Yesterday I forgot.

Yesterday I forgot to do the dishes, run and tidy up the house according to the productive app on my phone. But what I didn’t forget to do was be fully there with my oldest.  

After Gunner’s behavioral therapist appointment, Gunner gathered all his trucks and buses, made a parking lot on the couch and played quietly, Annie nursed and Wyatt and I talked.

Wyatt, he tends to get lost in the shuffle of the younger kids who demand more attention from Cody and I. We haven’t really been able to have a real solid conversation with each other for a really long time and few weeks ago I thought about how honestly I could not remember when we ever did. That really bothered me. So I have been more diligent about making sure to have a real one on one time set aside just for him.

I invited him to join me and my sister in our 52 week hiking challenge. Where each week we take to the mountains and hike our butts off.  Which at first he didn’t want to do but after the first hike he was hooked.

The funny about hiking is that no matter what, you have to have conversations. There is no way around it. I have learned more about him and my sister in the last three weeks than ever before.

I also see how strong he is. Sometimes while my sister and I are talking, he’ll run up ahead of us and have us time him to see how long it’ll take him to run up to a tree. I can say that I can’t do that quite yet. But I do plan on it. (He’s challenged me.)

What I have learned through hiking with him, is that he is goal orientated and way driven. He likes to be challenged. To have a goal that may not be very accessible to others but to him it is.

The other day when I was marking off tasks on my productive app he leaned over and stated that he wanted that app on his iPad because he liked that it showed how many days in a row you accomplish something and that is what he needs in his life.

So yesterday as Gunner played parking lot we loaded a task app called Swipe (since the “productive” one I used isn’t available on the iPad) entered in all the tasks that he wanted to accomplish in a day and he beamed. This is what he needed.

He put things on his list like feed the dog, read 20 mins each night, then he put things on there that I didn’t think he really cared about. Like cook dinner with mom. That surprised me.

He run around the house seeing how many tasks he could complete. Practice karate. Check. Make your bed. Check.

Then we spent the mid evening in the kitchen cooking, laughing, talking with each other that spread out into the evening that when the dishes were left in the sink and the run I needed to do so badly beeped up on my phone for me to accomplish I didn’t hesitate to skip the task.

Because I was doing that one thing that shouldn’t have been on my list of things to accomplish, spending time with my oldest.

Update: I found an even better app for him. It is called Monster Chore. It gives him rewards points for each chore that he completes and then he can use those rewards to purchase things from his dad and I. Like a trip to a museum. Plus it will beep on my phone when he actually said he did the chores so I can approve that it was done or not. I really like it

In pictures: Wyatt’s 7th birthday party

Every year the kids switch off who will get the “Big Themed” Birthday party (since it can get pretty crazy planning so many so close to each other.) This year it was Wyatt’s turn. We of course had to go with a space theme since he is soooo into space.

I love when parties actually include games for the kids to do instead of just letting them go off and play. I also love to include my kids in the planning. I asked Wyatt what he would want to do for the game and he came up with an obstacle course. It was perfect.

When needed to find away to separate each group to go through the obstacle course to compete against each other to have a winning team, So we made them into divisions and made them some cool name badges.

When each kid arrived I had them put their name on their badge which then would separate them into teams for the game. We had the “Smarty Division” and the “Mad Division”  which was listed on their badge.

Once we started the game the “smarties” had to come and get dressed in nerd glasses and fill their pockets with smartys. The also had to wear a lab coat which was my dad’s old nursing coats. The Mad scientist for the mad division had to dress up in slinky eye glasses that you can find at the dollar store and fill their pockets with body part candy (which I found at a local grocery store which we lucked out since Wyatt’s birthday is close to Halloween) and they also had to wear lab coats.

When they all got dressed the first obstacle was to unscramble space words before moving on to the next station. My dad dressed up as a mad scientist and they had to give him the cards to see if they could move on. If they got it correct he gave them Mentos to test the rocket fuel (a bottle of coke) which was the second station.

Once they tested the rocket fuel they had to crawl through streamers and bubble wrap which we called “space” and make sure that all the bubble wrap was popped. (we were going to through bouncy balls at them and call it meteors but I forgot the balls) When they finally got out of space they landed on the moon which was a watermelon box we spray painted into a moon and filled with pillows and blankets. To “land” on the moon they had to jump into the box.

Then run back to the rocket ship that I built out of boxes. Whose ever team all got there first won.

It was a blast to see them running around. They had a lot of fun. 

We then did cake and presents but we had the party start later in the evening so it would get dark before they left.

After the cake, I passed out glow sticks I mean a ton of glow sticks and let them have at it. The built some cool things and run around playing and chasing each other in the dark. Over all it was a success. See for your self.

I tried to take as many pictures as I could. I also included the invite I made and the name tags as well as the space scramble. Feel free to use any of those.

 

The party didn’t cost me a lot because I did mostly everything my self. (besides the amazing cake that my husband’s co-worker made.) The decorations were simple black table cloths filled with star stickers. I also drew black alien eyes on green balloons and had star streamers hanging down everywhere.

The highlights of course were the rocket ship that I spray painted and put together and the moon as well. The boxes for the rocket I got from my old work (thanks friends) and the watermelon box I got from my husband who works in produce. So the cost for those was just the spray paint.

so all in all the party cost me about $150. That was for the glasses, the printing of the tags, spray paint, bubble wrap, food, cake, and decorations. If we adding in Wyatt’s costume (found online) that would be another $100. That thing was expensive but he used it for this and Halloween plus all the playtime in between. well worth it for me.

Happy birthday Wyatt. I hope you enjoyed your 7th birthday party.

In pictures: Wyatt turns 7

For our kids birthday’s we take them out on an adventure of their choosing. We also take them to build a bear. This year on October 15 Wyatt turned 7 and choose to go to on the train to the Planetarium which is very fitting for him.  My newly 7 year old is way into science. He loves everything about space, plants and how things work. He spends most of his time studying that, counting everything and reading reading reading.He is a smart kid who loves school but he is also still my cuddlier. He loves to be wrapped in my arms and song too and I still get kisses.

Happy birthday kid. I love you.