The Flying V

We decided to have a karate themed birthday party for Owen and his friends this year at the
Flying V Martial Arts Studio.  I'd heard great things about the parties there, so I was excited
to give it a try.  We invited a bunch of his classmates and friends, and nearly everyone
we invited was able to make it! 

Since I wasn't having a party at our house and didn't have much else to do to prepare for it,
I decided to spend some extra time on the goody bags.  I went with the karate theme and
made black belt bags, homemade nun chucks, and rice krispie treat sushi.  It was a little
time consuming, but I had fun and was excited with the finished product.

The party itself was so much fun for the kids and so cute to watch.  Owen got to be the
"master" and helped the instructor lead the class.  As they were waiting for all of the kids
to arrive, the instructor sat the kids down and had each one stand up and
say something nice about Owen.

Then when everyone arrived it was time to go over the rules.  Owen honestly was
having so much fun and the party had barely even started.

Owen led them through some stretches,
 

they practiced their punching and kicking,
 

And made sure to keep their focus throughout it all.  "Yes sir!"

They played some games (aka burned lots of energy),

 took a break for cake (aka gained the energy right back),

then it was time to break some boards!

 

Even Joe got in on the board breaking action.
 

It was such a fun party and I loved how they made Owen feel special throughout the entire
thing.  I also was super impressed with the attention that the master commanded from 20
four and five year olds.  The way he kept their focus was amazing.  I actually think I might
sign Owen up for classes because it would be really good for him.

 Thanks for an amazing party Flying V and Super Master Owen!!

Happy 5th Birthday Owen!!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY OWEN!!!!

Let the birthday celebration continue!!  You woke up this morning to a house decorated with

streamers, balloons, happy birthday signs, and a pile of presents with your name on it.

You wasted no time opening them up and trying them out.

Then, at your request, we went out to breakfast for pancakes.  You let them know it was

your birthday and they brought out the most amazing birthday treat I've ever seen...

a pyramid of pancakes entirely covered in cream cheese frosting and sprinkles.

You and Joe went to soccer practice and then we got right back to celebrating with lunch at

the "choo choo restaurant."  Your birthday treat arrived via train after lunch.

After all of this celebrating, it was time to get home for a little rest before the main event,

your karate party!!

Let the Celebration Begin

I love making the boys feel extra special when their birthdays come around.  It typically

turns into a week long celebration.  Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, outings...

whatever we can do to make them feel as special as we possibly can.  

Owen's birthday week started off with Medieval Times.  Then on Wednesday I went
to celebrate with him in his classroom.  He picked a story for me to read

(The Wonderful Things You Will Be) and picked a special birthday
treat (Star wars fruit snacks and clementines).  
 

Next, on Thursday we went to one of the boys' and my favorite lunch spots, Culvers.  It's

perfect!  They have this big TV in the dining room that they'll turn kids shows on if you ask.

This time they actually let us pick a movie and we picked Trolls.  We had never seen it, so

we stayed and watched the entire movie.  The boys eat pretty slow, plus we get ice cream

at the end, so we were happy taking our time and having a relaxing lunch and a movie.

We told them it was Owen's birthday, so they put extra sprinkles on his ice cream. :)

Friday we had our toy store outing to adopt our new family frogs, which brings us to today.

We were going to have a party with all of Ryan's family, but a lot of people couldn't make it.

We decided to cancel and celebrate on our own.  We took the boys to the movie Sing.  They

love going to the movie theater and we haven't been able to go since Miles was born.

I figured it was a great way to make Owen feel special.  I wasn't sure how it would be with Miles, but he did really well.  He got a little fussy, but then fell asleep for a good portion of it.  And the boys, of course, loved the movie, and the snacks we bought to go with it. 

 It was a beautiful day out (60 degrees in January!!).  Miles and Joe has already taken mini

naps at the movie, so when it was done we decided to skip naps and go play at the park.

 Then we finished up the day with birthday dinner.  Tim, Val and the kids met us for pizza

at Lou Malnati's, complete with a chocolate chip cookie pizza for Owen.

I think we've succeeded at making Owen feel super special this week and we aren't even

finished yet.  Tomorrow is his actual birthday and the big party with all of his friends.  He is

super excited about it and I'm equally excited for him.  Happy almost birthday Owen!!

Froggy and Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago we watched my friend Katy's fish for a week.  The boys really liked feeding

him, checking in on him, and would stop down to see him every morning when they woke

up.  It got me thinking that getting a fish wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.  It would be

fun for the boys to have a pet they could take care of, and as far as pets go, a fish seemed

pretty low maintenance.  Then I found out about these frogs they sell at the local toy store.

I called and got the scoop.

They are dwarf African frogs.  They come in a tank with two frogs.  The tank is small and

requires close to no maintenance at all.  You only need to feed the frogs twice per week and

the tank only needs to be cleaned every three months because it basically is it's own little

ecosystem that takes care of itself.  SOLD!

It was perfect timing because for the kids' birthdays, the toy store always sends them a gift

certificate to go pick something out.  We took Owen's certificate this afternoon and I showed

him the frogs, but let him make the final decision on if he'd like to buy the frogs or pick out a

toy instead.  It wasn't an easy decision for him, but he eventually settled on the frogs.

Owen named one Froggy, then let Joe pick the name for the second one.  Joe didn't need

any time to think about it.  He was confident in the name he had chosen.  Let me introduce

you to the newest members of the Kalita family...Froggy and Pumpkin Patch.

Morning Dates with Joe

While Joe is at the point where he was wishing he was able to go to school every day like

Owen, I am happy I have a few mornings to spend just with him.  Since Miles is normally

napping in the morning, it gives Joe and I a lot of one on one time to do exciting things like...

go to the car wash and get "sprinkle donuts" while we wait,

and go for walks.

It doesn't matter what we do Joe, I'm happy spending time with you no matter where we are.

Medieval Times

The last time we were driving home from WI we drove past Medieval Times.  It got me thinking about how that would be a fun place to take the boys.  With Owen's birthday coming up next weekend, I thought we could start the celebration early

with a trip to the "big castle". 

It was a really fun experience and the food was delicious!!  The boys had mixed reviews.

Owen loved it!  Joe loved it, but got a little bored and slightly scared at the end when the

knights started fighting.  And I think it's safe to say Miles hated it.  It was really loud with

everyone cheering so it was a bit overwhelming for him.  He cried through a lot of it.  He

somehow managed to fall asleep for a little while which was awesome because it gave me a

chance to eat.  But other than that I did my best to comfort him, shield his ears from the

noise, and took him out to the lobby occasionally to give him a break from all of the noise.

Here is a little taste of what we got to see.