Fun times and the PIRATE PARTY

One scorching hot day, I took the kids to a bounce house (LOVE groupon deals that make it cheap!) Jacob played in the ball pit.
Jacob is the ball man- it was his first word and he hasn't turned back. He actually loves to kick the ball and shows an ability for soccer that is surprising!
Of course when other kids kept coming into the area he had to hold the ball to keep it from others.
Michael sliding down the BIG slide!
Nicole squealing her way down too! Both Nicole and Michael went down this for an hour. I'm always amazed at how long they can play at a bounce house without getting exhausted!
The "Spiderman" was the hardest one of all and Nicole could do it! Several older kids couldn't make it but Nicole figured it out and got all the way to the enormous slide at the top!
Michael wanted to get up SOOOO badly and kept trying again and again. I've never seen such determination and perseverance in the face of impossible odds. Here he made it up to the third level of webbing, which was astonishing- the space in between is taller than he is so he has to lever his feet into the webbing on the sides and use only upper body strength. He was so sad to not make it up higher, but at this rate it won't be long! His shirt is wet from the drinking fountain, not sweat :-)
Trying to show you a pic of Nicole climbing up...not too clear.
The favorite movie recently has been Fievel Goes West. We've had it forever but they just "discovered" it. I found Nicole like this watching the movie during quiet time the other day. The cowboy hat is from our reunion last summer with the Ostlers. So cute. Tonight she told me she wished she were a mouse :-) I told her mice can't go to preschool and she changed her mind.
Michael had his PIRATE birthday party yesterday! He is turning three years old on Wednesday! He had two friends over (at this age just a few kids works great) and we started out coloring pirate maps and pirate ships. I then had a book with CD about pirates that ended with our first clue that we could put on a treasure map I made. The map took us to the soccer goals in our backyard (pirate hats for everyone!), to the front door (a few doughnut holes to munch on there), to the grill on the back porch (pirate stickers we played with for a bit), to the bikes in the garage (Velcro monster toys to take home), to the rock pile in the backyard where we had water balloons as the treasure!
On the way to the front door clue we saw a caterpillar! All of the kids gathered around and were very excited to see it. Once we were done looking at it, we said, "on to the next clue!" and the kids all started off to the door. One of Michael's buddies had completely forgotten about the caterpillar and squashed it as he walked by. So sad!
Playing with the pirate stickers at the grill clue and looking at the treasure map!
Nicole and Michael giving you their best "argghhhh!"
Note the pirate flag in the background! (Don't worry, we took it down after the party. One can only imagine what the neighbors were thinking...)
I found this praying mantis outside while setting up the treasure hunt, so Jim put him in a little aquarium habitat and he's already feasted on a few bugs Jim caught (including a fly; who knew that these guys could catch a fly?). I've kindly asked Jim to release the poor guy, so hopefully he'll be free soon. Jim asked what we should name him and I said "Enos." Cuz he likes to pray. :-) So lame I know.

Here is a video from all of these different days. My favorite is when Jacob is trying to pick up both balls so he can keep them from the other kids that come in. He was trying SO hard to pick up two balls at once- I only started taking video after he'd been at it for a while!