Elliot’s 9th Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Elliot’s 9th birthday! Elliot always wants snow on his birthday, but today he go 60 degrees and sunny. In the morning we hung out at home, playing basketball and kicking around a new soccer ball. At noon some friends met us for soccer at the field near our house. We had about 18 kids show up and fun was had by all.

In the afternoon he went to the Reagens to play. The Reagens & Liesses came over for dinner – sandwich bar. The evening ended with presents, playing with presents, and singing.

Elliot at the age of 9 is a really fun kid. He loves to be outside – doing anything! His favorite activities are basketball, soccer, and bike riding. He likes to explore the woods and go for walks with us. He generally wakes in the morning at around 7:00 or 7:30 and goes to bed at 8:30 or 9:00. His favorite food is Skyline. Favorite color: red. Favorite song: Hello. Favorite sport: soccer.

 

 

 

Andrew’s 12th Birthday

Today we celebrated Andrew’s 12th birthday! The oldest of our kids, it is almost the hardest to believe how old he is. I imagine that could change as Rose gets older.

Mar-Mar and Be-Bob made it to town this weekend to catch some soccer games, celebrate some birthdays, and we also managed to squeeze in Rose’s baptism. Overall if was a very busy, fun weekend.

Andrew at 12 continues to love life. He has had a new friend, Will, move in down the street and they have been having a lot of fun together. For his birthday he also received a hatchet and an archery set and he has been enjoying taking advantage of the outdoors. His typical day has him waking around 8 (usually with my help). He reads, stumbles around, eats breakfast, and gets ready for the day. He does a good job with his school work, attacking anything I can put in front of him. He still enjoys Harry Potter, Rick Riordan, and many graphic novels and comics. This fall he is playing on a Northwest Soccer team again and he is loving it (all the kids are, in fact). He is on the same team as Ian, with his old coach, Drew. He still tends to stay up late, going to bed later than me and Susan with some frequency.

Favorite Song: Bohemian Rhapsody
Favorite Color: Orange
Favorite Food: Skyline
Favorite Band: ColdPlay
Favorite Book: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows

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Mari’s 9th Birthday

Today we celebrated Mari’s 9th birthday! It was a fun day, with swimming in the afternoon and then the Reagens and Liesses over for some Skyline for dinner.

I was looking back at Mari’s bio from her 8th birthday and not much has changed. She continues to be on a very consistent schedule, waking around 7:30 or 8 and going to bed at 9. Of course, as she gets older there is more variability here. Her favorite food is “I don’t know.” Her favorite color is blue. Her favorite song is Royals.

Mari is going into 3rd grade next year and she likes language arts, which for us means reading stories and then drawing a picture from the story and writing a short summary.

The Revelers
The Revelers, waiting to open presents.
Mari Blowing Out Her Candles
Mari Blowing Out Her Candles

Mari’s 8th Birthday

Mari's 8th Birthday
Mari’s 8th Birthday

Today we celebrated Mari’s 8th birthday. After spending the day at the zoo we met at Skyline for dinner and then headed back to Mar-Mar & B-Bob’s for some cake and ice cream.

Mari continues to blossom into a wonderful young lady. She is a great help around the house and is very helpful with Lucia. She usually wakes up for the day at around 7:30 or 8 and heads to bed around 9. She is usually a little more tired than the others. She is headed into 2nd grade next year and participates well in school. She is always up for any activity. her favorite color is pink. Her favorite food is Skyline. She does not have a favorite song, but she does like the song Firework by Katy Perry.

Elliot’s Second Birthday

We celebrated Elliot’s second birthday tonight. It was our first birthday party living in Des Moines, which was a little different. We were joined by the Reagens and the Lewandowskis. Holly tells me that she and Alex, Jill and Will, and my parents had a nice dinner, and at the end wished Elliot a happy birthday.

Leading up to 2 Elliot has really seemed a lot older. He doesn’t nap all the time now and he has been sleeping great at night. I am even thinking about moving him out of our bed, which would be the first time in over 5 years that Susan and I have had the bed to ourselves. I don’t think that he is there quite yet, but he is getting there.

At the age of 2, Elliot is a lot like Andrew, with some of Mari’s spunk. He likes to play games, and play with balls. Like all of our kids he likes to play outside. He still needs to be held a lot, and since we don’t have a baby this isn’t really a problem. He does great at meals but once Susan or I sits down he wants to come site on our lap, which we also tolerate. He is a fun kid.

For his birthday Susan made him a doll. This was a follow-up to the doll that she made Mari at Christmas. For Christmas she made Mari a ‘Little Sister Doll’, from Joyce’s Waldorf Dolls. It was basically your standard doll. She made Elliot is ‘Heavy Baby’, which is basically a doll head and arms, with a body that is filled with millet. There are no legs. Because it is a little heavy it feels a little more real than most babies. Because it is filled with millet we have to make sure that mice don’t find it.