Jack's 4th Birthday: Rescue Bots

For Jack's birthday this year, we decided to let him have a friend party. He had such a blast and I'm glad we did it. He's been in love with Rescue Bot Transformers (loves to watch the show and to play with the toys), since summer time. He told me at the beginning of summer that for his Birthday he wanted to have a Transformers party. I thought for sure he would have moved on to something else by the time his birthday came around, but nope! So, rescue bot transformer party it was :)

We first make transformers out of rice crispie treats, toothpicks, icing and candies. The kids thought this was pretty cool, mainly because they got to snack on the candies :)

Next we started our Rescue Bots, training camp. We split the kids up into two different teams: Team Optimus Prime and Team Bumblebee. Jack and I had put together a "burning building" out of cardboard and streamers. We hid stuffed animals throughout the "building" and each team had to crawl through and rescue the stuffed animals.

Our next mission was to knock down a mountain and rescue some babies who were trapped in a cave (read: a big stack of cardboard boxes with baby dolls hidden in one of the boxes). The kids LOVED this game. We did it multiple times. They loved knocking down the tower of boxes.

The last mission was to rescue Dad, who "fell and hurt his leg." They had to drag him to the hospital. They thought this was pretty fun, but poor Chuck wasn't very comfortable! Luckily, he's such a good sport and puts up with my crazy ideas ;)

I'm sad I didn't capture more photos of the kids or the cake, but we were just playing :) I made the cake myself, which was an adventure, but it didn't turn out half bad. My icing skills are minimal, but Jack didn't seem to mind!

I'm so grateful that this little guy has such good friends. Truly. They are all so wonderful. It's only during times like these that I wish we had a little more space (and hardwood floors for easy clean up!) so that we could have all his friends over to play.

The only slight mishap, was that the two 2-year olds (Kate and another sibling) teamed up and dumped out ALL the puzzles. And I mean all. Including an 1,000 piece puzzle and a 550 piece puzzle along with all the kid puzzles. Surprisingly, it didn't take that long to clean up...because we just decided to throw away the two "adult" puzzles. Now the puzzles have a new home in our living room, where the adults usually hang out :)

Jack had a blast and we are so grateful for such sweet friends who are so kind and generous. Thank you!

My sweet Jack,

I sure love you. Watching you grow up has been such a privilege. Sometimes I look at you and can't believe how quickly the past four years have flown by. You are such a joy to have in our home and we are so grateful that you were sent to us.
You current favorite toys are your transformers. You love to play with them and act out missions and battles. You also love your new spiderman lego set that Mimi got you for your birthday. You still love to read books, puzzle and color all of which we do almost every day.

You are currently attending preschool. You really enjoy it, but often have a hard time leaving us. You often express your desire to stay with mom and Kate and play at home. You are learning lots there. Including recognizing all the letters and sounds and being able to write all the letters and your name. You also go to Grandma's music class. You love being able to listen to the music and play the instruments. You have often told me how much you love that you get to stay with Grandma after class and hang out with her while she runs errands and then brings you home. I'm grateful that you get to spend that time with Grandma Krebs and for the bond that you guys share.

You are a great big brother to Kate. You love to play with her and sometimes ask if we can wake her up from her nap so you can play with her. You share with her most of the time and let her play games with you and build with you, even though she frequently knocks things over or makes things more complicated. You are patient and kind with her for the most part and I love that about you. You love to give Kate hugs and to wrestle. Sometimes you will play with her pigtail, which I find so cute.  I'll often hear you say, "Here Kate, I'll help you!", "Can I go play with Kate, mom?" (when she first wakes up from her nap), "Watch this, Kate!" or "Do you want to play with me?" Thank you for being such a kind brother.

Your current favorite foods are pizza and cereal. We struggle a lot with your eating habits. You will often eat very little or nothing at all for dinner. We are hoping that eventually you will learn to enjoy all foods cooked in all different ways. For now, we will continue to have pizza night once a week so at least you have one meal a week that you will eat and enjoy. Sometimes you try things easily, sometimes you refuse. We are all learning together on how to improve your eating habits without making it too much of a struggle.

You love technology time. You love to watch a show, play on the ipad or on dad's phone, or to play the wii. You only get technology for 30 minutes a day, but it's the first thing you ask for when you wake up. I hope that you learn that most things in this world are better than technology, and I hope that I can set a good example for you.

You love to play pretend. You will often act out battles or fight the bad guys (or the good guys), and will run around the house doing flips and kicks and all sorts of "ninja" moves.

You have really gotten into playing games. Your current favorite is Sequence that you got for your birthday. But, you also enjoy trouble, busy town and old maid.

You are kind, smart, helpful and generous. I love seeing your sweet heart emerge in the things that you do and say. One of my favorite phrases that you say is, "how can I help you, mom?" I love your kind heart that can recognize needs already. So, thank you for being such a loving and kind and fun boy. I learn from you everyday about forgiveness, grace and love. You bring so much fun and joy and happiness into our lives and home. Thank you, my sweet baby boy.

Lots of hugs and kisses,
Mom and Dad