Liam at 11 years

 Liam at 11 years old is 4 feet 7 1/2 inches tall and weighs 65 pounds. He is in the fifth grade in Mrs. Pacey's class and really enjoys her teaching style. Liam plays the euphonium in band, taking a bus after school to the junior high and then a bus back home 4 days a week. He also takes piano lessons weekly and it is fun to hear him continue to improve with his music. 

Liam still loves sports with baseball continuing to be the number one thing that he wants to do, watch and talk about. I have tried to encourage him to look into golf or wrestling but he tells me that learning a golf swing will be detrimental to his baseball swing. One would think wrestling would be a natural ability due to the fact that he tries to wrestle his sisters on a daily basis, but again he disagrees. 

Liam goes to bed between 8-8:30 pm and is the first riser, usually waking between 6-6:30 am. He has no trouble going to sleep at night and is usually asleep before his sisters and nothing can wake him. He has had a few sleep overs in the past and really struggles staying awake when his friends are being goofy and talking before bed. 

Liam still enjoys all of his screen time. He plays Fortnite with friends and cousins, Zelda, Minecraft and MarioKart. When he watches TV he will watch Big City Greens, Teen Titans Go and has started to watch some Twilight Zone episodes, Mystery Science Theater or The Mandalorian with Dad and Marvel movies with Mom. 

He still enjoys reading with historical fiction being his favorite. He tends to read before bedtime. Liam does a great job in school. He gets very good grades on his tests and assignments. He has good story formation with his short stories and his teacher has asked him to teach his peers how to divide fractions. 

Liam also still loves puzzles. We all have been working on and off since January on a 2000 piece puzzle which we just completed. In the end, only 13 pieces were missing, considering we have a dog who loves to eat fallen puzzle pieces these are pretty good odds. 

Liam also enjoys playing board games with the family. Throw, throw burrito, Exploding kittens, Clue, Monopoly, Stratego and Chutes and Ladders are some favorites. 

Liam does a pretty good job eating. He has a select few foods that he does not eat like fish or green beans but overall dinner for him is without complaint. 

We have been giving him more responsibilities around the house such as unloading the dishwasher, vacumming, taking the dog out and feeding him in the mornings, walking the dog (only if we are with him), packing his own lunch for school, putting away his own laundry and cleaning the bathroom. He does these things with much complaining but does eventually do them. 

Liam continues to be a rule follower and likes to please the adults in his life by being prepared whether that is with sports, music, school or his parents. He does not like to disappoint others. He also is a very social kid. He has many friends in the neighborhood, at school, at church and his cousins continue to be some of his favorite people. 

He has started to have some mild anxiety. Usually he is over thinking things but it tends to get his stomach in knots. We wanted to make sure it was just anxiety and so we had some blood and lab work done a few months ago. Neither Liam or I were worried about the blood draw as Liam has no issues with getting his vaccines when it is time to do that. However, as we were leaving the lab area and walking out to the waiting area Liam started having cold sweats and felt like he couldn't walk and was going to get sick. After sitting in the waiting area for a good 15-20 minutes he was able to go to the car and now we know that Liam has the same issues as Evan where he can feel light headed after a needle punctures his body. 

We have starting having many conversations about what the next school year will be like and how nervous he is to go to a new school with new people, what if he goes to a place and his stomach feels funny, what techniques to use when you need to calm down and center yourself to help him. This usually does work and he can get out of his head and think clearly. 

Liam continues to amaze us with his sense of humor, his smart thinking and creative strategies to help him with school work and his sports. He is a hard worker with his music as well even if piano is not his favorite hobby.  

Interview with a 11 year old

 What's your favorite color? Blue

Favorite food? Hot dogs
Least favorite food? uncooked green beans
Favorite dessert? Cookies (Snickerdoodle)
Favorite stuffed animal? Brown Bear
Favorite animal? Sharks
What do you like to do the most? play baseball
Favorite thing to do with Dad? practice baseball
Favorite thing to do with Mom? watch Marvel movies
Favorite thing to do with Lucy? jump on the trampoline
Favorite thing to do with Caroline? jump on the trampoline
Favorite TV show? Big City Greens
Favorite Movie? Spiderman: No way home
Favorite thing about school? recess
Favorite place to go locally? White Sox games or to see movies
Favorite place for vacation? Walt Disney World
Favorite book? Harry Potter The Chamber of Secrets or Prisoner of Azkaban
Favorite outfit? Sweatpants and T-shirts with sweatshirts
Favorite video game? Fortnite or Super Smash bros

Favorite board game? Monopoly

What are most excited to do now that you are 11 that you couldn't do when you were 10? being home by myself after school before Dad gets home from work
What are you most scared of? Jr. High
What's the best thing about you? I make people laugh
Who is your best friend? Zach, Sam, Luke, Andrew, Evan, Jonathan
What do you want to be when you grow up? Baseball player

Lucy at 5

 Lucy at the age of 5 years old is 3 feet 7 1/2 inches tall and weighs 37 pounds. Lucy wears all 5T clothes and can even wear her sisters 6T shirts as well. 

We celebrated Lucy's birthday by going to Chuck E Cheese with family. We have not been to this place of business very often,  so I'm not sure how she came to this request on her own but she continued to ask to have her party there so we agreed. It was a great set up and not very many people were there for a Sunday night so the cousins had a great time with all of the games. 

Chuck E Cheese even came out to dance with the birthday girl! And while she was nervous at first, her Aunt Stephanie and Mom helped her overcome her fear of the big rat!

Lucy remains our most social child. She will gladly talk to anyone whether they are just walking by our house or if they are her big sisters or brothers friends she will jump right in, she has never met a stranger. Lucy still loves to make others laugh by telling jokes or just by being really silly. A favorite joke of hers goes something like this: "Why did the cow cross the road? To get run over and dead!"

Lucy continues to love dressing up, she wears fancy dresses, dress up clothes and her new favorite thing to wear around the house is a belly shirt with shorts (unicorn sunshirt that is supposed to go with her swimsuit) despite it being in the single digits outside. Many days she will wear all of these things in one day with numerous outfit changes. 

Lucy still loves to sing, Encanto is her new favorite soundtrack and movie. She also loves to watch TV. She loves to watch Maya, Ever After High, World of Winx, Barbie, Super Hero Girls and The Hollow (Netflix). She also enjoys watching The Mandalorian, Marvel Movies and any Disney movie. Her favorite princesses are still Aurora, Belle and Tiana. With our recent trip to Disney World she has started to enjoy Mickey Mouse shorts as well. She still enjoys Teen Titans Go, Gravity Falls and Big City Greens.

Lucy still enjoys playing with her toys as well. She likes playing with her figurines, Barbies, Magna Tiles, legos and Hot Wheel cars. She can play easily by herself but really enjoys when her siblings and friends play with her as well. 

Lucy still has a hard time falling asleep at night. She keeps toys and books under her pillow but will also try to get up, go downstairs and try to watch TV with Evan and I. She still likes to "read" in her bed as well. We try to put her to bed by 8 and if its the weekend she will sleep until 7:30 am most of the time.

Lucy's favorite foods are still peanut butter and honey sandwiches and macaroni and cheese. She still does not eat a lot during mealtimes which results in her being hungry an hour later. We try to encourage her to eat more bites and she will begrudgingly do so. She really enjoys any type of candy or suckers and would prefer for these to be the main course instead of a healthier option.

She still says things like, "I don't do that very welly." or "berry" for very. 

Lucy started gymnastics for the summer of 2021. And because she dances all the time at home I thought she would enjoy ballet for the Fall semester 2021. She did not love ballet and found it to be very boring. She told me every week how she wanted to go back to gymnastics and wanted to quit ballet. In December, the dance company put on 'The Grinch' dance recital. Lucy was a little mouse with her classmates and performed very well. It was a lot of fun to watch her and I do think she enjoyed the excitement of the recital but she still did not want to continue on with ballet or dance. She is back in gymnastics with Caroline and also does swimming lessons as well. 

We are so blessed to have Lucy in our family! For her imagination, kindness, sweet heart and honesty she is a pretty great little girl! 

Interview with a 5 year old

 What's your favorite color? Light pink

Favorite food? Spaghetti and Mac and cheese
Least favorite food? Chicken
Favorite dessert? Chocolate cake
Favorite stuffed animal? Blue teddy bear
Favorite animal? Baby Pandas
What do you like to do the most? Watch TV
Favorite thing to do with Dad? Playing crab where he takes the tongs and gets my toes
Favorite thing to do with Mom? Going to the store to buy stuffed animals for me
Favorite thing to do with Caroline? playing Barbies
Favorite thing to do with Liam? playing cars and Legos
Favorite TV show? Maya and the Three on Netflix
Favorite Movie? Aladdin
Favorite thing about school? Coloring
Favorite place to go locally? Children's museum
Favorite place for vacation? "the place where the house is logs and there is dead animals on the wall" (Colorado)
Favorite book? I like to look at chapter books
Favorite outfit? Snowman Christmas shirt
Favorite game? Shadows and Candy Land

What are most excited to do now that you are 5 that you couldn't do when you were 4? eat some gum
What are you most scared of? scary dreams
What's the best thing about you? "that I am special because Jesus sent me to you Mom"
Who is your best friend? Anna and Adrian
What do you want to be when you grow up? a doctor, a teenager and a teacher

From this sweet baby to this big 5 year old!

First day of school

 I might as well keep updating since I'm so far behind. 

First day of school brought much excitement and some nervousness depending on the kid. While there were some tears at the beginning of the day (Liam, I'm looking at you); the end of the day was all smiles!

Liam's 5th grade teacher is Mrs. Pacey. 

Caroline's second grade teacher is Mrs. Moore. 

Lucy is still with Mrs. McCoy for her last year of preschool. 

We are just thrilled that they are back for in person learning and will hopefully have a normal school year. There may still be masks and some social distancing but they are in the building and we are so thankful. 

Colorado, Day 4

 Thursday was the day that everyone was most excited, apprehensive or nervous about depending on the person; White Water Rafting Day! We drove to Buena Vista for Browns Canyon National Monument Half Day Rafting Trip and the weather was perfect. Our family had two groups. The group that wanted to just float down the Arkansas River and the group that wanted to experience the rapids. Grandma, Emily, Adriane, Evan, Caroline and Lucy went the float route and took a separate school bus to their location. Grandpa, Blair, Stephanie, Violet, Eli, Ivy, Jeff, Melissa and Liam went for the rapids and left in our school bus for our trip. 

Both tour guides were great. On the float trip both Caroline and Lucy got to steer the float with the help of the guide and saw lots of rocks and cliffs. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures as they highly encourage you to leave your phones in your car so they don't fall into the river. There is also not a  professional photographer on that loop either. 

There was a professional photographer on the Class III rapids loop so they were able to get some great photos of our boat going through one of the rapids. At first our guide was concerned that Liam would not be able to sit on the side and help paddle with the rest of us but once he saw how well he paddled down the river he encouraged him to give it a try knowing that if he began to feel overwhelmed he could move to the center of the boat and enjoy the ride. 

A fantastic way to spend 3 hours for sure. Our drive back to the cabin was just as beautiful.

After a good nights rest we all packed up our cars and headed for home. The kids did a great job during the 15 hour drive in the car and we listened to Harry Potter and Little House on the Prairie audio books. We also watched movies, wrote down as many different state license plates as we could find and played iSpy. A lunch break at the last town in Colorado led to a discovery of a fun history/childrens museum where the kids could explore what it was like to be a pioneer on up to being a kid in the 1950s. 

A quick stop in Iowa on our second day of driving to have lunch with Great Grandma was another perfect break from our drive. 

It was a great vacation and we all loved Colorado!

Colorado, Day 3

 Our third day of our trip most of the group decided to go to Vail to see the Betty Ford Gardens and shop in their downtown. The Walleses decided to stay in Breckenridge and go hiking. There are MANY miles of hiking trails in Breckenridge and it was very hard to pick one that would be both equally fun and also interesting for the kids. Luckily we decided to drive to the visitors center off the Main Street and ask a local for a good recommendation for a family hike. We decided to take Sawmill Trail, a 1.3 mile trail,  which was just a short walk from where our car was already parked. We saw little streams while we gently gained in our elevation and also tiny mushrooms and ended at a reservoir at the top of our mountain. It was probably Evans and my favorite part of the trip. The kids had a blast and were engaged the entire time. 

That night we drove to Denver to watch some baseball. Liam loved the atmosphere and has declared that the Rockies are his second favorite team after the White Sox of course. The Rockies ended up losing to the Cubs but we all still had a great time. Glad we could check another stadium off the list.