Happy 7th Birthday, Julia!

She's 7!!!

Julia's birthday celebration stretched over a whole week! Starting with a family gathering on Sunday to kick things off with the other birthday girl, Alex. Then a birthday breakfast of chocolate cake on the actual day. And we finished the week with a family dinner at our favorite local indian restaurant, Rasa!

All About Julia at 7

•   How old are you? seven

•   What is your favorite color?  Yellow and green

•   What is your favorite toy? Lottie doll

•   What is your favorite fruit? apples

•   What is your favorite tv show? Wild Kratts

•   What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? pizza

•   What is your favorite outfit? Cozy Bunny sweater

•   What is your favorite game? Rock Paper Scissors

•   What is your favorite snack? potato chips

•   What is your favorite animal? bunny

•   What is your favorite song? Roar by Katy Perry

•   What is your favorite book? Cam Jansen

•   Who is your best friend? Elizabeth

•   What is your favorite cereal? Fruit Loops

•   What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike

•   What is your favorite drink? water

•   What is your favorite holiday? Easter and Christmas

•   What do you like to take to bed with you at night? No-no

•   What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Oatmeal

•   What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? pasta

•   What do you want to be when you grow up? An astronaut

•   What makes you happy? No-No

•   What is your favorite thing to eat? watermelon

•   What is your least favorite thing to eat? cheese

•   What is your favorite thing to do? read

•   What are you really good at? Drawing and sculpting

•   What is your favorite movie? I have no idea

•   What do you like to do with Mom? Do crafts

•   What do you like to do with Dad? Play SpaceMonopoly

•   What is your favorite sport? baseball

•   What is your favorite place to go? The craft store

Seven was a strange birthday for me. Each year I'm always amazed that another year has passed but this year Julia really seems different. She's more mature, more of a kid who is coming into her own personality and truly developing her own interests and ideas. She's closer to 10 then to preschool-hood. She can read independently. She can write on her own. She can think up, begin, and see a project through on her own (maybe excepting the cleaning part!). She likes quiet time in her room alone to play on the iPad, write, draw, create, or just snuggle with her stuffed animals. She plays Minecraft. She and her friends create plays together - complete with scripts and props.  

But, there's a lot that has remained the same as well. No-no is still a fixture in our lives. She still loves being read to (a good thing because I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon!). She still wants us to stay with her at bedtime. She's still obsessed with space and astronomy. She still loves to swim. And she's still our sweet, blue-eyed, inquisitive girl who is always asking, "why?"

 I love that I get to experience each day with Julia; that I am privileged to teach her and see her accomplishments firsthand. Every day is an adventure around here. We certainly have our tough days and days when everything is "boorrrinnng." But the days when I get to see the pride on Julia's face as she realizes that she can read a chapter book on her own, or that adding multiple digits numbers isn't a big deal, or that she knows a whole bunch about the midnight zone that I don't have a clue about makes it completely worth it.

I'm looking forward to what this year brings!! 

Happy 4th Birthday, Benjamin!!

A perfect picture of the birthday boy: a mix of happy, thoughtful, and adorable with just a sparkle of mischievousness in his eyes!

The requested 8 layer cake! Chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, chocolate cake, mint chip ice cream, chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake, frosting! 

Benjamin's perfect birthday breakfast - watermelon and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies!

And here's a little about Benjamin at 4 years old!

• How old are you? four!
• What is your favorite color?  pink
• What is your favorite toy? Calico Critters
• What is your favorite fruit? pineapple
• What is your favorite tv show? Jungle Junction
• What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Peanut butter chocolate sandwich
• What is your favorite outfit? Fancy clothes, like dresses
• What is your favorite game? Space Monopoly
• What is your favorite snack? cheeseballs
• What is your favorite animal? penguin
• What is your favorite song? Roar by Katy Perry
• What is your favorite book? Poppleton
• Who is your best friend? Julia
• What is your favorite cereal? Fruit Loops
• What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play baseball
• What is your favorite drink? Lemonade
• What is your favorite holiday? My birthday
• What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Blankie, bubbles, waddles
• What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? oatmeal
• What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? Chicken nuggets
• What do you want to be when you grow up? A penguin
• What makes you happy? Julia
• What is your favorite thing to eat? pineapple 
• What is your least favorite thing to eat? broccoli
• What is your favorite thing to do? Play Calico Critters with Julia
• What are you really good at? Climbing the slides at the playground
• What is your favorite movie? Mr. Poppers Penguins
• What do you and your Mom do together?  Snuggle at bedtime
• What do you and your Dad do together? Go to Dunkin Donuts
• What is your favorite sport? Biking
• What is your favorite place to go? The trampoline place

 I'd like to note a couple of things about his answers. First, the frequency that Julia comes up. Over this past year Benjamin and Julia really have started playing together, with Benjamin directing just as much of the interaction as Julia. They love to play pretend acting as superheroes from PJ Masks, taking on creature powers a la Wild Kratts, or racing around the house like track stars or race car drivers. They are constantly setting up shops to sell us things - jewelry they've made, pictures they've drawn, or just objects they've found. Somehow Benjamin always ends up as the only buying stuff but Julia only charges him 2 pennies. Since Christmas and the acquiring of his beloved Calico Critters, they will work together to set-up elaborate scenes for the critters to play in. I love this because they spend so much setting up the scenes but then rarely actually play or act anything out - exactly what I remember doing with my dolls as a kid!

The second thing to note is the off-the-wall quality of the answer "penguin" to "what do you want to be when you grow up?" This is a quirk of Ben's that I adore. If you've spoken to him lately you know he has a pretty good vocabulary. Sometimes I need to remind myself that he's only 4! So we'll be having a pretty straightforward, normal conversation and then from out of nowhere comes a silly or completely irrelevant thought that almost always makes me laugh! It's a wonderful glimpse into how his brain works! Here's another example from last night.
We were driving home from dinner and discussing restaurants we like and this was the conversation:
B: Do you like the place with the smoothies?
Me: Which place?
B: The exploding one?
Me: Johnny Rockets?
B: yes!
Me: yes, I like it.
Andrew: They have milkshakes, Ben. They're made with ice cream and milk, not smoothies. Smoothies are usually fruit and yogurt.
There was then a long conversation about ridiculous milkshake combinations
B: What about a caramel milkshake? How would you make that?
Me: Well you could mix caramel into vanilla ice cream.
B: really?!
Me: Yes, and you know we could make ice cream.
Andrew: yes, then you could make any flavor you wanted
B: yes, and you know what?
Me: What?
B: We could also make a bird feeder!!
....and that's where Andrew and I break into laughter! For the record, Ben was completely serious. He's been wanting to make a bird feeder for a couple of weeks. And this was his not so subtle reminder that we have neglected to do it!

The last thing I'll note is his answer to what he and I do together, "snuggle." Every year I purchase a book for each of the kids' birthdays and write an inscription with why I chose it and a little about them that year. This year Benjamin's book was The Sleep Book by Dr. Seuss because my answer to that question would be exactly the same as his. Bedtime is my special time of day with Benjamin and I love getting to snuggle under the covers with him, our heads close together on the pillow and chat about anything and everything. It's a gift and one that I hope doesn't end anytime soon!

Snow Day Poem #2

Snowflake
snowflake
drift  down  so  softly


--by julia

A Snow Day Poem by Julia

Snowflake snowflake
     on your   tongue
Eat  it  up
     before  its  done



(note from Mom - this is Julia's first blog post! She wrote the poem today after we read a bunch of snowy day poems at lunchtime and then I suggested she might want to use this space to share it. And she did!)

Heard Around Our House

Ben and I had a rough morning last Friday.  We had our regular Friday get together with friends but he was not in a good mood and it was a long morning. After we got home, he came to me asking to play a game. To say I was worn out is the understatement of the year, then this conversation occurred:

B: Mom, can we please play a game?
Me: I don't know Benj. I'm pretty worn out; this morning used up a lot of my energy.
B: Why?
Me: Well, it was just a hard morning. Do you remember?
B: Yes I know. But I really want to play a game.
Me: I know that but I just don't have the energy to play a game right now.
B: Well, I know! You can eat something. That will give you energy. I can make you a snack! I'll make you a chocolate and peanut butter sandwich.
Me: Actually, I'm not really hungry. I'd just like to rest for a few minutes.
B: No, you need a snack. I can make you half a sandwich! Or whatever you want. Just don't pick something that needs the oven or stove. But the microwave is ok. I can do the microwave. What do you want, Mama?

It was the most adorable thing ever. And after he had made me a bowl of nuts and dried fruit we did, in fact, play a game!

All I want for Christmas...

is to lose my two front teeth?!!?

December 23rd, 2015

December 29th, 2015

Pool Tricks

We had some fun in the pool this week...

Julia taught herself to do this:

and then she taught me!

She's a good teacher!!