Kari Lynn--8 years, 11months

My lovely 3rd grader.

Kari loves school. When she was sick a few weeks ago (and miraculously, she was the only one who got sick--amazing, never happened to us before), she was upset about missing school because she was worried about getting behind. Behind? I don't think so. This is the girl who finishes her homework the day she gets it and completes projects way before they are due. She is enjoying her class and her teacher and jump rope club and everything else school-wise. She is an avid reader and finishes books like crazy right now. It's so fun to share my old books with her and see her enjoying them the way I did--Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew (my mom's books), Mandie, Betsy/Tacy, Ramona, Little House books, the list goes on. She also is a re-reader like I was/am, so I have been trying to give her new ones to read so she doesn't just read her favorites over and over again. :)

There is one thing Kari does not enjoy--lunch. She doesn't like most breads and will not eat sandwiches, which really limits what we can pack for school lunches. The list of typical lunch foods she won't eat is VERY long. She'd rather have left-overs. We've tried having her buy hot-lunch at school, but she's not a fan of most of their meals. Dinner is her favorite meal. So, while she is very particular about food, at least she eats most of the dinners I cook!

Pink continues to be Kari's favorite color. Her room still glows pink, and she's happy with it that way. While not a total "girly" girl, she is getting more and more into clothes and doing her hair and nails. She loves to listen to music and wants to learn to play the guitar and piano. She loves to bake (and eat) cookies--a favorite activity of hers when friends come over.  We've been playing more card games and board games with her lately. It's fun to have a kid old enough to play games with (Candyland doesn't count).

Kari can be very sweet with Grant. She comforts him when when he's sad, and he lets her carry him abound and "baby" him. I love to watch them play together. He thinks she's pretty cool. I'm looking forward to the day she can legally babysit him. :) It's not that far away!

When I see her with her friends, being silly and loud, it's hard to believe that she's actually an introvert. She keeps her true feelings and thoughts to herself most of the time, and we have to draw them out of her if we want to know what's going on in her head. I'm getting better at it and better at understanding how she ticks.  We've discovered a great way of communicating with Kari--through writing. We have a notebook we pass back and forth and leave under each other's pillow after we've written a note in it. It's a way of connecting that seems to work well for us, and it's just fun to get a letter under your pillow. :)

I love you, Kari Lynn! It's fun watching you grow into a young lady. We have some fun and exciting years ahead, I think.

Each one of our kids is so very different. It's overwhelming sometimes to think about meeting each of their needs and making sure we're loving them the way they each feel loved. I know I can't do it on my own, and I'm thankful that God IS able to meet their needs and that He is helping us as we raise our kids. I find myself praying more and more. At first it was all about meeting their physical needs and surviving the crazy baby and toddler days. Now we're dealing with more emotional needs along with everything else. This parenting stuff is not for weanies, that's for sure! I'm thankful for a husband who is right there with me through it all. I'm also thankful for my wise moms to turn to when I don't know what to do! I love my kids, love being their mom, and can't imagine doing anything other than what I'm doing right now. So thankful for my family.

End of Soccer Season

I've gotten behind on blogging this last month, and I just realized I never took all these soccer photos off the camera. Soccer ended the first weekend of November.  That next weekend, our first soccer-free Saturday in a little over two months, we didn't know what to do with ourselves! It was a really good season for the kids and for our family.  We enjoyed the kids and other families on both teams. The last couple cold and wet games were a little rough with Grant, but we made it through, with milk and lots of snacks. He was a lot easier to keep track of this year. While it's been nice to be inside and not out on the wet soccer fields these last few weeks, I'm already looking forward to next year.

Joel Edward--6 years, 10 months

My toothless 1st grader.

 

Joel is enjoying 1st grade now that he's a couple months in. Most of his good friends are in the other first-grade class, which was a bit of a bummer at the beginning of the year, but he's made some new friends and is still able to play with his other friends sometimes at recess. The disappointment didn't last too long. It helped that a lot of his good buddies were on his soccer team, so he saw them at least twice a week most of the fall.

Joel's becoming a better and better reader. We've seen progress just in the last two months, which is exciting. (I struggle with patience listening to beginning readers, so I am relieved that he's getting it! Just two more beginning readers to go! :) At his conference this last week, I received a glowing report from his teacher. He's doing well both academically and socially. We're proud of him!

I've been able to help out at the school every other week for a few hours, thanks to a selfless mother-in-law and have been able to go on a couple field trips, thanks to her and my mom, too. I love being there, getting to know the other kids, getting to know the teachers, helping out, and watching my kids interact with their classmates. Joel is well-liked and gets along well with everyone. His easy-going, quiet spirit makes him a good friend. He is sensitive but usually able to express his feelings so we know what's going on inside his head. I'm thankful for that. I don't want this middle child to get lost in the shuffle.

Joel is into Legos, anything Star Wars, soccer, basketball, playing outside and riding his bike or scooter with his friends, playing Lego Star Wars (best combo ever, in his opinion) on the Wii, and playing all kinds of games with his siblings. He got the fastest time in his class for the "pacer," a timed running event in PE--a big deal with the elementary school crowd. He attributed his win to his brand new tennis shoes. :) He's enjoying having his own room. We moved him into Grant's old room after Ane left us this summer, and he's loving the space and privacy. Joel's turned into a full-fledged grade-schooler, and it's a fun age. He can do so many more things and has become so much more independent and confident in the last year.

We're thankful for you and love you so much, Joel-boy!

Great-Grandma turned 96!

We stopped by to wish Grandma a happy birthday on Friday, and I tried to snap a quick photo of Grant giving her his usual "hello" hug. I wasn't quick enough, so he had to reenact it and give her another one. :) She had quite a few visitors that day. It's difficult for me to even comprehend living 96 years. She's seen so much, lived through so much. I love visiting Grandma. She's always so upbeat and cheerful. I want to be like her someday.

Day trip south

It had been a shamefully long time since we'd visited my grandparents in Keizer, so a couple weeks ago when the kids had a Monday off school, we headed down. It was so good to see them and visit, and I think they enjoyed the grandkid invasion. The kids had fun playing at their house and eating Grandma's treats. I MUST make sure not quite so much time passes between visits. We're not that far away. Love you, Grandma and Grandpa Andy!

Aubrey Ann--4 years, 9 months

Here's Aubrey's preschool picture.

She is LOVING preschool. She loves the crafts, snack time, the "jobs," her friends, playtime, eating lunch with her class--just everything! She finally feels like she has something important to say on preschool days when Daddy comes home and asks, "What did you all do today?" She is all about the people--who did what, who was there, who wasn't, whether Luke was good or bad that day, who she sat by and played with at recess. It's so funny to me because it's the complete opposite of our experience with Kari. I'm thankful we were able to find a good fit for her this year and are able to give her this experience.

Aubrey continues to be our little girl who desperately wants to be big and who sometimes seems big, but then still does things that remind us she is still little and is only four years old. She is very emotional and dramatic when it comes to her feelings and has no trouble expressing those feelings. :)

She is into My Little Pony, Barbies, her doll Eva, American Girl, crafts (loves to use up my tape), dress-up, and drawing. Her favorite color is purple, sometimes orange, and her favorite food is pizza. She prefers Lemonade Mouth, Britt Nicole, and Toby Mac to Veggie Tales and little kid music.  Her favorite worship song right now is Matt Redman's "10,000 Reasons." She knows all the words and whenever it's on the radio in the car, she asks me to turn it up, and then belts it out. She loves to play outside with the neighbor kids, playing house, riding her scooter, and just being with the other girls. She has just started trying to do her own hair, which consists of brushing it and sliding in a clip. She also insists on wearing her headbands on her forehead, which cracks me up.

Aubrey has a delightful sparkle to her. That sparkle hasn't been as apparent lately with all of her emotional outbursts, but we see it come back when she gets more rest and isn't quite as tired at the end of each day. Preschool days tend to wear her out. She's always busy trying to keep up with the big kids, and sometimes we don't realize how tired she is until she's beyond tired and into the disaster zone, and that's our fault, not hers. Stay little a while longer, Aubrey. Little is precious; little is good.

Grant Robert-- 2 years and 3 months

It's time for some kid updates. I'm starting with Grant. We'll see how long me it takes to sit down and write about all four kids. We had a puker two nights ago, so who knows what the rest of this week holds for us!

I finally got Grant in to get some recent photos so we could update the ones I have up from when he was 3 months old. Last fall when we had our family photos taken outside Grant did not cooperate, so I didn't get a good one then. Got a couple this time around! He was not fond of the process, though, (siblings were all at school) and after about 15 minutes he decided he'd had enough and refused to do anything else for them. He told the lady, "I all done," and he was.

At two years old and three months, Grant is so much fun and such a little stinker at the same time.  He is full of energy and life and little boy mischief. He's becoming more obedient and is learning how to share and take turns. He's sleeping better ("better" is a relative term), and we end up with an uninterrupted night's sleep once or twice a week now on average. It's so much better than it was even just a few months ago! Most nights he's still up with us until 9ish and wakes up around 5:30am, whether he's been up in the night or not. He still takes a nap for about an hour each day, so maybe when he is able to drop the nap he'll sleep another hour at night, maybe. Unfortunately, I think he just needs less sleep than I do! He still climbs in bed with me most mornings for a little snuggle time, and I love that. My last baby...

Grant's favorite foods right now are yogurt, hot dogs, satsuma mandarin oranges, grapes, goldfish crackers (really any crackers), and pizza toppings. He takes the toppings off and leaves the bread every week when we have pizza-Friday-movie-night.

He still loves milk and his binkie. Yes, I know he shouldn't have a binkie now that he's two and can talk and say, "Mommy, I can't find my binkie. I need my binkie!" It's a battle I'm not willing to wage yet.  It helps him sleep, so it stays. Although, I do make him turn it in when we go to church and other places during the day. He plucks it out of his mouth and puts in my hand before we leave the house--kinda funny.  I'm thrilled to report that, while he still has a pacifier, he is potty-trained! We had our carpets cleaned today in celebration. :)

Ah! So much better. Who puts white carpet in a family home anyway?

Grant still doesn't know his colors, but he can point out by name every American Girl doll in the catalogue (thanks to his AG-obsessed little sister), can recognize a Britt Nicole song within seconds on the radio (thanks to his older sister), and can count to 10 with ease. I have tried and tried to teach him with little to no success. It's strange. We're wondering if he might be color-blind. Time will tell!

Because he has an older brother who is very into Star Wars, Grant is also very much into Star Wars. He enjoys lightsaber battles and using "The Force." He also enjoys little guy things like trains, so we set up the wooden train tracks and play trains when the other kids are at school. I don't want him to grow up too fast! Grant's favorite movie right now is The Lion King. He also likes "SuperWhy" and "Daniel Tiger" on PBS.  He enjoyed the kids' soccer season this year. Greg let him warm-up and practice some drills with the Aubrey and Joel's team, and he LOVED it. He cried when he had to come off the field. I wish I would have gotten some video of him practicing with them. He was so cute out there, a head or two shorter than all the other kids, doing everything they were doing. He's got some pretty decent soccer skills. :) Technically, he isn't allowed to play for another two years. We'll see come next summer whether we decide he can bend the rules or not. Our league allows some rule-bending, particularly when you are a veteran Micros coach like Greg has become. ;)

In his "spare time" Grant loves to play with his cousin, Russell. Those two are so funny! For two-year-olds, they play exceptionally well together. They copy each other and just love to be with each other. It'll be fun to watch them grow up together. Grant is going to be lonely when Aubrey goes to school every day next year, so I have a feeling he's going to need his buddy, Russell, even more often.

Grant is exhausting a lot of the time, but he's also such a joy to me. I'm learning to appreciate each and every stage my kids are in because I know none of them last very long. It's a lot easier to do, though, I must admit, when I get a reasonable amount of sleep. Thank you, Grant, for learning to sleep better! I love you, little man! 

Halloween

After seeing last year what a great time our neighborhood has on Halloween , we decided to just stick around and trick-or-treat here, rather than go to crowded downtown Gresham. Brian, Emily, Russell, and Ellery came over, and we all had an early dinner before heading out.

a Monkey, a Spider, a Jedi (Obi Wan), Ariel, & Dorothy

They look really excited, don't they?

We took a quick trip over to Grandpa and Grandma's to start the night off right.

Everyone (except me) took a trip around the block, and then the little guys and a tuckered Aubs stayed home to eat and hand out candy while Greg took Kari and Joel out for a while longer.

They LOVED handing out the candy, and the older kids (and parents) loved receiving it from them. Russell complimented kids on their costumes and blew kisses to some as he closed the door. He was hilarious! Grant got in on the action more later after the other kids had gone to bed. He thought it was great fun.



They watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in between handing out candy. This photo is deceiving, though, because they really didn't sit for long and really weren't as calm as they appear here. One of our neighbors, two doors down, keeps a tally of how many trick-or-treaters they get each year. Last year was 190, and this year was 225 in two hours. We kept our light on half an hour longer, so I estimate we had about 240. I was unprepared last year and ran out of candy too early, so I made sure we had plenty this year. It's like a neighborhood block party with kids and parents everywhere! Kari and Joel had a great time running from house to house and saying "hi" to their friends they saw along the way.