Saturday 6 February 2016

Littlest turns six!


Let me start off by saying that I know I have a lot of stories to tell from the past six months.  But maybe I need to just start writing about the here and now and go back and fill in the holes.  Today I am writing about the birthday party that almost wasn't.

Let's go back to last Sunday.  Biggest was feeling quite under the weather,  She was hot and cold, had a fever and chills, would wake up in the night covered in sweat and then icicles later on.  Needless to say, she spent a couple of days at home.  Julie had the sick kid duty for those first two days.  Middlest was next to fall victim to the Kroeker plague of 2016.  Littlest held on the longest, but she missed some school too.  But by Friday, everyone was feeling pretty much back up to snuff.  The youngest two still had a cough, but nothing too serious.  That is why I was surprised when my cell phone rang just after lunch on Friday.  There was no one on the other end, but I recognized the school number.  I called back and talked to the school secretary and she said that I had a very sick little girl there - just threw up as a matter of fact.  Oh no!  My first thought was Littlest.  She has been known to cough so hard that she pukes.  I asked if it was her and the secretary said she thought so.  So as I was leaving work and heading to the school, I was talking with Julie and we decided to call of Littlest's birthday party for today (Saturday).  Julie texted all the parents that had replied and told them we would reschedule.  Then I pulled up to the school and saw biggest sitting there.  I couldn't believe it.  It turns out that she had a migraine and threw up.  So Julie did some quick damage control and the party was back on.  Whew.

We rented a local gymnastic place here in town and let the kids rip around and go nuts for an hour.  As it turns out, the plague wasn't specific to just our house a a few kids cancelled because they were sick.  In the end, it was our three girls, three boys and one girl from Littlest's class and one boy's older sister who stayed and hung out with our older girls.

Here is Littlest on the rings.

And just looking like her adorable self.  The hand in the background belongs to a boy who refused to be in the same picture as a girl.  


Here is Middlest building a fort.  Take note of the blue cylinder she's holding and the red one at the front of the picture.  I've got a story to tell about them.


I thought I would get in on the aerial act too.  That balance beam is at least a couple feet off the ground. 


I decided to help build a fort with walls and a roof.


Still building...before the mayhem ensued.


Get ready to roll your sister.


Rolling...


Littlest's turn.


Having three girls, I forget how crazy boys can be.  Eventually I started chasing them around and they liked being caught.  Then they decided to fight back.  That's when I would fall down and be bludgeoned with the big foam cylinders I pointed out earlier.  To be honest, the physical beating was expected.  The verbal barrage of names hurled at me was not.  It started with 'you can't catch me old man' and then when I was laying down taking a break, 'hey big butt!'  Later one boy grabbed my cheek and called me chubby cheeks.  Then came a stream of food-based names:  taco face, cucumber, banana and chicken finger.  Can't say I've ever been called any of those things before.  Lastly, came 'big baby.'  I was worn out and my self esteem was knocked down a notch or two by the time it was time for cake.  (Not to mention I am kind of an old man and was reminded of that when I needed to take some Robaxacet when we got home.)

Here is Littlest and her cake (made by Julie):


And the whole crew minus two boys that wouldn't come out from under that table for a picture.


I'm partied out, but her actual birthday is tomorrow.  It should be a bit more subdued though.

It's still hard to believe that our youngest is six.  I know I am biased, but she's a pretty neat kid.  She has an incredible sense of humour and is always coming up with a good one-liner.  She is kind and considerate, is a good friend and loves her sisters.  She loves her puppy and is often on the floor with Rosie hanging out, or holding hands with her having 'paw time.'  She loves Jesus and comes up with some pretty insightful things while we're praying.  I guess that's why Jesus says we need the faith of a child.  She still talks about her Papa in heaven and how she will see him some day.  Our girls all go to a Catholic school, so lately she has been ending her prayers with 'Lord hear our prayer.'  Then she tells me to say that too.  All in all, she's pretty awesome.  Happy birthday Littlest.  We love you.  Later.