February Family Updates

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Turns out most of my recent photos
Are of the dog and guess who! 😆

Let’s check out some highlights for the Family Updates…

The Tween One

L is a constant reminder to me that she’s growing up. Can time stand still for a minute so I can enjoy her for that much longer? The other day she came home with a course schedule and we went through which classes she’d like to take in Middle School. I’m mentally preparing myself for the emotional battlefield that may come.

She is beautiful… like, way too beautiful. Jeremy and I often have to do double-takes at the gorgeous young lady with hip-length hair reading a book in front of us with a dog in her lap. I thought the braces and glasses would buy us some time, but turns out they don’t detract enough from her loveliness—and kids these days think such face accessories are cool. What a different world we grew up in (in this case, a kind thing!). I’m already stressing about all the boys we’ll have to fight off with pitchforks and baseball bats. Jer says we may have hope yet in the possible onset of acne.

She loves fantasy, and the books she requests are now coming from the Young Adult section at the library with a sign that says “Teens Only” before I sneak in to get them for her. She seems confident even when Jer playfully teases her for being a nerd, and it takes us some effort to get her out of her rich inner world. I have to limit the books, like keep her from bringing them to school or let her check them out one at a time from my nightstand haha! Therefore, when she has the freedom to read it’s like the best day ever—like the time she came home and she saw me reading my book on the couch, so she gleefully came up and cozied herself next to me with her own book- that was a pretty fantastic day!

Just this morning we had Part 2 of “the talk” as preparation for her school’s Maturation Day in a couple of weeks. I wanted to sit with her and answer her questions—you know, be a parent and talk with my kid about puberty, sex, and all that entails. I never got any of this type of talk growing up, so just hoping not to crash and burn here. She remembers Part 1 of this where (full disclosure, I totally might have scarred her for life) I clumsily stumbled through, “And you will BLEED! Oh the pain! No wait, wait, it’s ok, don’t be scared.” She remembered it was around the time she had just been baptized (8 years old) and had been excited to grow up, but after our talk she wasn’t quite looking forward to it. Oops… I guess this time she gave me props for trying, giving me lots of hugs of appreciation and acceptance during and afterwards, telling me she loves me so much, then headed out the door to catch the school bus. Does she know how much I love and appreciate her, too?

The Adorable One

F talks a mile a minute when he’s excited about something; lately it’s been Pokemon. I could have a Quote Board for this kid- like this gem: “Remember the movie Soul? My soul loves playing video games.” This kid cracks me up! We try to do homework at his pace, and sometimes it takes more for him to focus. I almost busted out laughing when he finally said, “Mom, I need a brain break…” He showed me his technique of breathing and even touching his toes; it was the most adorable thing ever.

I can’t quite ask him to find or retrieve anything for me, even if it’s right in front of him haha. However, he’s amazing at coming up with questions. Everything from asking about our favorite Pokemon, “did you know” trivia, or just random stuff that’s on his mind, haha. One night at dinner, we started talking about different games (he loves video, board, computer, and all kinds of games) and he asked us, “What did you play when you were my age?” I told the kids all about “Oregon Trail” and “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego”, so we watched some clips of the game play and they loved it! Such a trippy thing from all those hours of playing as a kid. Now the kids have each been asking every day to watch the series.

Jer asks him, “What are you the very best at?” To which he replies, “Trying my hardest!” Encouraging confidence in such a competitive and enthusiastic boy is a joy! He finds joy in small things, like his father came home with an orange gel pen for him (his favorite color), and he seriously thought it was the greatest gift ever. He used it to sign his name on all of his Valentine cards. Speaking of Valentines, he has a friend (who’s a girl) that he talks to me about, but he tells me, “Don’t tell Dad, I don’t want him to tease me.” Kindergarten friendships. Adorbs.

His greatest love, however, is Roxy our dog. Sometimes he doesn’t know his own strength and tries to hug and squeeze her. One time she laid in his lap in the morning, and he often asks me fondly if I remember it. He tells me very proudly of his job to fill her bowl with dog food, and to play with her. For a while he was very concerned about what happens to her after she dies, and will we see her again, will she be in heaven, so many questions. His heart is so big and filled with so much love for his dog.

The Enterprising One

W is my little buddy and always has a plan for when his siblings go to school. Usually it involves riding his bike while I walk the dog, and then coming home to have hot cocoa to warm him up, haha! He tells me he goes to Pirate School in the mountains. We like to go to the reservoir while it is frozen. He and Roxy are two little peas in a pod since they spend the most time together, and he’s trained her to lick him every time he comes up. I’ve been so excited with how well he pronounces words! Sometimes he insists on going to the library, and I convince him to wait for his siblings because they would probably want to come, too. Most days he wants to watch his favorite shows that his siblings don’t necessarily enjoy. Lately he’s been building forts with the Nugget couch that double as slides for his cars to ride down. He crafted an entire fleet of impressive pirate ships out of Legos that he displays next to his REAL Lego Pirate ship, and his other plastic one. Some days he does a really good job of cleaning up his toys, but it usually requires lots of bribing first!

This one has some very interesting taste. I took him to the Asian store, and he begged me to buy him a Seafood Mix with octopus tentacles, or the squid rings. He ate them at his grandparents’ house last summer, and loved it. His number one request for lunch is “Honey Sandwich”.

He has been speaking some hard truths to me. After Roxy completely ignored me when I told her to get down or to get back (she was wet still from our walk)…

W: Roxy is like me, Mom
Me: Why?
W: Because she doesn’t listen to you.
🤦‍♀️

Sweethearts

I’ve really enjoyed Jane Austen this month! I finished Pride and Prejudice just in time to create some sarcastic Valentine’s cards (I am quite satisfied with them), and have moved on to Emma including the book and a couple of screen adaptations. Even though we ended up falling ill just before Valentine’s Day, I’ve had copious amounts of lemon honey tea and a few steals of the kids’ hard candies. L and I went to a bookstore for our Mother Daughter Date this month, and I got a pretty flexi-cover copy of Persuasion while L came home with a multi-colored ink pen and two paperbacks.