Birthday Favorites

We have a few birthday traditions in our house.  There are birthday gifts.  Birthday treats for school.  Grandparents come over for birthday dinner.  The birthday kid gets to choose what's for dinner and what's for dessert.  These are the things the kids have come to expect as their birthdays roll around each year.

For Staley's very first birthday, we made this sign that we hung up for her party.  We kept the sign and with each birthday, we would pull out the Happy Birthday sign again and hang it up in our living room.  As Adelie and Briggs came along, we made some new letters so the birthday sign could be used for each of the kids on their birthday.  Now the sign typically hangs up in our house from January until about April, just switching out the name as each next birthday comes along.

Last night it was getting late.  As I was heading to bed, I asked Zach if he could hang up the birthday sign so it was there when Staley woke up in the morning.  Zach asked if it was really necessary.  I wondered if it was something Staley would even care about, but decided that we should go ahead and put it up.  This morning as Staley came downstairs, she exclaimed, "The birthday sign!  That's one of my favorite things about my birthday."

12 years later, it's still a birthday tradition in our house.

And I guess it's a favorite one.

So is it still necessary?

Apparently yes.  Yes it is.

Happy Birthday, Staley!

How?  How did this happen?  How did my baby grow up so fast?  12 years seems like such a long time, yet it feels like just yesterday that Zach and I were sitting on the couch, freshly home from the hospital, wondering what in the world we were supposed to do with that precious baby lying between us.  I love going through pictures each year for a birthday post while replaying so many memories from the years that have flown by to get us to this day.  Just going through the past 12 years of pictures took me on a whirlwind journey of memories as I watched my sweet baby girl...

...introduce us to all the parenting firsts,

...learn to explore her world,

...develop her own (often strong) opinions and preferences,

...discover the stage,

...find those things that became her comforts,

...start her school journey,

...embrace the world of theater,

...start to make her own decisions about hair and fashion,

...fill our schedule with things she loves,

...develop in her responsibility and maturity,

...embrace our family adventures and travels,

...enter those tween years with grace,

and blossom into this amazing 12 year.

As I was looking through photos, I was reflecting on the fact that, although so much changes as the years go by, many things remain the same.  As an infant, Staley was curious and bright and never needed as much sleep as I thought she did.  Still true.  As a toddler, Staley had strong opinions and stood by her convictions and had so much imagination.  Still true.  As a younger child, Staley was confident and persistent and felt at home on the stage.  Still true.  And as my tween-ager, Staley has grown in her responsibility and maturity while still being bright and persistent and imaginative and confident while not needing as much sleep as I think she should and still feeling most at home on a stage.  I am so proud of the person she is and can't wait to see where this 12 year old goes next.

Happy birthday, Staley!

You couldn't be more loved!!

Interview with a 12 Year Old

Favorite color:  Teal, lime green, black

Favorite food:  It depends on the day.  I like cheeseburgers, cheeseburger pasta, fish tacos, and Grammie's homemade pizza.

Least favorite food:  Peas

Favorite restaurant:  Monicals

Favorite dessert:  Uncle Bob's ice cream and Oreo balls

Favorite toy:  Books

Favorite stuffed animal:  Teddy

Favorite animal:  Sloths.  And platypuses too.

Favorite game:  Scattergories

Favorite movie:  Guardians of the Galaxy

Favorite sport:  Running

Favorite activity:  NTA

Favorite thing to do at home:  Lock myself in my room and read and do calligraphy and listen to things

Favorite thing to do at school:  Hang out with my friends

Favorite subject in school: It depends on what we are doing and who the teacher is.  This year it's science.

Favorite field trip you've been on:  Shedd Aquarium

Favorite place to go locally:  State Farm pool

Favorite place to go on vacation:  It depends.  Pentwater is awesome because of cousins and stuff.  National parks are cool because there is hiking and adventure and stuff.  And Disney is great because it's Disney.

Favorite thing to do with Adelie:  Make funny movies

Favorite thing to do with Briggs:  Read books

Favorite thing to do with Mom:  Go running

Favorite thing to do with Dad:  Math

Favorite book:  You shouldn't even ask me that anymore.  I have too many.

Favorite princess:  Anna

Favorite outfit:  My Hamilton sweatshirt and athletic leggings

Favorite pajamas:  T-shirt and shorts

Favorite play you've been in:  There's too many.

Favorite play you've seen:  Wicked currently, but it might change when I go see Les Mis.

What are you excited about doing when you're 12?  Singapella and Tech Kids

What are you scared of?  Not getting an A

What is the best thing about you?  I'm smart.

What are you good at?  Theater and school stuff and running

What is something you'd like to learn how to do or get better at?  Dancing

Who is your best friend?  Lucy and Charlotte and Morgan and Opal

What do you want to be when you grow up?  A professional actress on Broadway or movies or maybe a psychologist if the Broadway thing doesn't work out.

Where is a place you'd like to go that you've never been?  New Zealand and Hawaii

What is one show you'd like to be in and what role would you like to play?  Glinda or Elphaba in Wicked or Matilda in Matilda

She's 12!

Question of the Day

Which is the better nightly shower scenario?

My son who finishes his shower in less than a minute, yet insists he had plenty of time to wash up...

Or my daughters that stay in the shower way longer than could possibly be needed to wash adequately, thus using up all the hot water?

#singingintheshower
#didhereallyusesoap

#boyversesgirls

#showerstruggles

Say Cheese!

 

New year.  New haircut.  New smile.

Same sweet boy.

Good-bye, Christmas Break!

After our past few weeks of Christmas break, the kids head back to school tomorrow.  We have enjoyed our break, filling it with Christmas activities, family time, playing with new Christmas stuff, and spending time with friends and family.  The kids aren't ready to head back to school, and I'm not ready to start back into our busy schedule of school and activities.  We had a really nice Christmas break.  Along with all the Christmas activities I've already posted about, some of our other Christmas break highlights include:

Putting together new Lego sets and playing with new Christmas gifts/toys...

a cousin sleepover (while Staley and Liam stayed at Grammie and Grandpas)...

lots of playdates and time spent with Avery, Isla, and Aunt Christie over the week they were home...

almost daily multi-hour Penguin Project rehearsals for Staley...

lots of playdates with friends including a trip to the skate park with George...

and crafts, movies, reading, pajama days, play time, water bead orphanages, and just enjoying a little home time.  We also celebrated New Year's Eve with our friends, the Hostetlers, which I didn't take any pictures of.  But we had fun visiting, playing games, and staying up until midnight to toast the new year.  (Or in Briggs' case, 10:30.)

Staley also kicked off her birthday celebrations with a sleepover with friends.  There was lots of giggling and game playing and movie watching and snacking and hair braiding and staying up too late.  She had a blast!!

While Staley was celebrating with her friends, Adelie went to a sleepover for her friend Stella's birthday.

Not to be left out, Briggs had a sleepover at Uma and Papa's.  

I love time at home with my family.  I love the fun things that filled our Christmas break, the time with family and friends, and the relaxing time at home.  I could use a few more weeks before we jump right back into the crazy, but I guess that's not how this is going to work.  So January...look out!  Here we come!!

Family Christmas

One of the best parts of Christmas is spending time with our families.  We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family on Christmas Eve and with Zach's side of the family right before the new year.  We had a great time eating good food, playing with cousins, and opening presents.  Christmas with family is one of the highlights of the season.

I love that my kids' cousins are also some of their closest friends.

I also love that my siblings and their spouses are some of our closest friends as well.

Matchy Chip cups were fun Christmas gifts.

Briggs was super excited about his new skateboard from Uncle Ethan.

Cousin time is the best time!

My kids made gifts for their cousins and grandparents, but Uncle Evan made some gifts too.

We also enjoyed our time with Zach's side of the family.  More cousins...

more food...

more gifts...

....more fun.

We are so thankful for family.  And we are so thankful that Christmas gives us the time to spend with them!