Dumbo was Luke's first movie love, so we decided to do a circus themed party! Pinterest, of course, had some over-the-top circus ideas, but I was limited on time with the move coming and vacation planning!
It's a tradition that they get to help me bake their birthday cake, but then they can't see the final result until their party!
His Dumbo shirt that I made...
He was so cute waiting at the window for his party guests...it was only fitting that his best bud, Luke Green, was the first to arrive!
I transformed Thomas the train into Casey Jr., the train from Dumbo. I made the balloon animals and bought animal crackers and bubbles as party favors.
All of the party guests as clowns courtesy of a Clown App...
These tissue paper circus animals was one of the Pinterest ideas that I probably should have passed on because of my massive moving to-do list, but they were super cute!!!
Playing outback...we had a ring toss game, a ring of fire (hula hoop) and pin the nose on the clown...
Bubble fun...I was really surprised that Luke could productively blow his own bubbles!
The Ring of FIRE!!!!
Pin the Nose on the Clown...
The MacDonald, Green, and Miller kids!
Singing Happy Birthday...
Happy birthday, sweet man!!!
He loved being the center of attention opening his presents!
He crashed in no time snuggling his new Dumbo from the Greens
It got too late in the evening to do the piñata (sigh, I really don't like piñatas because of the extra sugar along with cake!!!) so we saved it for the next day and the Green boys came over to participate!
And a birthday video...he was ON IT with blowing out his candles! :)
Since we made the move from Mannheim, the girls have participated in ProSoc Academy throughout the school year. Hailey took a season off last fall when she played outdoor soccer, and Kai played up through the start of this spring's outdoor season. I can't say enough about the program and the amazing skills taught by the German professional players in Kaiserslautern. Hailey had a rough season though with her coach, Sasha, being a little demanding. While I didn't agree with all of Sasha's coaching techniques, I did see his point (and German mentality!) and thought that Hailey should not quit and finish the season. He's loud and will call the kids out (embarrassing them and sometimes shaming them). Hailey's mentality became 'if I don't touch the ball, then I can't mess up!' which she was also called out for by Sasha! It was really tough to watch as a parent, but at the same time, we stressed to Hailey that as an adult, you can't just quit when things get hard and out of your comfort-zone. We talked about adults rewarding themselves with a night out to dinner or a trip to the spa when they accomplish something difficult at their work place. We bribed told Hailey that she could pick a reward for herself if she toughed it out through the season. I was willing to give her ANYTHING, but she choose some Lego Friends (score!) Apparently Sasha had a few parent complaints called in (I wasn't one of them!) and he seemed to lighten up a bit as the season progressed. There was a pretty large age range in Hailey's group (7-11yr olds) which probably didn't help her confidence level, but despite the struggles, she really did improve a lot over the season. Sasha also coached Kailee's group, but did so with a slightly softer spirit for the younger ones.
Hailey had to work on homework during Kailee's session because Hailey's session immediately followed from 4:30-6.
Luke managed to keep himself busy!
Kailee's group size was PEFECT, varying from 2-5 kids!!
Hailey's group was massive in comparison with up to 25 kids, but it dwindled down to about 15 by the end of the season.
Playing with her reward at the end of the season! We joke with her that she'll look back on her life and say, "When I was 7, I survived the most harrowing experience and fought to the end and because of it I can accomplish ANYTHING!" :)
I wanted to do a post with some fun facts about Luke turning TWO before I did his birthday party post! He is just the cutest little man in the world and makes us giggle all of the time. He had his 2yr check up on Wednesday and is 26lbs and 2ft 8in tall (he's about an inch shorter than the girls were at 2...hoping he hits a big growth spurt one day but as of now he's projected to be pretty short!)
I remembered to keep his tie out from the move for his 2yr old tie photo...I guess I'll keep doing this yearly until he rolls his eyes at me! :) Below is birth, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 2 yrs
The Italy trip blog posts are like a black cloud above my head. I'll eventually get to it, but I had to include his birthday in Rome at the Colosseum...we celebrated with gelato!!!
We couldn't keep the candles lit, but I was proud of myself for remembering to pack them!!
Our main birthday gift to Luke was a grill like Daddy's! It didn't arrive in time for his birthday party, so we ended up just holding off on giving it to him until after the movers packed out the house. It's the perfect size for him and of course the girls love it too!
I had a hard time getting a good photo of him for his birthday party invites...the sun was too bright the day I attempted, but these are still cute. I tried a few more times inside, but he just won't sit still! :)
And below are just some random fun pictures. He is still soooo clean and will put things back where they belong 90% of the time! His favorite phrases are, "Where'd it go?" and "What's that?" He definitely doesn't talk as much as the girls did at 2, but we've seen a huge improvement over the past few months and he's still in the "green" on the milestone chart for speech at the doctors, so we aren't worried. His heart absolutely breaks when he gets left behind at home...if one of us takes the girls somewhere, he's crushed; if Leevi takes the trash out without him, he's crushed; whenever he sees someone getting ready to go, he'll run to the closet and grab his shoes and his coat (even if he's only in a diaper) Thankfully, he's easy to distract after he gets left! :) We aren't even going to attempt potty training until we are settled into our new house...he will wake up on occasion with a dry diaper (even overnight sometimes) so we know the bladder control is developing, but he hasn't once peed on the potty! We'll see what the next few months bring. And the same goes for the pacifier...there is no way I want to attempt a pacifier-less 8hr plane ride, sleeping in hotels, and a 16hr cross country drive without a pacifier!!! And two more tidbits...he plays a mean air-guitar when he dances and he whistles all of the time...it's crazy!!! He can't do it if you ask him to, but just randomly he'll do it a few times a day! :)
He LOVES to swim...he saw these lifejackets out one morning when Leevi was going to take the kids for the day to an indoor swim park so I could start prepping the house for the move and he just HAD to put them on immediately (along with his swimsuit over his jammies and part of Kai's swimsuit!)
"Ready, set, go" is another favorite phrase he uses when playing cars or just running around the house!
Luke's version of the Rainbow loom...this actually keeps him busy for quite awhile!
I can't remember if I've blogged about our ice cream man recently, but we are really going to miss Angelo! I keep telling the girls that you can't get this kind of ice cream from the ice cream men in the States!! He has real gelato and the kid's scoop is only a dollar. It's definitely a fun treat every now and then and we seem to be getting it more often since we know our days are numbered! :) I used to be able to share a cone with Luke but he wants his own now! Luke screams, "Ice Cream!!!" whenever he hears his bell!
Who needs a tool belt when you have a diaper?!
He absolutely loves to be outside!!!
He makes the most pitiful faces when he's sent to time out! I always have to tell the girls not to look at him and just ignore him! I usually have to turn my back so I don't smile at that face!!!
His imagination is in full swing...I gave him this bowl of frozen blueberries and he pointed to the frost and said, "ho, ho, ho" It cracked me up because we hadn't talked about Santa in 3 months!
Logan and Luke play together while their siblings are at gymnastics...Logan (3.5) was hot running around playing soccer and wanted his shirt off, so of course Luke needed to take his off also!
And a few random videos....
We love you, Luke!!!! We can't believe the amount of joy you've brought to this family!!! Happy birthday!!!
The weekend following our trip to Belgium, Leevi and Charlie Green headed on a guy trip to Normandy, but I still don't have those pictures off of Leevi's phone, so I'll jump ahead to the next weekend where Jenny Green and I went Switzerland. It's a 4 hour drive to Lucerne, Switzerland and Jenny and I were a bit nervous doing this trip without the guys since we had to drive. I remember thinking to 4 years ago when we had just gotten to Germany and European travel was so new...I guess we've come a long way. We picked up our vignette (the driving permit in Switzerland) and scouted out the last Germany gas station that allows us to pump gas at American prices and we were on our way! We almost canceled because the weather looked bad, but I'm so glad we were able to squeeze this trip in! There is just sooooo much to see over here and being able to split the costs and not have to drag the kids along is sooooo nice.
This is the famous Chapel Bridge in Lucerne...the sides are usually decorated with beautiful flowers but it wasn't quite warm enough yet. This bridge is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe as well as the WORLD's oldest surviving truss bridge.
The Alps in the background...
The bridge was constructed in 1333 and destroyed by a fire in 1993...many of these paintings below date back to the 17th century. I thought I took pictures of the burned ones, but I guess I didn't.
After we checked into the hotel we wandered through the old town...
and found dinner at the oldest restaurant in town...a yummy (yet expensive) Italian place!
I had to take a picture for the girls of our bunkbeds.
The next morning we walked to the Lion Monument...a memorial for Swiss soldiers killed in the French Revolution in 1792.
We also walked up to the city gates which we thought we'd be able to walk along the top but it was closed. We still have pretty views though!
And of course we had to bring home some chocolate!!! We headed out just as the rain started and made it home by dinner time. It was a quick weekend, but so blessed to have the opportunity!
