Daniel's Birthday

Daniel is officially four!  I think he measured in at 41".  His actual birthday was a little quieter than his birthday party.  He started the morning with muffins, and then he went to his first day of RE.  He's in my pre-K class this year, and he did well!  The rest of the day was spent opening various gifts, playing with Grandma, and visiting the zoo.  He had a pretty special day! 

He'd also had a big week as his favorite babysitter, Ms. Marcy, spoiled him all week long!  She bought him a big roll of butcher paper, new math, reading, and geography workbooks, and a cake mix.  On Friday they made a Whopper cake together.  He's eaten a piece every day since!

He received even more presents.....
Aunt Cristi & Uncle Brian - cape with lightning bolt
Aunt Pam, Uncle Josh, & Bryson - Thomas the Train circus set and bulldozer
Aunt Heather, Uncle Brian, & Henry - Cars bouncy balls, Cars color wonder set, Cars Beanz, and Percy train
Grandma & Grandpa - Cars crashing racetrack
Mrs. Gonzalez - Thomas the Train drawing board and book
Grandma Fox - money
Mommy & Daddy - scissors, tape, construction paper, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, pom pom balls, glue sticks, paint, and glitter glue (No glitter party this year, but at least we did glitter glue!)

Daniel's 4th Birthday Party

We had Daniel's birthday party last weekend, September 1st.  This was the first year we've done it at our house, and though we only invited a few families, it turned out to be a big celebration!  There were 14 adults, 7 "big" kids, and 4 babies there! 

We had planned to do a wild animal themed party, but a few days before the party, I showed a picture of the proposed lion cake to Daniel, and he got the saddest look on his face.  When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "I don't want to do an animal party!"  So, since we hadn't actually done a whole lot of planning (nothing like the last minute!), we switched everything to a "cars" theme.  We attempted to play red light/green light and one other musical chairs type game, but only the few biggest kids could understand, so we gave up.  The kids ran around the yard, playing in the sprinkler, throwing water balloons, jumping in the inflatable pool, and playing on the water-filled tarp.  They also loved having David pull them around in the wagon!  Overall, I think it was a success.  Daniel seemed happy, and that's what matters most at a birthday party!  He loved his cake and is excited to turn four in a few days!  He doesn't understand that there won't be another party on his actual birthday, and we'll see how that turns out!

Just so I can remember twenty years from now.......

In attendance were:

Abuelo & Abuela - Crazy Creatures gears toy
Uncle Luis - car racetrack

RJ, Wendy, Riley, Aubrey, Lily, and Maddie Calvo- play-doh kitchen set

Stephen, Lindi, and Vaughn Berry - Brown Bear What Do You See books and game

Raymond, Tina, Noah, Christian, and Wyatt - board book kit and Batman truck

Jackie and Linda - take apart ATV kit with tools

Kenia and Lila - board tool kit

 David with Vaughn, Wyatt, Riley, and Daniel

Noah, Lila, Vaughn, Wyatt, Riley, and Daniel 

 Daniel with his birthday cake

Riley, Vaughn, Lindi, Stephen, Christian, Wyatt, and Daniel

All that Glitters is not Gold

Daniel's already been thinking about his upcoming birthday.  He's requested a Reese's Pieces M&M chocolate cake with a cherry on top.  He's also requested a "glitter party" where "everyone gets covered in glitter."  I told him that he'd have to take that one up with Daddy.  I'm not sure he'll want his son hosting a glitter party.  ;)

Shark!

So, Catherine got her other bottom front tooth last Wednesday.  They're still pretty itty bitty.  On Thursday, she bit me while eating - three times.  Now Daniel had never really done that when he was a baby, so I had no earthly idea how much that could hurt!  Ridiculous!  I sternly told her "No," and I haven't had her bite me again since that day.  Here's hoping she's learned that that is not okay.  Unfortunately, I'm now officially afraid of when my baby girl gets her top teeth.  And then my sister went and put the idea in my head that with top and bottom teeth, my baby girl will be quite capable of actually biting something off.....Talk about nerve-wracking!  Good thing I've got those 75 bottles of milk in the freezer.....

Playmates

Daniel is so eager to play with Catherine, even though she can't do much yet.  He likes to read books to her and is good about remembering to bring her toys when he gets something new out for himself to play with.  He insisted she join him in his "tent" the other day.  Luckily, she's a good sport most of the time and just follows along.

Catherine's Six Month Check-Up

Catherine is six months old already - well, six and a half months old really!  She's grown a lot in the last month.  We had her 6-month check-up on Tuesday, and she weighed 14 lb., 14 oz. (19.68 %ile)) and measured 25.5 inches in length (30.38 %ile).  She is sitting up by herself and working really hard to learn how to crawl.  She can get up on her hands and knees by herself, but she can't get any further than that.  She usually gets on her knees and then lunges toward an object she wants, only reaching it half the time.  She is eating more and more foods and likes a lot of things, including peas, plums, sweet potatoes, potatoes, green beans, zucchini, oatmeal, apples, and chicken.  She's finally got the hang of eating from a spoon and opens her mouth readily.  The big news is that she finally learned how to take a bottle!  Hooray!  After 3-4 months of trying, she got it!  This has been a nice break for me - I was having way too much stress trying to time everything right with work so that I could be home to feed her.  Now maybe we'll get to use those 75 packages of milk I have stored in the freezer!  She continues to squeal a lot rather than coo and has recently begun making a "monster" noise in which she grunts loudly.  Daniel gets a kick out of that one.  She's sleeping okay.  She typically wakes up once during the night to eat, but there are other nights that she sleeps through.  She then takes three naps during the day, ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours.  The hard part is that you never know what kind of nap it will be!  She also recently got a tooth!  How's that for not feeling like a baby anymore?!

Zens Grandkids' Extravaganza

Last weekend we had all four Zens grandkids together for the first time.  My sister and her son, Bryson (20 months), my sister-in-law and her son, Henry (5 months), and my mom all came to visit.  We had so much fun seeing all the kids together.  It was a wild and tiring weekend!  I'm so thankful that they all made the long trip to come see us!  We didn't do anything special - it's hard to get out of the house with four kids on different schedules.  There were some meltdowns and plenty of crying, but a lot of laughter too!  Here are a few pics, including our many takes at trying to get all four in one photo!