It's Great to be Eight, Phoebe Edition

Our wonderful Phoebe has reached the ripe old age of eight. This is a special birthday and we'll celebrate this weekend. That means we kept the actual day kind of low-key. She requested waffles with sprinkles. Bryan made them the night before so she could enjoy her birthday breakfast before she left for school.

She asked for funfetti cupcakes as well. After they were cooked and cooling, I discovered I didn't have enough sugar for frosting, but I had enough for icing. Since sprinkles seemed to be the unintentional theme of the day, I went with it and dipped the icing covered cupcakes in various options of sprinkles from our surprisingly large collection. Then I invited the kids to take over and they decorated most of the cupcakes. They all thought that was great fun.

Phoebe enjoyed a round of gift opening.

Then we watched a movie as a family. Phoebe's choice? The Odd Life of Timothy Green. And the kids finally got to enjoy their colorful confectionery creations.

Happy birthday, Phoebe!

And now, what you've all been waiting for, the annual birthday interview!

FAVORITE FOOD: lemon meringue pie

FAVORITE ANIMALS: tigers and horses

FAVORITE CANDIES: Hershey bars, Starburst, Skittles, M&Ms

FAVORITE BOOKS: Best Friends for Never, Percy Jackson books

FAVORITE COLORS: teal and light purple

FAVORITE SHOWS: Odd Squad, Just Add Magic

FAVORITE MOVIE: Matilda
FAVORITE SONG: Fade
FAVORITE BOARD GAME: Clue

FAVORITE CARD GAME: Memory
FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey
FAVORITE THING TO DO: read
FAVORITE MEMORY FROM BEING 7: Topher!
FAVORITE PLACE: Paris. That I've been? The park.
FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: Writing

FRIENDS: Amelia, Maddie, Sophie, Cecilia, Camila, Claire H., Claire F., Kenzie, Connor R., Connor W. Cailyn, Kaitlyn, Caden, Collin, Leyla, Emily, Lily, Isaac, Ashlyn, there's more but I can't remember the names

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP: a teacher, a mom, and a fashion designer

The Big Sister

Discerning Taste

Phoebe came to report one day recently that Cooper has a crush on someone. Whenever the subject of crushes comes up I stay calm and ask direct questions, I don't tease or embarrass, I don't want to scare them from talking to me about important things. So I asked Cooper for more information.

He grinned in his shy Cooper way and told me the name of the girl in his class. When I asked what he liked about her, his face lit up. "Mom! She can say the whole alphabet backwards, without any mistakes!"

Well, that sounds crush worthy to me.

Climbing the Walls

Sophie's Real First Day

We had our first two days of our co-op preschool at our house. It went well. I took a picture of each of the four kids on their first day. We talked about our favorite things, we measured how tall they all are, we played, we snacked, we did yoga, we went on a treasure hunt for the letter m, and read books and sang songs.

The next day we talked about what we want to be when we grow up. Sophie still wants to be a doctor and a "haircutter" and a mom. We read and sang and played and snacked again. The kids that grew tired early the day before made it all the way till the end.

It was a good week.

A Snapshot of Peter

I want to make sure I remember Peter right now.

Gangly, loud, and goofy, he's also helpful, intelligent, and eager.

He still is excellent at pushing buttons and stays in such good condition by practicing daily.

At the same time, he loves Topher immensely and comes home each day to say how much he missed that tiny boy.

He doesn't like to clean, but will help when motivated by the desire to play video games and, more recently, by the desire to alleviate my stress.

He is shockingly smart, he always has been, but now his teachers can see it like we can.

For years he has wanted to be funny, but his inability to understand social cues has made humor difficult. Now, however, he's finally picking up on how to deliver a zinger, how to time it right, and when he should keep his comment to himself. He's not perfect at this, but he's improving.

He wants to hang out with Bryan more than with anyone else. I'm not sure how much longer this will last now that we've been in one place for a few years and Peter has lots of friends. But it's still wonderful that he looks up to Bryan so much.

He's surpassed my skills as a pianist. He still doesn't love to practice, but I think he's beginning to see the benefit. He excitedly ran in from the library recently to ask if I'd heard the song he was playing. I said yes, then he showed me that the sheet music was only the right hand with chords written over the top. He was so pleased that he knew each chord, even though all that was written was a letter or two.

He still loves to read.

He also loves to eat and he is ALWAYS hungry.

He's stuck between wanting to play imagination games with the younger kids, but feeling too big and old to do so. This is especially evident when we're at the park and there are other kids around.

He's nearly done reading The Book of Mormon for the first time on his own. I love that he'll interrupt his reading to ask me a question or make an observation. I was two years older than he is now when I read it for the first time. And he's encouraging Cooper and Phoebe to catch up to him.

He's a good kid. No, he's a good young man.

Sharing

Google Photos reminded me of this gem from when Peter and Cooper were small. I laughed when I watched it because I can imagine twelve-year-old Peter doing something similar.

It's a Celebration

I knew the first week of school would be tough, but by Wednesday of last week I was really crashing. Then on Saturday morning I woke up feeling rotten. The awful continued through the weekend and I stayed home from church on Sunday. On Monday morning I dragged myself to the local urgent care.

It turns out I celebrated the first week of school by getting strep throat. Woohoo.

I've been on antibiotics since Monday afternoon and I feel much more human now. I was scheduled to teach the first week of our preschool co-op starting yesterday, but the other moms graciously agreed to delay the beginning for a few days. Also, no one wanted to catch what I had. I seem to be the only one to come down with it so far at our house, fingers crossed that continues to be true.

This means I've met my illness quota for the school year, right?

Smile for the Camera

"Let's take a selfie with Topher!"

Raise Our Colors High in the Blue

Last Friday marked the twentieth anniversary of my first day of college. That means the students who started college for the first time last week weren't even born when I attended my first class at BYU.

I'm certain I don't feel that old.