A Major accomplishment

A major accomplishment could mean different things to different people.  Something that seems like a huge accomplishment to one person might seem trivial to another.  Yet, when someone does something that they didn't think they could do it's pretty safe to say that we would all classify that as something to be proud of.  My sweet 7 year old is pretty proud of this:

This is Boba Fett's lego ship.  Now Isaiah has a lot of legos, and he has built quite a few things all on his own.  But this set that he got for his birthday from grammy bee and grampa is the biggest set he has ever had.  It has 569 pieces and two instruction manuals so he was pretty sure that he was not going to be able to finish it on his own.  It's for ages 9-14 after all!

But the Sunday before last when Isaiah woke up to rain and wanted to break out his new legos, Kyle set him up at the dining room table and told him, "If you have a question you can ask me but I think you can do it.  Just take it one step at a time."  Ah, the life lessons you can learn from legos.  I'm serious.  It can be intimidating to look at that huge pile of pieces- but if you do one step at a time pretty soon it all starts to come together.  When life gets busy and crazy and complicated and we don't understand how we'll get to the end result we just have to pretend we're building a huge lego creation and ask God to show us one step at a time.  Who knew legos could be so deep?

Isaiah and his assistant- the beginning stages

Luke began the day as Isaiah's assistant, handing him pieces like he was assisting with surgery.  He may have been more of a hindrance than a help at times as he periodically carried off pieces but he adores his brother and just wants to be near him. (physically touching if at all possible)

Kyle observing the progress.... it's getting bigger!

Things are taking shape!

Isaiah worked hard on Sunday until it was time for church.  He added a couple pieces on Monday after school, and finished up his ship on Tuesday morning.  We told him he had to wait until 6:30 am before he could get up.  He was downstairs at 6:30 on the dot.  I have never seen him work so hard and long on something before.  

A very proud boy and his finished product

He did it!  Isaiah kept saying, "I can't believe I built this without any help.  Can you believe it?"  I can believe it- you are growing up and becoming more and more capable every day Isaiah.  It looks like Kyle and I's lego building days are over.  This guy has got it down!

Boys will be boys

What a week!  It seems like May is getting busier by the minute.  I'm already looking forward to the slow and easy pace of summer break!  Isaiah had his spring concert at school on Friday (see video clip at bottom of post) and I thought I'd share a couple pictures.  Here's some of the boys from his class right before their performance.

Notice how Isaiah is the shortest one.  He is growing I promise.  I'm wagering that by high school he'll be one of the tallest in his class.  Also notice how everyone looks pretty good except for one silly face...

Isaiah, Isaac, Steiner, Caleb, Conner

Now my offspring is the one making faces...

This one's pretty good of everyone...

And back to silly again...

Isaiah's teacher, Mrs. Trochim was watching this picture taking session unfold.  Bless her heart she tried to get them to stop with the silliness.  Afterwards she said, "I guess you are a mom of boys, you're probably used to not getting a straight face.  How true, how true.  Especially lately it seems, if both boys are in the picture it is pretty much guarenteed to not be serious.  Case in point, I took some pictures of them when we were camping last weekend at Hood Canal.  Here's what I got...

But lets face it... I love the silly, crazy, loud- ness of boys! (almost all the time)  I especially love it when they are tromping around outside in the great outdoors (and not my living room), getting dirty, climbing rocks, finding bugs and doing what boys do best.

Here's a video clip of Isaiah's concert for all you family out there.  

Birthday Extravaganza-part 2: Lego Mania

After much deliberation on how to properly celebrate Isaiah's birthday party we finally decided on a smaller sleepover with his closest buddies.  The theme was Lego Ninja.  Here's a few notes from the night:

*  There's nothing like old friends! - The friendships Isaiah has with his best buddies really is special.  They've been friends since they were born and have many memories over the years- and they're only 7!  I hope they can continue their friendships and make memories for a lifetime.

Top: Nathan, Isaiah, Caleb, Sam- bottom: Jakey and Lukey

Here they all are as babies, just a couple months old.  Although still a special friend, Jubilee opted out of the crazy ninja boy sleepover and her brother Jakey got to take her place as Luke's sidekick.

Isaiah, Nathan, Caleb, Jubilee, Sam

*  Little boys love to quote movies in the loudest voice possible.  They think that every line they can remember is hilariously funny.

*  Transporting legos with chopsticks takes lots of concentration

*  While my boys have a hard time staying in their seats for 15 minutes during dinner they can sit and concentrate on building legos for hours at a time.  This phenomenon still baffles me.

Lego building time!

*  Girls can be ninjas too- even if they still drink from a sippy cup

*  Oh Lukey! moment-  Kyle was sleeping in the basement with the boys and woke up to a tinkling sound.  He looked up to see Lukey standing on his pillow, peeing on the floor. Hmmm... I'm just glad he didn't pee on any of the guests.

Another great birthday, another fun filled sleep-over.  The boys played hard until late and woke up early to play.  Thanks to the buddies for making Isaiah's 7th birthday a celebration to remember!!!  Now on to the next birthday in our house, something tells me Lizzy's birthday is going to be different...

Birthday Extravaganza- part 1

Someone had a birthday at our house this weekend.  Can you guess who?  I'll give you a hint, he's in first grade, reddish/blonde hair, blue eyes, sweet smile, likes legos... Yep, it was Isaiah's highly anticipated BIG day.  I can't believe my little man is seven years old!  I love watching Isaiah grow and I'm excited to watch him become the man he was created to be, I'm just not in any hurry.  When birthdays come around I'm reminded how much I want to suck every last drop out of every day of their childhood.  Someone once said to me, and I was reminded about it just the other day- raising kids is about long days but short years.  It's so true!

Birthday boy with his cake

Ever since Miss Erika made him one during his first year of preschool Isaiah has wanted a birthday crown.  This year he requested a Lego Ninja with face mask drawn on the front.  The crown above met his approval and Luke was pretty amazed that I had drawn the ninja and not daddy.  We also had specific requests for a birthday present waiting on the table in the morning, Cocoa Puffs for breakfast and Lego Ninjas fighting on his cake.

God's birthday gift to Isaiah was a beautiful sunny day- it was glorious wasn't it?  Just perfect for a backyard bbq with the grandparents and aunties and uncles (and cousin Isabelle- but she slept through most of it)

New Freckles!  Can you see them?

Isabelle finally woke up in time for Lizzy to get her baby fix.  These just make me smile.

hit another big milestone today to coincide with turning the ripe old age of seven... he lost his first tooth!  Finally!  When I got to school this afternoon to pick him up he ran straight towards me (this is unusual, he is usually in no hurry to get home and is running anywhere but towards me) and opened his mouth wide.  His tooth had popped out while he was wiggling it at his desk.  The funny thing is there is not the big gap you might normally see because his adult tooth has been coming in behind the baby tooth for a couple months now.  My sources tell me the tooth fairy will be leaving a note and a $2 bill under Isaiah's pillow, so if the going rate for teeth at your house is higher, please don't feel like you need to share that information with him.  I think the low budget tooth fairy visits our house.

First lost tooth!

Happy Birthday Isaiah!  We love you!