Sam is bigger

Sam woke up on his birthday (very early, I might add) and thought he was taller than he was the day before. It's really quite cute as he really thinks he gets bigger overnight before his birthday. He showed me how he could look on top of some shelves that he apparently couldn't see over before and walked around his room and the house looking on top of things and being very proud of his new age and height. 

Sam was all about the Planes movies for this birthday. It's his first birthday party since he was one which didn't involve Disney's Cars. He had a Planes picture on his cake (he requested an ice cream cake  with chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, hot fudge sauce, Oreos and whip cream...yum, good choices, Sam!), a Planes banner above the window and some Planes presents among plenty of other presents. He also enjoyed playing outside with the cousins and Jason and after lunch and playing, laid down in the basement and said, "I'm exhausted!" His exhaustion was quickly overcome when it was time to open presents and he received many nice presents which have been thoroughly enjoyed this weekend (and even shared with Matthew). 

Matthew was in good form and didn't shed a tear during present opening which was traumatic for him last year when Sam turned 4. We had a discussion the day prior about how Sam was going to be getting a lot of presents and he wasn't going to get any and he "took it like a man" and really was a good sport at the party (although he did get one gift which has also been thoroughly enjoyed). Abby enjoyed lunch with us, then went down for her nap, only to awake when Grandpa Don and Grandma Sue and Grandma Marge left. The last picture is the kids watching them drive away. 

 Happy 5th Birthday, Sam!

Personalities

On Saturday Abby and I went to Iowa for my second cousin's wedding. The boys stayed with Jason to have some fun together. When I was getting ready to leave I was saying goodbye to Sam and he asked me to tell him if I meet any pretty girls. I asked him if he meant girls his age or girls my age and he said, "Well, just tell me if you meet any girls in pretty dresses." Hmmm. Isn't he too young to be saying things like this?

And on Friday night after I put the boys to bed I was trying on dresses to figure out what to wear to the wedding. Matthew came in after a few minutes and looked at me in a dress and said, "You look beautiful!" Now, I don't think he's learned this phrase from Jason...I thanked him and told him he needed to go back to bed. He left, then returned a minute or so later. I told him he was supposed to stay in bed, to which he replied, "I just wanted to see you again in your pretty dress." Awwww, Matthew. Where does he get this from? He is going to be trouble too.

And not to leave Abby out of the post, one morning last week, Abby took a bunch of stuff out of one of the drawers in the bathroom as I was getting ready. She does this often and generally just leaves. But she's old enough now to help pick up her messes so I told her that she  needed to put everything back in the drawer. She made a little high pitched noise of frustration, walked over to one of the objects, picked it up, and threw it. Wow. That kid has a temper and a mind of her own. She still put everything away, (after a stern instruction to put things back in the drawer) and she had made her view of the situation known to me.

Recent events

Two nights ago when Jason and I went up to bed, this is what I saw in Sam's room. On occasion we find that Matthew has sneaked into Sam's room and they were having a sleepover. So peaceful.

The other day I got out the paints for the kids to have some painting time. We've been doing a lot of painting lately and generally I just let Abby use markers, but this time I gave her some paint and a brush and let her paint. This is what she did.

Sam has become more intentional in his painting lately. I don't know whether he has in mind what he wants to paint from the beginning or if he comes up with a story after he starts putting paint on paper, but either way, each mark on his paper represents something. For example, one of the marks on his paper is a triceratops. He work is rather abstract at this point.

On Labor Day, we had the extended Kirchhoff family over for some fun and all the cousins had a great time. Here's Abby enjoying herself with Josh. It's a nice change to have Abby enjoying herself around our extended family rather than crying and screaming and clinging to Mommy as she used to do when she was just a bit younger. She's come a long way...