More on Japheth

I know that most posts have been about Japheth lately, but I thought that combining his party post and an update about him would get too long. Plus his check-up wasn't until today so you wouldn't get to know how big he's gotten or you would have had to wait a while to hear everything. He is now 43 1/2 inches tall and 42.6 lbs.

Japheth LOVES school! He's always sad if he has to miss any, or they cancel for weather. (latter happened twice out of precaution) Also when there's a break he can't wait to get back. And there are a lot of breaks (Christmas, winter and spring). Though he is happy to get to go to play group with Xander and me when he can.  He is improving on everything: reading, writing, math, everything.  He loves to read, and is currently enjoying the Magic Treehouse series among other misc books. He really likes PE, they get to do all sorts of stuff here for it. So far he's been learning to: climb a rock wall, play basketball, do simple Yoga, and play floor hockey. Though I am sure I've missed some (for older kids they have snow shoes to go snowshoeing). 

Fun with the photo shoot

He also loves to make things. For Christmas he got a Snap Circuit Jr set, basically different pieces you put together to make different electrical things (light switch, doorbell, etc). Of course he had done all 100 projects before his birthday. Well, we found a 300 project set, and he's already been working on those projects (which apparently we eventually get to a lie detector, cool!) He's always enjoyed pretending to invent things, and that love is obviously still going strong. Speaking of which did I introduce you all to the newest member of our family?

I would like you to meet Roby (like robe-y) Bakenyo (almost like Spanish for small but with a b). Japheth spent the Sunday morning before his birthday coloring all the pieces for him (before church). So after church I did some cutting and taping according to his directions to make him. This robot is complete with On/Off buttons and a battery pack that holds 3 batteries aka pencils. And of course Japheth came up with the "perfect" name for him. Be careful with the off switch, apparently pushing on, off, off will make him explode.

Party 6 Style

For this year's party Japheth chose (cue music) Lego Star Wars. (As you may have guessed off of the last post). I was feeling a bit nervous about things this year since everything is feeling new, but it was a lot of fun and much like birthday celebrations back home (which I really have to stop calling home since it isn't home anymore).

The spread

But on to the fun; they came in as Padawans and left as Master Jedi. As part of their rigorous training they played: Yoda Says...

Pin the light saber on Yoda (to practice using the force/Jedi mind tricks)...

Took a snack break to keep up energy...

Death Star cupcakes and Light Sabers aka popsicles

Then tried the force again by finding the right sting to open the pinata. It was seriously the last one they pulled (don't know how we managed that). Xander was so excited; he knew it was his turn and that it was the last one, he just ran up and yanked it!

After everything we decided that it was time, they had earned their light sabers. So one last training of keep the balloon off the ground using the light sabers...

 to get them ready for...

Douglas wearing the pinata

And just for an added bonus for you...

Xander insisted I take a picture of him eating his popsicle. You have to concentrate hard to do it right?

Happy Easter from Darth Vader (where it sat during the party)



I See You've Constructed a New Light Saber

It's very important that you read the title of this post hearing it in Darth Vader's voice.

Now it's confession time. How many of you closet geeks have constructed your own light saber? Well I can now add myself to this list (sigh), and Douglas, who was good enough to help me. But how is it done? According to Pinterest pool noodles make great light sabers, and they do look good. But what do you do when your child's birthday isn't in pool noodle season? Head to Home Depot, and know it'll take a little more effort than pool noodle sabers.

After not finding pool noodles available I had the great idea of using pipe insulation. And nicely enough we found a pack of 4 already at a pretty good size for under $3! Then as grey light sabers just wouldn't be as cool, we headed over to Walmart for some colored Duct Tape. (Home Depots selection of colors not being to my liking for this project) We got some light blue and green and some shiny silver Duct Tape.

 As for constructing these light sabers I wasn't really excited to have to cut piece after piece to wrap around the whole thing, so we did some long pieces down the length and then some horizontal ones at the end to tidy it up. Use the shiny silver for the handle (I did 4 high) and top it off with some black electrical tape for a bit of detail. And viola awesome light saber in the off season.

A Quick Update

We had Japheth's post-op Dr visit last week. They looked at his tubes and did another hearing test to see where he was at. Good news for us his hearing is back to where it should be. Bad news for Japheth, his hearing is back to where it should be, no more excuses.

Acing the hearing test

In other news Douglas is still studying so no change there. Xander and Japheth are both getting too big, and I've now been to Canada. Which also happens to be my first time at a border of our country.