Fun Dip . . . UGH!!!

Let me just be clear upfront--I loathe Fun Dip!  What is Fun Dip, you ask?  Well, it is basically a long thin Sweet Tart packaged with colored sugar "dip."  It seemed to be the only thing he received in his Valentine's bag from school.  I swear 75% of the class gave fun dip!

It is very messy and very green!

Yes, Jacob was proud of his "green-ness."

Jacob turns 5!!

Jacob had a great 5th birthday party. He was able to have a few friends from preschool over to help celebrate with us. Jacob surprised us all with his choice of party themes--BUGS! Yes, he chose a bug party. I was certain he'd choose some sort of superhero party, so it came as quite a surprise when he told me he wanted a bug party. For Christmas, he received a Disney/Pixar cd that has the greatest hits from several big Pixar films, such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Incrediblex, Bug's Life, etc. He became quite encamped with the music from A Bug's Life, particularly a some called Time of Your Life. He loves that song and we all know how much music speaks to Jacob and inspires him. So, from that point on, it was nothing but bugs for our soon to be 5 year old.

Jamison & Jacob

Paige & Jacob

Nolan & Jacob

So, I found lots of packages of plastic bugs at the dollar store. (The dollar store is a great source for birthday parties, by the way.). We also found little fabric bags there that I wrote the kids' names on in glitter glue (I love glitter glue!). We had an indoor bug hunt (the weather was not great for outside hunting in mid-Feb) using our dollar store bags. The catch, though, was that the kids couldn't use their hands to pick up the bugs. They had to use sticks! It was really comical to watch the kids try to pick up the bugs only using the sticks. They were quite inventive I must say. James hid all the bugs before the party. He his them in some odd places and we had to redirect him many times, so James was able to point a few kids in various directions to locate elusive bugs. In addition to the bug hunt, we played "pin the bug on the monster," and made bug antennae. I found all the game ideas online (I love the Internet!).

Jacob chose lemon cake, which surprised me ae bit. He usually doesn't like cake and the fact that he was so insistent on lemon struck me as odd. Especially since every time I asked him prior it was dirt cake (crushed Oreos with chocolate pudding). But, I switched gears and made him Len cupcakes with partial gummy. Worms attached to them to make the cupcakes look like a caterpillar. I even put a face on the front cupcake.

Everyone had a great time. Jacob received some very generous gifts from all who attended.

All the kids huddled around the presents.  So much so, that was very difficult for me to see what was being opened.  It's funny how they do that.  I guess they don't want to miss any of the action!

New Bike!!!

Jacob opened the box with the helmet before we brought out the bike.  He was so cute.  He asked quite simply, "Does this come with a bike?"

Jacob the snack king

Today was Jacob's snack day at school.  His teachers call the boys "snack king" when it is their turn to bring snacks (hence the title of the blog post).

Jacob really likes to paint, though he won't do it at school very often.  When we paint at home, he will paint for a very long time before stopping.  This week, they were talking about apples, so the paper was shaped like an apple (fun, right?).

The proud Picasso shows off his work.

Julia and I stayed for the entire morning (much to Jacob's delight).  Julia loves being in Jacob's classroom.  Today, she found a tomato sauce can that she carried around with her.  Why would she do that you ask?  Well, if you were to look inside her can, you'd see a tomato sauce kitty (you know, like teacup chihuahua).

The sensory table is the best part for the kids.  Julia has a hard time not stopping and playing here when we drop brother off at school.  Frequently it is filled with sand or legumes.  Today, since they were talking about apples, it was filled with apples and water.  You can't see it in the pictures but there was one ginormous apple in there.  I would swear that it was nearly 5 inches across.

Speaking of large fruits, look at this zucchini that one of Jacob's classmates brought in to school today!

Of course, with a squash that big, you have to read "Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash!"

Julia found the books and was right at home.

At circle time, Jacob gets to sit on the ladybug rug.  After all, his class is called the Ladybugs (notice Julia is still holding her can kitty?).

At the end of circle time, the snack king gets to choose who gets to wash their hands for snack first.

Mmmmm.  Snack time!  Today we brought fruit leathers and muffins.

Jacob's idol

So, Jacob finally got to meet Robert Franz.

Grandma Coolidge made arrangements for us to meet with Mr. Franz after preschool. 

Jacob was so excited!

Robert Franz gave Jacob an autographed photo with the caption "Best wishes on your conducting career."

Then Jacob got to see all of Robert's music scores (There were quite a lot).  They share the same "favorite" piece to conduct, the "Nutcracker."

After browsing Mr. Franz's scores, Jacob got to go into the rehearsal room and stand on the big podium.  What fun that was!!!