Jack is FIVE!

This is Jack's official 5-year-old picture, taken today!

Happy, Happy Birthday to our smart, strong-willed, sneaky, sweet-tooth, super artistic, strong, lover of pirates, tools, and pretending/dressing up...and super sweet, loving, and amazing 5 year old!!!!!

Friday, Jack celebrated his birthday at school with his classmates. He brought cupcakes and goodie bags for everyone. 

Yesterday we celebrated with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Shannon, Uncle Justin, and Great Grandma. Jack got lots of great gifts and had a blast playing with everyone. Mike came early to take Jack shopping to pick out his own gifts, which of course he thought was fantastic!

Today he woke up and immediately wanted to open his presents. We are headed out shortly (after they eat something healthy) for the birthday donut tradition. Colin and I are taking him to the Pirate Putt Putt place this afternoon. He got this costume for his birthday. I have to add the bargain I got on it. I got it right after Halloween at Pottery Barn Kids. It is an $80 costume that I obtained for $9!!! Love a good deal!

His birthday lunch of choice - Chick-fil-A with a vanilla milkshake

Pirate Putt Putting:

And an impromptu trip to the lovely Fun Spot, for some Go Kart action:

 We wore him out!

What is your name? Jack
How old are you? 4, but almost 5
What is your favorite color? uh, blue and red and white
What is your favorite toy? um, my ninja turtle thing that I got from McDonald's
What is your favorite food? um, um, I like cupcakes.
What is your favorite fruit? um, oranges
What is your favorite vegetable? uh, peas
What is your favorite T.V. show? um, Jake and the Neverland Pirates
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? my peanut butter and chip sandwich
What is your favorite outfit? um, my bulldog shirt and red pants. I mean my um, uh...my skeleton shirt and my blue jeans and my belt, and then I have my wallet.
What is your favorite game? My favorite game is hide and seek.
What is your favorite snack? um, My favorite snack is um, Ritz crackers. My favorite snack is Ritz crackers, mom!
What is your favorite animal? um, horsey
What is your favorite song? um, My favorite song is Sing, Sing Sing (by Chris Tomlin)
What is your favorite book? um, let's see. I have to see what kind of books I have. I'll be right back. (exits the room to go look at his book shelf...) I got my favorite book! This one! (He brought me My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza).
Who is your best friend? um, Liam and Chase (Who we haven't seen in months. He's got quite the memory!)
What is your favorite kind of cereal? um, sticky! Oh my gosh! You have to add that to your list, mommy. We don't have any! Oh my gosh. I've been waiting to have that cereal. (Honey Nut Cheerios)
What is your favorite thing to do outside? um, At my school I like to hang on the bar upside down because it's fun! And I like to stand on it and then hold on to my feet and hang, acting like a monkey on the bar at my school. 
What is your favorite thing to drink? lemonade
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? um, toast
What is your favorite movie? The Rescuers
Where do you want to work when you get older? um, in a construction office
What will you do there? When somebody calls me, I will help them. Like when something is broken, I will help them. Don't you know that, mom?
Do you like school? Yeah! I love school, except David used to be my friend and now he's friends with Jamari (and he goes on and on about friend drama.).
Who is your teacher? Mrs. Renna and Ms. Tina
Who do you play with the most at school? Jason and Cameron, too
What is your favorite thing to do at school? Just play and blocks and table toys and then housekeeping (I think these are center options)
Do you take a nap every day? yeah, but guess what? It's a very long one. It takes a long time. Nap is a long time. 
What do you want for your birthday dinner? Uh, Church to get donuts.
That's more of a breakfast. What about dinner? For my birthday dinner, I want hmmmmm...I want to go out to eat at a restaurant called Gators.
What gift would you like for your birthday this year? oh, I want a ninja turtle card. (hmm, guess he doesn't want gifts...just a card, lol)
What's on your wish list for Santa? a washing machine (laughs uncontrollably), ninja turtle truck...well, Santa can pick whatever present he wants for me because he's Santa! I want to mail a letter to Santa.
What makes you really happy? um, when Mimi and Papa comes. I mean when I go to their house. And when Dad gets his tools out. And also when my whole family is with me and happy with me. 
What makes you feel proud? When Erin and Grace know all of their letters.
What makes you feel scared? When I'm in the dark and something makes a noise. And when nobody is with me in the dark.
What makes you feel excited? When I'm going out to the movie theater to watch Frozen
What makes you feel sad? When somebody says they aren't my friend anymore.
What else would you like to say? I love my whole family and I like to share and I like to share my toys with Erin and Grace. And then I like to be happy when God is with me,  and when I'm happy my heart sings. 

Photo Recap

Presenting a photo recap of the past few weeks...

Heide Visitors:

My parents and sister joined in on the chaos of our house for the week of Thanksgiving. This year we got the entire week out of school, so that was a nice and much needed break from work for me! Always love to have them here!

We had a non relaxing, but good dinner out at Gators.

Mimi gave Erin her first french braid. 

Helping roll out the dough for pie crust

We took J&G to see Frozen. So fun and SUCH a good movie!

Doctor Visit #1 - Erin with an ear infection

Erin was sick with a runny nose and cough that turned into an ear infection. The ped. said one tube is out and the other is almost out (nonfunctioning). Pray for no ear infections because at some point I'd love to be done with ear surgeries for these kids!!!

G was healthy at this point, but along for the ride. 

Thanksgiving Craft:

Thanksgiving:

We hosted Thanksgiving for both families again this year, which I seriously love to do!! I hope we make it a tradition. Should've taken more (or at least some!) pictures though!

This is so cute. It is a homemade birthday card I had Jack make for Grandma. He was at his table in his room making it and asking my dad how to spell the words. Apparently he still needs to get the concept of putting the words in order though. It says 'Today is your lucky day because it's your birthday'. 

This is the inside. Jack and Grandma holding hands. Plus a turkey since her birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year.  so cute!

Erin did not want to miss out on any single thing while we had company. She was a nightmare to put to sleep. Usually the girls go down with no issues whatsoever. She put up a fight pretty much every night while they were here. This was how we found her on Thanksgiving night when we went in to check on her. 

Jack got his very first Starbucks on Thanksgiving morning. The kids split a hot chocolate and loved it, needless to say.

Colin and I brined a fresh turkey (our first time brining), and it turned out pretty delicious I have to say!

Mr. Sneaky ran off to enjoy some cupcakes in the closet before dinner. :( We are working on integrity with this little guy.

Finished product

All of my kids have a major sweet tooth! Here is Erin admiring some of the Thanksgiving desserts. 

Our table

Some of our food. I have to say I have no idea how any one person could put together a Thanksgiving feast alone. We were only in charge of the turkey. All of the food was delish, and we enjoyed it for a few days! 

Turkey crafts the kids made

the "kid table"

Santa's Christmas Tree Forest:

double fisting s'mores

Colin found the perfect tree

Poor G woke up with a fever on this morning, which is why it appears she is shivering in this pic. She is such a trooper. We would not have brought her if she had a fever or was acting sick. She started to go downhill midway through our trip, so we left. She ended up testing positive for the flu the next day. She really did still have fun though up until her fever came back.

Loading up the tree

buddies

Dr. Visit #2 - Grace with Influenza A :(

I brought all the kids to the doctor early the next morning. Thankfully Colin met me in the parking lot (He was on shift.), so I didn't have to drag the other kids into the land of germs. I brought Grace in while he and his crew played with J and E in the parking lot. They tested her for strep and the flu, and as mentioned, she had the flu. Sunday night we met up to take Grace to be under the care of Grandma for a few days. (We missed her TONS, but we were VERY thankful that she was well taken care of and loved... and also that we didn't have to take a week of vacation.) The doctor said she had to be fever-free for 24 hours without any fever reducer (typical protocol) before sending her to school. He mentioned it would last 7-10 days, but because we immediately brought her, that Tamiflu would help minimize the time (and I think it definitely did!). 

Jack was so sweet, taking care of her. We set up sleeping bags and movies in the living room. He laid down and said, "Grace, let me know if I can get you anything." She requested her Mickey stuffed animal, and he gladly got up and got it for her. That kid is a handful, but he has one of the most caring hearts of anyone!

Driving the fire truck

Mini Colin

in the waiting room of the doctor. She styled her own hair, BTW!

They were going a little stir crazy being stuck in the house, so I brought them out front when Grace fell asleep on the couch. 

Masterpiece

Then she woke up and came out. Poor thing was so miserable. This only lasted for 1 day where she was THIS bad! But I think this is as miserable as I've ever seen any of my kids. It was so sad. I was trying anything to cheer her up. She agreed to going to the drive-thru of Chick-fil-A to get a milkshake at one point, but fell asleep on the way there and didn't want it when she woke up. 

trying to cool her off, but she barely had the energy to sit in the bath even

Breakfast with St. Nicholas at our church:

After mass last Sunday, we headed to breakfast with Santa. They served pancakes, sausage, donuts, and juice. Jack and Erin didn't like the pancakes for some unknown reason. So their breakfast consisted of a Christmas tree brownie and orange juice (shaking my head...). 

After the breakfast, they got to decorate cookies, which they loved.

...and visit Santa. Jack promptly said, "That is NOT the real Santa." LOL Apparently he knows an impersonator when he sees one. He also told Santa himself that he wasn't the real Santa, to which "Santa" responded, "Well...I am a really good friend of Santa's, and I will tell him everything you tell me."

more face painting

They had a gift shop available for the kids to shop for their family members. I gave Jack a few bucks and off he went with a personal (teenage) shopper. He brought back a handful of wrapped gifts, which are currently under our tree...with the exception of the one that he couldn't wait for. He forced Colin to open his gift early because he was so excited to give it to him. Colin opened it, and it was one of those glass snow angel figurines. This one is holding pumpkins. Jack said, "I thought it was be PERFECT for your nightstand." :)

Christmas Craft: 

We made Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ornaments. Very simple, cheap, and fun for the kids!

Part 1 of Christmas decorating night:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in theatre:

Today I took Jack and Grace to see Rudolph at the theatre. They never disappoint. Last year we saw Junior Claus and also Cat in the Hat. We love it there! (Writing this, I'm realizing that Erin is being left out of lots. :( She is at such a difficult phase to take...well...ANYWHERE! I'll have to make it up to her soon by doing something one-on-one. To her credit, the past 2 days her behavior has been (mostly) really good, so maybe we are on our way out of the phase mentioned above.)

This was taken on our way home. I'm wondering now how Jack is holding up. He is with Colin and Mike on a boat Christmas parade. It is a couple of hours past his bedtime, but I'm sure they are having a blast!

Random:

My attire for church

Maybe now you can SEE the phase I'm talking about in her eyes!!!

Attire for gym

but oh sooooo sweet when sleeping ;)

Reunited after almost a week apart

Bargain of the week - FREE on the curb of our next door neighbor's house. The girls now have a play kitchen in their room. Hopefully Santa brings them dishes, pots pans, food, etc.

Mrs. McCormick 2013-2014 (10th year of teaching)

Colin surprised me with 13.1 Disney stickers for my car. :)

G has the funniest expressions!

I will be back soon. We have lots of fun planned for Jack's birthday. I'll be doing his 5 year photos soon. Plus of course his annual birthday questionnaire.