Easter 2015/Caleb's 5th Birthday

So in my last post, I mentioned that I ended up with a stomach bug on Hadley's birthday. What I thought was going to be a 24 hour thing turned into a much longer bout of illness. From Tuesday night through Sunday, I just couldn't shake it. 

Dave took off Wednesday and Thursday and all I could think about was what a great husband I have! The first day alone, he got the kids ready in the morning, took Caleb to school, ran an errand for me, and got Hadley to her three year check-up. On the way home, my poor girl ended up getting sick in her carseat as well when they stopped to pick up Caleb from school, but Dave handled it all in stride...After giving her at least three baths throughout the day, changing her clothes at least four times, doing laundry, taking care of the boys, making sure I stayed hydrated, and putting them all to bed, I found him outside thoroughly cleaning the car. As the next couple days passed, I teased him that he should get Mom of the year! 

I tried my best Friday to handle things when he went back to work, but by the end of the day all of us were struggling. Saturday I spent the day in bed again and we missed out on breakfast with the Easter bunny as planned. We thought I might even have to head to the hospital, but after lots of Gatorade and rest, I finally started to improve. 

Caleb had t-ball practice and Dave had to go pick his dad up from the airport, so my mom volunteered to watch the younger two. Even though she had a ton of food to make for Easter and was having a lot of back pain herself, once again she sacrificed to lighten our load! She also went the extra mile and set up an area for the kids to dye eggs, which they wouldn't have gotten to do otherwise. Grandpa McKinstry captured these pics for me, so I got to at least see what they did even if I couldn't be there.

That night, Dave went through the Resurrection eggs with the kids (as he'd already done earlier in the day) to help them better understand what Easter represented, and Grandpa helped him put them all to bed. To our unpleasant surprise though, Hadley woke up in the middle of the night with the stomach bug again.

Weeks ago, I'd made up the kids' baskets, trying to make sure they were even. Then, I put them each in a large bag and stored them in the basement closet so they would be ready to go. With all the sickness though, I completely forgot about setting them out until the next morning. Thankfully, we never have been a family that pretends the Easter bunny brought them...we just give them the baskets, which definitely worked in our favor and they didn't seem phased a bit to watch me finish laying out their treats. Caleb didn't even come looking for a basket when he first woke up. He had no expectation of goodies Easter morning, no sense of entitlement - which I love! Down the steps be came and began to round the corner when he caught a glimpse of what I was doing in the living room...

Thanks to Kmart going out of business and the great bargains always to be found at the Dollar Tree, the baskets were easy to fill this year.

I never put much candy in there...but what do you think was the first thing he noticed?

Two Reese cup eggs made his day! (He sure does have good taste when it comes to candy.)

Reid didn't need an invitation to follow suit. He had no problem spotting his basket.

He ran for the treats too!

Caleb got this book when he was a baby and the kids "loved it" so much that it fell to pieces months ago. Since it was such a favorite, I thought purchasing another copy of PeekAZoo was a good idea.

Caleb has a dinosaur hooded towel my Aunt Beth bought that he loves. At Kohls I found a few more of these animal towels, so I picked up one for each of the kids. Reid snuggled and loved on his.

What is this thing? (Don't get too attached buddy...That was just in your basket for looks. Momma's probably going to eat it.)

He has no idea what this toy is Mommy got Caleb, but he's happy about it.

After they finished exploring their baskets, Caleb spent a good chunk of time playing with his Wikki Stix set.

A friend recommended these as a good way to practice fine motor skills.

 

They were perfect for my little boy who loves building and creating. He copied a few of the designs included and then made his own - a cockroach.

Not only was it Easter day, it was also Caleb's birthday, so there were more presents to be found. 

A puddle jumper

Usually I get the kids swimsuits for their baskets, but since Reid already has several nice ones handed down to him from Caleb and didn't need any, I decided just to give Hadley and Caleb theirs for their birthdays to keep it fair. Caleb actually was pretty excited about picking these out at the store.

This water gun was one of my Kmart finds. You are supposed to put ice it in it make the water cold. Caleb was thrilled when he opened it, especially because he thought it shot ice!

At school, this is his favorite book. Since he's mentioned how much he loves it, I asked his teacher to send me the name and was about to order a copy when I spotted this one at a consignment sale recently. 

I don't think I could have found anything he'd have been much happier with.

More Wikki Stix

Caleb's been telling us for months that his favorite animal is a black Chinese dragon. He even wanted it to be the theme of his birthday party. When I spotted this shirt on clearance at the Gymboree outlet, you can imagine how excited I was knowing how much he'd love it. I told my mom it would probably help win me mom of the year!

Dave whipped Caleb up some pancakes for breakfast per his request, and then Grandpa, Dave and Caleb headed to church while I stayed with Reid who needed a nap and Hadley who was still sleeping in.

It is very unusual for my girl to sleep past 7:30, but after being up in the middle of the night and recovering from the bug, she slept 'til after 9 and laid in bed for a while even after that. When she came downstairs though, the goodies waiting for her were a good pick me up.

Reid didn't sleep long because she wandered in his room and woke him. Since I still wasn't feeling up to par, we mostly sat on the couch and watched a bit of TV until the guys returned.

Hadley and I had to stay home for the rest of the day, but the fellas dropped by to pick up little Reid and take him with them to Granny's. Though he didn't make it to church, Mommy still dressed him up in his little Easter outfit for the occasion.

I found this little Gymboree sweater vest that was brand new with tags at a thrift store when Caleb was a baby with the intent of using it for Easter but he ended up wearing something else. It was worth the wait though; Reid looked awful handsome in it. :)

At Granny's everyone got a big supper like usual and visited before it was time to go outside.

They didn't really do a big egg hunt like normal, but the kids found a few. Even without a bunch of eggs to find, they still had plenty of fun running around the yard and playing with kites.

 

My Aunt Brenda was hosting another dinner later in the day for my mom's side of the family, but everyone was worn out and I wanted the to guys to come home so that the boys could at least hunt a few eggs with Hadley here at the house since I was too afraid she was contagious to take her out. Reid also really needed a nap and it was nice to have the extra help from Dave that afternoon since I still wasn't feeling 100%. Even staying home that afternoon though, Caleb had a good time just playing with his Wikki Stix while his siblings slept.

When Hadley woke up, she was surprised to see the basket of goodies Granny sent for her.

A little later, as soon as Reid woke up and dinner was over, these boogers were ready for the hunt.

After they found them all, Caleb decided to rehide them.

If the egg hunt wasn't entertaining enough, Reid showed us some of his skills while we were out there. Without hesitation, he walked right over to the swing set and climbed the ladder like he'd been doing it every day or something. Dave spotted him, but our climbing boy didn't need any help and I'm not surprised. That's just typical for Reid.

Dave was impressed Reid knew to use the hand grips since he said our older two seem to ignore them.

Once he had showed off a bit on the ladder and slide, he moved on to the monkey bars. Dave said he was really doing pull ups with just a little help. ("A gym rat" his daddy called him!) Reid just giggled and giggled like it was the funniest thing he'd ever done.

Things didn't go according to our original plan, but it was a pretty good day nonetheless. I felt like the slow pace for me staying at the house really helped me to reflect on what the day was really about and the suffering Christ went through for me, so I'm thankful for that reminder. Hadley just had time to relax and watch her favorite shows and movies since she wasn't up for doing too much, and Caleb seemed to enjoy his birthday too, satisfied and unaware anything was amiss. I love to see him smiling.