Corban's 6th Birthday

So this kid turned 6 two days after school started.  That made for a lot going on the first week of school but he had a great birthday.  He had told me earlier in the summer that he wanted a party at a pool, but every pool I looked at was either really expensive, still not doing parties, or booked.  We asked him if doing some water things in the backyard sounded good and he liked that idea, so we invited the kids in his class and some friends from church over for some fun in the yard.  A LOT of kids ended up being able to come so I am very thankful that the weather was really nice and that they all had lots of fun.  It was nice to be able to invite a couple kids that were new to Corban's class this year so that they could get to play together and get to know the other kids and parents

We sent cupcakes the first Friday of school
(day before his birthday) and his teacher sent us this

Corban got into dinosaurs for a while again this summer after visiting his cousin Drew, who also loves them. He wanted a "Jurassic Park" birthday but the options for that were limited.  I found some clay dinosaur eggs that you could dig into with some tools and find a small dinosaur.  There were cards explaining each one.  The kids liked it even more then I thought they would

We had one pool like the one below and were just going to let kids mess around in it, but the day before Taylor found one on clearance for so cheap so he got it.  It ended up working out well.  They would slide down the grass on the slip and slide into the one pool (it was so so dirty and gross) but other kids could play in the "clean" pool.  There were also sprinklers and then our swings and tree house to play in.  The dads all talked and manned the various things and everyone stayed safe and had fun

What teacher is so awesome that they take time our of their Saturday after the first tiring week of school to come to her students birthday party?  Corban invited her and she asked if she could come.  I told her "of course I just thought being with a bunch of kids wouldn't be on top of your list after the first week of school!"

Opening a super cool cat nightlight (that we now use nightly) from the Bergerons

Super heros

The boys love this Japanese Steakhouse that Taylor's parents have taken us to and there is one near us that we have never tried, so that was the birthday evening plan.  It was a good time

This boy.  There is no one else like Corban (or Gabriel either but this post is about Corban).  He is silly, immensely creative (especially with Legos and making up elaborate stories for whatever he is pretending).  He has a big heart and is sad when others are sad and wants to make them feel better.  Of course he has his moments, because growing up is hard and annoying your brother can be really fun, but he really does want to do what is right and care about people.  He loves his quiet play time, is finally confident that he can read (and finished his 100 lesson reading book), likes to talk and explain things, dances during the music of movie credits, and still thinks that cats are the best things ever.

Date to Barnes and Noble

Checking out the Lego display

From left to right: Butterscotch (the mom), Ice Cream,
Sprinkles (the kids), Cutie (the Dad), Marshmallow Alabama Rollo

Corban and his cats. It started with Butterscotch.  They he begged for a baby for Butterscotch (Ice Cream), then he got Sprinkles.  He bought Cutie with a Barnes and Noble giftcard.  He got Marshmallow at the zoo in Alabama (thus the name).  He has rotated who is the current favorite but for quite some Marshmallow and Sack need to be present for when he goes to sleep.  He actually gave me Cutie to sleep in my bed because he didn't want me to be lonely and because he said "Cutie and Marshmallow don't always get along."  One night he woke me up about 3am because he couldn't find Marshmallow.  There was no way I was getting up to find him in all the covers and animals in his bed.  I asked him if he wanted Cutie, who was on my nightstand (along with several other stuffed things the boys have given me and a cat that Corban build with some building materials).  He took Cutie and promised to return him in the morning.  When he walked out the next morning he handed him right back.  

Found the bed made one day with Marshmallow all tucked in

They had a stuffed animal day at school.  They could each bring an animal, after which they wrote about it and shared it with the class.

Corban's teacher is so great about sending pictures of what the class is doing.  Most of these pictures were taken after his birthday into the fall but this is a good place to put some of them

Field Day Bowling

Field Day parachute.  You can see Corban to the right shaking the red piece.

Random dog we met at the bike track.  Corban loves the animals

Corban's teacher sent me a message about a month ago that made me laugh.  She said that during Bible time they were talking about sin and she asked the class "What is sin?"  Corban raised his hand and said "Sin is any lack of conformity to or transgression of the law of God."  The said that class just kind of stared at him.  She said that she asked him what that meant to him and he said "Well I don't know!"  He does like working on his catechism questions though.  Corban has had lots of good questions lately.  He was looking very sad the other night and he wanted to talk about how he could know if I died that I would go to heaven, and how he could know that if he died he would go do heaven.  He has had similar conversations with his teacher at school and has asked to pray with her about it.

Making insects in science

Corban got really excited about packing a couple
boxes and picked out some really nice things

He made me a flower garden

Silly boy who likes to pull the tooth out once it's a little bit loose.  So much blood.

So Corban is now 6 and I'd like him to stay that way.  He is fun to be around, silly and energetic, always has good ideas, but sometimes still likes to snuggle.  He makes friends easily because he is kind but is happy to play alone too.  He loves swinging on swings, eating fried chicken, his weekly piano lesson, and building with Legos.  He currently likes Narnia stories, "Who Would Win" books, Bakugans, writing stories about his super hero (rocket man), and writing other lists and details (I love that he has enough confidence in his writing and spelling to try to write down what he thinks is important.  The other day he made his bed into "his kingdom" and proceeded to write down the "Kingdom Rules").  It is so encouraging to see God working in his heart and I am thankful that he wants to come to us to discuss his questions.

Happy 6th Birthday Corban!

Starting the School Year

A couple days before school started we spent a morning at the duck pond

It was time for the school year to start before we knew it.  First and third grade.  They both seem to be growing up so fast

Just before leaving the first day.  Gabriel has had that lunch bag since kindergarten.  The zipper doesn't work quite right and I asked him if we should find him a new one, but he wanted to keep it because he likes it so much.  And I didn't realize it that morning but Corban is wearing the same shirt that he wore the last day of school the year before.  That shirt is obviously a favorite.

Corban's teacher, Mrs Wilson (the same one that taught Gabriel in 1st), is really great about sending out pictures of things that they do each day.  She sent this picture as his entire class was eating lunch outside on the first day.  Only one girl was missing since she was sick.  Corban knew all of the kids from last year except for two new boys in his class

Gabriel's class really changed.  As it stood at the end of last year there were only four of them returning from second grade (two of the boys moved, including his friend Grant, and then two other girls didn't come back this year).  We have praying since kindergarten for more boys for Gabriel's class and wow did that happen this year.  There are 11 kids in his class, 6 boys and 5 girls.  There is one other boy in particular that he just loves to play with.  He came home with us for a playdate and they were both excited to discover that they both have ADHD.  They were comparing their personalities and talking on and on about it.  I think it's great that they get along so well together when they both have very Type A, dynamic personalities.  His dad even commented to us one day that he's surprised that they can both play so easily together and compromise and make up the rules of play together.  Gabriel told me that they just take turns making decisions.  They are currently working on writing a comic book together.

And since I'm a couple months behind in posting this, here are their school pictures for the year:

Love Corban with his one front tooth. 
That tooth is quickly growing in at this point

One of his favorite shirts

Beach Trip

We started Taylor's sabbatical with the Disney trip and we ended it with the beach.  We loved the place that we went last summer and woman emailed me in December offering a huge discount if we booked really early, so we did.  We were actually thinking how perfect this condo is and how we wouldn't mind going there every single year, but unfortunately she is selling it this year.  The two years we spent there were the perfect beach getaway.  The boys loved their bunk bed room with the room painted like they were underwater, and just going down the elevator to the beach and pool was perfect

We spent the few days there going to the beach in the morning, playing games and resting during the hottest part of the day, back out to the beach in the later afternoon, and walks on the beach at night.  Gabriel also remembered that one day the year before we took a morning walk along the beach looking for things that washed up over night, so we did that again too.

Gabriel was all about the sand castles this year.  He was busy
building things from Lord of the Rings, like Helms Deep

Another exciting thing at the beach was Daddy's 40th birthday.  I didn't think that making a whole cake for us to eat there made much sense (especially when Taylor doesn't have a huge sweet tooth), but we brought some different frozen slices of pie that the boys thought was fun

While we were there the summer Olympics were going on.  The boys enjoyed sitting on the couches in the living room finding random, different sports to watch.  It was a fun, out of the ordinary vacation thing to do.  Many afternoons when we went to the pool they were practicing their "synchronized dives" (jumps) and having races across the pool.  Corban's newfound swimming skills from his time at Drew's house the month before really helped them both to play exciting "Olympic" games together 

Reading time

There was, like last year, little fear of the water from either of them.  They liked going out into the deep waves and trying to ride them in.  Corban wore a life jacket when the water was really deep, but he didn't mind going under the water.  Corban could have stayed in the waves all day, while Gabriel enjoyed them and then was ready for some sand building

Burying Mom's feet

Mastering kite flying

The last morning in the condo

When we were driving in we saw a putt putt place close by.  Since they loved it so much when we left Disney we decided to end this trip the same way.  It sure was hot outside, but dinosaur mini golf followed by ice cream was a nice way to end our time there

We'll have to find a different beach spot if we go again next year, but we made some great memories here!