Zoë is 6!

 This year we celebrated Zoë's birthday in grand style -- at the beach in San Diego, CA! 

- You absolutely loved the beach and the ocean! You were in the water as much as you possibly could be, even though the water temp was in the low 60s! You played on the boogie board and caught a few good waves. You had fun shopping and buying some new jewelry and accessories. We decorated our condo's room with a birthday banner and brought some candles from home so we were able to sing to you! On your birthday we ate donuts for breakfast and ordered black/white and white/black cupcakes from a little bakery called Pure Cupcakes. They even came with pink sprinkles! You chose pasta with meatballs and cucumbers for your birthday dinner.  

- I love this picture! You were having such a laugh! :D 

- We ate all our dinners outside because the weather was so lovely! 

- Your big birthday gift from your family came about a week before your birthday, so we let you open it ahead of time since we didn't want to lug it on the plane. 

- Your new sleeping bag!

- One of your current favorite things -- whistling! You are quite good at it, you have good tone and I think before long you'll be able to whistle songs. You would do it a majority of the day if I didn't shut you down quite a bit. 

- 4th of July party at Bryan Dolinar's farm! 

- When we went to CO to visit Grandma at the end of June, we visited Mehaffey Park where we celebrated your 1st birthday. It was a lot of fun! And we even were there when the little waterfall turned on. 

- Our first trip to Smithville Lake for swimming this summer. I loved this swimsuit we picked out for you this year! You have gotten SO TAN! You have a done a great job swimming in the water and being very comfortable above and below the water. 

- For our summer bakery, you helped me make brownies! You love chocolate so it seemed like the right choice for you to assist with. 

- We had fun attending Miriam's dance recital in May! You are getting ready to take another session of dance this Fall. 

- Slimy things don't bother you a bit! You and Levi brought up this {lovely} worm for me to see from the backyard. 

- You were such a great helper with your sister at our W+F Field Day at the end of April! I was busy coordinating the day; you chose to participate with the younger group going through an obstacle course and playing with different balls and jump ropes and such. 

- You LOVE art! You do some every single day. Whenever we clean your room, it is covered in paper with drawings, colorings, paintings, writings. Daddy is teaching you how to water color on Sunday afternoons. We have an entire rubbermaid devoted to art this year for school. 

- Easter at Aunt Teresa's house! 

- You love animals! Playing with the new kitties at Heather's house. 

- You got your first major haircut in the Spring! I thought it might help because you were putting your hair up in a ponytail every day. But alas, with short hair, you wanted your hair up even more! So we've been letting it grow out. You said you never want to cut it short again! It's finally getting to the point where it will all fit up in the ponytail, so we are happy to be back to that point again. I'd be curious if you'd like a pixie cut sometime so you don't have to deal with it at all. But for now, I'm not willing to go through the growing out process again... for a long while :) 

 Birthday Interview -- August 20, 2021
What is your favorite color? Pink
... movie? "Bolt" 
... TV Show? "Sofia the First" 
... Book? "My Princess in Black book and From the Desk of Zoe Washington and Anna and Elsa" 

Favorite thing to eat? Cupcakes
... Fruit? Strawberries
... Animal? Kitties
... thing to do every day? Draw 
... about Naomi? "That her be's nice." 
... Levi? "umm, that's a hard one. *giggle* when I was a baby, I liked Levi." (They had gotten in a an argument earlier that day.) 
.... Zeke? "That he builds things kind of like me." 
... Mommy? "That her reads to me." 
.... Daddy? "That he is nice." 

Who is your best friend? "The one that I've known longest is Miriam" 
What do you want to be when you grow up? "An artist and a teacher." 
What do you like most about homeschooling? "The new books that we got. The handwriting books." 

What are you looking forward to most about being 6? "That it was my birthday. And *whispers* am I getting that suitcase? We get to play a lot." 

Zoë Kayte, you are such a joyful, fun-loving, strong, athletic, artsy girl! I love spending time with you and listening to the way you view the world. You have been listening to the Ramona Quimby series on Hoopla for months and like to bring in her stories to our dinner time conversations. You tried jiu jitsu for the summer, but I don't believe you've been converted. You tried one CrossFit class back in the Spring and loved it, so I think after your Fall session of dance, we will put you in a session of CF. You seemed very natural at the moves, so I'd love to support you in that area. You are doing a great job taking care of Dora and proving that you want an animal of your own. All last year you asked for a kitty, recently you've mentioned a puppy a time or two, so we'll see what we can come up with in this coming year! You want to get your ears pierced soon and I just know it will make you look more grown up. But it will be fun to wear earrings together! We've finally figured out that you like to wear athletic clothes the best. After months of struggling where you won't wear most of the clothes in your dresser, I tried some organic cotton clothes from Pact and some of the athletic clothes from Target and now you don't have any problem picking out clothes for the day. No more dresses for you! I'm just thankful we finally have an answer for what you like to wear. I am looking forward to the year ahead with you! Love, Mommy 

Ezekiel is NINE!

 Happy 9th Birthday Ezekiel Dekker! 

I cannot believe you are halfway "through" childhood. It makes me want to cry because I can't imagine you being away from home, but I'm also happy for you because these years with you are so very good. Since I'm typing this up on your actual birthday, we're going to start off with your birthday interview! 

Birthday Interview - 1/27/2021

What is your favorite color? Red and blue and purple 

... food? Ice cream, no, pizza! 

... movie? Frozen II

... TV show? Dino-trux

...book? Let me think about that one... all books! I don't have a favorite. 

...fruit? Pears (said with expression, more like "peeeeeaaaarrrrs)

...animal? Penguins! 

...thing to do every day? Play

... thing to learn? Science

... about Naomi? That I can cuddle her sometimes. 

... about Zoë? That we have fun together. 

... about Levi? That he sleeps in my bedroom, in our bedroom. 

... Mommy? That she plays songs for me. 

... Daddy? That he got my fish tank stuff! 

What do you want to be when you grow up? An engineer. 

What do you like most about homeschooling? Science

Is there anything else you want to remember about turning 9? No. 

Zeke, you are a thoughtful, kind boy. As you say, "I love, love." Which is funny to me, but true, you love hugs, snuggling, and sitting on Daddy's lap, even now. You have become a much better reader in the past year. You enjoy putting together puzzles. You enjoy CrossFit-- you are currently taking your second, 6 weeks of kid classes. You can build/see thing in your mind and make them happen with your blocks/marble tracks/legos, whatever material you are building with. You like to experiment when you play piano. You'll practice your songs, then you'll transpose your songs into different keys to see how they sound. I love that you sit down and just try things to see how it sounds. You've been receiving Think Outside boxes this year and have collected quite a slew of equipment for your backpack! Some of your favorites are your flint and steel, the repair kit, and the newest box which gave you a long rope and lots of instructions for tying different types of knots. You have begun 2 finger knitting, and are currently working on knitting 2 strands of yarn at the same time. We have employed your skills to make us a door sock to keep some of the cold air out! You are getting your own aquarium {Pictured above} for your birthday this year! You set it up yesterday! It is so colorful and fun. You got to pick out your own decorations and colors of gravel and I think it turned out really cool! Today when Daddy and I take you out for your birthday lunch, you'll be picking out your fish. 

Gosh, apparently when you have younger siblings, it is hard to get a picture of you alone! These were about the only two in the past 3 months! 

Well I'm going to make this short and sweet so I can get it posted! Ezekiel, you bring joy and fun and music and thinking and growth to our family. You are getting a bit more responsibility these days with your own Relay "phone" and you are proving trustworthy so far. I cannot wait to see all the ways you grow and mature in this coming year. I am proud to be your Momma. Happy 9th Birthday! Love, Momma 

Levi is SEVEN!

 Levi Olin, you are 7 years old! On your birthday this year, you picked out your very own pet -- a leopard gecko! 

You were so disappointed when Daddy told you Pet-topia didn't open until 10 AM. You thought that they should be up and open by 7 am! :) But when Daddy explained that Chris (the owner) has to feed all the pets and check on them before the store could be open, you were more understanding. You held a couple of geckos and decided this one was the best fit for you! You have named him Sapphire (for some reason you had a whole list of gem related names picked out?!) and we are calling him "him" for now as you cannot distinguish gender until geckos are closer to 2 years old. We've given Sapphire the birthday of August 17, 2020. You picked out a purple plant for decoration and since Christmas have also received a couple of gifts for his terrarium -- a green, vine plant and a reptile hammock. He has quite the set-up. You make sure we feed him and try to hold him everyday. And last night he climbed up your arm! He is definitely getting more comfortable with you. 

You began 1st grade this year and have been learning addition, letter sounds and phonics, studied the artist Whistler and the composer Haydn, Spanish, the 50 states, listening to stories about the Middle Ages, listening to tons of audio books on the Hoopla app through the KCK library {this program is awesome!}, taken nature hikes and done some journaling, learned to bake Viking bread {you recently asked to make this again}, colored pictures to help you remember our family ways {a family devo we're completing together}, learned 5 hymns, plus more worksheets and other activities! You are a good student. Math is your slowest subject, not so much because you don't understand but because you want to work through each problem slowly and thoroughly in order to always produce the correct answers. You love science and learning about animals and nature! You love physical activity and ride your bike regularly, like to kick the soccer ball, throw the frisbee, toss the football, play tag, and participate in Jiu Jitsu once a week. You're getting stronger and have no problem keeping up on our family hikes even when they're more than 2 miles!You enjoy listening to your playlist on Spotify and playing drums when we do our worship time together on Sunday mornings. 

You have a strong sense of justice and fairness in every capacity. Sometimes it is a gift, other times a curse. But we will continue to work with you to make it a strength in your life because it can indeed be a blessing and a driving force to shape your life and what you choose to do. You are a great helper! You vacuum the rug every day, help clean the table off after every meal, enjoy baking, sometimes let the chickens out in the morning, sweep and mop, do odd jobs as I ask for them, and have become quite a responsible boy! 

Birthday Interview -- December 29, 2020

What is your favorite color? Purple 

...movie? "Croods 2" {We took him to see this at the theaters on 12/21 for his birthday!}

... tv show? "Scooby Doo" 

... book? the books from the library about leopard geckos. 

... fruit? Grapes 

... animal? "It's two things. Cheetah and a bull. It's a leopard gecko, I mean." 

... thing to do everyday? "Play a game. And eat breakfast." :) 

... about Naomi? "That she's kind." 

... about Zoë? "I like coloring with her." 

... about Zeke? "That we build together." 

... about Mommy? "That we get to hold my leopard gecko." 

... about Daddy? "Fishing." 

What do you want to be when you grow up? "I don't know. That's a tricky one... what I really want to be is a smoke jumper but I don't know if I really want to do that." 

What do you like most about homeschooling? "That I get to learn math." 

What is your favorite food? "Reubens" 

Levi, it is a joy to be your Momma. You are intense, strong, and dependable! I love sharing some of our favorite things together -- music, baking, animals, nature, and physical activity! I cannot wait to see the way your life unfolds and all the things you will do! I look forward to sharing this eighth trip around the sun together and all this next year holds for you and your family! Love, Momma 

 

  

October Memories

 October, in pictures. 

- While the boys were up in NE with Mimi, Jeremiah and I took the girls out to dinner at Red Robin. Followed by a dusk stroll at Amity Woods trail which was lots of fun! 

- A few days later we had finally gathered all the ingredients to make our first batch of soap! We made carrot and calendula soap. We had to wait until November 8 for it to cure, but we are finally using it and it's very nice! 

- Afternoon hike at Green Hills of Platte Wildlife Refuge with our friend, Zelda. 

- Morning hike with our Wild+Free group at Maple Woods Natural Area. 

- I, unexpectedly, spent many days up in Lincoln, NE visiting Mom in the hospital. On the days I couldn't be in the room (due to Co-Vid restrictions) I spent some of my hours here at this beautiful lake, Holmes Lake.  

- Naomi got off her cast!! 

- 13th Annual Caramel Apple Party! 

- Zoë got to wear her Halloween costume to dance the Wednesday before Halloween :) 

- On Halloween day we went to Red Barn Farm for the Restore Family Fun Day! We rode ponies, went through a corn maze (Zeke has been waiting years to do one!), ate lunch, served lunch, the girls went on a hayride, and we painted and decorated pumpkins! 

- Later that evening, Pop-Pop arrived from CO and we went trick-or-treating! 

October went very little like we planned, but we still made many good memories and enjoyed the beautiful Fall weather!