The Mitchell Messenger: June 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Happy Birthday Theo!

This last year has felt so easy breezy we've practically been flying, at least compared to years in the past. Theo is incredibly sensitive to his surroundings, he's energetic, he's perceptive, and he's not at all sure that a boundary exists until he's tested it at least a hundred times. Honestly, it can be a challenge to parent a child who is so much more than some other children are. But we believe that at age 8, children begin to become accountable for their choices, and in Theo's case, this accountablity has come with a generous dose of responsibility and maturity. At last! So far, his ninth year is a continuation of that--and really, Aaron and I couldn't be more thrilled to have this fantastic kid in our family. We're so proud of the good choices he makes, and his efforts to repent and do better when he makes mistakes. It has always been my hope that all the challenges of his childhood would pay off when he becomes this delightful, rule-abiding teenager. I mean, we're not there yet, but I have four more years to hope!

9 Things we LOVE about Theo

1. He's not afraid to try new things--even though he's sad (very) to be leaving some good friends here in Saskatchewan, he is totally up to the challenge of making some new ones, and I know that he'll do a great job figuring this new place out.

2. This kid is strong in every sense of the word. Strong body, strong mind, strong will. I know for sure that he won't ever get sucked into something by somebody else--as long as he wants to do what's right, there's nothing that will stop him.

3. Theo is such a great big brother to Sera. He really gets how her little mind works, and knows how to keep her laughing.

4. Lately Theo has gotten really into cooking, offering to make us eggs for breakfast, writing down recipes when he sees them on television or somewhere, and looking for chances to try his skills out. I'm looking forward to letting him take over dinner duty a few times a week!

5. Let's face it: Theo is a smart kid. I love that so much about him. We can have really deep and interesting conversations about things that would go way over the heads of most of his peers. He just gets stuff that it usually takes kids a lot longer to get.

6. Lucky lucky Theo totally has his dad's ears. He can hear everything, can sing back complicated songs and lyrics (he has his dad beat on the lyrics part--you should hear some of the crazy lyrics Aaron comes up with to fill in the parts he doesn't know), his French diction is quite fabulous, and he's getting really good (and hilarious) at imitating characters from movies--he does a killer Inspector Clouseau (Pink Panther).

7. The dimple in his right cheek which seems to get deeper every year.

8. Theo is totally our athlete. His constant need to be moving helps keep the rest of us from getting lazy.

9. For all his teasing, there's no doubt that Theo absolutely loves and adores his sister and brothers. I walk in on him reading to them, teaching them this or that, and coming up with the most fantastic games for them to play together. He really is a great leader and example in so many ways.

We love you, Theo! Happy Birthday!!

P.S. Is he not clearly destined to be a model?

Theo's Birthday Bash and the Last Day of School

Last year I tried to schedule myself for all the class field trips (which wasn't especially commendable since there were only about three all year for each kid). The reason I did this was not so much to spend more time with my kids (though I should), but because I wanted some pictures of them with their classes. Sadly, I ended up 5/5 on forgetting my camera. THIS year, I didn't sign up for a single field trip (I should have, I know). Instead, when both Theo's and Addy's classes were scheduled for field trips on the same day, I packed up Emerson and Sera in the van, grabbed my camera, and got some freaking pictures! We still had time for a play-date afterward. So.

Addy and her best friends, Lexi, Jennifer, and Denae at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (hey girls, look out behind you!)

Theo's class took a bike trip all around Wascana Park (it's a big place), working their way to the legislative building for lunch. That's Theo in the red shirt near the top (that's his Blazers jersey--the one he would wear to school every single day if I didn't catch him, and let's be honest, on a good week I caught him only about 50% of the time).

Theo with some of his best friends, Winston, Ryan, and Isfar

Madame Leask has been a fantastic teacher for Theo this year, she's really encouraged him in areas that are his strengths, and been very patient in helping him work on organization and staying on task. This photo was taken near the end of the year when she asked all the parents to come in and one at a time make a presentation to their child about how special he or she is. It was so great to hear all the neat things about each child, and to get to share with Theo's class what a spectacular kid he really is. Addy helped me sing "You've Got a Friend in Me" at the end--and I don't even think Theo was (very) embarrassed!

Monsieur Dube has been a great teacher for Addy this year, just as he was for Theo two years ago--we're so grateful to have had his wonderful class as such a big part of their childhoods!

On to the Birthday Bash! This year Theo and his friend Liam shared a birthday party, which worked out great from every angle. With preparing for a move and trying to keep a house neat for showings, when Liam's mom, Shauna, and I found out that our boys, born three weeks apart, were both hoping for the same type of birthday party at the Sandra Schmirler swimming pool, it didn't take long for us to decide to team up. With a bit of persuading, Theo let me add a theme--Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief--and it turned into a really fun party.

Even better, Theo and Liam's other good friend, Justin, had a birthday party right afterward the same day! Theo said it was the best day of his life (and this was after Disneyland)

The kids made door hangers

Then wore themselves out in the pool

It was a challenge getting pictures of them, let me tell you, but they definitely had a good time

And their birthday cake was the coolest one I've ever seen. Shauna manages a Dairy Queen and hooked us up with this beauty. It's almost too pretty to be real. But it tasted amazing, let me tell you!

Somehow I forgot to have the boys hold the awesome swords they got (for Camp Half-Blood! It was so cute in my head!) in this photo. Also, I'm sad that these guys (not all of them yet!) are outgrowing the hugging phase.

One with the swords! Woo!

Phoenix and Rapid City

After a long drive to Phoenix, Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell treated us to some high living! The food at the Mexican restaurant they took us to tasted as fabulous as it looked (see my spinach enchiladas front and center?)

Then we got to try out Organ Stop Pizza, which the rest of us had been hearing about since Theo and Aaron got to go last year

It exceeded all expectations--the organist was phenomenal and controlled all sorts of things, from bubbles raining down during a Little Mermaid medley to monkey puppets that played cymbals to lasers during a Star Wars number. It was jaw-dropping!

Too bad we didn't get any pictures of the organist--just us eating fabulous hard ice cream? Nice.

We spent a morning at the zoo--thought we got there at 9am, we were all sweating and ready to go by about 10:30. Apparently three years in Canada has taken its toll on our ability to weather serious heat!

Luckily there was a lovely spray-pad to cool off in

We didn't have bathing suits with us, but the kids didn't seem to care

And it's not like these kids haven't had to drive home in their underwear before, let's be honest

Though you can't tell from this picture, the zoo visit ended in a fiasco, where Sera fell and conked her head and Aaron and I had a huge fight over how long an ice-pack should be held against the skin. It was classy. Apparently all the late nights caught up even with us.

The visit to the Science Center went better

And you can't cap off a day better than with a swim in Grandma and Grandpa's lovely garden pool

Then on to the flight home--we were sad to leave the palm trees, let me tell you

But we got to see Mount Rushmore once more

I'm so awed by the grandeur of that place

We stopped for fudge in the old mining town of Keystone nearby

But the best part was spending some time with cousins!

Addy couldn't get enough of LucyMae

She was ready to adopt her and take her home and be her new mommy

And Sera found the tricycle really quickly

If you can't tell, Emerson is a bit enamoured with robots at the moment--in his drawings they usually shoot M&Ms and cookies out of their various appendages

We started a lovely afternoon at this wonderful little park called Storybook Island

Sadly, all the partying had caught up with Theo by this time--he wasn't feeling so hot

Even though these four could have stayed all day, Theo puked some red punch into the grass and then it started pouring rain. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!

The gang in Graffiti Alley in downtown Rapid City--we had a fun evening at a little streetside carnival there

But seriously, the good stuff was the cousins--I mean, couldn't you just eat little Samantha? Addy nearly did (and so did I).

Which leads us to our latest, greatest goal of late: persuading Chels and Sam to move to Indiana with us when Sam finishes grad school at the end of the year--we need more time with these guys!