Getting Ready!

We have been gearing up for Oliver's birthday weekend. My dining room table is actually CLEAR right now (aside from a tablecloth), as I had Nadia and Ian move the Legos so we could actually eat off the table. Later this evening my dad and my sister's family will be arriving at our house, which means 15 people will be sleeping here tonight and tomorrow. Maurice will be coming on Sunday night to bring the total to 16. On Monday morning 21 of us (including the Benners in Chicago) will be driving to Ohio for our 5 day vacation. One of the days we will be going to Cedar Point amusement park! Paul came home early from work today (awesome!) to help with some projects around the house including fixing the garbage disposal (someone had put a spoon down it at the beginning of the week so it hadn't been working since then) and blowing up some air mattresses for our guests. Yesterday Paul got the apple tree stump out of the ground (this has turned into a 3 month project), and so today I was pushing dirt back into the massive hole.

Paul and Nadia also helped with that project while I was mowing the lawn. The project is not yet done because the stump is too heavy to lift up into his dad's truck, but the end is in sight! We shall see how long it takes for the lawn to recover from the digging, dragging the stump, and the truck's wheels tearing up grass. That part of the lawn is more dirt than grass at this point, but we are down to ONE apple tree, which is more than enough for me. I didn't mind if we left the stump in the ground, but Paul really wanted it out, and he finally succeeded.

Yesterday morning I woke up with a 101 degree fever, which is high for me as my normal temperature is usually 96 or 97 degrees. My throat has been killing me, and I've had a headache since Wednesday. At first I thought I'd need to scrap a lot of the plans for yesterday (it was to be our busiest day of the week), but thanks to Ibuprofen, cough drops, and Tylenol, we were able to go to swimming/diving lessons, the grocery store, a 3 hour program on the water cycle and groundwater at Camp Susque, and to a Big Daddy Weave concert at the West End Fair.

The concert was free. I just had to pay $12 for the four of us to get into the fair.  I told the kids I'd either buy them a handstamp for the rides ($5 each) or something to eat. They all picked something to eat so we shared a funnel cake, shared 2 waters, and each had some soft ice cream. Uncle Al and Millie were there for the last part of the concert, which was a special treat. Oliver was definitely too young to appreciate the concert, but it was better to bring him than pay a babysitter. When we got home at 9:30 pm I was exhausted, but we had a good day. Today the ONLY thing we did outside of our house was swimming lessons. I was cooking, cleaning, mowing, etc. to prepare for their arrival. We got donuts on the way home. Usually I get 6 donuts for the 5 of us on each birthday, but this time I got 18 donuts for the 15 of us. Hope everyone enjoys Oliver's special birthday breakfast tomorrow. His birthday is Sunday, but we'll have his donuts a day early.




Today I took a video of Oliver's birthday interview and also one showing which letters he knows of the alphabet so far. I am confident he would know them all if I had worked with him more. We have worked on them VERY little. As a comparison here are links to last year's birthday interview of Oliver, Ian's 4th birthday interview, and Nadia's 4th birthday interview.

I also decorated for Oliver's birthday today. I used some of the same Sesame Street decorations I used for his first birthday. Tomorrow we plan to go to Home Depot, the Children's Museum (for a touch a truck event), playground, play here at our house and have tacos for dinner here, and then go to a Pops concert by the Williamsport Symphony tomorrow. Hopefully everyone will have a great day! Paul is taking the day off to spend it with us, which is greatly appreciated.