Soccer, Pirate Party 2.0, and 19 lbs!

After a year hiatus from organized anything for Michael (remember the dance class disaster?) we put him in soccer. I'd say he's doing okay. He loves helping the teacher and kicking his ball. He even follows the fun warmups and games. However, if the directions for a game take longer than 20 seconds, he's outta there with his soccer ball. And probably the second half hour of class is stuff like that. He just loses interest when there is so much to see and do! I think he'll settle in, and I know he loves it. Jacob really wishes he could play too, he's our ball man (whereas Michael has always loved cars; Nicole likes play people/animals)Nicole had her Pirate Party today! Can't get enough of pirates around here. Her bday isn't until the 26th, but we'll be in Mt. Airy aka Mayberry (the birthplace of Andy Griffith and setting for the Andy Griffith Show) then for their "Mayberry Days." Should be awesome. Anyways, we started out coloring pirate ships and then listened to a fun recording of this book "How I Became A Pirate."We invited Nicole's friends from and they will all be in Nicole's grade in school. We were actually missing two girls who couldn't make it. I LOVE how big the group is of girls her age. And even better, how nice they all were- not a single fight/crying, none of the excluding of others you might find at this age, and just general sweetness. A wonderful bunch of gals!After the book, I told them we were going to go on a treasure hunt and they were all so excited to look at the genuine treasure map! (actually had nothing to do with the hunt but was fun to put the clues on; I thought I did the crayons justice :-) The girls each took turns reading clues and opening them. Here's Nicole reading the first clue.We had 6 clues and each clue had some stuff like pirate dressup (necklace, bracelet, bandana), pirate sticker scenes, or vittles (candy). The girls loved dressing up like pirates the most!

Anna had quite the fashion sense and after I put her bandana on, she put her headband artfully on top.

Off to the next clue! Today was rainy, so I had them going up and down the stairs for each clue! They each took turns, and were sweet to point out who hadn't had a turn yet. Michael, as you can see, was just happy to come along. The "treasure" was enormous lollipops in different flavors and shapes.

Michael with his pirate paraphernalia. Nicole and Michael were even watching Muppet Treasure Island to "warm up" for the party.One of the sweetest parts of the party was when we opened presents. The girls each gave Nicole a big hug and she said thankyou after each gift. So lovely when girls get along :-)Nicole wanted a pirate cake, so I made a ship (cut the two 8" rounds in half, glue together with frosting, refrigerate to harden while keeping cake on side, then frost outside of ship in position). The oars are tootsie rolls, rails masts and cannons are pirouette wafer sticks, rolos for booty, whoppers for the cannonballs, kit kat for benches, and chocolate graham cracker for the helm. Oh and a mini ice cream cone for the nest. And all the leftover candy for mommy :-)I let each of the girls pick what piece they wanted and that was a big hit. Nicole went for the Rolos.We ended up eating a LOT of cake and had so much fun! Arrgggghhhh!Jacob had his 18 month checkup this week, growing just fine and still on the sweet small side. He's 19lbs 12oz (1st %) so he's still tiny tiny. But I think it makes him super fast and also so fun to snuggle. He is actually a great eater, so we feel fine about it. He's 31.75" long (34%) and his head circumference is 18" (7th %). What's he like these days? Like I said, he is a ball boy! He loves to kick and throw balls like no child of mine has before! Kicking balls is his favorite. He plays right along with the big kids and wants to play everything they do. He's also experimenting with getting attention from his siblings by making a fist and drumming on their heads. While this works to get attention, we're trying to help him learn this is not the kind of attention he wants. I think as he learns to talk more that will be easier for him. His speech therapy has helped so much, and to see the difference from when he was way way behind at each checkup, to now where I can mark off the indications that his speech is totally normal for his age...that is a great relief! Overall, he is still the sweet piece of heaven he's always been- so very loving, kind, curious, fun and with those long eyelashes and blue eyes to steal your heart :-)