First Birthday Cake

Having attempted solid foods only a handful of times, and only these past 3 weeks. . . 

 banana, soup broth, cooked carrots, Ethiopian peas, mashed potato, puffs

. . . this first birthday cake was quite an amazing surprise to her palate. 

She sucked her entire cupcake, and loved every bit of it :)

Happy Birthday!

ONE

One year ago, a sweet babe surprised us all, arriving a month early, on our bathroom floor into daddy's ready arms.
She has been such a blessing in our lives. 

We have adored and enjoyed watching our sweet Dabney Hazel grow.  She has been well loved by eight older siblings, eager to pour on affection and attention, and two parents who can't seem to get quite enough of her loveliness.  How blessed we all are.

It's hard to believe this first year has passed so quickly . . .
our Dabney is ONE-year-old!

Happy Birthday sweet Dabney Hazel!

crawls up the stairs, fast

eating solids (!) 

nurses 6x per day

sleeps 11 hours at night

takes 2 naps a day (when our busy schedule permits)

loves to be held

going through a "mama" phase 

chews on everything

loves to rake her hands through the Lego bin

fingers her blanket as she falls asleep

giggles as she steals away Maclaren's pacifyer
social and curious
waves and pats
smiley

cruises along the couch

reaches and pulls things off the dining table

claps

babbles and chatters

weighs 18 pounds

Dabney is a delight.  Others often remark about how extraordinary she is: such a happy, smiley, and social baby, so laid back and content . . . we agree, she is a special one. 

We'd love to slow time and pause at this magical baby-stage.  With that not possible, we will try to be intentional to savor each phase, and relish in every snuggle, as this little one (too) quickly grows.  We look forward to watching as the snippets of personality we've witnessed this first year flourish, the unique gifts she possesses emerge and develop, and her purpose is recognized and achieved. 

She is such a gift to us.  

Happy Birthday sweet one.

FIVE

We have a FIVE-year-old in the house! 
Kolpin is super exciting to be five-years-old today.  If you tell him "happy birthday," he'll respond with a "happy birthday to you!"   Birthday celebrations all around :)

Happy Birthday Kolpin!

Five-year-old favorites:

food:  f-woot (fruit)

restaurant: f-why guys (five guys)

movie:  f-wozen (Frozen)

song: Everything is Aw-hum (Everything is Awesome from the Lego Movie)

color:  orange

toy:  Hulk

activity with brothers:  p-way (play) with my Hulk and Legos

inside play:  Legos and my toy transformer and my cars

outside play:   I play with my cars outside becaws I made a track for my cars outside

do you play all day? when we weave (leave) I don't play

bedtime:  I wike (like) to close mine eyes when we go to bed

("I'm gowin poddy")

 place to visit: taw-get (Target) because it's so fun

I like to go to playgrounds, the zoo slide.  And I like to go to mountains, and there are tunnels at the zoo playground.
animal: why-on (lion), because I wuve why-ons!  

("I'm gowin poddy")

 sport: talker (soccer)

vacation destination: to tamp (camp), tamping in ow neighborhood

activity with dad: doe (go) out do dinner

activity with mom:  doe (go) out do dinner, and I wike your earrings

best thing about me: I play with Davie, Burkie, Tesfaye, and Hendrick

why they like me: because I want to clean up their room, yeah all by myself.

future career aspirations: a Ninja Turtle!

where are you going to live?  here

are you going to have any kids? just Davis and Dabney and Adaren (Maclaren)

I don't like: dwats (rats) and wotten (rotten) bananas,

I wuve all those pictures! (kid silhouettes), I wike your dapuder (computer), and I wike this poon (spoon).  

Uh . . .  (falling) "I'm oh-tay!"

I wuve Playmobil!

I wuve my new shoes because they're aw-hum (awesome).
(and orange!)

Our big boy Kolpin is just so darn cute! 
He is our Ninja Turtle fan, "Everything is Awesome" song singer, Hotwheel car collector, Playmobil-knight-filled briefcase carrier, budding Lego master (he builds a mean Lego airplane!), baby adorer ("awww, she's just so cute!"), dress-up Superhero, fearless group wrestler, story-time instigator, pillow thrower, bed bouncer, silly noise maker, giggling boy. 

We love him so much!!! 

For this very special FIVE-year-old (a whole hand!), we celebrated with dinner out at FIVE Guys, and then enjoyed mom-made Ninja Turtle cupcakes :)

Our Beach

Wanting to soak up every last moment of summer, and find a respite from our recent heatwave, we've been spending lots of time at our beach. 

. . . sunscreen and tan lines, goggles, swim belts, underwater hand stands, sand castles and swimming races, jump competitions, dives and flips, twirls and splashes, Marco Polo, treading water, water noodle blow spouts, back floating, piggyback rides, splash balls and buckets of water, sandy faces . . .

It's a glorious way to beat the heat and stay cool. 

Guitar

A special piece beautifully made by a Great Uncle, given to be played by our children.  Thank you!

No Cupcakes

We definitely go through kicks around here.
One week, we might have a Clue board game kick, the next it's yarn finger knitting, then it's fort building, or Rainbow Loom, or gigantic Lego villages . . . it's always something, and the kids put all their time and energy into their latest kick. 
The kicks last a few days and then it's on to something new . . . often returning to revisit after a time. 

A few weeks ago, the kids revisited an old favorite, Melty Beads: fitting small beads on a pattern board to be ironed (melted) together.  The iron and board were set up for two days ready and waiting to melt together their latest creations: hearts, stars, flowers, dogs, cars, fish, butterflies, and cupcakes . . .
Until Maegli noticed that our iron has a "No Cupcake" symbol.

She was very disappointed our iron won't do cupcake Melty Beads :)


After a few days of Melty Beads, we finally got each and every stray bead swept off the floor just in time to move on to another new kick. 

Jam

Before I'm ready to start back to school with the crew, I had a few projects to cross off my list . . .

Jam.
We cooked and boiled and pressed and sealed several gallons of fruit from our summer pickings: blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries.

Now we have 50 half-pints of jewel-toned jam to enjoy all year long. 

Check!  
Next project please . . .