Happy Birthday, Eli!

I presented Eli with a couple of options regarding his birthday, and he chose to get a trampoline for everyone to share.  So today, we went to go get one.

Thank goodness we have the wagon my friend Amy gave us!  That sucker was heavy!  But we hefted it out of the back of the van...

...and dragged it into the back yard...

...and dumped it off so we could put Hannah in the wagon and take her to school.  

After dropping Hannah off, we came home and did a craft.  

I let the kids pick their own styrofoam shapes at JoAnn's this morning for our flag holders.  

The boys chose bricks.  

We wrapped them in tissue paper and stuck foamy flag stickers around the edges.

You can't see the dots, but at the end of the school year, there will be 15 flags in each holder.  

Brianna chose a foam ring.  Her K teacher called her artwork "vibrant" years ago.  It still applies today.  :)  

The foam sticker flags and the flags came from Oriental Trading Co.

I tend to take a theme and run it into the ground, so when I saw some around the world stuff, I thought it would make a lovely addition to our around the world theme for school this year.  I haven't decided yet when I'm going to pass out the bouncy balls, but I'm sure they'll be a welcome diversion at some point.  

Another fun thing I ordered to go with our theme is Little Passports.

We just opened up our suitcase and did the puzzles today.  There are some online games that go along with it, which is great timing, because my kids are looking for new games right now.  I'm looking forward to opening the Mexico package when we hit school week 5.  (We are in week 3 right now.)  

As soon as Paul got home from his orthopedist check up (he's doing much better, and will be heading back to work soon), Eli was after him to assemble the trampoline.  

This cute little preying mantis wanted to help.

Paul got called away for a while, so we had nap time.  

Sadly, Eli was the only one of us who actually slept!  (I did have a "rest" which helped keep me going the rest of the day.)

Soon, progress was being made once more.  

The boys were "helping."

Brianna was taking pictures, including this shot of Hannah, sporting her Papa Murphy's sticker from our run to pick up pizzas before taking her to school.

The boys decided this would make a lovely boxing ring.  

Stre-e-e-e-e-t-ch!

Sproing!

72 springs on this thing.  

Soon, it was time for that pizza break, dinner!

Me and my homies this year.  <3 

After dinner, more trampoline assembly. 

Try not to notice the child in the background ON the trampoline while we're putting together the safety net.  Sigh.  

How on earth do we tie this net down?

Here, let me do that part!  It's almost like sewing!

Poor Hannah had already gone to bed by the time Paul picked Sam up from the football dinner he was at.  So she missed cake and presents.  

"I've been wanting to read this one!!"

Magic Tree House books.  He loves them.

We ended the evening with a round of Lego Minifigures.  The anticipation of wondering what they'll get is almost as good as getting new Lego guys.  We ended up with a pirate, a warrior, a DJ, a cowgirl, and a scary/creepy pink headed creature.  

Got a minute to spare a click?