All I want for Christmas...

So a few days late, but Jack has entered the world of toothlessness. His first baby tooth came out today after eating meatballs at Grandma's. We noticed it was wobbly when we got to America and he even commented that he thought it would be great if he lost it while in America so he could back to England and show his friends. So his wish has come true, just a few days late for Christmas! Here is a video and a picture showing it off:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Theo

How we spent our morning....

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/mZpJIa6QHi8empHJ

A walking politician

Today I was trying to describe a military dictatorship to Jack. I think he got parts of it, and I think even to a nearly five-year-old it didn't sound like that great of option.

In contrast, he asked what kind of government we had. I then started to describe a democracy. I told him that we all got a vote or say in things. So in an attempt to explain, I told him that each area has a representative or a council member that tries to represent what the people in their district wants. So I said, 'if you were the representative of this area, you would walk over to Mommy and Daddy and ask what things are most important to us, and then you would walk over to Jon and Ruth and ask them what things were most important to them, and then you would go to Rory and Susie and ask what things were most important to them.'

I then paused to see if he was understanding it. He happily said, 'Yeah, I get it. I think I would like to be that when I grow up, but I think I might get tired of walking.' So there you have it, aspirations of a future politician, although a potentially lazy one! The lazy part aside, this sounds just like a mini-Charles to me.

Jack's 5th Birthday Party

We celebrated Jack's 5th birthday today by taking Jack and four of his friends (Joshua, Noah, Josiah, and Theo) to Pizza Hut. Charles took all five boys on the double decker bus (Addie and I followed in the car).

Boys waiting for the bus

















Boys on bus


















We ate lots of pizza and had the ice cream factory at the end (which was a big hit), and then headed back home on the bus for games and cake. As you will see, Addie has become a huge fan of pizza in the last few weeks.

Addie at Pizza Hut



















Boys at Pizza Hut


















The highlight on the way home was getting to sit on the top floor on the double decker bus in the front row up against the glass. This was super fun and then was made even more special by a random policeman who came and sat by them and chatted quite a bit of the way home. He wanted to know if all five of the boys were Charles's kids (no kidding - five boys all between the ages of 2 and 7, with three of them being 5 - I guess it could be possible!).

At home, we had a knights quest clue game where we sent all the boys to various places throughout the house where clues were placed. The boys started as pages and then were 'knighted' at the end when they reached the final clue which was attached to a sword. The sword was their party gift that they were able to take home.

Each boy had individual clues, but as an example, here are Jack's clues:

Card 1 (began with the month of each boy's birthday)

















Card 2

















Card 3

















Card 4

















Card 5


















Erin reading clues for the knights quest to the boys


















Boys being 'knighted' at the end of game



We then had the two families (the Tuckwells and the Grahams) join us for cake before collecting the boys and taking them back home. We had a castle cake (Jack's request -hence the knight theme).

Castle cake

















It was a great celebration - and even better now that all the little knights and one princess are in bed for the night!