Six

Henry turned SIX on Thursday.

He had been counting down the days.

He lucked out and got to stretch it out over three days.

These are some randoms about his birthday celebrations:

• One of his very favorite presents was a army tank balloon. I knew it would be!

• He picked McDonald's as his birthday lunch out. Ben and I were sad about that.

• Aunt Amy took him on the best birthday date ever--a Harlem Globetrotters game! It totally made up for ice skating last year, which he was not a fan of.We thought being 6 would help him be more responsible with gum. Sadly, within hours of opening the gum from Uncle Dave, an entire pack had been half chewed and spit down the side of his bed. We'll try again at 6 1/2.

• He was assured that he had, in fact, grown in the days before his birthday. He now looks like an official 6 year old!

• He got quite a nice amount of cash for his birthday. He keeps saying that he wants to buy stuff for other people. (He's a super nice boy like that!) I, however, am trying to help him come up with a good "big ticket" item that he likes. We better hurry and figure something out--it's burning a hole in his pocket!

Monster Jam

We took the boys to a Monster Jam.

It was a last minute decision.  It's fun to be wild a crazy like that--it's also expensive!

The boys absolutely loved it!

It was crazy loud, and not really my kind of event, but, I will admit that it was neat seeing the real versions of the monster trucks they play with.

Since that day, Henry has been hosting his own Monster Jam shows.  

He makes up tickets and everything! 

That was probably my first and last Monster Jam, but I have a feeling that the boys are dreaming of the next one they get to go to!

Worry

Sometimes I worry about Lucas.

I worry that he gets lost in the shuffle of things--that we miss out on a lot with him.

A lot of it is our schedules.

The other two boys only go to school for half days, but Luke is gone all day. On the days that I work, I am gone before he gets home from school so my only time with him is 15-20 minutes in the morning. I try to make the most of that time, but in the end it just doesn't feel like enough.

On top of that he's just not a terribly chatty kid. He also doesn't get too excited about things--good or bad. Whatever happens is fine with him. It all makes for a pretty well behaved boy, but it's hard to have a good, insightful conversation with him. If you can find the right subject, though, you're golden!

I worry that one day, I'm going to suddenly realize that I don't know him anymore.

It seems a bit over exaggerated, but if he's not really telling me stuff, and I'm not asking, then I could easily miss things--big and small.   

(Mostly, though, I'm just a worrier.)

I had a break through with it all, however, about a month and a half ago.

I took a week off of work to just hang out at home. For that week, Luke was glued to my hip. 

It didn't matter what mundane, boring thing I was doing, he was happy to just sit by me and hang out. Once I started really noticing it, I also realized that what I'm really missing is the time alone with him. Alone time when we are just there to hang out--no multi-tasking, no loud brothers, no agenda to talk about--just us.

I've been making a conscience effort to have time that's just for us. There's been a lot of card games--War is our favorite--and just hang out.

I feel better about things.

I may lose sight of him every once in awhile--I'm sure it will happen with each of them at some point--but we easily come back together.

He's a great kid--I just wish he was a bit more chatty!

Detective

Ben got promoted to Detective on Thursday.

We were all really excited about it!

He's worked really hard and I think he's so good at what he does. I realize I'm a bit partial, so it's nice to have that confirmation that other people see it, too.

I couldn't go to the ceremony because I was in Chicago for work.

I was so, so sad about it.

Lucas stood in for me and presented Ben with his new badge. That made me even more sad that I was missing it. I would have loved to see the proud look on Luke's face!

Even though the timing of it all wasn't ideal, I'm glad he got his promotion.

He's going to make an excellent detective!

(Now I just need to make sure he has a family picture for his new desk so that people will know that he does, in fact, have a wife!)

The Zoo

Henry and Josh Oliver set up a zoo today.

They gathered up all their animals and put them in appropriate cages.

As they were setting up I could hear Henry trying to organize things.

He was going to stand in the ticket booth and collect the money and he needed Josh to give tours. Josh, on the other hand, only wanted to be a dog.

Henry eventually gave in and ordered him to a cage. He didn't follow the zoo rules, though, and got banned from the zoo altogether and replaced by a hamster .

Henry was left to run it all on his own.

He did a fabulous job. He told me all the animals names, ages, and made sure I gave each one a pet.

I'd definitely go back to that zoo--even if the crazy dog is there next time!

Deal Me A Hand

We began the new year out right by teaching our kids how to gamble.

No get together with Ben's family is complete without a rousing game of "31", and New Years Eve was no different.

Luke and Gillian asked to join in first, then at some point Henry slipped in there, and by the end of the night they were all around the table.

I was impressed with how well the oldest three picked it up. I mean they were really actively holding their own. They even had the trash talking down!

I credit it all to the Jonker blood in them.

The next night the boys wanted to play again and they totally schooled us--well I managed a bit better than Ben. Henry's not even very good about knowing what his cards add up to, but he certainly knows when he has a "good enough" hand.

It's going to be a shame when we start losing all our money to the kids!

Our Own Hill

We had a big snowfall a couple of days ago.  

When I shoveled the driveway I piled it up on the side. 

Today we realized that the big pile of snow, along with the slope on the side of our driveway, made a pretty awesome sledding hill!

It was a win-win!  They got to sled and I got to be productive at home!  Plus when they got cold they just came inside.

I'm going to have to remember to be intentional with where I pile my snow next time I shovel.  All my hard work might as well lead to some fun!