Pirates of the Duck Pond

Yes, I know the party was three weeks ago. My computer annoys me, and that's where I'm going to leave it. Also, there's a ton of pictures here. You have been warned.

I've been wanting to do a pirate party for Joseph for months. I think I'd started pondering such things in February or March. He loves The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, Peter Pan, Penelope and the Pirates, The Pirates of Penzance (and really, any three-year-old who knows and loves a 19th century operetta ought to be rewarded, somehow) and any sort of pirate themed toy or activity. They use coat hangers as hooks and boxes as ships, fighting monsters or hunting treasure all through the house. How could I not?


We were a bit worried about the weather, which alternately threatened baking heat or torrential downpours, but the big day dawn cool, slightly cloudy, and perfect for a morning in the park.

We had lots of things to do and would be earning pirate gear as we went. First we made parrots from green TP rolls and bright feathers,


and read a story while munching cheddar whales and pretzel squares.


We headed over to Pirate Cove to do battle with a fearsome ship, to earn bandannas. We even raised our foe from it's watery grave so we could sink it again. The geese wandered over as the ship first dropped anchor and watched what we were doing.




Everyone who would stay put got to play Pin The Eyepatch on The Pirate (and earned an eyepatch in return). James had his own patch to play with but was far more interested in everyone else's.


Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the treasure hunt. Jonathan was hiding clues, and I was trying to catch the intrepid band of small pirates. Jack's dad managed to catch some shots, so maybe I'll be able to prevail upon then, once they've unpacked their things in KY. In any case, we drew up picture clues for the kids to follow all around the park, leading them to a great red X that had a "treasure box" full of popsicles beneath it.

After eating popsicles and watching the ducks for a few minutes, we headed back to harbor for a pinata, made by Jonathan. Joseph has made a complete 180, in regards to pinatas, in the last year, from a sort of shy fear to total enthusiasm. All the kids had a great time laying into it, getting in some seriously good whacks. Daddy may have done his work a little too well, though, and he had the honor of finalizing the destruction his work.






Finally, it was cake time. I know, there's been a lot of ships, but you have to admit it's a cool shape. We simply could not get the candles to light, though, because the breeze was just a bit too brisk.



The cloud cover broke up as we were wrapping things up, and we simply couldn't clean up fast enough in an effort to beat the start of the heat. Joseph had so much fun with his friends, and while we wish more of his cousins could have made it we know that it's tough when we're all scattered. Happy birthday, Joseph!

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

On the evening of Thursday, June 1st 2006 we went to HEB to get gummy bears. Why? Because I was 9 months pregnant and I really wanted gummy bears. Our checker saw the giant belly and asked us when I was due. I smiled and said we were kicking him out in the morning. I can not even express to you how glad I was to be having that pregnancy come to a close. After a brush with pre-term labor and the subsequent nervous freak-outs I'd been to the hospital several times already and I was ready to just be done. The next afternoon, I held my eldest son in my arms, my 20-month-old daughter looking on in awe. The two have been best buds ever since. She changed his diapers, "read" him stories, and fetched him blankets and toys. As he got older, they started to share adventures. Today they're nearly inseparable, but I've noticed some interesting differences. While Elena flits from one activity to another, Joseph will happily play Legos, or look at books, or smash play dough for hours on end. My mom discovered that he has a habit of sorting things by size or shape, then lining them up. Joseph's also much better at remembering manners, saying please and thank you with only infrequent reminders. And now here he is, four years old and starting to write his name. He's got such intensity and concentration in whatever he does, whether it's jumping off walls or learning ABCs. This boy is such a wonder to me.

I have pictures of our little family celebration, but they're all sideways. I would turn them, but that would involve putting them on this computer, which I refuse to do until it acts the way I want it to. So, sideways they will will stay.

Green

I had been hoping to post pictures of field day but Elena spent the better part of last week at home with a series of fevers and general yuckiness. In fact, she managed to miss all (and only, poor girl) the days that there was something cool going on at school. On Tuesday she missed awards and her fever didn't go down until late that night so she had to miss field day on Wednesday, too. She went back to school Thursday but woke up crying with a 102 degree fever and the dry heaves at 4am on Friday and had to miss the bounce houses. Sigh...

Anyway, we do still have interesting stuff to share. We found a caterpillar in the back yard and Elena decided she wanted to watch it turn into a butterfly. I decided this would be OK and would nicely follow up their recent science unit about butterfly life cycles. So this is her caterpillar. She named it Green.


I dug out my old fish tank and Jonathan found it some sticks and leaves to hang out on, and we've had a really fun time watching it eat. It tried privet and elm and tomato but seemed to prefer basil. It's probably going to be an ugly brown moth but we're OK with that. All the excitement has been very tiring, though, and she's taken a ton of naps, this week. She even fell asleep while draped over the exercise ball.

Green is currently curled up in a tomato leaf, wrapped in a silky little cocoon. I need to remember to take more pictures.