out the door a bit earlier than if we drive, but the time walking is so precious to me.  It takes us about 20 minutes and we just walk and chat and enjoy small details of God's creation that we would miss if we were driving by.  Seth has always ridden in the stroller, but he has started walking lately, which is fun.  And, when I say that they walk, I mean they run, balance, skip, hop, you name it, they do it! 

As we have been walking to school, we have developed all these little rituals.  One of the 4th grade teachers also walks to school most days, and we kind of judge how we are doing, time wise, by where we are when he passes us.  There is a beautiful church with a courtyard that we cut through.  We always stop there and smell roses and compare which colors smell better and if the buds smell better than the open roses.  There is a chain blocking off the church parking lot that the kids always run and jump over.  On the way home from dropping the girls off, Seth and I always stop and say hi to a the llama and goat that live at a house near the school.

Last year we frequently found money when we were walking to school, so this year we decided to collect it all in a jar, and see how much we have by the last day of school.  So far we have 87 cents!  Also, we are tallying how many days we walk and how many we drive, so we can look back over the year and hopefully see that we walked WAY more than we drove.  So far, so good.  We'll see what happens as it starts to get colder:)

Seth Is 4!

Oh my goodness, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted anything.  This last month was so busy, busy, busy.  Too busy.  I'll post more about that later.  Today I am writing about Seth's 4th birthday.  On Saturday my sweet boy turned 4, which is just so crazy to me.  My kids are 4 and almost 7!  How on earth did that happen? 

Anyway, for Seth's birthday he wanted a pirate party.  He was very specific and adamant about who he wanted to invite to his birthday party.  I love planning birthday parties and this one turned out especially cute and fun.  I wasted a ton of time making up a little rhyme and finding a "pirate-y" font to go on his invitations, especially considering that people were just going to recycle them!  But, they turned out super cute.  We had his party in the afternoon so we had lots of time to get ready/set-up.  My sweet Haley helped me ALL DAY, always coming back to me saying "now what can I do" (don't you wish kids would always do that?)!  Oh, and as we were planning UPS delivered a package, which I think is the first time any of them have gotten one!  Turned out it was a cowboy hat from Grammie Lori (she had ordered it off the internet), and it was a hit!

Once the backyard was all set-up with a treasure chest full of goodies, 5 buckets of buried treasure, some really fun water ball things in the water play table, a pirate hat decorating table and a plank walking over a pool (complete with alligators), Seth's buddies started to arrive.  The kids all had a great time and Seth loved having his friends over (until about 15 minutes before the party was over, when he told me he wanted everyone to leave!).  The foam swords were definitely a hit, as were the water ball things in the water play table.  Carey came out with his guitar and played a cute little pirate song that our kids learned at preschool so I could drag out the "dig for treasure" buckets.  The kids LOVED digging through the sand and finding the treasures hidden in it.  A few of them really kept at it!  Oh, and Uncle Noah and Aunt Kellie totally surprised us and showed up dressed in pirate gear, which was AWESOME!

After all the kids went home, Seth opened his gifts.  Then he had chicken nuggets for dinner (his request)!  It was a fun special day and I know he loved it!

Cowboy hat from Grammie Lori

Seth practicing "walking the plank"!

Grammie Lori, Seth, Colin and Miles

Thank you Dollar Tree for the awesome foam swords!

The kids loved it when Carey played his guitar.

Digging for treasure.

Aunt Kellie and Uncle Noah were so fun (so was Poppa Phil).

How cute did the cake turn out (this picture was taken before I realized I had only put 3 candles on it)!  Abby made the sail!

Seth and his buddies enjoying the cake:)

First electric guitar AND first amp!  He LOVES them!