Loving the nice weather where we can eat dinner outside!
We had a lot of fun this month as a family, along with making some...interesting...memories!
Family Soccer
Most of our friends an family know about the crazy thing that happened during our boys vs girls family soccer game. Two competitive people collided going for the ball, and ended up needing a visit to urgent care for glue and stitches...any guesses who? Yep, it was Paul and me! So our family fun soccer turned into family fun at the doctor as two bleeding head wound patient parents walk in with three healthy kids. It made for quite the story and we still can't quite believe how it all played out!
Family Photo waiting for the parents to be stitched/glued up!
All three kids were AMAZING! Summer read books to Colton the whole time and Larkyn was very well-behaved.
One more memory in the books for the Tommerdahls...FYI head wounds bleed a lot :)
Finished product - 3 stitches
Finished product: would glued shut :)
Family Planting Night
At the beginning of April we chose 5 types of seeds to plant and had fun as a family planting them. The seeds sat on our kitchen counter for all of April, and it was fun to watch them pop up and grow! On May 1st we planted them in our square foot garden. We will see how they transition! Either way it was a fun experience.
Here is a little video of step one - the kids putting the dirt in. It was fun to watch Larkyn participate in this step.
Dirt
Seeds
Water
Ta Da!
All Planted!
Within a few days we were seeing them grow!
Near the end of April they were outgrowing their containers!
Getting ready to transplant.
Larkyn just loved to walk and carry a single plant all over the yard just like this. Too cute.
Will they grow? We will see! The kids loved watering them the last two days. We plan to fill the rest of our square foot garden in the next week or so and will get "pre-started" plants for any of our seeds that don't make it. The gardeners may have been a bit rough with a few of them ;).
Park Date and Picnic Dinner
This is the only picture I have of our family park and picnic date - but it was super fun :) Nothing I like better than being with my whole family outside on a nice evening!
Zoo Day
We had a whole Saturday free (unusual for us lately!) and we LOVED going to the zoo as a family. Paul took some fun pictures. The family farm exhibit is always a huge hit with the kids each spring!
This was a busy month with Colton's birthday, our church women's retreat, and other activities so I'm extra thankful for all these special family memories we could squeeze into our April. :)
A HUGE highlight of Colton's week has been Wednesday night AWANA Cubbies with Daddy as his leader!
Colton had his Awana Cubbies Awards night on Wednesday. (Summer's Awana Sparks awards night is this next Wednesday). Summer and I had fun coming and watching a glimpse of what Daddy and Colton do on Wednesday nights! They sang their Cubbies theme song, recited verses, and sang lots of other fun songs. While I did video all of these pieces, I will choose to share my favorite song they sang because it so captures Colton's excitement for Cubbies and the permanent excited face he had throughout the evening!
Video:
Pictures:
Colton getting his award
Colton with the "red" group and his leaders
I love this little Cubbie and am so thankful for all the Bible verses he has memorized, Bible stories he has further understood, fun crafts and games he has done, and quality time he has had with Daddy learning more about God.
Several weeks ago, Paul noticed that behind one of Summer's bottom teeth, a new tooth was coming up!
Picture of new tooth coming in behind old baby tooth
Her baby teeth were not loose at all, so we called the dentist. The dentist said she should just start wiggling the baby tooth in front of the new tooth each time she brushed her teeth. Sure enough, as the bigger tooth grew in farther, the baby tooth got wiggly! After nightly brushings, a very excited Summer kept asking Daddy if her tooth was wiggly enough to pull out, and Daddy would check it. Unfortunately, the new tooth behind the baby tooth kept the baby tooth from being able to fully wiggle backwards, and thus harder to get enough "wiggle" to loosen it.
A hopeful Summer testing to see if the tooth was wiggly enough to come out
After weeks of wiggling, it was finally VERY ready to come out. A quick mommy "tooth twist" after breakfast on Friday, April 15th produced Summer's first lost tooth! She was so excited!
Summer and her tooth
The tooth fairy came! (and as we explained to Summer, she was new on the job...she forgot to take the tooth...;) ) Of course Summer knows who the tooth fairy REALLY is ;).
Colton's celebrating started Friday, April 8th. He spent the day helping me shop, clean, bake cupcakes, prepare stuff for his party, and was seriously so helpful. That afternoon for Mommy-Colton time, we cuddled together on the couch and spent quite a while looking back at old videos and photos of him the past four years. We both loved it! That evening, after Daddy got home from work, we had his choice (macaroni and cheese) for dinner, birthday donuts, and opened presents.
Here is a collection of raw, unedited clips of Colton opening each of his presents - it's nothing special, but I like remembering the things he liked, how he talks, his personality, and just the memory of it all, so I included it here :).
That evening after the kids were in bed, Grandma and Grandpa T and Uncle Javonte arrived to spend the weekend with us. That next morning, Saturday April 9th, was his birthday party.
Colton's birthday party was at the Minnesota Air National Guard Museum in one of their hangars. We were grateful that so much of Colton's extended family, as well as 8 of his little buddies and their parents, could join us on the tour of the grounds, which included seeing many airplanes and going inside quite a few. Besides seeing, climbing in, and learning about all sorts of airplanes, we brought along Colton's train tracks and set them up in the hangar so he and his friends could play trains at the party too. After exploring, playing, and the tour, we had a Mexican style lunch of chicken tacos and carnitas, sang to Colton, and ate cupcakes. Finally, we climbed to the top floor and looked out over the airport with binoculars to see the planes landing and taking off. It truly was the perfect party for our little airplane lover! Here are a few pictures:
This was Colton's favorite plane
Playing trains
Its hard to capture in a picture, but the hangar where we ate and had the party was FILLED with planes the kids could climb in and on.
Lunch! (Shout out to Grandma Kirkwood for bringing the massive fruit salad!)
Birthday boy with his lunch
The events coordinator made tablecloths to look like runways
The fam!
Video of Singing to Colton:
Colton has already had so much fun playing with his Toy Story figurines!
He also got the three toy story DVDs, Cars II, a favorite car from the movie, and his first transformer.
He loves his Mater shirt and it was pretty cute how he exclaimed over the plaid shorts that came with it ;)
Colton got the coolest soccer gear, including a LIGHTNING MCQUEEN soccer ball and special bag, as he will start soccer in less than a month!
He was SO excited to get Jeremy the Jet plane and many of the trains from the Thomas the Train series.
He was also THRILLED with getting Tidmouth Sheds, where Thomas the train and friends are housed.
Colton's birthday was perfectly suited for our special little boy, and we are so grateful for all the friends and family that came to celebrate, the generous and thoughtful gifts (seriously you guys KNOW our little guy and what he loves!) and for the opportunity to make our favorite middle kid feel so special on his big day.
Colton's final celebration was the next day, his actual birthday, when he got his door decorated with streamers, got breakfast in bed, and after church he got his birthday meal of hotdogs and macaroni and cheese, and a special Thomas ice cream cake from Grandma and Grandpa T. He spent the rest of the day playing with his new toys!
Video of Breakfast in Bed:
Birthday Lunch
Icecream cake from Grandma and Grandpa T
Birthday playtime...combining his new and old planes, trains, and cars ... in heaven...with Grandpa T :)
What a full and special weekend! Thank you so much to everyone who helped to make it that way, and for all the pictures people took and sent so I could include them here :). We love you all, and Colton, you are a really special dude. Happy 4th birthday, bud!
