So Long Beryl!

We did have a dose of Beryl over the weekend but it really wasn't anything to get all worked up over. I was hoping for some good storms but we just got some rain, not even any good wind really. I love storms. It reminds me of God's power and God's strength and it reminds me of how awesome nature is. Yes sometimes they are disastrous and I am not saying that I enjoy disasters or destruction. I don't. I just think that nature is amazing and I find it fascinating. I truly believe that God is our protection even in the midst of the demonstrations of His power and strength. We desperately needed the rain so I was thankful that we got some. The kids watched the radar with us and weren't afraid at all which was wonderful. I was worried that they would be scared but they handled it all really well. My brother and his family came over for a little while before the storm came and the kids all played. It was good to see them. Their little boy is starting to talk up a storm and loves to play with my boys.

Here's the four boys together. They look like they all come from the same family!

After my brother's family left, we all got ready to head to bed. The boys wanted to have a sleepover on the floor so we stuck them all in GQ's room. We didn't fight them on it because we thought it would be comforting if they did wake up from the storm and they didn't have school the next day anyways.

Unfortunately, their sleepover didn't last long because they wouldn't settle down to go to sleep. I had to be up super early to drive to work in the storm so I wanted to get some sleep. The boys each went to their own beds. I didn't sleep well but it didn't have much to do with storm. It sure wasn't loud enough to keep me up or anything. We just got rain off and on for about 3 days. Now I can say I have been through a tropical storm though.

On a totally different subject, the boys love to be helpful. Lately, they want to help with a lot of things. WB took these pictures of GQ and Doc helping make pancakes.

Pancakes is one of their all-time favorites and they help just about every time we make it. I usually let them help me measure stuff out and stir. I think I will try to get them more involved with cooking our meals this summer since they will be home from school. I am thrilled that the homework battle is over for a few months!

Happy Birthday Doc!

Apparently, now I only blog for birthdays. I don't know what happened. We've just gotten busy and blogging has fallen by the wayside I suppose. I need to try to get back to taking pictures and blogging. With summer coming up, hopefully I will be able to blog more.

Anyways, yesterday Doc turned 5. That boy is so sweet and compassionate. I love how he looks out for others and always wants to help. He is empathetic and hates to see another kid upset. He always wants to fix things and make them feel better. Other than that, Doc is all boy, rough and tumble. He even says he doesn't like "girly" things, such as songs and colors. His favorite color is still red but he now says he likes all the boy colors. Doc is into superheroes. He wants to be a superhero when he grows up, or a policeman. Sometimes he still says he wants to be a firefighter. It definitely fits his personality so I don't see him wavering from that anytime soon if ever. He loves all the superheroes and is so excited for his superhero cake on Saturday. My aunt was so sweet and sent him superhero shirts and Spiderman socks for his birthday and that is all he wants to wear every single day!

This was this morning. His Green Lantern shirt was freshly washed so he HAD to wear it. He has worn his superhero shirts the past 4 days in a row now. He has a Green Lantern shirt, Superman shirt, and Batman shirt.

Yesterday we celebrated his birthday a little bit with him and then on Saturday, he will have his birthday party. To celebrate yesterday, we brought cupcakes to school for his class.

I made Doc a special all red one just for him. He was so excited about it!

When he got home, he had his gifts from our family waiting for him.

Mr. X has a book fair going at his school this week and bought a Ninjago book for him and Doc to share so they were looking at that for a few minutes before getting to the present opening part.

 Doc had a package waiting for him outside the front door from his Oma and Opa.

They all love getting mail!

He got Lightning McQueen velcro balls. I'm not sure what they are really called but I remember them from when I was a kid. The cool thing is, the ball isn't a tennis ball but rather a bean bag.

He also got a Mickey Mouse ball hop.

Sorry the picture is blurry. He was having a grand ol' time bouncing on his ball hop.

And a Pop-up Tent!

I think they like it!

GQ got him one of the hero factory guys that he wanted.

Mr. X got him another one that he wanted. Of course, Mr. X had to help him look at it and was very excited about it too.

And he got a Green Lantern planet from us. He wanted the big cave but they didn't have it at the store when we went. He was thrilled with the planet anyways and calls it his Green Lantern cave.

I asked him what he wanted and got the few things that we could find at the store. He had listed about 4 different hero factory guys and they only had those 2. I think it's OK that he didn't get everything he asked for though. I try to teach my kids to enjoy the more important things in life like friends and family over materialistic things. I am blessed that my two oldest boys believe in Jesus (I don't think GQ gets it quite yet) and love church. To me that is more important than what we have. Nothing is greater than having Jesus! We are looking forward to celebrating Doc's birthday with friends on Saturday and then life will settle down a bit. WB only has one class for a couple months and he will be home every evening now. We are excited to have some family time back and looking forward to doing things with the kids this summer.