the week's headshots.

 every blog post needs cute pictures of metta.

everywhere we go people comment about how alert she is.  They always make some statement about how she's really watching what's going on around her.  It's all because of her crazy eyes.

 she really does always have them wide open and staring.

 this past weekend was a 'golden weekend'. that means kent had both saturday and sunday off. it doesn't happen often- so we try to take advantage when it does!  we decided to head out to Yellow springs to the 'yellow springs street fair'.

Yellow Springs is this quaint little crazy hippie town. It really is nutso.  The fair was outrageous. Tie-dye and 'legalize marijuana' petitions on every corner.  It was voted the #1 people watching fair.  I wanted to get pictures of all the crazies we saw- but only ended up with a few.  I was too busy wrangling children!

and speaking of children- we totally stuck out like sore thumbs.  We were so average looking- and the fair people were anything but average :)  Plus- our family was too big.  A couple of ladies walked past Kent while he was with the kiddos and one of them said to the other: "are ALL three of those kids his?!  I think they are!" and then they gasped.

Here's a tie-dye mullett.  Pretty cool.

and there were some pretty awesome art cars.  I miss the ones from toledo!   Zeb was fascinated by the toy covered one.  He walked around it several times and kept finding favorite characters.

of course- we found yoda.

we found a ken doll and prince eric. I'm not sure what's going on here.

the boys' favorite part of the day was the crazy bus ride we took to the fair. We parked far away and rode the 'shuttle' in and out of town.  They both kept telling us how much they loved the bus ride.


and, of course, the treats.  Cotton candy and italian ice.

it was pretty hot and humid.  the cotton candy was melting.

Metta likes the heat and sun about as much as I do. She tried to sleep the day away.

until she had a poo explosion and lost her pants.

also this weekend we did some firefly catching. Zeb is quite the little entomolygist. He caught three. with his bare hands!  Every night at dusk we have zillions of them in our backyard!  It really is amazing!!

 and some more metta pictures. she gets better and better every day.

 and she thinks her brothers are so funny (looking).

 she totally looks like boy in her white onsies.

 and she's totally teething. this poor girl can't figure out what's going on with her mouth!!

huffman metropark

 For family home evening this week we decided to go adventuring since the weather has been STUPENDOUS.  Dayton- like toledo- has some amazingly large and beautiful parks.  Huffman is just two miles from our house!

I hope we always live somewhere where we can go exploring often.  I was a little nervous about ticks (there have been a TON this year) but we came home and bathed immediately. we were all tick free.

 Ike is such an energetic kid.  it becomes especially apparent when Kent is home!  It's like he can't control his excitement and he bounces all over with smiles and giggles and crazy faces.

 ike's little toes poke out of these dang shoes because they are too small. he begs to wear them so I don't argue.

 metta just hung out in her carseat and stared.  she's pretty wide eyed most of the time.  Her eyes are definitely changing more and more and I'm quite certain they aren't going to be deep brown like Zeb and Ike's.  My guess is hazel- like mine.

 the water was pretty stinking (literally) dirty but the boys loved it.

 and this mud smelled like poo.  so gross.

my zebby kid. he'll always be my favorite to kiss.  mostly because he hates it!  but a little because he's my first and will always be a little baby in my mind :)

I love being outside and making sure my kids have lots of really fun memories!  my parents did such a great job at that and I hope my kiddos feel the same way when they're grown up!

star wars birthday party!!!!!!!

 I absolutely LOVE birthdays.  I think it's so great to have a day to celebrate each individual kiddo. Zebbo turned five yesterday and we partied like you'd never believe.   We even had our very first friend party.  I think five is the perfect age to celebrate with friends. and now we don't have to have another for several more years :)
On his actual birthday- I woke up early to decorate for him.  The boys raced down the stairs and begged for the present from gramps!  Zeb picked it out with gramps last week when they were in town- but he wasn't allowed to open it until his birthday.  He was BEYOND excited.

Then later that evening Zeb opened his presents from us. Two wii wheels.  He's been wanting them since the wii came with Metta- so I'd been on the hunt.  I actually found BOTH of these at a yard sale for stinking cheap.  I totally lucked out.

and here's his number five that he wore all day.  to the gym, store, and out with friends.  he was so excited to let people know he turned five!! and he got to wear his new star wars shirt from his cousin Henry!! thanks, Hawes!!

 the night of his birthday- kent got home at five (yippee!) and we went out to his primary teacher's house to roast marshmallows and hot dogs with friends.  It was the perfect night for zeb!! and here's the one and only picture of kent and me.  pictures of the two of us are pretty rare I've realized. I need to take more- preferably where I'm not stuffing food into my mouth.

The birthday boy and me- blowing on a stick?!

with all of zeb's strange food aversions I canNOT believe he'll eat s'mores.  He only takes one or two bites- but I still can't believe it.

Ike spent almost the entire night in the sandbox.  The night was super chilly (which I LOVED!) and perfect for a fire.  On Zeb's birthday- June 1st- it was THIRTY degrees COLDER than the day metta was born- Feb 29th.  that's ridiculous.

And today was THE day.  the party.  Zeb's been waiting MONTHS for this. He's had a countdown calendar that he checks off each day. It finally arrived and lived up to all of the hype.

Zeb kept seeing amazing crazy complicated star wars cakes online that he loved. He really wanted a giant general greivous cake- and if you know general greivous- you would realize that would even be a feat for duff- mr. ace of cakes himself.  So- he got a much more tame cake.  The dark side/light side cake- and a giant cupcake light saber.   Not too shabby when I had an entire party to plan!

The day was really a lot of fun!  we sent out these invites that I made on the walmart website for even cheaper than regular invites from the party store!  zeb got VERY concerned that the date said June 2.  We finally convinced him that a Saturday party was the best option- even if it was not actually ON his birthday.

We made all of the kiddos these fabulous light sabers made from duct tape and plumbing insulation.  97 cents for six feet at lowes!!

we did all sorts of jedi training out in the backyard!   the younglings (actual term for young jedis in training) learned how to wield lightsabers and perfect fighting skills by using the force.


we pod raced.

We even used the force to guide us across the yard while closing our eyes.  quincy got really into it :)

and then- once all of the kids became jedi masters- they had the chance to defeat darth vader.  yes- we realize his light saber is the wrong color.

Kent Darth Vader entered the room and said: "Zeb, I am your father".  Zeb thought it was soooo funny.  It is UNREAL how much this kid knows about star wars.  He's a little walking encyclopedia.

We only had tears from one party goer who was terrified of the Sith Lord.

Ike wanted to take a turn too.  Pretty darn cute vader if you ask me.

We played "pin the light saber on the jedi"!

and the kiddos got a chance to really take a beating to Darth Vader.  This lovely pinata had already been through two beatings at previous parties (thanks, greta!!!)- and I'm pretty sure he'll make it through a few more.

 His head just detaches from the hat and the candy spills out without complete annihilation.  that's my kind of pinata!

Zeb really got into it.

 My pal Kresta hung out and held metta almost the entire time. lifesaver!

 such a slobbery messy little girl.  but so dang cute.

 In the end we ate a delicious Star Wars lunch of Padawan Pizza- Droid berries- jedi juice- and more.

 Here are Kent's famous 'Wookie cookies'.  so amazing.

 Zeb got spoiled by his friends and loved every second. and Ike's pretty excited about all of the new stuff, too :)

I love my little zeb. He is a good, sweet, obedient, and wonderful boy.  I couldn't ask for a better kid.

These kids are a lot of work- but a lot of fun, too!  Now I've just got to figure out what we'll do for Ike's fifth birthday!! at least we've got two more years to think about it!