the birthday boy at SIX.

i did an interview last year with ethan when he turned 5 and i wanted to do something similar with him again.  i ended up finding this great book on pinterest (of course!) and ordered 3 of them right away.  it would have been great if i had made one myself, but there is no way that would actually happen, so it was worth the money to buy it already done.  

ethan and i did it this morning and he really had fun with it.  i am looking forward to doing it with the others too.  the books start at year three and go through year sixteen.  i'm sure once we get to year eight, he will probably be rolling his eyes at me, but oh well.  one day, his wife will appreciate that i kept track of all of these things...at least that is what i keep telling myself.

partying ninja style!

ethan's request this year for his party theme was lego ninjago.

there was lots of great party inspiration out there for this theme.  i went with kind of an asian theme similar to the anders and ruff party shown here.  with the craziness of the holidays and unpacking from the ski trip, i was worn out and, gasp, not as excited about putting everything together.  luckily i had done a lot of the prep work and ordering before christmas set in so i just had to put everything together.

we had his party at the local gymnastics place again.  lots of fun and lots of kids!

the candy bar was definitely the hit of the party and so easy to do.  i normally end up with tons of goodie bags left over since i always want to make sure i have one for each kid that comes.  this time i decided to forgo that and do something that required a lot less preparation.  thanks to bamboo organizers from the container store, lots of colored candy and cute chinese take-out boxes, the candy bar went off without a hitch.  

we had a great time celebrating my oldest's special day...on the way home he was already planning next year's theme (a boy after my own heart...)

happy birthday to ethan.

SIX years old!  

i can't believe the little guy that decided to make his entrance to the world in texas was SIX last month.  as always, we celebrated his day in colorado in the snow.

he was so very excited about turning six and skiing, of course!  the boys had spent the previous two days in ski school and had been doing really well, so we decided to take them out ourselves for the day.  we expected a long morning followed up with lunch and then back to the house.  turned out our boys were really ready to ski and we were out until the lifts closed.  it was such fun to have our little ducks in a row going down the hills.

we took our first family trip up the red lady lift.  it is one of the bigger lifts and opens you up to a lot of other ski runs.  the kids did great on it.  the only one scared was me.  

after a long day of skiing, we had lego cupcakes and presents.  mimi and grampies were even able to facetime in.  was a perfect party and a great way to celebrate ethan.

perseverance

he's in the pack, in his bright green shirt.

we windels are not super athletic or all that great at team sports, but we always stay with it to the end...even if it is rough.

hanging out with his friends.

i am so proud of ethan.  he ran his first cross country race yesterday.  my sweet boy may have finished at the end, but through tears, frustration and grumpiness, he ran his first ever mile.  two middle school runners helped him make it through near the end.  i had tears in my eyes for my guy as i listened to everyone cheer him on to the finish.

almost finished!

we have big plans to run together in another week.  even though he had some rough spots in his run, he is ready to do his next one!

very proud of his medal

the first day of school.

in some ways, the summer flew by.  in others, it dragged on and on.  i think the boys were ready to start school.  i know i was.  they (and the family!) needed some sort of consistent routine and they definitely required some time apart from each other.  they were pretty much getting on each others nerves at every moment.  

each boy was excited to get dressed this morning (though miles was a bit sad he didn't have a uniform) and walk into their new classrooms.  i was a bit teary-eyed.  neither one of the boys seemed sad in the least.  

it is hard to believe that ethan started kindergarten today!  i know he was ready for it and all of the learning and independence that comes with it.  miles didn't look back to the EC3 classroom of last year at all...he just marched right into pre-k and went right up to his teacher to work on spelling his name.

i think he looks so much like lance in this picture.

eager to get to work.

i am excited to hear about their first day this afternoon.

oh my, he is so grown up.

it still seems crazy to me some days that i have three kids.  one of whom will be six, SIX?!, in a few short months.  

he is my oldest boy.  my little rule follower.  my delegator.  he may not be the one who will snuggle up in your lap after a long day.  but he is the one who makes sure to take care of his little sister and brother, just the way his daddy taught him to.

our next few weeks before school starts will be busy with gathering last minute supplies, staying up late and sleeping in.  just trying to enjoy a few more days where we don't have to be up and out of the house by a certain time or have evenings filled with homework.

i am so proud of him and am excited for him to begin this new journey!  i know he is ready for it.  

happy birthday to ethan!

he is FIVE!!

we had a perfect day celebrating the start of his fifth year!

we partied angry birds style.

a day of firsts

today was a day of firsts.

a first day of school for the windel boys.

they were very eager (and maybe a bit nervous) to begin school today.  


a first day of a new fitness routine for me.

i was eager (and maybe very nervous) to begin and new fitness routine.

it was a good start to our fall.

last day of school

school came to an end almost a month ago but i am just now getting around to posting his last day of school picture.

so much changed since we took this first picture.  even though ethan loved school from the first day, he was timid to start off.  we walked him in to his classroom every day for two weeks.  and then slowly started easing off.  it was too hard to keep that up every day with two other kids in tow, especially one particular one who wanted to go to school too...

by the end of the year, ethan was jumping out of the car at the front porch of the school and walking right to his classroom.  he was talking in front of the entire school at the monday morning assemblies without any problem.  he was writing his whole name correctly.   he was calling out to his friends when he saw them at his soccer games or around town.  he was telling miles that he would be going there next year and he would hold his hand when they walked down the hall.

it has been a good year. 

a FOURTH birthday!

birthday parties exhaust me. i have cried tears over party preparations. i have stressed more about birthday parties for than i have about work projects. this year i decided to take a more laid back approach and have the party someplace where i didn't have to worry about too many details.

well wouldn't you know that the one time (probably all winter) that it decided to snow in oklahoma was the morning of ethan's birthday party. lance also got called out of town last minute and was off on a plane so i couldn't even call him to get his take on things. thankfully my parents were in town and are used to driving in real snow...not just the heavy flurries we were actually getting (i don't want you to think it was a real blizzard out there by any means...) so we decided to keep the party on. so we trekked up to oklahoma city for the party and barely hit any snow.

the little gym ended up being the PERFECT place for a party! we had the entire place to ourselves and the kids had a blast jumping, running and playing games. there was plenty of space to spread out and helpers to lead the playtime and set-up and clean-up. all we had to do was show up with the cupcakes (which my mom and i had a GREAT time making using this recipe and this frosting - amazing!) best part, we got to visit with friends and family and finish celebrating ethan's fourth year. thank you to everyone who braved the cold to help us celebrate!

*special thanks to my good friend dawn for sharing some great pictures of the party with me...i think i would have only had about 4 pictures of the whole thing if it hadn't been for her.