four year old Max

This little nugget is now 4!  This was supposed to be the 'off-year' for a friend party, but I caved. Max ended up having quite the birthday week. I fear the bar has been raised too high now for future birthdays. We really need to have dry ice around more often. After the party was over we made dry ice bombs learned about pressurizing gas in a fixed volume. That was one good thing I learned in my lab.

Dinosaur mania.  The cake was strawberry, so the pieces looked suitably 'realistic,' although Max just really likes strawberry cake.  He was not going for 'flesh-like' with his flavor choice.

 Balloon pit on the trampoline - or 'T-Rex' stomp if we're keeping with our theme.

Make a dino out of play-doe.

Pin the horn on the triceratops.  We also had pictures of a T. Rex, pterodactyl, and apatosaurus - or brachiosaurus depending on who you ask. The artistic quality was of course top notch.  It will be harder and harder to have my drawings pass muster as my little people get older and more discerning!

We also had an excavation site set up in a kiddie pool, filled with chicken bedding and dinosaur figures to hunt for.  We chased rocket balloons at the end while we waited for parents to retrieve their kids.  Nobody cried, so this party goes down in the books as a success!

We hit Freddy's for lunch after the party.  Yes, Max did eat all those fries.  Alex wouldn't eat his hamburger because some mean woman cut it in half for him, thus ruining the flavor.

On Max's birthday we went out to dinner at Old Chicago, because the GREAT LLYODINI, or Royal-dini as Max keeps calling him, was there doing magic.  The 'red light trick' is still everyone's favorite.  After dinner we went to the pet store to pick out Max's present - a gerbil.  We are now officially full of pets over here. Well, the fish situation actually keeps us just under 'totally full' on a regular basis.  Here's hoping the gerbils fare better!

This little muffin just keeps getting more fun the older he gets;. We're sure lucky to have him in our family.  My favorite thing about Max right now is that he likes to wear two different colors of socks.  He takes the pairs apart so he can get the right color combination for the day.  What a fun little dude!

Katie is 6!

This crazy kid is 6 already!  Well, now she's been 6 for a whole month and a half.  This was going to be the year of just having a family party, but somehow we ended up having a 'princess tea party' with just a 'few' friends. It only takes a few 6 year olds to turn any small gathering into banana land.

We had cookies and snacks and made bracelets.  A good time was had by all, and I survived.

After the kid party we had a big kid party with Aunt Mag and Opa. Katie loves the latest addition to her princess dress collection courtesy of Oma.  It's amazing how a fancy dress can turn any outing into something special.

Katie's current favorite cereal is 'Fruity Pebbles.'  I don't know how that happened!
Her favorite vegetable is still broccoli. She will at least try almost everything placed in front of her - I'm hoping she rubs off on her younger housemates.
Her favorite season is summer, because 'we don't have to freeze our heads off.'
Katie's favorite time of the day is the evening, 'because then I get to hang out with my family.'
She is still enamored of princesses, and loves to sing all the time - she's singing with a children's choir this year - mainly because someone else does all the driving - and LOVES it.
She loves doing craft projects, and asks daily about the progress on 'her craft room.'
Her current heroes are her parents - here's hoping we continue to live up to that expectation!
Her favorite books are 'Put Me in the Zoo' - thank you Aunt Pam - and her green book of Beginner's Books, favorite being 'Would you Rather Be a Bullfrog? - thanks Aunt Julie.
She loves to make up stories with all her little figurines - her brothers provide moving van services when they need to move houses.
Her career goal currently is 'kindergarten teacher at Twin Peaks.'
Katie is so loving and so very loved.  Alex has a hard time being separated from her, and for half a year talked Katie into sleeping on the floor in the boys' room so she would be near him. When she slept over one night at Oma's house for her 'make up birthday' (Oma had the nerve to go visit her children back East in February), Alex couldn't believe she was going to be gone for SO LONG. We have since negotiated that down to one night a week (Tuesdays if you're wondering).
Katie is such a happy, genuinely nice girl.  We love her to pieces!

Katie's self portrait in beans.

While not birthday related, this picture just had to be included. I cannot stand how cute this guys is!