Brett's 4th Birthday

Although the blog has taken a backseat to...well...everything else, this one's worth posting. Brett turned four on New Year's Eve 2011, and had a rockin' celebration.  

Our first not-at-home party venue...Sound Roots School of Modern Music
It was nothing short of spectacular! Highly recommend for any little rocker...or pop star...or diva...you get the point. The staff was awesome, the facility was cool and funky, and the catered pizza was delish. They customized everything to Brett's interests, played his favorite music throughout the party, and they even got him jamming to one of his fave tunes live, Shine, by Pillar. Need I say more?

We did up concert posters and used them to decorate the room. Love, love, love these. Ready to buy your tickets?

We made mix CDs of Brett's fave tunes for party favors. This is the cover. The inside is another rockin' picture of him standing in front of a giant stack of drums.  We also did up a set of VIP tickets on lanyards for each guest to have their very own genuine backstage pass.  Can you tell I had a little bit of fun planning this party?

My pride and joy…labor of love…the cake.  Three layers of dark chocolate mudcake, filled with candy cane buttercream (requested by the birthday boy), iced with buttercream and finished off with marshmallow fondant + lots of modeling chocolate decorations to create a flying V guitar.  And of course, and a generous sprinkling of shimmery disco dust. 

On the sides was a half-size piano keyboard.  It was actually a couple keys bigger than a real piano…91 in total I think.  Yeah, we had a couple extra Cs and Ds.  Just don’t try practicing your scales on it.
Brett also requested strawberry cake, so I whipped up some cupcakes in the shape of snare drums.  Half are vanilla cake filled with strawberry jam and half are mudcake filled with raspberry.  Butterscotch-coated pretzels masquerade as drumsticks.

*You'll have to cock your head for this one...no matter what I do it comes up sideways.  Thanks blogger.*
Post-party surprise!  We sent Brett to bed for a nap, and this is what he found…new bunkbeds and a whole stack of new cool rockstar things to adorn his walls.  Yep, that's Brett's hero Big Ducky (remember his party last year?) shreddin' it up on the electric guitar and pounding it out on a snare drum.  Both these images had to be rendered from online video clips!  Mommy feels very triumphant in her tech skills...even though I can't get a photo to orient properly, ha...
Brett loved his 4th Bday bash.  Hope you enjoyed it.

And this song goes out to Grandma

Since we can't be there to sing to you in person, here's Brett's little gift to you Grandma!  Happy Birthday; hope it is a very special day.

Z's 4 month milestones

Our little dude, Zack David turned 4 months old over the weekend.  And what a joyous four months they've been.  Zack has brought countless blessings into our family.  He is sweet, mellow, happy-go-lucky, and a great eater and sleeper.  He already adores his big brother...mesmerized by Brett's every move.  Big bro has been so sweet lately to voluntarily share toys with him. 

Just the other day at bathtime, I witnessed them "playing" together for the very first time - as Brett playfully splashed his brother, Zack started kicking his legs, smiling and very pleased with himself for splashing back at big bro.  I need to remind myself of this precious little moment down the road when the two little maniacs have flooded the entire bathroom with tub antics. 

Today was Z's routine 4-month checkup, and here are his stats:
Weight - 16 lbs. 12 oz., 90th percentile, gained exactly 8 pounds from birth.
Length - 27 in., 95th percentile, grown nearly 6 inches from birth. 
He has been rolling from back to tummy for a couple weeks now, and looooves clasping things in his hands-often *our* hands as we try to manipulate a toy or binky.  Little stinker is just reminding us how we are quite literally wrapped around his little fingers.

Today was a special milestone, too - after getting the OK from the doc, Zack got his very first taste of solid food.  He ate up the whole serving at lunchtime, so we tried it again at dinner...same results.  Go guy!  We may have taken it a little too fast on his first day...he was a little uncomfortable at bedtime, poor thing.  We'll just do one serving tomorrow.  Guess he's taking after his big brother, who is known to shove ALL his favorite food in his mouth at once - entire slices of bread, dozens of grapes, etc.  Little eating machines.  What are we going to do in thirteen years??  Oy!

Here's a quick little snap of Z at his first solid feeding.  For kicks, go check out our old blog posts from late-April early-May 2008.  That's when Brett was 4 months old.  They really do look alike!

Mary had a little pianist

Brett got his very first 'real' song to practice on the piano this week.  Today was our first shot at it since he's been down with the flu this week...usually I'd help him along, pointing at the notes and reminding him of the rhythm, but he insisted on figuring it out all by himself. 

Let's just say this little lamb made mama proud. 



I only managed to capture the second half. Still...:)

Field Trippin'

We've been having fun with "school" this year...once we wrapped up the curriculum I purchased last year, we've just been winging it and doing thematic units based on what Brett enjoys.  His daily lessons consist of Bible and piano, and every day we do additional activities that center around a topic. 

Last month we spent a couple weeks learning about farming/gardening, and then visited a super cool farm with friends.  Sadly, my hands were too occupied with little Zack to take any photos, but you can view Hannah's pictures here. 

Next, we did a unit on boats and water...and what unit on boats would be complete without a trip to the submarine at OMSI!  Brett got to take Grandpa Jack Brown on the sub for his birthday present, which was super-duper fun since Grandpa is a retired submariner.  I only got a pic at the OMSI entrance because only Brett and Grandpa went in the sub.  Brett had SO much fun climbing on the bunks and peering through the periscope! 

This week we started a new unit, focusing on building, construction, etc.  Our primary focus was on foundations, and we tied everything to the foundation for our lives, Jesus.  Love all the fun and creative directions this unit is taking!  Today our field trip took us to Wilsonville Concrete Products, where Mr. Doug showed Brett and his friends how concrete is made.  He helped the kiddos make their own sample of concrete, passed out shirts to take home, and let them choose from some really cool agates!  On our way home from the field trip, we noticed a house under construction so we stopped by to watch the work.  Fun times!

Brett and Dacia work on sinking fence posts into their concrete slab.   A boy and his mud puddle.  Sigh, those *were* new sneakers...:)

Thinkin' it's pretty cool to be so close to all these big machines.  The kiddos were riveted by the bulldozers, backhoes, excavators, mixers, etc.

For our next unit, I think we'll learn about grain, flour, etc...and then take a trip to Bob's Red Mill.  Anyone care to join us?