Eight Years Old: Ryan

Funny, energetic, focused, sweet, competitive, naturally athletic and increasingly more outgoing every day - our favorite Ryan turns eight today.

As he gets older, there are constants about Ryan that seem less a part of his age or developmental stage, and more a part of his core personality. Sports, athletic competition and numbers come immediately to mind.

Ryan has always loved sports, and will likely forever love sports. While kindergarten and first grade revolved around basketball and handball at recess, second grade is all about "Butt's Up" games against the blackboard. He loves following Major League Baseball (go Phillies and Dodgers), the NFL (go 49ers) and is inarguably the most involved participant in our family fantasy sports leagues. He's playing his third season of soccer this fall and his first season of competitive year-round baseball. He thrives when out on the field or court.

Ryan has also always been good at math, and continues to soar with numbers. This summer's math camp was a bit of a bust (deemed "too boring" by both kids), but he made the best of it by assisting his fellow campers and being the kid everyone came to for help. When it comes to math and computations in his head, he just gets it.

A newer development in Ryan's world this year is skateboarding. He started out using his Dad's old Lester skateboard and practiced going up and down the driveway. A lesson at our local skateboard park really perked his interest, and he was soon talking about getting his own newer (and a little more contemporary) board. He even saved up his own money to pay for it. More trips to the skatepark and lessons are sure to come as he gets more comfortable on his new board.

Another recent interest is Star Wars. After years of hearing kids talk about Star Wars characters on the playground, the time was right to introduce the kids to the films. Beginning with episodes 4, 5 and 6 we spaced family movie nights throughout the summer months. Ryan loved everything about the movies, to the point where he talks about the characters and plot lines constantly. We're planning Star Wars themed Halloween costumes for the family with Ryan as Luke, Lucie as Leia, Jakey as Yoda, and Chris as Obi-wan. For lack of another female role, I think I'll hand out candy at home.

While Ryan has always had a high level of energy, it seems to have increased substantially in the past year. I am not exaggerating when I say that if Ryan is not eating, sleeping, playing iPad games or watching TV, the boy is throwing a ball against something.

He has constant energy. He does push-ups against the kitchen counter while waiting for dinner to be ready. He makes "American Ninja Warrior" courses in the living room, jumping from couch to couch. He likes having timed sit-up contests, for fun. I ran his first 5K with him this spring and didn't once have to encourage, entice or bribe him to continue on. The boy just kept running, and running fast. I was so proud of him that morning.

We love you sweet Ryan, and can't wait for what the next year will bring you. Here's to many more adventures, athletic challenges, and tacos (his absolute fave, this boy can eat!) in the coming year!

Eight Years Old: Lucie

Passionate, daring, smart, contemplative, silly, tough, and so very loyal to her family and friends -- our Lucie turns eight years old today.

As I look back at our writings about Lucie over the years, I notice that there are some consistent themes -- her interest and skill at creating beautiful things, a love of reading and her comfort in the water. These traits have always been an integral part of our Lucie, characteristics that seem to be in her core being.

Lucie continues to love creating art and stories. She most recently dreamed up a Star Wars puppet show from popsicle sticks and bits of paper, with an incredible amount of detail and recalled story lines. When Lucie is hard at work, there are pens, pieces of yarn, repurposed doll clothes and rolls of tape littered across her bedroom floor. We hope to get her a craft table this year to give a proper home to all her bits of inspiration.

She read like a mad woman this summer, whizzing through chapter books that she once could only listen to and look at the drawings. Halfway through our Capitola visit, Gigi took her to the bookstore to get new reading material as she had blown through everything she brought. We encouraged  her to get the longest chapter book possible so it could stand a chance of making it through the end of our trip.

One of her greatest loves has always been the water. When Lucie is in the ocean/pool/bathtub, she is happy (and often singing). She spent many mornings on her boogie board at the beach this summer, coming in only for a quick snack or sip of water, and getting right back out there.

She did an incredible job with lake swimming while visiting family in Minnesota. She swam with confidence and skill to a raft/floating trampoline 100 feet from shore, impressing the family with her comfort around the water (even if she did fall off a pier while fishing, but that's another story that Grandma and Grandpa tell much better than I do). She also had a blast out "tubing" off the back of a speedboat.

Other things about Lucie have changed and grown this year. She surprised us all by declaring that she no longer wanted to wear a cotton dress each day, preferring shorts and tank tops instead. This may not seem like a noteworthy event, but for a girl who had refused to wear anything with a waistband since 2009, it caught us off guard. That's one of the many things we love about Lucie, she always keeps us on our toes.

Another new development is Lucie's love of knitting and crocheting. She picked both up with very little help. The next thing we knew, she was creating scarves that ran halfway down the hallway. She has really enjoyed working with Gigi, cousin Maggie and Aunt Rach on knitting, and has inherited all sorts of beautiful yarns and kid-sized knitting needles. If you ever need a knitted pom-pom or dollhouse rug, she's you're girl!

We all know Lucie loves to read, and if not eating, sleeping or playing, she can be found relaxing with her nose in a book. One thing that has changed is her taste in books. She recently declared that she likes scary and suspenseful reads, and has taken an interest in my old Nancy Drew mysteries, and even slightly frightening stuff like the Goosebumps series. The many pages of Harry Potter may be just around the corner for her.

What will the next year bring to Lucie? We're so thrilled to be with her on this wonderful ride of parenting Lucie. Happiest of eighth birthdays to our sweet girl!

Jake at Two and a Half

It's been a tough week for Jake. After a summer of non-stop fun and activity with his siblings, the first day of school hit hard on Monday.

By 8:05 am our house was nothing like the bustling place he had become accustomed to. Playtime lasted about an hour before he started pleading with me, "Pick up Ryan? Pick up Dit-da (sister)?" Poor guy.

Fortunately Jake's half-birthday is here. We plan to celebrate with our traditional half birthday doughnuts, and try to take his mind off the fact that a quiet house starts all over again next week.

In celebration of Jake turning 2 1/2, here are a few Jake-isms that bring smiles to our faces every day.

Being around seven year olds all the time, he has picked up some funny language.  He loves to exclaim "Oh Jeez!" or "Hole Cow!" (holy cow) in amazement. "Cool!" and "Awe-fum!" (awesome) are often heard as well as "See-rosly?" (Seriously? My two year old says "seriously"?)

Another benefit of being the youngest is getting to experience things at a much earlier age than older siblings. Lucie and Ryan got to watch "Star Wars" for the first time this summer, at age 7 1/2. Jake, at age 2, was right there next to them enjoying the show. He didn't quite get everything (understandably) and spent the entire movie pointing at Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader asking, "Who dat guy? Who dat guy? What he say? What he say?" Oh how relaxed we have become in our parenting with kid #3.

Jake continues to love trash trucks and playing "Ball Hit!" (baseball) with whoever will pitch to him. Other things that get him excited are the swimsuit spinner in the pool locker room and the baggage carousel at the airport. When we arrived home from a recent trip, I think the entire baggage claim area heard him exclaim in joy "Hole Cow!" when he saw his bag coming around.

We sure love our Boo around here. For a such a little guy, he has made a tremendous impact on our lives.

We all strive to make him happy and hear a coveted, "Me Yike Dat!" come out of his mouth. Life is so much sweeter with our Jakey in it. Welcome to the second half of the two's little buddy !

Two Years Old: Jake

Our little Jake is not so little any more... two years old! The past year has been a running, climbing, babbling and singing blast of development and growth. Here are a few highlights of the Boo at two.

It's only fitting to start with this -- Jake absolutely adores trash trucks. Anyone who has spent time around the little guy may even say that they rule his world. His favorite day of the week is trash day at home, followed closely by trash day at the park, and trash day in the neighborhood across from our playgroup.

He loves to watch the garbage trucks lumber down the street picking up cans with a mighty "BUHM!" ("boom" in Jake speak) and loading trash into their "hoppa". We're actually considering taking Jake on a trip to the dump for his birthday, as we can't imagine a better appreciated gift.

Due to his love of trash trucks, one of the first phrases spoken regularly by Jake was "tra-truck" followed by "buhm!" Of course, he'll always say this when he sees a truck, but sometimes he'll just use it in general conversation. Dinner may go like this:

Daddy: "How was your day, Jake?"

Jake: "Tra-truck, buhm!!"

Daddy: "Oh, so you saw a trash truck?"

Jake: "Ya! Tra-truck, buhm!"

He's a riot.

Beyond trash trucks, Jake is a big fan of Sesame Street, and more specifically Elmo. He loves reading his Elmo books, spotting Elmo on packaging at the grocery store, and snuggling with his stuffed Elmo. He enjoys most everything about Sesame Street, with a second favorite friend being "Yo-ver" (Grover). Like any modern toddler, he has also discovered that Elmo's World can be found through YouTube, and likes to cry out, "Elmo! Elmo!" anytime he spots the iPad.

Jake is happiest when he is surrounded by his family, especially "Dit-da" ("sister" for Lucie) and "Ra-ra" (Ryan). He's always just a little bit sad on Monday mornings when they have to return to school after a weekend together, and sadly cries out their names throughout the morning. Curiously, he calls us "Dadden" and "Mahm".

Unlike most of his contemporaries, Jake's best buddies are  elementary school aged. He loves spending time with Ryan and Lucie's friends, and has developed a special affinity for their buddy Oscar, or "Ah-ta". He gets so excited when the older crew of kids show an interest in him at the park, and will gladly follow them around like a puppy dog if they'll go up and down the slide or play football or baseball with him.

Of the many wonderful traits we see developing in Jake, one of our favorites is his happy, easy-going attitude. As a third child, it only seems fitting, though Jake goes above and beyond to be cheerful and flexible. He's just a great little kid to be around.

We all feel so fortunate to have Jake in our lives -- it's hard to imagine our family ever existing without him! Happy birthday to our Jake. Hope you enjoy your "tra-truck" birthday cake, little guy.