He Says...

I was asking Briggs if he wanted to sign up for the spring session of Stage Kids where they will be performing "The Music Man, Jr.".  He responded, "No thanks.  I only want to do it if I can be the music man, but it will probably be an older kid."

Reading

We are a reading family.  We have always been a reading family.  From the moment our kids were born, we've read to them.  We are permanent fixtures at the public library.  We have shelves full of books in our house.  All our kids have loved books and loved reading and have consistently grown into better and more independent readers.  And just this past week, Briggs has taken the next step on his independent reading journey.

Briggs has gotten to be a good and proficient reader.  He has been reading a chapter book series (Dinosaur Cove) aloud to us since this summer, improving almost weekly with his fluency and efficiency.  This past week-end, Zach was reading on the couch and Briggs asked to join him.  Instead of asking to read aloud to Zach or asking Zach to read to him, Briggs instead decided that he would finish his current Dinosaur Cove book silently to himself.

After finishing that book, Briggs started scouring the bookshelves for other easier chapter books that he could read to himself.  He polished off a Magic Treehouse book, an I Survived book, and several Princess in Black books over the next day or two.  He then went to the library, came home with a pile of Magic Treehouse and I Survived books, and has been devouring them.

Briggs is now reading his chapter books to himself every chance he gets.  He has been leaping out of bed as soon as his alarm goes off in the morning so he can get ready quickly and get some reading in before school.  He has been reading in the car, reading in his room, reading on the couch.  This realization that he can read chapter books to himself has ignited a new fire.

I love my reading family.  I love watching my kids grow in their love of reading.  I love the pride that they feel when they've conquered a new step in their reading journey.  

And I sure do love my new independent reader!

Truth

It has been well documented that all things media--television shows, magazines, celebrities, social media, movies--provide unrealistic views of people and of life.  This, in turn, often leads us to compare ourselves to these unrealistic expectations and, inevitably, come up short.  I have come to realize that the parents on the animated cartoon, 'Bluey', set a high expectation of fun and connected parenting that I aspire to emulate. 

I'm not sure if it's a sad commentary on our culture that comparing my parenting to animated cartoon dogs makes me feel like I'm coming up short...or if it's just a sad commentary on me.

Staley's Birthday

Staley had a great time celebrating her 11th birthday, stretching it out over a full week.  She got to celebrate with family during our Christmas celebrations last week-end.

Brownies, presents, and singing at Grammie's house and cake and singing at Uma's house

On her actual birthday, Staley took treats to school.  She then enjoyed her dinner of choice (Zach grilling out in the January cold) and shared dessert (Oreo balls and Uncle Bob's ice cream) and present time with grandparents.

Staley was excited about her new chair, earrings, make-up, clothes, bookcase, and coupons from Adelie.  Briggs made her some perler bead dinosaurs a few days later.

The week-end after her birthday, Staley invited a few friends (Charlotte, Lucy, Morgan, and Olivia) and her cousin (Lila) over for some birthday fun.

They hung out, ate birthday treats, opened gifts, talked, and giggled.

Then I took all the girls to Bloomington to go ice skating.

Staley had never been ice skating before, but she picked it up really quickly and had a great time.

The girls all had a fun time skating and Staley loved having the opportunity to spend the afternoon with some friends.

Staley finished off her birthday celebrations with a fun sleepover with Lila.

It's good to be 11!

The Blog

I started this blog 11 years ago when Staley was first born.  It was a way for people to keep up with our family, but more importantly, it was a way for me to document our everyday life.  I wanted it to be an honest picture of the good and the bad, the big and the small, a snapshot of our daily life.  My hope was that one day our kids would enjoy looking back over the blog, sparking memories and helping them to see their childhood, the big moments and the small, through the eyes of parents who loved them.

I enjoy keeping track of the moments and the memories.  And I often find myself reading back through the blog.  I'll start looking for a specific memory and will instead find myself reading through years full of memories instead.  There are so many little things...funny stories, phases, photos, quotes...that I would have easily forgotten had it not been for the blog.  Each year for my birthday, my mom makes me a printed book of the previous year's blog posts as yet another way to preserve the memories and moments.

Within the past year or so, my kids have gotten really into reading through the blog books.  They love to pull out a stack of the books, paging through them and stopping to read snippets.  They especially like reading funny stories about themselves or each other.  They then want to read them aloud or retell the stories to each other, giggling and laughing about the funny things they did or said.  Watching them pour over the books or listening to them tell each other stories or having them ask me "do you remember when..." fulfills my wish for this blog.  It's exactly what I had hoped it would be for them.

I love watching the kids read the blog books, knowing that the moments they may not know or remember are being rebuilt, giving them a clearer picture of our ongoing family story.

Feminism? Not yet.

The other day Staley and I were discussing cooking skills.  I told her that I never really liked cooking when I was younger and so I really didn't know how to cook when I got married.  To which Staley replied, "Then why did Daddy marry you?"  

After I extolled her with all my wonderful qualities that made me a great catch...and made sure she knew that cooking, good or bad, should not be the basis for marriage...we then had a discussion about things that are and are not important when choosing a spouse.  After our entire discussion, Staley then informed me that she still is planning to be a good cook for her husband.  

So Adelie was just playing a game with mermaids becoming humans to impress a prince.  Now Staley thinks that my lack of early domestic skills should have hurt my chances at marriage...and wants to avoid that fate.  Here I thought I was modeling female strength and independence.  I thought Zach and I have done a solid job of demonstrating a partnership in domestic duties.  Obviously we have done something wrong along the way.  I blame Disney movies.

Christmas: The End

With COVID derailing some of our Christmas plans, we finally had the opportunity to finish up our Christmas festivities with family this past week-end.

We enjoyed our Christmas get-together with my family on Saturday.

Although Ethan didn't make the trip down from Chicago, he was still a part of the day.  After each person opened their gift, they would bring it over to the phone to show Ethan.

There were lots of gifts to open, cousins to play with, visiting to do, and yummy brunch to eat.

And we also took the opportunity to celebrate these 2 January birthday kids (plus Evan).

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to be together with family!

The next day we got the opportunity to enjoy Christmas with Zach's side of the family.

There were more presents to open, more cousins to play with, more visiting to do, and yummy lunch to eat.

I love how the cousins make or buy special things for each other.

(And don't these 2 look so much alike!)

Cade is always so good about playing with Briggs...and Briggs loves it!

We also took the opportunity to celebrate these 2 January birthdays.

And no family get-together is complete without a performance of some sort.  This rendition of 'Little Red Riding Hood' was one of their best.

Christmas may have been prolonged a few more weeks than usual, but that just made the opportunity to spend time with family all the more sweet and special.  Even though it was a week into January, it was still a very merry Christmas!