Caroline at 9 years old

 This is our lengthy post about who Caroline is at age 9. It is so we can look back and remember our girl and all the ways she is special to us. 

Caroline at 9 years old is 4' 3 3/4'' tall and weighs 56 pounds. She wears size 8 in pants, shorts and shirts. Her wardrobe consists of T-shirts and shorts. She will only wear a dress if I ask her to for church, which is not very often. 

Caroline had a pretty good year in 3rd grade. She really enjoyed her teacher, Mrs. Rosenlund and this year had an opportunity to make some new friends. We discovered that making new friends can sometimes be hard and that Caroline has a sensitive heart and can sometimes take offense easily to what her classmates might say around her. It has been a great teaching moment for what type of friends we should surround ourselves with. 

Caroline got braces this past year. She started with a palatal expander in September and then after 6-8 weeks moved into upper braces only from November until May. This will be Phase I of her orthodontic life. She'll most likely have Phase II done when she's around 13 years old. 

She continues to play the piano and enjoys it.. sometimes. Practicing a new song is hard but once she nails the song down she does a beautiful job! 

This past summer Caroline did swimming with Normal Parks Sharks. Caroline LOVES to swim! Her favorite stroke was the butterfly and freestyle. Breast stroke was tricky at first and then she really got the hang of it at the end of the season. Back stroke is very tricky because she says you can't see where you are going and she would sometimes start to get off track. Most mornings it was hard to get her out of bed to go to the 7 am practice but once she was in the water she was so happy! Caroline says she does not like to compete so before each meet we would just encourage her to try her hardest. She ended up winning most of her heats and when she finished her 25 yard race she would have the biggest smile on her face. We loved watching her swim!

Caroline has a zoo class this summer as well and we can't wait to hear about all of the fun things she will learn and do at her week long "camp". 

She got to go to church camp overnight this summer! I was worried that she would be nervous being away from her parents and little sister for 4 nights but she was very excited when we dropped her off at East Bay camp. I'm sure that it helped that her big brother Liam was there also. Lucy went to camp during the day so she still go to see most of her family during the week. 

Caroline continues to be an amazing eater! She loves to try new things! Shrimp, spaghetti and meatballs, asparagus, Brussel sprouts, any kind of fruit and of course pizza from Monical's are some of her favorites. She has even started trying to cook and bake with minimal help.

Caroline continues to amaze us with her creativity and imagination. She is always coming up with a game to play with Lucy and her other friends. 

Her best friends are Johanna, Emma and Scarlet. We are so thankful that even with her friend Chaya moving away she is still able to do some FaceTime calls with her once in awhile. Chaya even came back to Illinois in April and she got to spend the night at our house! It was really special. 

Her birthday party this year was at The Children's Museum in town. This was a great idea! We had 8 girls in total and everyone was able to stay together and also explore on their own. After our time in the museum we had cupcakes and Capri Suns at a picnic table across the street. It was perfect. 

She is still a fabulous big sister to Lucy and they get along so well. They do still share a room and while she has been asking for her own room for a solid year now we aren't quite ready to separate them. 

Caroline still has the biggest heart and is very aware of how others around her are feeling. We love that quality about her and look forward to seeing how that will continue to shape her in her life. 

Liam at 12 years old

Liam at 12 years old is 4 ft 9.5 in and 75 lbs. He has gained 3/4 inch in the last two months due to his recent sleeping in and eating more. We are definitely getting into the preteen area of eating, sleeping and some interesting moods. 

This year Liam is in 6th grade and absolutely loves Junior High. We have had minimal issues with him getting assignments done on time. He has transitioned very well into having a locker, having multiple teachers and being responsible for his work and schedule. We have had to help quite a bit with math this year which has been interesting since there is no math book for us parents to refer to. Thank you YouTube and math teachers across the country for your posted videos! We have also had to help him learn how to study for tests, something he has never had to do before. 

Liam started out his year joining the cross country team and it was very fun to watch him improve every single week at each race. He ran JV all year and has decided next year he would like to try to make the varsity team. Cross country really helped him meet new friends and deepen other relationships. He had a PR of 13:40 in 2 miles.

Liam has continued to play the euphonium in band. He also plays in the jazz band. He has really enjoyed jazz band and the music they have been playing. He also was able to do pep band for two basketball games and has memorized most of the music for that and that is what he "warms up" with when practicing at home. 

Liam was able to perform in solo/ensemble contest this winter. He played a piano solo and was in a brass quintet. He received a I in both performances. The quintet are all 6th graders and call themselves "The Brass Monkeys".  They were able to win 'Best of the Day' in their judges room and are lucky to have Mr. Myers, the Grove music teacher, help guide and direct them. 

Liam really enjoys fishing with his best friend, Zach. They always catch and release in the pond behind Zach's house.

Liam still loves baseball as his number one sport. He loves to play with friends and loves to practice with Evan. He loves to talk about it, still has many, many baseball cards and hopes to one day go to Spring Training for the White Sox in Arizona. He enjoys playing shortstop, second base and pitching. 

Liam also tried basketball this winter. He had not played since 2nd grade so the beginning of the season he had a lot to learn but he had a great coach who was patient and really helped him understand how to play the game. His confidence with the sport greatly improved and it was fun to watch him with many of his Jr High friends play in two different leagues. 

For Liam's birthday we took him out to BloNo Pizza with 5 of his friends and watched them all try to figure out how to swing some golf clubs. We were lucky that the weather was in the 40's and the place had heaters so you could stay somewhat warm. The food was good and the kids had fun!

Liam has enjoyed going to youth group at our church this year and he does spend most of his screen time video gaming. He plays Fortnite, Minecraft, Super SmashBros and MLB The Show but has also enjoyed playing Nintendo Switch Sports with his sisters and Just Dance as well. He still enjoys reading but that requires more encouragement from parents to do. Liam tends to enjoy historical fiction more than fantasy but still loves Harry Potter books and movies. 

He has started a few more chores this year with mowing being the main one. He will mow our yard with the option of doing both the front or the back for $10 or both for $20. He typically chooses to just do one. He has recently been hired by our neighbor to mow his yard this year. He gets $20 per mow while Evan does the trimming. Evan will hopefully teach him how to trim soon so he will be completely responsible for the whole yard. 

Liam is a very responsible kid who likes to follow the rules. He is funny and a very social kid. He has lots of different groups of friends in his grade so far. 

We just feel so blessed to get to watch him continue to grow into this wonderful and well rounded kid!

Lucy at 6 years old

 Lucy is 3 ft 10 in tall and weighs 40 lbs.  She wears 6T in all her clothes. 

Lucy celebrated her birthday with a dinner with Grandparents! She insisted on a small wedding cake to be her birthday cake. She accepted a small cupcake that I tried to make look like a tiered wedding cake instead; she loved it! 

She celebrated with friends at Altitude Trampoline Park a week later for a midweek party! We had 2 friends, Adalyn and Annabelle,  celebrate with us. After 90 minutes of jump time I took them all to McDonald's for some Happy Meals and then home before 7:30 pm. It was a school night and Altitude was not busy at all, the girls had the place almost to themselves. 

Lucy still remains our most social child. She talks to everyone during dismissal on a school day including kids who look like they are in the 4th or 5th grade. She will repeatedly say, "Hey, I know you" and they all say "Hi Lucy (giggle giggle)". She will also talk to any of Liam's or Caroline's friends if they come over to play. In church when all the kids K-5th grade meet for lesson time she will usually sit with Caroline's friends instead of her own class of K-1st grade. 

Lucy's wardrobe mainly consists of leggings and shirts. She really will not wear dresses anymore. She did get a disco ball for Christmas and she and Caroline will dress up in fancy dresses and get my high heel shoes out to dance and sing to music. She does talk about wanting to get her ears pierced and will happily wear the clip on earrings that she got her in her Christmas stocking. She enjoys playing with makeup and finds it incredibly unfair that only grown ups get to put on make up every day. 

She also loves to sing. Right now the girls love the Matilda musical; they have watched it on Netflix 5-6 times and request to hear the soundtrack in the car everywhere we go. In church she will sing the praise songs even though she can't read, she still tries to sing along. 

Lucys loves to watch TV. She enjoys Matilda, Mickey Mouse shorts, Bluey, Big City Greens, Teen Titans Go, America's Funniest Home Videos, The Goldbergs, Harry Potter, any Disney movie ever made and whatever Marvel movie we will let her watch. 

She really enjoys playing with her toys. Figurines, MagnaTiles, Legos, Babies and Barbies are some of her favorites. Some of the time she will play with the American Girl Doll things that Aunt Adriane and I have given to the girls (Molly and Kirsten). She is always down for whatever imaginative game or activity Caroline has made up for them to do; whether that is library, zoo, Art club, school or hotel. She also really enjoys playing board games with the whole family although she is the one who is most likely to cheat. 

Starting Kindergarten has been a breeze for Lucy. It helps that her preschool was so wonderful about teaching her all of the things that would be covered in this year. I believe she is one of the top readers in her class and her handwriting is very neat. Her teacher told me that she asks Lucy to write more sentences than the other kids because she knows she can do it. Lucy is a great listener to Ms. Dillow but we have been told, isn't a great first time listener to student teachers or the other staff who come into the room to help out. This is something she is working on and I know she will be better by the end of the year. 

She likes to write her name in cursive but calls it "curfis"

She still says "welly" for very well.

I have been able to come in during Kindergarten center time to help out and it is really amazing how much all of the students have learned from September to February. It is also a lot of fun to see Lucy in her class and be introduced to her friends. 

Lucy is not currently doing any swim, gymnastics or dance this year. She does go to youth group once a month and has also participated in music through church as well. I'm sure we will sign her up for swim soon so she can familiarize herself with water safety again. 

She has gotten a little bit better about going to bed when lights are out. She usually goes to bed around 8:30 pm and sometimes will try to sneak downstairs to see what we are doing or say she is thirsty but she has come a long way with this. Most of the time she is awake by 7 am on school days and 7:30-8 am on the weekends. 

Lucy's favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, pizza with the big tomato (Monical's), peanut butter sandwiches and any type of candy that is fruit flavored or a sucker. 

Interview with a 12 year old

 What's your favorite color? Blue

Favorite food? Hot dogs from the grill with ketchup
Least favorite food? Cheese
Favorite dessert? Ice cream like cookie dough, brownie bits or pieces of candy in it
Favorite stuffed animal? Bear or the Nintendo bullet
Favorite animal? Dogs
What do you like to do the most? play baseball
Favorite thing to do with Dad? play baseball or watch Twilight Zone
Favorite thing to do with Mom? go to the movie theater or watch Marvel movies
Favorite thing to do with Lucy? play her games where she gets married to people and I get to ruin the wedding and be the bad guy
Favorite thing to do with Caroline? be evil partners in Lucy's games
Favorite TV show? Big City Greens
Favorite Movie? Spiderman movies but I don't know which lead actor is my favorite
Favorite thing about school? Lunch
Favorite place to go locally? Texas Road House, Bandanas or the movie theater
Favorite place for vacation? Disney World
Favorite book? Alan Gratz books
Favorite outfit? Sweatpants and blue under armour sweatshirt
Favorite video game? Fortnite, MLB the show, Gang Beasts

Favorite board game? Connect 4 or Scrabble

What are most excited to do now that you are 12 that you couldn't do when you were 11? Dad lets me steer the car sometimes
What are you most scared of? Having to eat one of the school lunches fruit, they look terrible.
What's the best thing about you? I'm funny and good at sports
Who is your best friend? Zach, Tanush, Aarush, Mohammad, Brooks, Andrew, Milo, Will, Owen, Sam, Sam, Kai, Jonathan
What do you want to be when you grow up? Baseball player

Interview with a 6 year old

  What's your favorite color? Yellow

Favorite food?  Mac and cheese
Least favorite food? there's a lot but I'll go with ham and cauliflower casserole
Favorite dessert? Popsicles
Favorite stuffed animal? Platypus squishmallow
Favorite animal? Baby polar bears
What do you like to do the most? Watch TV
Favorite thing to do with Dad? Reading with him
Favorite thing to do with Mom? Playing Candyland
Favorite thing to do with Caroline? playing 
Favorite thing to do with Liam? playing Legos and video games
Favorite TV show? Gravity Falls
Favorite Movie? Pocahontas
Favorite thing about school? painting and coloring
Favorite place to go locally? Children's museum
Favorite place for vacation? Colorado, its the best place and I haven't been there in a long time
Favorite book? Elephant and Piggie books
Favorite outfit? Unicorn Christmas shirt
Favorite game? Clue, we play a different way and its my favorite way to play

What are most excited to do now that you are 6 that you couldn't do when you were 5? Do the monkey bars
What are you most scared of? spiders
What's the best thing about you? my belly button because it talks to you "Hey, I'm hungry!"
Who is your best friend? Jomaria and Anna 
What do you want to be when you grow up? like you Mom, I want to be a hygienist and clean teeth