Ladan's 4th Birthday... and Catching Up

Well, I am now the mother of a FOUR-YEAR-OLD!!!! Crazy stuff! Ladan turned four on Sunday, so we had a big party for him on Saturday. About 55 of our friends came, and we had a BLAST! Instead of gifts, we asked each family to bring a side dish. We played volleyball, soccer, had little things for the tiny kids to do, Chet grilled, everyone had plenty of food, and we all got to hang out. The weather was perfect, and the mosquitoes weren't even bad that evening.

My amazing friend, Jessica, saved my life by making all of Ladan's cakes. She made one chocolate football cake, two baseballs, and two basketballs. They were not only cute, but they were super-tasty.

Ladan was SO EXCITED about his cakes, especially the chocolate football cake!!!!!!!!!!!

We went ahead and gave Ladan the few gifts we got him, and he had a couple to open from people who decided to bring one anyway. It was hilarious, because his gift opening was a bit of a community effort. There were about 6-8 kids all opening each gift with him. Inevitably, a few of them would say that they had that particular gift and would proceed to give Ladan instructions about its proper use. Then Isaac would neatly organize and stack the toys over to Ladan's side. Pretty much just like at an adult party, huh?

Ladan has been asking for a tennis racquet for nearly a year (and waiting quite patiently I might add), so he finally got one. This is to replace the coasters he used whenever he would play tennis before. We got racquets for the entire family so we can all play together. I wrapped Ladan's in special paper and put the rest of ours in tissue paper and then put them all in our racquet bag. He opened them up, and they were a total hit. In fact, he visited Isaac's house yesterday morning, and as soon as we walked in the door, Isaac asked, "Hey, Ladan, did you bring your racquet?" Awesome! Apparently, Isaac's family has some racquets too, so he wanted to play. They're getting big, that's for sure.

We went the next evening to play at the courts down the street from our house. We all had a great time. It was a really fun Father's Day activity too, which went WAY undercelebrated in our house (just like Mother's Day) because of everything we had going on to fulfill our duties as parents! (Sadly, I still have Chet's Father's Day card sitting right here in front of me. Don't feel too badly for him--I didn't even get a card! :) Maybe we'll celebrate a bit better next week when things calm down a bit.)

Even Gabe was able to play around and hit the ball a couple of times. His tiny little racquet is so cute! By the way, his shorts in these photos are size 6-9 months. I know he's a little guy, but he's not THAT little! Shorts for little kids are sized so strangely! For that matter, Ladan's shorts in these photos are a pair of 18-24 month shorts! Whatever!

My mom came on Friday for the party, but she came down with some type of terrible illness, so she was in bed from that night until today aside from a shower and a trip to the ER to get some fluids in her body again. She missed the entire party and all of the weekend festivities. She's feeling lots better today, and hopefully, she'll feel even better tomorrow so she can get back home and in the swing of things (she was supposed to go home on Sunday so she could go back to work).

She did, however, muster up the energy to give Ladan the gift that she and my step-mom, Robyne, went in together to get him... a magnetic dry erase board, markers, eraser, and cleaning solution. Amber had a great idea to put magnetic letters on a board for Titus and let him draw and write as he learns... so I suggested it to the family. Mom and Robyne took care of the board, and Megan and Mike bought him the Leap Frog 3-letter-word magnetic set (as well as the Leap Frog Word Builder DVD that we can watch to reinforce his board activities). I think it will be a really fun way for him to learn how to read and write words! He learned all his letters at the age of 19 months using the Leap Frog single-letter fridge set. He's definitely ready for the next literacy step--reading simple words--and I think this will be a fun way to get there. He had a blast with it the first night we put it all together for him! Chet helped him build a few words and he was very excited! (Look closely in this photo on the left, and you can see his left dimple--his only one--because he's smiling so big... and his clenched fists.)

I have so much to catch up on with this blog! As Caitlin was so kind to point out, I've been a bit out of it lately! Well, she didn't say I was out of it, but that is indeed the case. Here are some of the things I have on my mind to write about:

• My recent doctor appointments (I'm not pregnant in case you're wondering)
• Research I've done on vaccines
• Research I've done on #7 plastics in baby bottles, baby products, and adult water bottles
• Clifton's Vacation Bible School--I'm a teacher's assistant for one of the 2nd and 3rd grade classes this week... my first time helping with VBS
• Chet's photos from India
• My sick grandparents
• My fun office organization project
• Our finances
• The final family planning post, including some helpful advice we've heard along the way

Okay, so that's enough for one entry! Let's hope I don't have to wait another two weeks to post. And let's pray that my life slows down just a little bit in the next two weeks. I'm not looking to be bored, just less frantic.