Random Fun with the Boys

One of my favorite parts of the day is just hanging back and watching this pack of boys as they walk home from school with their friends.

Sam's first soccer season was a smashing success. He's had a lot of chances to practice with his older brothers in the back yard, but since they have always been bigger than him he was convinced that he wasn't very good at soccer. It took a bit of pushing to get him to even go on the field for his first practice. But once he got playing, he realized that dribbling around these kids was way easier than trying to get past Ellis! In the end, he scored in almost every game of the season, and was the Sharks and Minnows champion of his team.

Ellis' main accomplishment this season was perfected some of his goal celebrations. And luckily, he scored quite a few goals so he could put them to good use!

The medal is cool, but Sam's mostly in it for the snacks.

I just like this picture of Sam.

And we can't leave Henry out of the fun! One of the best parts of kids getting older is that they start to become capable of putting together their own snacks. Here is Henry with his chicken nachos on a Sunday afternoon.

Rather than finding a way to get RSL players to sign his hat, Ellis decided it would be cool if he just signed it himself. Nothing could be more Ellis than that!

Ellis Gets Baptized

Ellis is finally eight! We had some awesome soccer ball cupcakes to celebrate.

The birthday celebrations were pretty low-key this year, because we had a whole baptism to plan instead, but Ellis did get to have Daniel over and got some sweet Pokemon cards.

And here we are on the big day! Ellis was baptized on September 9th, 2016 at our church in Wilmette. We very nearly forgot to snap this photo before the baptism, but I'm so glad we could capture his proud and happy smile.

It took a fair amount of cajoling to convince Sam to join Henry and Ellis for the musical number, but in the end they all sang with gusto and did a great job.

We were so happy that many of Ellis' school friends came to support him at his baptism (and that Ellis was excited to invite all of them). They were so good to come to this instead of a standard birthday party, and luckily we rewarded them with plenty of treats at the end!

Ellis has always loved going to baptisms, and can probably still name every one that he's been to. It was so fun and special to have it finally be HIS turn, and he certainly knew exactly what he was supposed to do in each part. Even better, however, has been watching Ellis mature and prepare for this day. While he has always had a strong desire to do what is right, in the past year we have really started seeing him learn to show love and care for others in more meaningful ways. We're so glad he is continuing on that path, and setting the example for his younger brothers!

The Music Man

School being out means that we've got more time for other hobbies, and for Ellis that means more musicals! For three weeks he went to daily practices for a kid's production of one of our favorites: The Music Man!

This production was especially fun because Ellis is now old enough to be in the plays where they enter and exit and the stage, and the kids are starting to get better at being in character. Ellis was cast as Marcellus (Harold Hill's old friend) for his main role, but he filled in for several other roles as well. Our favorite was as a member of the school board, who form the famous barbershop quartet. Ellis was, of course, ecstatic to be on stage again, and he certainly shone brightly up there!

The cast

Ellis' friends are always so good to come see his performances! Pictured here are Daniel, Ellis, Jake, and Hank.

Ellis in costume

Hamming it up!

Isn't he the BEST music man?

Newsies 2016

One would think that the Iversons would be over their Newsies obsession by now.  But one would be wrong.  Ellis and Sam spent approximately 6 hours of their Spring Break rehearsing for this production.  Ellis has memorized every step of choreography from the 1992 movie, and he has taken extreme measures to make sure he and Sam both duplicated it with exact precision.  Then they put careful thought into costumes, props, scenery, and which room of the house would be appropriate for each song (in the first song, they move rooms!).  This is a long clip - 12 minutes - but I couldn't cut too much out, because I know how much Ellis has fretted over every detail, and he will notice if something major is missing.  And there is so much here of my little boys here and now that I need to preserve.  I love the way each boy's personality comes out in this project, as well as the complex dynamics of their relationship.  :)  Enjoy!


Newsies 2016 from Ben and Jenn on Vimeo.

Ellis' Lego Party

We had scheduled to have Ellis' birthday party September 5th, a full 10 days before Archer's due date.  Seemed safe enough.  But, Archer had other plans, and there was just no way we could do a birthday party with a 3-day old newborn!

Ellis was such a good sport about his birthday celebrations being messed up and shifted around.  He pretty much just viewed Archer as his special birthday present!

Luckily, the big Lego Birthday party was only postponed a couple of weeks, not cancelled.  In typical Jenn fashion, and with plenty of support from her parents, it was a smashing success!  Here is what we did:

First off: would you look at that cake?!?  Pure genius.  The Lego pieces on top are molded from died white chocolate, so you can imagine it was pretty rich to eat.  Not that the kids minded.

Lego-themed party favors 

The Lego-head-shaped plates were a special touch from Grandpa Dave.

As each kid arrived, they go their name tag and then got to do Lego coloring pages as we waited for all the guests to arrive.

Of course we had to have a few treats before we got started as well.  These are Rice Krispie Treats with white chocolate and M&M's on top.

We then sorted the kids into 3 groups by having them draw a red, black, or blue Lego piece from the bag.  Each group went to a different station for various activities.

Lego Bingo 

Build your own mini-figure (which they then got to take home!)

Lego memory

Lego, Lego, who's go the Lego?

Hot potato (winner got to keep the Lego set)

The "bop-'em-on-the-head-new-name" game

And, of course, more snacks!

Notice that each plate has a custom face? 

Followed by cake

We CANNOT believe that Ellis is 7!  He's such a delight and is chock full of personality and determination.  He knows the names of every kid in 1st grade, and most of the rest of his school to boot.  He never lacks for friends and loves to be with people.  

To be perfectly honest, his best birthday present really was Archer.  Ellis is always the first jump up and pop in a binky, give him "3 hugs and a kiss", or anything else he can do to help the baby.  It's been so fun watching Ellis and Archer interact, and we're so lucky to have a big 7-year-old around to lend a helping hand.

About a Boy

Sometimes (usually) Sam-o wants to play a game with me.  Sometimes (usually), he chooses the classic game of War, and sometimes (usually) he totally cheats to win.  He slyly selects certain cards to play at certain times.  He refuses to give up certain cards when I beat him.  He will even go so far as to look through my discard pile and blatantly steal my "lucky cards."  I'm usually okay with anything that will speed up the War process.  :)

Sometimes (usually) he wears accessories, if not full costumes.  He loves wearing this Nerf bullet bandolier.  All the time.

On this particular day, he scurried to get into this "Animal Power Suit" before going to pick up the brothers from school.  He needed a plain white shirt WITH A POCKET, black pants, the bandolier, and Ellis' moose jacket that is a few sizes too big, and of course, the helmet and scooter!  The brothers were thoroughly impressed.

Sometimes Sam-o will ask for a taco at 10:30 in the morning and will announce that we can go ahead with our coloring because he'll eat it while we color.  After every few squiggles with the marker, he will pause, set the marker down, pick up the taco for a few bites, and say, "I'm just in it for the taco breaks."  True story!

Sometimes Sam and Ellis will go all-out on the costume requirement for the Blue and Gold banquet, such that there are no costume items left for Cub Scout Henry (who doesn't seem to mind).  Worth it, because have you ever seen two cuter cowboys?

Fall Soccer

This year, Ben once again got to coach Henry's soccer team.  They were the Blue Diamonds, and they had a lot of fun!

Ellis also got to start playing on a soccer team for the first time.  He totally got into it.  

I think Henry enjoys soccer and has some great soccer skills.  He has always had fun playing and is a good defender.  I might be wrong, but I dare to say that Ellis has even more fun.  He is super competitive and just wants to WIN!!!  

 He fights pretty hard and ended up scoring several goals this season on the Black Crushers team, coached by our friend Ben Severson.

And Sam is really enjoying being the soccer brother!  He gets extra snacks from all the games just by flashing this cute smile.   I think he's going to be totally ready whenever we decide we're ready to enroll three children in soccer.  It might be a while.  Our Saturdays were crazy with two!

Ellis' Star Wars Birthday

I'll admit, I was not thrilled when Ellis insisted that he wanted a Star Wars party for his 6th birthday.  Because I know next to nothing about Star Wars (other than many, many characters' names from reading Star Wars books as bedtime stories -- but I don't understand a thing!), I had absolutely no idea what to plan for the party.  So I consulted my friend, the Internet.  And then I found so many ideas that we all thought looked awesome.  And then I suppose I got carried away doing them.  But it was a lot of fun!  I have to remind Ben that it's my much needed creative outlet (although is copying stuff from Pinterest really creative at all?). 

 The boys had fun getting involved with the planning.  We made a Death Star pinata (whatever that means).

 And lots of beautiful light sabers out of pool noodles and duct tape (I just absolutely love any craft that involves duct tape).

And then the food.  I am very, very proud of my R2-D2 cake! 

 Cookies made using my friend's Williams-Sonoma cookie cutters

 Lightsabers

 And as if there wasn't already enough sugar involved with this party, I couldn't resist... Leia's Buns,

 Yoda Soda (Power Ade), Ewok treats (Teddy Grahams), Han's Rolos, and Thermal Detonators (Whoppers).  Because themed sugar is so much more awesome than just regular sugar!

We made little favor bags with even more sugar inside!

 And then it was time to set things up and hand the party over to the really fun one in our family . . . Ben! 

 First, the boys ate a bunch of sugary snacks.

 Then came the real Jedi training . . . starting with "Talk like a Star Wars guy" competition.

 Next up, Pilot training (pod racing game on the Wii)

 Then light saber training.  Because every Jedi needs to know how to maneuver his weapon.

Ellis was the best one, naturally.  I believe he is showing off his "Yoda moves" here. 

 Then there was a Jedi relay race, which involved attacking the balloon Darth Vader.  But someone attacked Darth Vader too hard, and he flew into the sky before I could catch a picture...  :(

 Time to destroy the Death Star!

 Um, it wasn't very hard to destroy.  Lesson learned in pinata making.  Need more layers!

 And this is my adorable birthday boy, who is proudly six years old.  

 May the force be with you!