Things to Remember

I always like to write down random things that I want to remember about specific times in our daily life.  These are phases that I will probably forget if I don't write them down.  But someday I will read back on these and the memories will come back to me as small, yet defining moments in our day to day.

I want to remember:

1.  How Staley snaps her fingers every time she is walking from one place to another.  I never have to wonder where she is in the house or where she is heading, because as she's walking, she is also snapping her fingers...CONSTANTLY.

2.  How the girls now always have to sleep with a sleep mask on.  Yellow Bear (Teddy), Fuzzington, and Bear Bear are all still the constant sleep companions for my kids, but sleep masks have been added to the mix for the girls.

3.  How Briggs still often wakes once in the night to use the restroom, but now he will sometimes (not always) take himself to the bathroom and then put himself back to bed without coming in to wake us up.  If I wake up in the morning and his bedroom door is open instead of closed, I know he chose not to wake us...and I appreciate that!

4.  How Staley LOVES the public library.  She volunteers there once a week after school, but will often ask to walk to the library on other free afternoons, "just to hang out."  If my pre-teen daughter wants to go hang out somewhere after school, I love that it's the library. 

5.  How Adelie was SO pleased by her teacher's high praise at her parent teacher conference.  Her teacher went on and on about Adelie's high reading test scores (in the 99th percentile), and Adelie couldn't wait to share that with us.

6.  How Briggs is such a creature of habit that we had to bribe him with jelly bellies, just like potty training, to encourage him to stand for peeing instead of sitting.  Each time he stood up to pee, he'd get a jelly belly and so would his sisters...so he had lots of encouragement.  Habits are hard to break, but jelly bellies definitely help.

7.  How each of the kids has a book series they are reading (or re-reading).  Staley is re-reading the Land of Stories series, Adelie is re-reading the Wide Awake Princess series, and Briggs has started reading the Dinosaur Cove series.  He is very proud of himself for reading these chapter books.

8.  How Staley, and Adelie to a lesser extent, are always reading multiple books at the same time.  Currently Staley is reading Land of Stories, Treasure Island, and the Fellowship of the Ring (along with other random books she picks up around the house or at the library) while Adelie is reading the Wide Awake Princess books and Holes.

9.  How family movie night remains a challenge because Briggs is still pretty averse to any movie that he hasn't seen before or that might have a bad guy or a scary part.  If Briggs had his way, movie night would always just be watching episodes of TV shows like Paw Patrol or Bluey.  Generally Zach and I have to just choose the movie, and typically Briggs will stick it out once it has started.

10.  How Adelie has improved so much with her response to homework.  She has a math worksheet almost every night, and she rarely complains about doing it.  She has also gotten way better about practicing her piano without complaint...and her piano playing skills continue to improve.

11.  How all the kids are getting so much more helpful and independent around the house.  I still need to ask them to help out, but they'll clean the bathrooms, unload the dishwasher, pick up the house, put away their laundry, help out their siblings with things...all with minimal complaints.  It's so nice to move into this next phase of increased helpfulness with decreased complaints.  I'm not complaining about that!

12.  How the girls and I are working through devotional books each night before bed.  After reading to Briggs and putting him to bed, I get 10 minutes of one-on-one time with each girl to do a devotional time together.  I love this special one-on-one time that I get with my kids.

Each moment in time brings a new set of things to remember as my kids continue to grow and change and mature.  Each phase of life brings new challenges, new worries, and new decisions to make, but it also brings about new freedoms, new experiences, and a broader picture of who my kids are growing up to be.  And I, for one, love seeing them grow into this life God has planned for them.

They keep growing and changing...and I love being along for the ride.

Anniversaries

While Zach and I celebrated our 20th anniversary this year, we also had the opportunity to marvel in the 50th wedding anniversaries of our parents.  Finding a person that you want to spend 20 years with or 50 years with or 80 years with can be difficult.  I feel so blessed that our parents are such a good example to us of how to build a successful and sustained marriage.  And I am so grateful that God took two sets of high school sweethearts and led them down a lasting road of love and marriage that, 50 years later, produced a beautiful life and a beautiful family together.

June 1971

June 2021

50 years, 4 kids, 7 grandkids, and 1 beautiful life together.

October 1971

October 2021

50 years, 2 kids, 6 grandkids, and 1 beautiful life.

Happy 50th Anniversary to our parents!

What a legacy. What an example. What a blessing.  What a life.

We Are...

We often refer to the quote from Zach's grandmother when talking about our family.  We have a beautiful family...kinda loud, but a beautiful family.  We were having a conversation with the kids the other day, asking them what kind of family they think we are.  I loved what they came up with.  According to our kids, we are...

A reading family

A train riding family (I bet you can guess who said that one)

A road trip family

A pool family

A hiking family

A running family

A movie night family

An Uncle Bob's family

A climbing family

An outdoorsy family

A Bears family

A giving family

And I sure do love our reading, train riding, road tripping, pool swimming, hiking, running, movie watching, ice cream eating, climbing, outdoorsy, Bears, giving, beautiful family!!

Fall Break

In mid-October, parent teacher conferences combined with Columbus Day always leaves us with a 4 day week-end, perfect for a quick little get-away to some of our favorite places.  Adelie and Briggs were both a little under the weather in the few days leading up to our long week-end, so we didn't make any plans as we decided to play it by ear.  We spent a lazy day off at home on Friday, but with everyone feeling better by Saturday morning, we decided to pack up for an abbreviated St. Louis week-end away.

We initially thought we'd start our week-end off at the zoo, but upon getting to Forest Park in the early afternoon, we soon discovered a long line of cars for the zoo and all the zoo reservations sold out for the day.  We called an audible and discovered a new fun place to play in Forest Park...

Nature Playscape!

The kids had a good time playing around on the rocks, logs, trees, and fountains while Zach and I scrambled to secure a hotel reservation and determine a plan for the rest of the day.  We decided to follow up the playscape with a trip to the City Museum.  I had some anxiety while there, but the kids had fun crawling through tunnels, swinging on rope swings, and traversing all the climbing structures in the outdoor area.  Briggs had a few tears about things being "too scary" or not wanting to do all the things his sisters did, but he did find a few things he was willing to try.  Unfortunately, the little train ride that was his highlight the last time we were there was closed.

We rounded out our first day with dinner at our hotel followed by some swimming in the hotel pool.

After getting some sleep and eating breakfast at our hotel, we then headed out to do what we love to do in St. Louis...go to the zoo!

We spent the ENTIRE day enjoying the zoo.  And by entire day, I truly mean 7.5 hours of zoo time.  We saw all our favorite animals...

checked out the special dinosaur exhibit that they had going on...

rode the train a few times...

got front row seats for the sea lion show...

enjoyed a sweet treat...

and took advantage of more than a few rides on the carousel.

We made a quick stop at turtle park on our way back to our car before hitting the road for home after our long and thoroughly enjoyable zoo day.

We had a fun little trip to St. Louis.  Although our first day didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, our zoo day more than made up for it.  I mentioned to the kids that the St. Louis Zoo is just one of my happy places...and I think they all agreed!

Goals

Running is a big part of the life of our household. Although the running journeys for Zach and I started way back in our middle school days on the track, running is still a regular part of our weekly routines.  We run for our health.  We run for our fitness.  We run for stress relief, for socialization, for mental health, for quiet time.  And we run to set an example for our children of the importance of maintaining an active lifestyle.

All 3 kids have expressed an interest in running over the years, so we decided to offer them the opportunity to run in a local 5K race at the beginning of October.  All 3 kids were excited about the idea and began training the next day.

Getting ready to run with Reagan.

The girls both spent the month of September preparing for their 3 mile run.  Briggs' training only lasted through the first 2 days and then he lost interest.  But the girls and I would go out and run anywhere from half a mile to a mile and half almost every single day, sprinkling in a few 2-3 mile long runs on the weekends.  Staley was very motivated and completed her training runs without complaint.  Adelie's training runs were often filled with reluctance, whining, complaining, side aches, and tears.  She was often torn between not wanting to go for her training run, but feeling like she should.  Some of those days were struggles, but she persevered and made it to run day.

Because Briggs didn't train for the 5K, he instead opted to run the Kids 400 meter fun run.

He was initially apprehensive and unsure about the race, but was all smiles once he started running with the 3 other kids in the race.  (I love seeing his sisters cheering for him in the background.)

The other kids started fast and then faded, but Briggs kept it up the whole way and won.  He was so pleased!!

For the 5K, Zach and I each ran with one of the girls for their race.

Staley and I ran together.  She ran the entire way and finished in just over 32 minutes.  She pushed herself, finished strong, and walked away with a first pace medal in her age group.  (To be fair, she and Adelie were the only two girls in their age group.)  Nevertheless, she did great!

Adelie and Zach ran together.  Adelie had a great time, ran the entire way, and didn't complain once.  She finished in just over 35 minutes.  I think she liked having all the spectators cheering for her along the way.  Zach said she never even acted tired while she was running.

For my daughter who often doubts herself and doesn't always like to try hard things, I was so proud of Adelie for completing her training and running the race.  She was proud to know that she did something very few 8 year olds can do.  Getting a second place medal for her age group was just icing on the cake.

I'm so proud of my kids for setting a goal and working to achieve it.

Making Their Own Fun

It's that time of year when the Christmas decorations are starting to appear in stores, the Christmas activities are getting written on the schedule, and the Christmas catalogs start coming in the mail.  Oh, the Christmas toy catalogs.  How I loathe them! They are full of glossy photos of large, expensive, plastic toys that my kids determine simply must be put on their Christmas list, while I know, without a doubt, that most of them will not be near as fun as they look on the box and will be discarded in a corner within a few days of their triumphant arrival.  Over the years of having so many toys take up so much room in our house, I feel like I've got a pretty good idea of what my kids will play with and what they won't.  I've swung and missed on my fair share of gifts...like the beautiful wooden dollhouse that sits in the corner untouched while the kids take out all the dollhouse furniture to add to their block and Magna Tile creations.  Or the easel that sat in the playroom primarily acting as an art storage bin while the kids created their art all around it.  Or the large plastic play garage that just took up space while Briggs zoomed his vehicles across the floor.  Over the years, the best loved toys are the ones that allow my kids to engage with them creatively and in their own way.

I always enjoy watching my kids imagine and create and make their own fun.  The big, plastic toys sit largely untouched on the shelves while the kids empty the recycling bin and build kingdoms with their Magna Tiles and catch bugs in the yard.  From making their own board games to putting on plays to filming original movies to writing books, my kids consistently find ways to make their own fun.

A cupcake container from the recycling along with some water and food coloring filled one fun afternoon while Adelie and Briggs completed their "science experiment."

Adelie and Briggs started a neighborhood band with a few of Briggs' little friends.  The "SSLS Band" (formed by the first letter of their last names) is planning a performance where they want to invite 11 people (not sure of the relevance of that number) to come hear them perform.  (I'm glad that they only practice outside.)

Adelie and Briggs spent one entire morning putting on a school for their stuffed animals.

They each held their respective classes in their own rooms.

And Staley was a guest speaker in Adelie's classroom, so she got this thank you note signed by all the stuffed animals in Adelie's class.

For every birthday or special occasion, my kids LOVE to use their creativity to make gifts.  For Grammie's birthday, both girls painted her pictures and Briggs made her a book.

Singing, practicing piano, and starting flute in band all contribute to the already enhanced noise level in our house.  (Thank goodness it's not the trumpet or the drums!)

Briggs recently made his own board game called "Briggs the Hero Dash."  There is also a 'Briggs the Hero' book series and a 'Briggs the Hero' movie as well.  (It's all about creating your brand!)  For his game, there are cards that you have to act out as you move your little game piece (all different vehicles, of course) around the game board.  Sometimes deciphering the word on the card is almost as hard as acting it out.  Some of the cards are a little easier to read, like bote (boat), rocit (rocket), dinosor, sopr hero, and tran (train).  Some of the others, like painggwin (penguin), sces (skiis), and modrsikole (motorcycle) take a bit more deciphering.  Thankfully the pictures on the cards sometimes help.  It's a fun little game!

The kids had fun helping Aunt Sandi pick apples and an even better time washing them all up.

Art supplies scattered all around the house, Magna Tile creations covering the playroom floor, musical sounds filling our house with noise, stuffed animals waiting patiently on the stairs for their next class...  Sometimes it can all be a bit much, but I'll take the signs (and sounds) of creativity over boredom any day.  Maybe I can cut up the toy catalogs and the kids can use the pictures in their next art project.

She Writes...

 "Home to All" (A poem by Adelie)

This world is home to everyone, big and small,

To the tallest tree and the smallest mouse,

are world is a home to everyone no matter what their size

Everywhere is a home to bugs, and birds, and trees

a home is grass and dirt.

A home is trees a home is in a river and in the big seas.

Just look around you're not the only one the world has a home for everyone!

The End

Fruit jokes by Adelie

Q:   What do you call a cherry wearing a mask?

A: Nothing cherrys don't wear masks!

Q: How are bannanas and piano alike?

A: Because of the grand piano and the grand mushell! (The Gros Michel is a type of banana)

Q: What do you call a person who dose not like fruit?

A:  Crazy!

The giggling turkey (A short story by Adelie)

    It was a crisp fall day.

    A fat turkey was shaking then he burst out giggling.  He giggled and giggled because the pig was covered in leaves and she looked like a leafy princess and then the fat turkey had said "princess of leaves will you dance with me?"  And then the pig chased him into the pumpkin patch.

    The turkey could not stop giggling!   He had the giggles!

    "Help!"  he cried but he could not stop giggling!  "I need (giggle) help!"  he giggled.

    Just then the farmer came running brilliantly to the pumpkin patch.  "Hello dinner," said the farmer.

    The turkey stopped giggling.

I love watching this girl's creativity continue to grow!

The End

Last night Briggs said, "Is it almost time for bed-night?"   To which Adelie replied, "It's not bed-night, Briggs.  It's called bed time."

And that just made me sad.  

History

Last night at dinner, Staley was telling us about how they are learning about explorers in school.  I said, "You mean like Columbus and Magellen and Amerigo Vespucci?"  And then Briggs chimed in, "And Dora!"

She may not be from quite as far back in history, but I bet Columbus didn't have a talking backpack.

She Says...

On our way home from church today, Adelie asked a question that we didn't know the answer to.  I looked up the answer on my phone, and Zach and I both commented about learning something new today.

Me:  "I am a better person today because I learned something new."

Adelie:  "Why are you a better person?"

Me:  "I think that every time you learn something, it just makes you a little bit better."

Adelie:  "Not always.  What about when you learn a new cuss word?"

I guess I learned today that sometimes my kids are smarter than me.