Mr. Copy Cat

So in the car on the way home this evening, Gibson and Grace were at each other for the thousandth time today. It happens enough that I have learned to tune it out and can carry on regularly in the car without listening to them. Today I tuned in to hear:

Grace: "Mom, where are we going?"

Gib: "Mom, where are we going?"

Grace: "Gib, stop it!"

Gib: "Gib, stop it!"

Grace: "Gibson Mize, I mean it!"

Gib: "Gibson Mize, I mean it!"

Grace: "Moooommm! Gibson is copying me and I told him to stop and he won't!!"

Gib: "I was talking to myself! I was saying, 'Gib, stop it!' Totally talking to myself, GraceAnn..."

You can't say that the boy hasn't learned a bit of self preservation at the tender age of 5!

Landry's future job - plumber!

Birthday Dude

My biggest man is now five! I still can't get over it! He loves birthdays and presents and gets really excited about holidays in general. (I have to throw in our birthday formula. As our kids have gotten older, and we have had more, we have discovered that the best way for us to execute birthdays with friends is for the kids to choose two or three friends, choose an activity, and then we pick up the friends and take them to lunch, the activity, have cake and go home. It's a win win for everyone. The parents don't have to reschedule their entire weekend for our kids, our kids still have their party with their friends, and we are not out a big chunk of change for a large party. Gibson and his friends are not quite old enough for that formula yet.) He has been wanting a beach birthday party, but unfortunately, it is supposed to rain the entire weekend. He was really wanting a party with all of his friends at the house or... anywhere. This year we decided to do a little party for him at school with his friends. Anyway, the night before his party I was giving him his bath and he started in about the beach party again.

g: "Mom, are we having a beach party tomorrow?"

m: "No buddy, it's supposed to rain all weekend."

g: "So, are all of my friends coming to my house on Saturday for my party?"

m: "No, remember, we are doing your party at school with pizza and cupcakes."

g: "So, then are we inviting my friends to the house for my party on Saturday?"

m: "No, we are having a pizza party with your friends at school tomorrow."

Then he looked at me like I must be the densest mother on the face of the planet and said very slowly, "Are we IN-VITE-ING my friends to MY house on Saturday for my party?!" I swear that he would have spelled it if he wasn't just in pre-k! Regardless of our conversation, he still had a good time with his party at school.

He got to wear the special "Birthday Dude" hat.

In his class, you have special "birthday duties." He got to hand out all of the napkins for his friends.

Everyone sang "Happy Birthday." Unlike his father, who hates when people sing to him, Gibson was basking in the glory!

Mrs. Borg had a special birthday present from all of his friends in his class and he got to open it while they were in circle time.

He really enjoyed his new puppy and book! We have already read the book a couple of times. Who needs the beach when you've got rockin' times like these?!

Goin' for gold!

Grace competed in her first meet as a level four last weekend. She has only had her new routines for a month, but her coaches wanted the girls to have a chance to compete at their new level before the competition season starts in the fall. She was a little disappointed that she didn't place as high as she would have liked, but it was a fun gym and they had lots of little extras for the girls that made it a fun experience. I really enjoyed watching her perform all of her skills! I normally drop her off for her workouts and don't always see everything that she can do. She is learning lots! We are very proud of her. 

Sharing

The other night after bath, Gibson came in and asked for a cup of milk before bed. I poured him one and set it on the table. He hopped up, got three straws and then went to find his "friends" to see if they wanted to share his milk. God has entrusted us with some pretty great kiddos!

Water logged...

Now that it is light outside later into the evening, the kids have headed for the backyard everyday when we get home from school. They usually tumble around on the trampoline, ride their little bikes and just play in the backyard. Anyway, the other night while I was cooking dinner, I kept thinking that I was hearing the water running somewhere. I finally checked in the backyard and as I stepped out the backdoor, I found Landry completely soaked from the waist down and covered in mud.

Gibson was right there with her. They were filling containers with water and then carting them to different places in the yard and dumping them out. I'm not sure the point of the game, but they were having a grand time! My first instinct was to holler at them both and ask what they thought they were doing?! Thankfully, that reaction was quickly squelched with the reminder that they are both kids, water is terribly fun, and really they weren't hurting anything. So, they made a big mess in the backyard, got lots of mud everywhere, and enjoyed their evening!

Normal...what is that?

A normal, adult conversation - forget adult, just a conversation, around here is nigh near impossible! Just this morning, I have pulled two children, literally, off of each other, fighting over the toilet because they were all occupied. Grace whacked Gibson in the head, Gibson whacked her back and then Grace came hurtling into the living room screaming at the top of her lungs to tell on Gibson. (Where is the logic?) Gibson had a baby bulb and was squeezing air into his mouth while asking anyone that would listen, "Hey! What does this do?! Hey! What does this do?!" We looked over at the table and Landry's cereal bowl was completely covering her face while she was sucking out every last bit of moisture from the bottom of the bowl. Whatever wasn't already on her shirt made it to her mouth...I think. (She now needs a bath - very sticky!) Meanwhile, Hayden is holed up in the back room thanking his lucky stars that everyone is leaving him alone. I think that, currently, he may be my favorite child!