The big 5!

Last month Simon turned 5!

Johnathan and I agree that 5 is a big year. We wanted him to have a great time, and we asked him what he would want to do. After Malachi's birthday in November, Simon really wanted a Lego Movie party. We told him that he had to do something else. After some consideration he decided that he wanted an Alien birthday. Some friends of ours asked us what movie to show their daughter because she didn't know what an alien was. 

Keeping that in mind, and the fact that some five year old's parents wouldn't even say the word "dead" in front of their kids, we made a kid friendly party. Johnathan designed the party around the idea that the kids were the aliens and they crash landed on Earth. They made eye scanners and then they had to go to our yard and find the parts of their ship that fell from the engine. Then they had to rebuild the engine. The kids had a great time at the party and just like his brother's friends, Simon's friends were disappointed when the games were done. 

Simon's last year was pretty great for him. He finished out his time in the Philippines and enjoyed his summer break in the  U.S. Then in the fall of last year something major happened. He started pre-school! He's really enjoying it too! He's made some close friends, and is enjoying learning. It's amazing what he's learning. He has brought some homework home lately and one of the (hand made) pages that the teacher sent had multiplication on it. 

He's enjoying Jamaica. He loves going to school, and can't wait to go to the big school with his brother in a few months. 

Bad Mommy

I have been a bad blogger. That, I only feel a little guilty about. But one thing I've been fairly good at on this blog is chronicling my children's birthdays. However, last November someone turned 9 and I failed to document the occasion.

As I sit here and consider the fact that my first born had his last single-digit birthday I get a bit weepy. I so clearly remember much of his early life. His birth was quick and fairly easy. I bawled for 20 minutes straight on his 1st birthday, he thought that was quite funny. His second birthday was surrounded by friends his age, and friends our age. His third was our last in Dallas, though we didn't know it at the time and he had a balloon filled time with his friends. His fourth was our first in the Foreign Service and he loved his fish pinata. His fifth birthday was his first in Costa Rica and surrounded by friends from multiple nations. His sixth celebration was a spy party; he and his friends loved their mission. His seventh party was a haunted-house party that he and his friends delighted in. His eighth birthday was his final in Manila and he celebrated with friends at Lazer Xtreme.

His last single-digit birthday was his first in Jamaica and was a Lego Movie party and movie night. Johnathan did a great job of planning games that the kids really loved. In fact, after it became apparent that we were done with games the children protested. They were not satisfied! Malachi really enjoyed it and that's what matters most.

Malachi had a big ninth year, and an amazing start to his tenth. He finished out second grade at International School Manila. He had a great year with Mr. O'Neel; we all agree that second grade was a major success. He quite enjoyed his time in the US visiting with many friends and family, and enjoying lots of great American food. The move to Jamaica wasn't overly easy, as he was missing his friends in the Philippines. But it wasn't overly hard. This is possibly the easiest transition we've had. His new teachers and principal noticed some difficulties he had in school that other teachers and principals have noticed. We went forward with some testing and figured out how to better serve Malachi in his educational endeavors. His second semester this year has been amazing. He's doing so much better in school, his teachers and principal have only good things to say about him. It's been so great these last couple of months.

In November he's going to be ten. TEN!!! I can't believe my first baby is soon leaving his single-digit living. I'm going to ignore this part of my life as long as possible. Starting right now.

He came out screaming

and he barely stopped for the first hour.

He was my most difficult pregnancy and delivery. And he’s possibly been the most challenging to rear so far. 

But the effort has been worth it. These last four years with Simon have been so full of joy.

Simon has proven himself to be creative, intelligent, energetic, violent (for a bit of balance and humility), and loves his family.

He's already great at building Lego's, playing with play-doh, coloring, and cutting paper, among other things.

We’ve celebrated a birth in Virginia, two birthdays in Costa Rica and another two in the Philippines.

He’s held a steady favorite color of green for quite a while.

As well as a love for airplanes. Luckily John made this years cake, and it turned out much better.

We’re so happy that Simon is in our lives and we look forward to many, many more birthdays to come.

A Haunted House in December

When we asked Malachi in October what kind of party we wanted for his birthday he said “Halloween.” It was before Halloween, and neither of us thought he would stick with it after the excitement of the holiday was over.

We were wrong.

It’s what he continued to want, even after winning 1st place in the village costume contest for 6 years and under as Zombie Malachi.

I think we dreaded doing it, and we put it off. We went on our anniversary trip and when we got back his birthday was in less than ten days and we hadn’t started planning it.

By the time we did start planning it, it was too late to have it in November and send out invitations with an appropriate amount of time before hand.

So we decided on a Saturday in December. And we decided on a morning party so we could avoid making a big food spread, and so we wouldn’t disrupt the littles’ nap schedule.

We started planning and prepping and on Thursday started changing our multipurpose room into a haunted house. We were pretty proud of of what we produced.

The room was very dark, but we have a good flash. Also, the kids had already been playing in it for a while before John took pictures. The spider piñata was just a spider hanging out in the big red spider web before we took it down to use.

Malachi and his friends LOVED the haunted house. Loved. It.

It was so much work, but it ended up being worth it. And though we were sad that only about 10 kids were coming, it was a perfect number so that they could all be in the house at the same time.

Sunday

My birthday is on Sunday. I'm feeling a gamut of emotions, and I think I'll list them here. Maybe it'll be cathartic.

Sad
Old
Confused
Excited
Old
Confused
Tired
Proud
Happy
Old
Confused

Do you see a pattern? When did I start feeling so old (that's the confusion)?