Jude...DOUBLE DIGETS!

My baby turned 10!  How can this be!?!  2009-2019...wow!  Well I got back from my San Diego trip on the 16th, so I tried to prepare a little ahead of time and got his presents all ordered and his sign for the door made.  The 18th fell on the Thursday before Easter so they had an early out from school.  We were able to drive to Wayne and pick up Eli Hansen for a sleepover that night.  The boys played nerf guns, trampoline, basketball, destroyed the piñata, ate pizza, watched Ralph Breaks the Internet, and played some Nintendo Switch.  Friday morning they went fishing for a while with not much luck.  That afternoon after dropping Eli off we stopped at the Concord park for a long time.  It was a beautiful day!!!  We have had a lot of those lately.  For his birthday we got him an Avengers Endgame Lego, Gil is going to take him to see that movie tonight, and a Mario shirt and a Cabbage Patch doll (he was the only one who didn't have one yet!).

Jude, you are all the things your birthday door sign says you are!  Most of all you are YOU and we thank God for you.  It has been so fun to see you grow and change and learn these past ten years...maybe not ALL fun, but definitely all JOY!  You are our experimental child (just like dad and I both were in our families), so sorry that we mess up and expect more than we should sometimes.  Thank you for being patient with us..."patience is a virtue!"  Some of my favorite things about you are your love of reading (dad and I have that too!), love for creating, love for humor, and general enthusiasm.  I love that you are a good communicator and have so many interests.  I love that you are playing basketball and baseball.  I like to watch you play and improve.  I am happy you are going to try camp for the first time this summer.  I love that you are doing 4-H.  And I love that you are 10!  I know I feel that these years go by too fast, but they have been good and we have done them, every one, every day, together.  Thankful and grateful and joyful.  

Love you so much biggest boy!

And sorry, not sorry for the overload of pictures.

Birthday morning

presents!

Mario Boys

All 5

birthday streamers

basketball time

cake time...that's a lot of candles!

putting 'em to work

retro Mario

You are good

And then you were 10...

Lukey is 4!!!!!!!

We had another birthday in the house!  This one is always a long time coming because it is soooooo hard for little brother to wait 20 WHOLE days after Mikey's birthday until HIS!  But it finally came.  And after a lot of practice learning that he is three, now he's four!  He already knows it though and is ready to tell all who will listen.  He also has the four fingers down pat.  When you turn four a lot of things change.  Like now you are taller, you know so many more things, maybe you can take down a brother you couldn't before (maybe!?), and you can for sure pour your own milk on your cereal...????

We celebrated this year a day before since his birthday landed on a Monday and Gil is nowhere to be seen on a Monday.  Instead we had Grandma and Grandpa Koester and Grandma and Grandpa Erwin over for some cake and ice cream and presents on Sunday afternoon.  And since the wind came and blew the snow all around and winter decided to start in February we didn't even get to church that morning.  But we were glad we still got to have our party with the Blue Yoshi cake and some Mario Kart and new toys and lots of candy too.

Luke, you are such a special little boy.  You are sweet and sincere and curious and friendly and love playing "combine" and outside and Legos and keeping up with the bigger kids!  Your big dark brown eyes and long lashes get me every time!  You love getting out of bed to get one more drink or ask one more question or to say, "See ya in the morning!"  You love crawling into bed with me at 6am and getting a few snuggles.  You still love your nap most days, but ALWAYS ask if I can lay with you.  Sometimes I do and I always cherish that time.  You love reading books with me.  Dr. Seuss and Berenstain Bears are favorites.  You love Wild Kratts on the iPad and playing endlessly with cars and building forts and doing all the things.  You have a great sniffer and often say. "What smeeellls?"  You live life with happiness and smiles and gusto.  I admire you Lukey!  You add so much to our family.  We love you and are proud of you!

Mikey turned 6!

So kid number 3 turned 6 last week.  How is that possible?  Man I can (too) clearly remember the panicked drive to the hospital that cold February morning.  And then Michael Johnnie was here, just like that!  And now he is Mikey in the middle, what a perfect place for this blond-haired spunky boy.  

For his birthday we had Trix and a few presents at breakfast.  He got a police parachute Lego, a sea turtle stuffed animal, and a puzzle he can draw his own picture on.  That afternoon I worked hard on the Mario Kart cake!  For supper we had pancakes and strawberries and bacon (his choice) and some birthday cake and ice cream.  We also had our septic tank pumped during supper which made it a little less appetizing...but that is another story...stupid septic issues!  After supper Mikey got to open his last gift from us, a new 20" wheeled bike!!!  It has been too cold to ride it, but I know it will be getting many miles put on it this summer!  Mikey also got $20 in a card from Grandma and Grandpa Ridenour, a pull-ball Lego racer from the Herricks, and a toy chainsaw and a t-shirt from Grandma and Grandpa Koester who came over the next night for a visit.  

Mikey has really changed over the past year I think.  He is becoming such a sweet, caring boy.  Some of his "difficult-ness" of his younger days is waning (thank goodness?!?!).  He loves school and telling tales of his day with great earnest.  He gets along well with his friends and is very good with his baby brother, Thomas.  He plays great with Luke and/or Cora and sometimes even Jude...sometimes not...but when all goes well it is wonderful!  Mikey is hesitant to try new things and craves regularity and routine.  New situations still throw him for a loop sometimes, but we are learning that about him which helps everyone (I think he gets this from his mama:)!  He is learning to read and do simple math problems.  He loves listening to books, building and playing with Legos, riding his bike (Cora taught him at the end of the summer!), helping dad with anything outside or farm/animal-related (wearing his new belt and pliers holder!), he is a GREAT eater even though it doesn't show at all on his tall skinny frame, and he of course loves playing iPad and Nintendo, especially Mario Kart!

We love you Mikey in the middle!

What We are Thankful For

At Thanksgiving time we participated in the good old fashioned going around the table and saying what we are thankful for tradition.  The three year old, Luke, didn't quite understand.  Each time (we did it on two occasions) he started rattling off his Christmas list instead.

Me: "What are you thankful for Luke?"

Luke:  "I want a new bike and a blue combine!"

Me:  "No, what do you already have that you like and are thankful for?"

Luke:  "I want an owl costume too!"

Lists of what we want are always on the top of our minds.  More money, a promotion, a new sweater, a vacation, to lose the weight, that awesome new phone, to be more like so and so...We want want want and if and when we get it we just want some more.  Stopping wanting long enough to be thankful for something is not a thing we practice very often.  I have obsessed with wanting that new pair of shoes for months.  But when is the last time I obsessively thought about how grateful I am to have the 20+ pairs already in my closet?

I have always dreaded this routine of saying what we are all thankful for somewhat.  Not that I am not thankful...it's just how do you say it without sounding trite.  We go around the circle and we all begin to realize what really matters: family, friends, health, etc.  It gets repetitive.  And then there are ones that don't get mentioned quite as often: jobs, healthcare, safety nets, homes, food, clean water, heat, etc.  I gets weighty and complicated.  What about ALL of the people without these basic things?  Then there is the list that almost never even gets a thought, ones that are too much to even utter: air to breathe, lungs that can breathe it, the sun that sustains all of life, our miraculous planet, etc.

For me Thanksgiving is such a vital holiday.  I don't often give it the credit it deserves.  It gets overlooked as I have my Christmas list on the tip of my tongue!  My wish list of all the things I want but don't yet have.  Instead, Thanksgiving is a time to realize what we do have, and maybe what we don't actually need.  This year, I want to try to keep my focus on Thanksgiving.  Keep my mind full of my list of gratitudes, not my wants.

Baby No More!

Baby boy turned one year old last week!  What?!?!?  He has turned into a little monster who screams, throws food, plays in the toilet, and tortures everyone (and STILL doesn't sleep through the night!)...but man is he cute!!!  He also laughs, dances, plays, is taking more and more steps each day, and his sibs just adore him to pieces, and mom and dad also!!!

We had a shared birthday party with Ashtyn (10) and Taylor (3) on the day of his birthday.  I made him a bunny shirt (the struggle was REAL on that one!), some bunny cupcakes and smash cake, and a few banners to decorate.  Turns out I like to craft, who knew!?!  We had a lot of fun at the party with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, bubbles, and glow sticks!  Even Brittany and Bryan were able to join us (although I stink and getting pictures of everyone and regret it afterward!).  Also baby Paisley, just 10 days old, was able to be there.  Just two days released from NICU!

Thomas was lucky enough to be born right before Labor Day weekend so we had a nice few days to celebrate afterward as well.  We went boating in Yankton on Saturday with G and G Koester and the Pick fam.  And were able to relax and get some housework done on Sunday and Monday.  

The birthday kids (plus Luke!)

The crazy cousin crew!

the shirt (not quite finished)

The cake table

the cupcakes

Yummy!

that is a happy scream!

the glow sticks

birthday kid banner

on the boat

he didn't really love it...

just sit still and smile!

last sticker of the pack!

look at that twinkle in his eye!

Cora Clare turns 7 years old!

Our sweet one and only girlie girl turned seven years old a couple days ago.  Seven seems like it is getting into sorta big girl territory.  She has lost her front teeth and big ones have grown in.  That has certainly changed her little girl appearance!  I have become obsessed with buying her clothes this year.  Now that I know I will not have another girl I want to buy her all the things!  This is ironic because they will get so much less use than the boy stuff!  For her birthday I got her a bunch of Matilda Jane clothes, a dr. Barbie, and a new sleeping bag for all our summer camping trips.  Gil got her a batman Lego.  She actually really wanted the Lego.  All the boys have been getting them and she wanted one too!  One to put on her "desk" (aka dresser). She got the Harley Quinn one with Bat Woman (who Mikey calls "Kitty Girl" 😂).  She got to have a party early (May 4th) with her entire class.  They played hard outside and in and had cake and ice-cream and pizza and jello and cheese puffs and NONE of the fruit salad I made...it was fun to see her interact with her classmates and get to know them better.  Then on her actual birthday we had a low-key day.  It is one of the first days of summer vacation so we are all still adjusting to the new summer routine.  Cora wishes she could go to summer school! After supper we had my parents over for a little cake and ice-cream out on the deck. When Gil asked her how her day was going when he came home for lunch she replied, "Goodish, the boys keep trying to tackle me."  And so it goes as the sister of four boys...

Cora, you are just a pure delight!  You are funny and smart and sensitive.  You are a kind and generous person.  You jump to help your brothers whenever they need something.  You do everything with a lot of heart and enthusiasm. You are a true optimist!  You are becoming strong and love trying new things.  You love to ride your bike, swing, run, attempt cartwheels, sing, color, look at your reflection.  You love your body and have no shame which I just love and I hope to keep it that way.  You are beautiful inside and out and we often get comments to that effect.  This year you have lost your two front teeth (as well as some bottom ones), learned to ride a bike, learned to read really well (we like to read Junie B. Jones books together and just started Little House in the Big Woods), finished the first grade, and accomplished so much more...We love you sunshine!

birthday party cupcakes

birthday party friends

last day of school 2018

elementary track meet (she had just finished running a 300! and got second place!)

her batman lego

cake she decorated herself on her birthday

presents from gma and gpa

family party

Jude the Dude...Number Nine

Our biggest boy turned 9 years old last week!  He got a snow day and a Lego so he was pretty pleased with himself!  Also that night grandma and grandpa Koester and the Hendrix family came and had some cheesecake (chocolate mousse!  his choice for a birthday cake this year!).  In fact, he had such a good day that the next day when things went back to normal he had the "after birthday blues."  I get it son, I get it!  But the partying wasn't over yet because on Friday grandma and grandpa Ridenour came up and we went to Pizza Hut that night.  Then on Saturday we took three of his buddies swimming at the Y in South Sioux and to McDonald's AND Dairy Queen for a drive home ice-cream cone (that might have been my idea!).

Jude continues to be our extrovert-to-the-max guy.  He loves a good party and DOING anything.  Which usually means NOT being at home, or if we are then someone ELSE needs to come over.  He LOVES reading and is really into comics or graphic novels:  Dog Man, Captain Underpants, Nate, Amulet, and the newspaper funnies that grandma and grandpa collect for him.  But he will read pretty much anything and therefore knows so many things.  Whenever I ask him how he knew something it is either he read it in a book or he saw it on a PBS kids show!  After Christmas he and I read the book WONDER together.  It was so good.  I may have cried on nearly every page much to Jude's wonderment and annoyance!  I used to have a hard time reading aloud to my students, but reading aloud to my own children has proven even more difficult!

Jude also loves Legos.  He is getting to be a "master builder."  We are very into the Lego Batman series right now.  And can all agree that the Lego Batman movie is up there with the best movies ever made!  And it gets quoted quite often around here ("Stop!  Who is laying down those funky beats?!"- Joker, "Look at my amazing abs"- Batman, etc...)

Jude played his first year of little league baseball last summer which was really fun to watch and played his first year of basketball under his dad's (and mom's!) coaching this winter.  He has improved so much in hoops and loves to practice out on our new driveway and basket.  

He and I attended our first 4-H meeting the other night so this will be the first summer of real 4-H!  Ready or not here we come (NOT READY!).  We will see how that adventure goes...

Jude, you are funny, smart, adventurous, sometimes challenging, competitive, and just an all-around wonderful kid.  We are so thankful for you in our lives.  We love you so so much!!!

birthday cinnamon rolls

just found out we got a snow day...excited even if it is mid-April!

chocolate mousse cheesecake

party time

swimming time

eating time