Catching Up with Michael July 8, 2015

Hello dear ones! I’m almost caught up on posts. So what has Michael been doing lately? My sweet 9 year old has had a busy summer so far. We’ve been catching up on school since our hiatus during pregnancy. The work has been light though. I’m working on another Summer bucket list. We’ve finally gotten out to volunteer again at the nursing home and feed the homeless. Here are some other things Michael’s been doing.

Riding his bike. Michael mastered his bike this year. I’m so proud of him.

Swim lessons~ Michael can swim now but he still panics if he goes very far. So he stays in the shallow end. Maybe with more practice he will get better. Also we are able to go to pools for free now.

Last Awanas Ceremony~ Michael recited two Bible verses and did really well despite his nerves.

Karate

Michael’s bestie Liam had a martial arts party. We signed up for private lessons once a week. Michael has been in karate before but it was too big of a commitment financially and time wise. Plus Michael wasn’t mature enough then. Private lessons make it easier to keep with our schedule. The instructors are Christians and teach the kids respect and good morals. Michael’s really excited about learning again. Sadly, he has to start over with his belts, but maybe he will advance quickly.

Liam cutting his cake with a sword. Hannah is over to the right.

 

Michael’s free first lesson

Our homeschool group learned about nature at the Botanical Gardens.

Michael “eating” a tree cookie, and learning about the rings.

Bird watching

Then we had our End of the Year party, and the kids were given certificates from their moms.

We took Leeland out to several places for the first time…like the museum.

Kickball at the Church Picnic

You saw Michael’s birthday party here: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/michaels-spiderman-pajama-party/

Well, on his actual birthday we took him to Outback. It was his first time having the servers sing to him. He was really surprised.

Playing Band Hero

The park and spending time with Nana.

Mailbox Club Bible lessons~ https://www.mailboxclub.org/index.php/lesson-signup-child

Michael is adjusting really well to being a big brother. He helps me around the house and is very protective of Leeland. My compassionate lil buddy is growing up too fast. He’s starting fifth grade next year. It’ll be wild teaching fifth grade while keeping up with a busy baby. Somehow we’ll do it.

Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Check out some of Michael’s homeschool adventures: Start at these posts and follow the links to the rest in the series.

The Time Machine Unit (the 20th Century)~ Check out our homemade time machine 🙂

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/a-late-crafty-monday-the-time-machine1900-1925/

Disney Countdown~ Weeks of Disney crafts, food, and fun

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/crafty-monday-disney-countdownpinocchio-the-princess-and-the-frog/

Story of the World History~ Creation through the 1800’s

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/crafty-monday-creation-the-flood-and-personality/

Pic of a kitten we found in our tree. She went to live in the country with my parents.

Michael’s Spiderman Pajama Party March 28, 2015

Hello dear ones! My oldest son Michael celebrated his 9th birthday early a couple weekends back. He had a Spiderman pajama party. We kept it simple since I’m pregnant. Michael’s actual birthday (April 11th) is a day before Leeland’s due date so we wanted to make sure he was celebrated. Here’s how we did it:

I haven’t been in a store in awhile. This pregnancy has been rough on me. So I ordered most of the party supplies from Party City. A few things I had left over from other parties…like crepe paper from the Dollar Tree and balloons from Valentines’.

The set up

• Spiderman posters and balloons~ We got a cheap helium pump from Walmart.

 

• A personalized birthday banner with Michael’s picture on it.

 

• We didn’t have room for all the birthday banners so we taped some to a project board (from the Dollar Tree). Project boards are great for decorating, especially when you have limited hanging space. We put red balloons on the chairs, and Chris hung red crepe paper from the ceiling.I made a web with white crepe paper in the middle of the board. Chris drew and cut out a black spider for the web.

 

• I didn’t get pictures of all the favors (sorry). You can see the favor bags though. Since we only invited Michael’s two best guy buddies I decided to buy nice favors. They each got a Spiderman mask, Spiderman mini basketball hoop with ball, Spiderman blow outs, Spiderman ring pops, and Spiderman bottles.

 

• I used white crepe paper to make a web on Michael’s door. Then I filled it with red and white balloons. He had such fun with it that he made his own webs all that day. I kept running into them :).

 

• I baked a simple box cake with white sprinkled frosting. I also made three small bundt cakes so the kids would each have their own. We had Spiderman candles. I had leftover cookie letters and I used them to spell out “Michael”. The bundt cakes were kind of a disaster but the kids didn’t care. The kids had pizza and individual cups of icecream also. We had Spiderman plates and napkins.

 

The Plan

• We had a pajama party instead of a sleepover because Michael’s buddies are younger than him. Also I didn’t want to go into labor with kids at the house!
• We kept it simple. The kids ate first and we had the birthday cake.

 

• Then we opened presents. I let the kids take out their masks from the favor bags.

 

• We got Michael “Big Hero 6” for his present. The boys stretched out and watched the movie.

 

• This kept them busy for a good while, but the movie ended an hour earlier than time for parents to come. So I took toys to the living room. Kids these days get bored very quick…Anywho, so then I had the boys draw super heroes. By the time their moms came at 9:30 we were playing “Duck, Duck, Goose” and “Michael says”.

Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover