Leon's 12th Birthday

Now that Leon is 12 it feels like I have four teenagers in the house.   He isn't technically a teen, but he is in middle school and he is as tall as two of my teens.

Sometimes I think Leon has a split personality because everyone at school says he is very quiet, but at home he is the loudest out of my six kids.  I think at home he is loud because he is always trying to get our attention by being louder than his siblings.  I honestly don't know why he is so quiet when around others.  I don't see it often, but it could from him being unsure of himself.  I have noticed that he is a very technical person and any small discrepancy can trip him up.  He takes everything I saw very literally which makes it hard for him to follow directions.  If my directions are not specific enough or if they contradict a past direction in some way he gets stuck and doesn't know what to do.  He is a very sweet guy, but sometimes it is like we are speaking two different languages.  As he gets older I hope he grows in confidence outside of the home.

Leon is also doing swimming lessons and he learned a ton.  I would say this was his first time really taking lessons and with him being a little older the growth was huge.  

Leon likes to play games, sports, and spy things.  Leon is also now a deacon at church which is pretty cool and means he is old enough to join in the weekly youth activities among other things.

In case you are wondering the big cut is from diving into the pool during his swimming lessons.  He hit the bottom of the pool hard and had a huge bump on his forehead along with the scrape.

We really love Leon and are so happy we get to celebrate birthdays with him.  Happy Birthday Leon!!

Beatrix's 6th Birthday

Beatrix was so excited for her sixth birthday.  She asked us everyday after Christmas how many more days until her birthday.  

I think she was mostly excited for presents, cake, and ice cream.  She said her favorite present was candy.  We also got her a blood pressure cuff, a stethoscope, and a yoga ball.

Beatrix is doing great in school.  She has mastered what feels like 800 kindergarten sight words and has only had two calls home from the nurse for head injuries at recess.

Beatrix was also excited to take her birthday pictures.  I think she really likes the ritual of having a birthday and everything being about her.

Beatrix just started swim lessons and she has learned to float and not be be scared of the water.   She still has a long way to go to learn how to swim.  

Happy Birthday Beatrix!

Penelope's 15

Penelope is 15!

She is doing great in school and church.  She plays soccer and has friends. I'd say she is really thriving this year.

She is really starting to make the shift from kid to adult and I can see that in her personality.

Penelope is thoughtful and cares about other's feelings more than most.  It might be more accurate to say that she is observant and has a good sense of other's feelings.  She doesn't like to leave anyone out and is really good at reading people. 

I love that Penelope really knows who she is and doesn't change to be like her friends or the people at school.  

While she has started to care more about her clothes and dressing similar to the other kids I would say it is only a slight shift.  She is not interested in make up or many of the trends she sees the other kids doing.

This year Penelope had a family birthday party and one with friends.  She didn't want to leave anyone out and we ended up with 22 girls at our house!  They first played ultimate frisbee at the school and then we transported them to our house for pizza and a movie.  She choose "High School Musical," which neither of us have seen.  It was a ton of people but I think it went well.  She did say that next year she would invite less people because she was having a hard time hanging out/pleasing everyone.  Several of the girls did not know the other girls and Penelope wanted everyone to feel comfortable.

This water bottle was top of her list and now that it has been a few weeks she is still really happy with it.  I guess it is important to teens to have a good water bottle.  

Scarlett's 13th Birthday

Scarlett is a teenager!  We now have three in the house.  

Scarlett has noticeably matured over this past year.  She has grown so much in her schooling, they took her off of her IEPs and is doing well in her classes.  Her teachers says she is great in class and they especially love how hard she works.

She has a lot of strong feelings but I can see now that she tries to control them, which is not something she did when she was younger.

Scarlett is very kind.  She will write bob and I nice notes and whenever she is somewhere that they are giving out treats she will try to get one for me because she knows I like sweets. 

She still struggles getting along with some of her siblings but we are working on it.  

Scarlett loves reading.  She usually walks around school all day with like three huge chapter books in her arms that she is working on.  She spends a good amount of time at home reading as well.  

Scarlett is not into sports or competitive anything, but she did do cross country at my encouragement and worked very hard at it.  

At her birthday party right after she opened presents I accidentally pulled Beatrix's elbow out of place.  She was in pain and Bob and I rushed her to the ER.  After the long wait the doctor fixed it in about three seconds (Side note, we saw the doctor less than three minutes, used no medicine, supplies, or machines and got an $1800 bill.  That makes no sense to me, but thankfully our insurance covered most of it).  Anyway Scarlett was so sweet about the whole thing.  She didn't care that it was happening right when we were about to eat cake.  She wanted to go to the hospital with us to make sure Beatrix was OK.  I had her stay home, my parents and sister and her husband stayed with the kids and finished out the birthday party for us.  They even cleaned up and made "get well" cards for Beatrix.  Beatrix was totally fine and happy right after the doctor popped it back into place.  No ice or resting needed.

In ended up being a decent family birthday party aside from the ER trip right in the middle.

Happy Birthday Scarlett!

Calista's 7th Birthday

I'm a little late but Calista is seven!  Her birthday is at the end of April and we had a good time celebrating her.

Calista is sweet and happy and full of personality.  She tries so hard to do the right thing and feels really bad after she eats her siblings candy.  

She is doing great in school and her teachers never have any complaints.  

She likes playing with friends and her family.  Some of her favorite things to do are jumping on the trampoline, roller blading up and down the street, and checking the mail.

She usually changes her outfit a couple times a day and likes to get dressed up.

We went to the train park in Port Orchard and rode the steam engine on a ten minute ride around the park.  It was cold outside but we had a good time.

We were happy they had a few available covered picnic tables because it started to rain.  In fact we had to move the party up several hours because of the weather forecast.  Luckily everyone was able to come earlier.

She even found a frog.

Happy Birthday Calista!

Leon's 11

Leon just turned eleven!  He had to go to school on his birthday but we still tried to make the day special.  He asked for toaster strudels for breakfast.  I love that he choose something so easy.  Then after school we did presents and cake and ice cream.  

He wanted a chocolate cake and mint ice cream.  I think I've convinced most of my kids that chocolate cake is the way to go.  For dinner he requested orange chicken.  I didn't take any opening present pictures but the main thing he got was a clarinet.  He has been saying he wants to play it for years and next year he will be able to in school so we went ahead and got him one now.

Leon only wears two different outfits so it was easy to figure out which one he should wear for the pictures, the one that wasn't dirty.  We do laundry everyday and rotates between this black long sleeve t-shirt and a light green one.  He also has a second very similar pair of sweats he wears.  He had tons of clothes but he hates it when I make him wear anything else.  I think it is a comfort thing.  

Leon is a great kid.  This year he is home in the mornings with just me and his two younger siblings so he gets to be the oldest for about an hour and a half.  I think it has been really good for him.  I've seen him playing so well with both Calista and Beatrix.  It is so nice because he is usually the youngest of the older four.

In his spare time Leon likes playing with his remote control airplane, kicking/throwing/hitting balls around the house, and jumping on the trampoline.  

Happy Birthday Leon!