Another pirate card & learning to read

I love this stamp set! This card is a belt buckle card. I'm going to have Isaac write his thank you notes himself. There are about a dozen to do, which is a lot for a 5-year old. We'll see how that goes.

Right now he's not as excited about writing as he is about reading. He just read his first Dick & Jane book recently. He was so excited and felt so empowered he could hardly sit still. It was almost like I could see the lights go on in his mind as he understood the written words. What a privilege it is to teach another human being to read!!!

Speaking of learning to read, I bought Isaac "The Electric Company" on DVD. Remember that show on PBS in the 70's? It helped me learn to read and now it's helping my kids. I love that show!! What a walk down memory lane it was, the first time I watched it with them. Anyone remember the segment called, The Adventures of Letterman? "Faster than a rolling o, stronger than silent e, able to leap capital T in a single bound! It's a word, it's a plan, it's Letterman!!" They don't make shows like that anymore. What a shame! Thank goodness for DVD's!

Isaac's 5th birthday party was Friday, March 30, 2007 at our house from 3:30 to 5pm. We had it a week late (his b-day is 3/23) because we were sick with sinus infections, influenza, and bronchitis. Shane and I had the worst of it, thankfully the kids fared better.

I stamped the invitations using one of my new and favorite stamp sets, Ahoy Matey, shown above. We had 12 boys come! (14 kids including Isaac and Allison.) A great turnout! There was Eli, Ryan, and Dillon from preschool, Tyler and C.J. next door, Zach down the street, Ethan and Conner across the street, Jared and Kaleb a couple blocks over, and Peter and Anders who Molly babysits two doors down. It was a full house!! Notice the picture of a tired mom holding Isaac's cupcake. hehe. Thankfully, Bonnie (Jared and Kaleb's mom) offered to stay and help out. What a blessing she was! We ate cupcakes, played "Find your treasure" -- a game I made up by hiding everyone's party favors behind furniture and having them find them as they arrived, played "Pin the Flag on the Pirate Ship," ate cake and ice cream and opened presents. That was just the first 45 minutes. It went so fast! I didn't know what to do with them after that. We still had another 45 minutes left! So some of the boys went upstairs to the play room and some stayed downstairs and watched the first half of "Pirates of the Caribbean." It was a good time!

Isaac's 5th Birthday Party