Truth

I love a clean house, but I do not like the process of achieving the clean house nor do I like the fact that the process of cleaning lasts way longer than the results...at least in my house.

Adelie's Birthday

Adelie enjoyed multiple birthday celebrations that extended her 8th birthday over several weeks.  My girl loves to have her moment(s) in the spotlight, so the drawn out birthday celebrations were the perfect way to make Adelie's birthday extra special.

She enjoyed an outdoor combined party with Briggs with her cousins from my side of the family at the beginning of the month.

The following weekend, Adelie had a special birthday sleepover at Grammie's house with her cousin, Caroline.

In lieu of a party, Adelie's one birthday request was to have her very first friend sleepover with her  closest friend from school, Stella.

This was the first friend sleepover for both Adelie and Stella, so they were VERY excited.  Adelie even wrote a list of things they could do together.

They had so much fun playing together, doing crafts, and watching Frozen II that they didn't accomplish everything on Adelie's list.

Staley and Briggs went to Uma and Papa's for a sleepover, so Adelie and Stella had the entire evening, night, and next morning to just enjoy playing together.

The sleepover was a huge success and they are already planning their next one.

The celebrations continued with Zach's side of the family with a beautiful day for outdoor cousin playtime, presents, and snacks.  Adelie was very excited about new games, clothes, a Little Live Pets fish, Hatchimals, and a new squishmallow.

Adelie rounded out her birthday celebrations by taking treats to school and then having special birthday dinner (Michael's family feast with Grammie finger jello) and special birthday dessert (mermaid ice cream) with grandparents and our neighbor, Miss Vickie.  She got birthstone jewelry, mermaid clothes, and a balance beam and gymnastics bolster for the basement.  The celebration extended for several weeks and Adelie enjoyed it all!

Interview with an 8 Year Old

Favorite color:  Purple

Favorite food:  Grammie's meatballs and tuna casserole and finger jello

Least favorite food:  The kind of spaghetti or pasta that has a bunch of gross veggies in it

Favorite restaurant:  Culvers

Favorite dessert:  Ice cream

Favorite toy:  Hatchimals or my new fish

Favorite stuffed animal:  Fuzzington

Favorite animal:  Penguins

Favorite game:  Clue

Favorite movie:  Hamilton

Favorite sport:  Swimming and gymnastics

Favorite thing to do at home:  Read

Favorite thing about school:  Reading

Favorite place to go locally:  State Farm pool

Favorite place to go on vacation:  Disney World and Michigan

Favorite thing to do with Briggs:  Play anything

Favorite thing to do with Staley:  Read

Favorite thing to do with Mommy:  Read and snuggle

Favorite thing to do with Daddy:  Build rockets and read and snuggle

Favorite book:  Rescue Princesses

Favorite princess:  Ariel

Favorite superhero:  I don't really have one.

Favorite outfit:  Mermaid stuff, short sleeves, comfortable snuggly clothes

Favorite play that you've been in:  Aladdin

Favorite play that you've seen:  Hamilton (parts of it on Disney +) and Wicked

What are you excited about doing when you are 8?  Going to summer camp

What are you scared of?  Popcorn, monsters upstairs, any kind of bug but especially spiders

What is the best thing about you?  I'm nice and pretty

What are you good at?  Drawing and gymnastics and making people feel better

Who is your best friend?  Stella

What do you want to be when you grow up?  A teacher

Happy Birthday, Adelie!

Eight years ago, Adelie was a ray of sunshine that burst into our family.  

She came into the world and we all immediately fell in love.

Her smiles brightened our days.

Her easy-going nature made her so fun to take places...

...while her active and wild side kept us on our toes.

Adelie always filled our days with laughter...

...energy...

...sweetness...

...messes...

and fun!

Since that day 8 years ago, Adelie has continually filled our lives with her boundless energy, sweet and sensitive nature, funny disposition, creativity, thoughtfulness, imagination, and heart for others.  She fills our hearts with the love that she so willingly shares.  I couldn't love her more!

Happy Birthday, Adelie!

You brighten up our days and fill our lives with joy!

I love you!!

Six Years Old

Briggs is officially 6 years old.  He weighs 45 lbs (46th percentile) and is 45.5" tall (50th percentile).  He is outgrowing his size 5T clothes and is mostly wearing size 5/6 and 6 clothes and size 12 shoes.  Briggs has lost his first tooth.  He is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Doty and participated in one session of Stage Kids in the fall.  He goes to bed around 7:30 on school nights and around 8:00 on weekends.  He typically wakes up between 7:00 and 7:30.  He tends to wake up much easier (and sometimes earlier) on weekends than on school days.

Likes:  Briggs still loves trains and vehicles of all kinds.  He loves to see them when we are out driving.  He loves to play with them as toys.  He loves to read books about them and wear clothes featuring them and watch movies about them.  Briggs favorite play activities typically include playing with his cars and trucks and trains.  He also enjoys building with Legos, blocks, and Magnatiles.  Doing puzzles, creating perler bead creations, and making crafts with Adelie are other favorite activities.  He likes to color, draw, write/illustrate books, and paint.  His favorite things to draw?  Trains, of course.

My little artist

Briggs has favorite play activities, but is generally good about playing what his sisters or friends want to play.  He enjoys playing Hatchimals or figurines or stuffed animals or dolls, participating in plays and shows, and playing imaginary games with Adelie.  When he's outside, Briggs likes riding his bike, scooter, and roller skates.  He is getting more active and jumping, wrestling, running around, and chasing are other ways he fills his time.

He has no problem keeping up with his big sisters on their big bikes.

Briggs likes to play American Girl dolls with his sisters with his doll, Sam.

Briggs loves books.  He enjoys being read to and listening to books on tape.  He can follow along with the longer chapter books that we listen to or read, but also still enjoys picture books and Easy Readers.  He has a great sense of humor and really enjoys clever or funny picture books.  When reading to himself or to us, he likes to read Biscuit books.  When Briggs gets to choose what to watch for movie night, he generally will pick some episodes of a cartoon like Blaze and the Monster Machines, Paw Patrol, Puppy Dog Pals, or TOTs.  He does enjoy animated movies like Cars or Planes, as well as nature/animal videos.  

My little reader

Briggs has a variety of friends that he likes to play with.  He loves to play with his sisters and cousins, but gets very excited about play dates with neighbors and friends.  When given the choice of a friend to play with, he typically picks Dava, but he also really enjoys playing with our neighbor, Grace, who lives a few houses away.

Briggs and Grace

Briggs is a pretty good eater.  He likes breads and fruits and is typically good about eating his veggies.  Favorite foods include meatballs, tacos/quesadillas, chicken pie, ham, tomato soup, brunch foods, and anything sweet.  He is not picky about his clothing, generally wearing what I put out for him.  However, when he is choosing his own clothes, he typically picks athletic pants over jeans.  And he always wants to wear footie pajamas.

Briggs with his favorites...footie pajamas, cozy blanket, and Legos.

Dislikes:  This has gotten to be a rather long list these days as Briggs has plenty of things that he gets upset about.  He does not like being told 'no', not getting to do what he wants to do when he wants to do it, and being asked to do something he does not want to do.  He does not like going to a floor of the house by himself (like upstairs or in the basement), storms, wind, doing homework, or not having someone to play with.  He typically does not like being asked to clean up or do his Sunday chores.  He is not super picky about food, but often does not like enchiladas or Mexican casseroles or salads or veggies that are not our typical.  He definitely prefers familiar foods to novel foods.  Briggs does not like being barefoot, always preferring to wear socks when he is inside or outside.  If he is wearing a shirt or coat with a hood, he likes to have the hood up.  Briggs also does not like movies with bad buys or "scary" parts.  He does not like when people are laughing about something he says or does if he is not trying to be funny.  Having his hair cut, his nails clipped, or teeth pulled are all things that he resists as well.

Skills:  Briggs is a fast and coordinated little guy.  He runs fast, skips well, and can ride his bike really well without training wheels.  He does well on his scooter and is learning to skate on roller skates.  Briggs is very good at putting together Legos by following the directions, making perler bead creations, putting together puzzles, and figuring things out.  He writes pretty well, although continues to have some letter and number reversals.  His drawing skills continue to improve.  Briggs is pretty independent with most things around the house.  He can get dressed, take a shower, brush his teeth, and get simple snacks and meals by himself.  He can do his buttons and zippers, but I'm not sure about tying since he has never had any tie shoes.  Briggs is a bright student.  His reading skills are continually improving and math seems to come pretty easy to him so far.  The homework packet he brings home each weekend is never challenging for him.  (The only challenge is getting him to do it.)  On his winter standardized tests, he scored in the 91st percentile for math and the 95th percentile for reading.

Briggs learning to roller skate with Grammie and Staley.

Personality:  Briggs' continues to be dichotomous with his personality.  He is often very sweet.  He loves to snuggle, hold hands, and sit on my lap.  When things are going his way, he is very fun.  He is bright and inquisitive and asks good questions.  He follows really well when we are listening to a chapter book on tape or reading a longer book together.  He plays and shares really well with friends and there are never any behavior issues at school.  He can be silly and goofy and enjoys making people laugh (if he's trying to be funny).  On the other side, however, Briggs continues to have a short fuse and a quick temper when things are not going his way.  He can be rude, sassy, belligerent, and stubborn when he gets upset.  Tantrums with screaming, crying, hitting, kicking, or throwing himself on the ground are still relatively common around our house.  We have seen some progress recently so hopefully maturity and growth will help us put some of these struggles in the past.  Briggs is also sensitive, crying easily when he gets hurt, scared, his feelings hurt, or if he thinks people are laughing at him or excluding him.

He definitely has a silly side!

Five was a tough year as Briggs struggled with emotional regulation while navigating the life changes brought about by quarantine, pandemic life, and starting Kindergarten.  He continues to grow and learn and mature in many areas.  In the midst of the tears and tantrums, Briggs continues to sprinkle his energy and love, sweetness and snuggles, creativity and fun into our daily lives.  We love our boy so much and can't wait to see how he flourishes in this next year.

My big 6 year old!

Poetry by Staley

Staley loves to write and continues to improve and impress with imagination and writing ability.  She recently completed a poetry unit through school.  Here are a few of my favorite poems that she wrote:

Dancing

Dancing

wonderful, free

flying, leaping, spinning

making me lose track of time 

jazz

Roller Coaster

Roller coaster

crazy, fast

rising, falling, zooming

making people sick

ride

Crowd

Crowd

big, noisy

moving, pushing, yelling

way too many people

group

Snow

Falling down lightly,

blanketing the ground with white,

making a new world

Wind

The trees are dancing.

The wind whistles through the air

calling for a friend.

Pear and Flea

There once was a pear in a tree.

Who was bitten twice by a flea.

He fell out on his head.

And he smashed the flea dead.

The poor flea is no more yippee.

Weekends

Weekends are white.

They taste like brunch.

They sound like my siblings fighting.

They smell like homemade waffles.

They look like my house.

They make me feel free.

Pentwater Michigan

Pentwater is yellow.

It tastes like ice cream from the town.

It sounds like kids laughing and seagulls.

It smells like Aunt Melissa's cooking.

It looks like a beach with two lakes.

It makes me feel happy.

My poet

Volleyball

Staley enjoys playing various seasons of sports when they are offered through our local youth sports organization.  Although all sports seasons have been altered this year, Staley still took advantage of signing up for a short season of volleyball.  Her season consisted of 5 hybrid practice/scrimmage sessions at a local church and 1 game played at the grade school with limited spectators.

Staley was most excited about having some of her closer friends on her team this year, including one of her best friends, Lilian.  She also liked that Lilian's mom was her coach and I was her assistant coach.

Although not the top athlete on her team, Staley continued to improve from her last season.  She was pretty consistent with getting her serves over the net and was better about moving to the ball and volleying it back over the net on several occasions during each scrimmage/game.

Staley always enjoys each sports season that she takes part in.  Although acting comes more naturally to her than athletics, I love watching her try new things, enjoy being a part of a team, and improve her skills.

It was a short and different season than most, but Staley had a good time spending time with friends outside of school and participating in another season of a sport she enjoys.  Volleyball season in the year of COVID?  Success!