Happy 6th Birthday, Avery! {& 20 questions}

Where do I even start with this one? Avery turned SIX yesterday, and we still can't believe how quickly she's growing up! We sure do like her though!

Avery finished kindergarten this year, and she's a little smarty-pants. She loves to read, and she was so sad that school ended for the summer.  She made lots of friends, learned a ton, loved her teacher, and had a wonderful first school experience. She can't wait to go back for first grade!

Despite my requests, Avery will not stop growing. She's already in size 7/8 clothes and bigger-than-12 shoes. I don't even know what size comes after 12; is it 13 or 1? She weighs 47 lbs and is 47.5 inches tall, putting her in 90% for both. 

She is a wonderful big sister. Avery is so protective of her little brother and sister, and she (usually) plays with both of them really well. She plays Little People with Harper and Legos with Landon, but if she gets to choose, she picks board games, her Leap Pad, or playing house. I love her little imagination!

Avery loves soccer! Yay! She's a good little defender, but she doesn't like the pressure. It's so fun to watch her play, and she's improved so much every season. She's made some sweet little friends, and it's been a great outlet for her.

We were super excited this week because Avery chose Jesus and asked him to be her savior! She's known the story of the Gospel since she was little bitty, but recently she's been asking lots of questions about spiritual things. We always encourage her to ask questions because we've never wanted to pressure her to make such an important decision before she was ready. She's such a little pleaser that we wanted to make sure she wasn't going to accept Christ because she thought we wanted her to (which obviously we did), but we've been praying that God would just grab her heart. So this week after lots of conversations leading up to it, Avery prayed to receive Christ at VBS! We're so happy for her and can't wait to see how God uses her as she grows in her faith.

We love you to the moon and back, Avery Grace!

In Her Own Words {answered on 7/4/2015}

{What makes you happy?} Birthdays
{What are you really good at?} Playing soccer
{What is your favorite color?} Teal
{What is your favorite toy?} My American Girl doll
{What is your favorite TV show?} Odd Squad
{What is your favorite thing to eat?} Macaroni and cheese
{What is your least favorite thing to eat?} Brussel sprouts
{What is your favorite drink?} Kool-Aid (for the record, I'm not even sure when she's had it!)
{What is your favorite movie?} Saige Paints the Sky
{What is your favorite game?} Monopoly
{What is your favorite animal?} Cheetah
{What is your favorite song?} Downtown
{What is your favorite book?} Nancy Clancy chapter books
{Who is your best friend?} Grace
{What is your favorite thing to do outside?} Water stuff
{What is your favorite holiday?} Christmas
{What do you like to take to bed with you at night?} My puppy dog
{What do you and Mommy do together?} Play games
{What do you and Daddy do together?} Read books
{Where is your favorite place to go?} Schlitterbahn
{What do you want to be when you grow up?} Teacher

Happy 4th Birthday, Landon! {& 20 Questions}

This kid! He is hilarious and sweet and sensitive and feisty and smart and so, so many things. And he just turned FOUR!

He's a big kid! He'll make sure you know he is four now and not a baby. He weighs 41 lbs and is 42.25 inches tall, which makes him 90% in both measurements. He wears size 5 clothes and size 12 shoes (he skipped 11!).

Landon has always been an easy-going kid, and he is just generally happy! He loves life and is so silly.

He loves to play with his sisters, but he will play with Legos by himself all. day. long. if we let him. 

Landon is all boy and loves superheroes, ninjas, and fighting bad guys. But he also has a sweet, tender heart, which is a good thing since it balances out his penchant for toughness!

He loves to try new things and is so brave. He's super excited to start playing soccer this fall, and he's going to try out jiu-jitsu this summer.

This boy is a great big and little brother. He takes such great care of Harper and can hold his own with Avery. He loves his mommy but wants to be just like his daddy.

I can't believe this is our last year with Landon home before he starts school, but we can't wait to see how much he grows in preschool and at home with Harper and me!

In His Own Words {answered on 7/4/2015}

{What makes you happy?} Superheroes

{What are you really good at?} Building Legos

{What is your favorite color?} Black and blue
{What is your favorite toy?} Superheroes
{What is your favorite TV show?} Ninjago
{What is your favorite thing to eat?} Bean and cheese burrito

{What is your least favorite thing to eat?} Brussel sprouts
{What is your favorite drink?} Sprite

{What is your favorite movie?} Shrek (the musical)

{What is your favorite game?} Candy Land
{What is your favorite animal?} Lion 

{What is your favorite song?} Everything is Awesome
{What is your favorite book?} Superhero collection
{Who is your best friend?} Green

{What is your favorite thing to do outside?} Play with water balloons

{What is your favorite holiday?} Christmas

{What do you like to take to bed with you at night?} Water
{What do you and Mommy do together?} Play

{What do you and Daddy do together?} Play with Legos

{Where is your favorite place to go?} Trampoline park

{What do you want to be when you grow up?} A superhero

Harper: 18 Months

My last Harper update was TEN MONTHS AGO. Now if someone can come mop up this puddle of mom guilt, I'd really appreciate it. Because honestly I can't keep up with the housework as it is, and my baby is 18 months old today and I need to document it lest I fulfill the neglected third child stereotype any longer.

So. Where does one start when it's been almost a year since she posted?

Well, first of all, Harper is a JOY. She totally wasn't during her first year, let's be honest. She was the cutest and for good reason. She was high maintenance to the core, and we're not just talking about typical baby maintenance. She was a tricky one, that girl. But time has done wonders, and she brings so much fun and laughter to our family!

At 18 months, Harper's vocabulary has just exploded! She puts words together and just sounds so big when she talks. The girl has opinions, too. She loves to read books, especially Sesame Street ones (for "ELMO!"), and she loves to tell us what sounds each animal makes.

She loves her brother and sister ("Avey" and "Lannon"), but I think she loves her doggie most of all (she called Meggie "Memmie" for the longest time, and I'm kinda sad that she says it correctly now!).

Harper can EAT. As long as it's what she wants to eat anyway. She used to eat basically everything we put in front of her, but now she's getting a little pickier. She'd eat blueberries and bananas all day if you let her! (We ended up doing Baby Led Weaning with her, kinda by accident, so she never ate baby food. The only thing she's eaten pureed on a regular basis is applesauce! It sure made things easier for us anyway.) And she LOVES the smell of coffee! The second she hears the Keurig brewing she yells, "Coffee! Coffee!" until she lets her smell ours. The she says, "Mmmmm!" and goes on with her life.

Our baby girl still wears 18 month clothes, although we'll move her into 2T soon, size 4 shoes, and a size 4 diaper. She's so much smaller than Avery and Landon were at this age! I feel like I have a tiny baby, but she always measures in right at 50% on the doctor's growth charts.

This photo is brought to you by a diaper blowout and an unprepared mom.

Harper's favorite place to be is "ouside!!" and she's crazy about the neighborhood playground where we pick Avery up from school every day. She's so adventurous now that I get super nervous when she climbs up, but she seems to have a really good awareness of her limitations. I may just have a heart attack before she turns 2.

After spending almost a year of keeping us up all night, Harper's finally a wonderful sleeper! (So there's hope for you yet, new parents!) She goes down for the night around 7PM and wakes up when Avery does at 7AM. She takes a 2 hour nap around noon every day. It's glorious.

She has the best giggle and knows how to melt our hearts. Harper is mischievous and sweet and we love her like crazy!