six years of mae

Happy 6th birthday, Mae!

It has been amazingly fun watching this kiddo grow over the last year. She just continues to become smarter, sillier, and more fun every day!

Mae has been trying out some new activities recently. She just finished up her first season of track and field! We had so much fun watching her track meets and cheering for her in the 50m, 75m, 4x100m relay, softball throw, and long jump! She even brought home a first place ribbon in the 75m! She put her best effort into every race, and is so proud of her ribbons! All of us, especially Colin, loved yelling "GO MAE GO MAE GO MAE!" at the meets!

She has also mastered her front and back rolls and is hard at work on her cartwheel in gymnastics. We pump ourselves by shouting affirmations in the car on the way there, focusing on trying our best and keeping our bodies healthy!

She thrived in kindergarten this year. She loves reading, and her favorite book series are Owl Diaries/Unicorn Diaries, Narwhal and Jelly, and Catstronauts. She is constantly quizzing us on math problems of increasing difficulty (adding 2-digit numbers and simple multiplication). She loves showing off her school worksheets to us every evening, and she's been very eager to work on each of the little homework projects she's brought home throughout the year.

She loves her little brother and proudly shows him off to everyone at school and on the playground. They love jumping off the couch, rolling around on my bed, and just generally increasing the level of chaos in the house together. Nobody... NOBODY makes Colin laugh like Mae does.

Her sense of humor is a fine balance between silly kindergarten-level knock-knock jokes and surprisingly dry wit. I recently introduced her to the "cube rule of food," and she successfully used it to defend her position that quesadillas (with a folded tortilla) are technically a taco and therefore an acceptable dinner on Taco Tuesday.

I have loved walking her to school in the mornings. We pretend that the school is a sunken pirate ship and use our imaginations to create a whole underwater world around it (light posts = jellyfish, grass = kelp, SUVs = whales). I could play this game every morning and not get tired of it. Good morning, glowy jellyfish lamps!

Her favorite foods are hot dogs, pizza, and spaghetti. She still loves Octonauts, but has been watching more Bluey and Magic School Bus recently. She loves the music from Encanto, but her favorite movie is still Totoro. We are in a classic parent-child battle over these "Brain Break" videos she likes to watch on YouTube, which she loves and I hate (for no reason other than I am an old, crotchety mom). She is still adamant that she will be a zookeeper when she grows up, and relates all life skills and schoolwork to how necessary they will be when she is a zookeeper.

It was a busy weekend leading up to her birthday. Friday evening, Mae and I ran a 5k as a fundraiser for her school. Saturday she attended a birthday party for a girl down the street. (Her first drop-off party. She was SO EXCITED to go without us, and even asked if she could walk to the party by herself while I watched from the yard. She turned back to wave and give me the thumbs up every 10 steps, the whole way there.) Sunday we had a little picnic for Mae at the playground, complete with pizza and cupcakes. We had lots of fun visiting with friends and family! Today she took cookies to share with her class, and we had dinner at the Mexican restaurant so she could order her favorite quesadilla (see above regarding quesadillas, tacos, and Tuesdays).

Thanks for being such an amazing kid, Mae! We cam't wait to see what the next year brings for you!

showering the bride

Mae and I had a fabulous weekend getaway to celebrate Colleen’s bridal shower! Mae was a little nervous before our flight on Friday afternoon, but it went smoothly and she enjoyed watching “Is It Cake?” and “Octonauts” on the flight. It was our first time flying since before COVID! Mae recently switched to a high-back booster in the car and it was infinitely easier to transport through the airport than her old car seat.

When we arrived, Mae got right down to business playing with Batman’s Little People toys. That evening we had pizza with GranE, Batman, Colleen, and Bobby. Saturday we enjoyed delicious pastries from a new local bakery before heading to a nearby zoo.

The weather was absolutely perfect. We enjoyed a slow-paced stroll through the zoo. I think my favorite part was watching the otters. Mae’s favorite part was the ice cream.

Sunday was the bridal shower. Mae kept Colleen company in the morning during her hair/makeup trial while GranE and I helped the bridesmaids set up for the party. The shower was fun, the food was delicious, and the blue skies stuck around right up til the last guests left! We enjoyed the emoji Pictionary game and playing with the photo props!

We had a smooth flight back and arrived home around 10pm. We were tired the next day, but it was worth it for such a fun Mommy-and-Mae weekend!

a brown bear birthday

We finished up Colin's birthday weekend with a big birthday bash! We had family and friends over for a fun backyard party, pizza, and cake. The decorations and cake were themed for one of Colin's favorite books, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

It was REALLY hot, but Colin and all the other kids had fun playing in the sandbox and baby pool. Between the Baptism, the sandbox, the cake, and the pool, I think Colin went through at least 5 outfits... and even spent some time in his "birthday suit."

Colin loved trying cake for the first time! He poked it a couple times, and then dove in face-first for a bite. I think he was confused about how to eat something that wasn't cut up into tiny pieces!

After a few tentative nibbles of frosting, he really dug in!

I used the leftover colorful frosting from the cake stripes to frost cupcakes for everyone else. I might have gone a little overboard with the food coloring!

I think I barely survived hosting a Baptism and a birthday in one day. Remind me never to have a double-header party again! I was especially out of practice from not hosting any gatherings during the pandemic. Fortunately, everything went smoothly, and I was able to relax and enjoy the party! I'm grateful that we were able to have family and friends all together to celebrate!

colin's baptism

While Colin's actual birthday wasn't very eventful, the day afterwards sure was! We celebrated Colin's Baptism and had his first birthday party all in one day!

Colin was pretty well-behaved for the Baptism ceremony. He was a little wiggly but calmed down with a pacifier.

Since he loves bath time so much, I wasn't worried at all about him crying. He looked confused but relaxed as Father Ed poured the water over his head. As soon as I lifted him back up, he pointed and lunged back towards the water saying, "da!" (which translates to, "Can I play in that little baby pool?!")

He was entranced by the Baptism candle and kept pointing at the flame.

Thank you to Aunt Kelsey and Uncle Christopher for being Colin's Godparents! We took family photos at the church and then enjoyed lunch back at our house before getting ready for Colin's birthday party. More (lots more) photos to come!

Welcome to the church, Colin!

one year of colin

Happy birthday, Colin! Our biggest news from this month is that Colin started standing on his own AND took his first steps! He stood on his own just two days after he turned 11 months. He was pretty stable and could hold the pose for several seconds! His first attempt at walking happened while we were visit Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma reached out her arms and he took a few little steps towards her! He has tried a bunch more times, but he gets too excited! He always tries to run, which ends up with him lunging forward and tumbling into the arms of whoever is nearby. And, when he's not trying to run, he's trying to climb.

We took Colin to the pool for the first time while we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa. He took to the water like a little fish! We put him in a floaty ring in the baby pool and just motored around like a little bumper boat. He loved floating in the big pool also.

On Father's Day, we went to the farmers' market where Colin played in a little fountain. I think he wanted to get all the way in! Later in the day, we went to a nearby splash pad where he had a ball! He was obsessed with the water jets: poking, splashings, crawling through. He didn't mind getting soaked or sprayed at all!

Now that the world is beginning to open up again, Colin is enjoying going out and seeing the world! He squeals with excitement any time I put the car in park now; it's like he's saying, "Where are we exploring today?!"

Near the end of May, we ate inside a fast-food restaurant (that was completely empty) for the first time. Colin really enjoyed the pizza.

Then, this month I took him to the mall for the first time. We got lunch at the food court. Colin really enjoyed the pizza.

And finally, we ate at a real sit-down restaurant as a family for the first time in over a year. Colin really enjoyed the pizza. (I'm sensing a trend as to why he likes going out.)

We went back to the same restaurant for my birthday. (We particularly appreciated the fully cicada-netted outdoor seating.) Colin dropped his pacifier on the floor and said "uh oh!" for the first time. This week he also started saying lots of "mama" (mostly when he is whining) and "ba" for "ball!"

Speaking of pizza, Colin pretty much gave up baby food this month. Why would you eat baby food when instead you could just eat hundreds of grapes? His favorite foods are fruit and cheese, but he will eat pretty much anything! Last week, I gave him some tiny pieces of tortilla and then walked into the kitchen. While I was gone, he managed to slam his body forward and back in the high chair until he got it to roll all the way up to the table. By the time I got back, he had grabbed an entire tortilla off the table and was eating it. Just yesterday he popped through a 5th tooth, which makes eating tortillas (and pizza) even easier!

Routine is very important to Colin. I put him to bed the other night, and he seemed tired so I skipped reading him a book. After I left the room, he wailed so I went back up with a bottle. I picked him up and carried him to the rocking chair to feed him. He shoved the bottle out of the way, pointed at the book "Little Blue Truck," and said, "Da!" Guess I can't get away with skipping bed time stories any more! (Everything is "da." Half of Colin's life is spent pointing at things and yelling, "da!")

Colin loves to climb, explore, and even sometimes snuggle. If I sit on the floor, he always crawls over and plops himself into my lap. It's just so darn cute! He's the sweetest, smiliest one-year-old! We can't wait to celebrate your birthday party tomorrow, Colin!

P.S. Here's some of the cute artwork Colin made this year. The picture of him on the sled is my favorite!