Little #2 turns 6!

Happy birthday to our Little #2!

You have to use 2 hands to show how old you are now!  Your dad and I are so proud of the young boy you have become.  Your laugh is contagious, your wit is quick, and your love for your siblings makes my heart so thankful for the opportunity to see you interact with them.

Kindergarten is an adventure you have met head-on.  I am impressed with your ability to grasp concepts and master skills in math and reading.  Keep up the hard work and never stop learning.

Some of your favorite books include The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Geronimo Stilton Scholastic books, and any Lego Scholastic book.  You like to ride your bike, shoot Nerf guns, play an occasional video game, cook with me in the kitchen, and give your baby sister hugs.  (You are so sweet to her!)

For your birthday, you asked for a castle cake (and wanted me to copy Cackleford Castle from one of the Geronimo Stilton books we read.  I gave it my best shot and you were very excited.  Your second cake (yes, you had two birthday cakes for your party) was a two-tiered, tye-die cake that turned out amazingly well.  You helped frost that one and topped it off with about three inches of green spray frosting.  Needless to say, you had quite the sugar high after your party!

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We had friends and family join us for cake and ice cream (and presents) before heading to the Brunswick Zone.  You wanted to play laser tag, but when the party goers got there, the laser tag room was closed due to someone getting sick.  Bowling and arcade games were the replacement activities and everyone had a good time.

You rated your birthday a “10” on a scale of 1-10, so I think you had a great day!

We love you to the moon and back, buddy!

Mom & Dad

Here are your responses to the questions I ask you each year on your birthday:

  1. What is your favorite color? Green
  2. What is your favorite toy? Spy Gear (birthday gift from us, which included spy goggles, darts, noise distraction balls, and motion sensors)
  3. What is your favorite fruit? Peaches
  4. What is your favorite TV show? Electric Company
  5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pizza and Mac-n-cheese
  6. What is your favorite outfit? Shorts
  7. What is your favorite game? Jenga
  8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit by the Foot
  9. What is your favorite animal? Snake, Stingray, Lion, Cheetah
  10. What is your favorite song? Monster (by Eminem/Rhianna) And then you broke into song, “I’m friends with a monster that’s under my bed.”  You’re super interested in monsters, and the difference between good/evil.  That said, it’s not surprising that you’ve picked up on the refrain of this song as we’ve flipped through the radio stations in the car.
  11. What is your favorite book? The Hobbit
  12. Who is your best friend? Jack & Isaac (from school)
  13. What is your favorite cereal? Cap’n Crunch – the peanut butter kind
  14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Shoot the pretend bow & arrow that Grandma has.
  15. What is your favorite drink? OJ and soda pop & Sierra Mist (I don’t think you know that Sierra Mist is soda pop 🙂
  16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas & Halloween
  17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? “Myself 🙂 and my monkey”
  18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes, waffles & Cap’n Crunch (we rarely buy Cap’n Crunch, so it’s a treat for you when we do.)
  19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Pizza
  20. What do you want to be when you grow up? “An ice cream man so I can eat all of the ice cream!”
  21. What is your favorite movie? The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie

Jake has been extra busy at work, so his time with the kids has been limited. With the temps so low and snow piles so high, he opted to take the Big 3 Littles to a movie this afternoon.

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It’s Little #3’s first experience in a movie theater.

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He texted me these pictures and said,  “They’re so excited, they won’t let go of their tickets.”

Cars in “snow”

Thank you Pinterest…specifically frugalfun4boys.com

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Shaving cream and Hotwheels. We can’t go outside, so we’re pretending we are playing in the snow.

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Little #3 thinks it “smells like man!”

Morning art

Little #1 and Little #2 have an art fair coming up at school next month. They decided they wanted to paint pictures with watercolor paints. They sketched their pictures and then painted. It is so fun to see their imaginations at work.

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Not to be left out, Little #3 had her turn with finger paints and water colors.

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Science guys

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Science Fair at school today. The boys completed projects with their respective classes and presented their results. Little #1 will complete his own project next year, so we made sure to check out the older kids’ poster boards.

Little #2 built a clay boat and counted the number of pennies it held before it sank. Little #1 made hypotheses about what would happen to gummy bears placed in four different liquids – water, coffee, vinegar and OJ.

Christmas Day 2013

The Littles got up filled with excitement this morning!  They went downstairs and quickly found their stockings filled with an assortment of stocking stuffers and  new pj’s.  Once Jake and I came downstairs they started handing out gifts – finding the ones they picked out for me and begging me to open them.  My heart melted.  They didn’t want to open THEIR gifts, they wanted me to open mine.  (I told them I was excited to see what they picked out for me, but did convince them to open some of their gifts first.)  When I finally opened my presents, I found that once again, they each picked out something that was extremely thoughtful.  Little #1 knows I love elephants, so he chose an elephant calendar for my office wall.  Little #2 overheard that my hand mixer had seen better days, so he selected an amazing replacement one for me.  (I opened his present a day early because (1) he couldn’t contain his excitement and (2) he wanted me to use it for mixing up the batter for the cookies we made on Christmas Eve morning.  Little #3 apparently made a bee-line for the nail polish at Target when she went shopping with her dad and selected two nail polishes.  (She’s big in to having me paint her nails and then wants to paint mine.)  Little #4’s gift was a set of four mini-spatulas, which I have been secretly hoping would show up in my kitchen.  Four wonderful, thoughtful presents from my four Littles.

The gifts the Littles received were theme based this year.  I had heard about the idea of giving kids something they need, something they want, something to read, and we added giving them something to share among the four of them.  I wrapped each theme in similar paper and the kids took turns opening their themed gift.  I thought it worked quite well and would like to use the same idea next year.

Xmas at home 2013

After quiet/naptime, we loaded up the truck and headed for Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  Everyone was home for the afternoon/evening.  We had dinner as a family and then took a few group photos before opening presents.

It started with two:

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Two became seven:

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Add six more:

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And it gets crazy!

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The kids of course, thoroughly enjoyed opening their gifts.  Little #4 was delighted to play with the paper and boxes.

Sheck fam Xmas 2013

Christmas Eve 2013

Today was the start of our Christmas celebrations.  My parents went to Christmas Eve mass with us and then came over to the house for dinner.  They left just before we put he Shecklets to bed so the house could get prepped for Christmas morning.

Xmas Eve 2013

Christmas Eve baking

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Nana and Papa are coming over tonight after we all go to mass. The Shecklets are baking Papa’s favorite gumdrop cookies for dessert.  (Great Grandma Fran’s recipe.)

Lego Shecklets

The kids got a good laugh out of seeing themselves as Lego figurines tonight.

My first attempt at Lego-izing us had Little #4 symbolized as a pink stroller, but I like my second attempt below, better.  In reality, she hates wearing hats, but it’s winter (absolutely freezing right now!) and she has very little hair – so a hat it is!

Christmas 2013