Three

Dabney, our sweet little stinker, is three!
(she'll carefully holds up three fingers to tell you she's "hee!  I not two, I hee!")

Happy Birthday Dabney!!!

Dabney is our giggler, constant outfit changer (she changes her clothes several times each day), squinty-eyed picture cheeser, dance party leader, twirler, stubborn stinker, Disney Princess knowing, color namer, pillow-foot kitchen helper (she likes climbing up to help at the counter), Peter Rabbit fan, big sister tag-along, cross-eyed (!) purse toting cutie, crib climber, can't-keep-a-hair-band-in princess, mess maker, "I-not-a-baby" big girl...
and we love her so much!

 Favorites:

(Asking a 3-year-old about her favorites isn't the easiest task - deciphering answers took the efforts of many.  Many guesses went into figuring out each answer.  Dabs knew what she was saying, and I'm sure she was very frustrated with us - "no!" . . . laughing as she repeated her answer and we desperately tried to determine her sweet words.  3 is so fun!)

food: rice

tv: "Little Einsteins"

book: Benjamin Bunny (Beatrix Potter)

dessert:  ice cream

princess:  Snow White

superhero:  Superman

color:  pink

drink: watermelon (?)

toy:  Repunzel

play:  All Night

animal:  elephant

fruit:  banana

clothes:  princess clothes

with mommy:  play with her

with daddy:  play with him 

song:  Elsa and Anna (Frozen)

movie:  Snow White - her bite the apple and her died

play outside: play in the grass

dislikes:  I like Cinderella slippers, I want to put them on.  Dog food - bleh!  The brown poopy - bleh!  We don't want to eat it, mom!  It's not food!  It's poopy!  (smart girl)

when I grow up:  a girl elephant, a big big big ginormous house 

now that I'm 3:  I want to dress up in the Snow White gown 

. . . and she galloped off into the kitchen . . .

Three is a big year.  

This year, Dabney is looking forward to moving into the "big girl" room with her sisters (we have 2 bunks in that room, she'll share with Hiwot, Maegli, and Maclaren).  When we built the bunks, she was so excited about her new bed!  Dabney will start dance lessons next week.  A newly 3-year-old seems young to start lessons, but at our new studio the Pre-1 class is for students who will turn 3 before the end of the year.  Hopefully we'll be able to be out of diapers soon - one more big step for our 3-year-old!   

For her 3-year-old birthday:

pancake breakfast (in honor of the pancakes being enjoyed 3-years-ago, thanks to Grampa, the morning Dabney arrived on our bathroom floor), balloon play and glow sticks outside, twirly tutus, princess Legos and coloring book, ballerina magnetic doll set, pizza dinner, donuts at church, scavenger hunt (created by her big sister), and a very special strawberry "Rapunzel Monkey" cake!

*Dabney requested a Rapunzel cake with a Monkey on it! :)

Materen

"My name is Materen."

"Oh, Materen, what a nice name."

"No, it's Ma-ter-en."

:)

Maclaren is our "T" girl. 

"one, Two, Tree, Tour, Tive, Tix, Teven, eight, nine, ten"

This poses a problem when you're the new girl introducing yourself.
But she sure is cute! 

"yets!"

Maclaren has also declared that she is a "Medium Girl" - she's not a "big girl," but also not a "baby girl."  According to her, Kolpin is a "Medium Boy." 

Seven

Kolpin, our silly sound maker, active spaz, Lego builder, math whiz, busy body, toy bin toter, big eye charmer, fun playing, sweet snuggler, eager cookie baking helper, backyard weed attacker, squirmy, battle sound creator, toy crasher, batter licker, hotwheel car racer, stuffed animal and blanket clutcher (and tosser), bottomless pit eater, table setter, cartoon talker, word repeater, audio book listener, banana eater, mini figure collector . . .
is SEVEN years old!

Happy Birthday Kolpin!

Favorites:

restaurant:  Pizza Plus!

food:  bread (the loaf of bread you make)

dessert:  apple pie

drink:  soda, the orange kind

superhero:  Batman

toy:  Legos

sport:  basketball

color:  blue and red

fruit:  bananas

movie:  Superman

story:  Diary of a Wimpy Kid

activity inside:  crafts, something like trumpets, notebooks, or like wallets, and I like doing Leogs inside too.  I build cars, airplanes, and I battle them too with lots of Lego people, I also build like houses and boats on water. 

activity outside:  play basketball, badminton, and baseball.  And when we go to the beach, swimming.

school subject:  math

with brothers:  I like playing baseball with Burke, and sometimes I play Lego battles with Davis, Hendrick and Tesfaye don't really play with me except for the big Lego battle, but Hendrick always wins. 

with sisters:  I like playing Lego games with Maegli

with mommy:  I like sitting down and doing school with you

with daddy:  I like going to breakfast with him

outing:  I love going to the beach and the museum, the museum at Gramma and Grampa's house

vacation spot:  the beach (OBX)

what makes me special: my birthday.  

what people like about me:  I like playing with them, and I'm funny, kind of

something new I want to learn:  I want to learn about science and birds, and I want to learn how to ride a bike and be able to go bike riding, and go bike riding every day

career aspirations:  make donuts.  I want to be a taste tester of donuts, so I will taste how good the donuts are.  If I don't like them they will throw those kinds away, if I like them they will keep them.

my life in 25 years:  I am going to do school, like I said, I'm going to be a taste tester of donuts . . . I don't know what else.  I want to go back to Jackson and live there. 

dislikes:  my brothers punching me, mushrooms, onions - I only like onions in soup, going to be early - I like staying up all night, I try to do it, but sometimes I fall asleep

What I like about being 7:
I like that I get a special breakfast.  Seven is way bigger than six and way funner than six.  I've been six for a year, of course. And, I'm going to be seven for a year. 

My 7th birthday:
It's fun.  You get presents.  Sometimes you get clothes, sometimes you get toys, you might get kites.  For breakfast we had bread with the stuff on it (baked french toast), and I loved it.  For dinner we're going to Pizza Plus.  What about what do I want for my presents?  More Legos, some clothes - I need more shorts, a basketball for our hoop, maybe a bike.  The cake I want is a Batman cake. 

*Kolpin requested a Library card for his birthday - we took a trip to the Library the weekend before his birthday to sign him up for his very own card :)

We have been reminiscing how our faithful and awesome God protected Kolpin in such huge and visible ways in his life.  Two extended hospital stays, two pneumothoraces, one helicopter airlift, one cracked skull . . . all before his 3rd birthday:  our Special K is a miracle boy.  We are so thankful for the blessing of Kolpin in our lives and for the protection of God over his life.  Praise God!
We know Kolpin was created with a very special purpose - he is a very special kid.

We love our Kolpin!

*Kolpin wanted to wait to learn a bike til he was seven (I think he was a bit nervous).  His siblings are all excited to start teaching tomorrow! 

Lake Watauga Beach

We found a beach!
We found a MOUNTAIN beach!

All summer we have been missing our lake beach from our old neighborhood.  We've missed swimming.
Public pools are often too expensive considering our numbers (any entrance fee times 13 is a bit steep for a single outing), and public beaches on lakes aren't nearly common enough.   But, we were thrilled to discover 2 beaches close to our new home.

We took a day off school, packed a picnic, and ventured into the Cherokee National Forest to check out the beach at Lake Watauga.   The water was warm and shallow, and the setting couldn't have been more gorgeous - a lake nestled in the mountains!

We've been spoiled the past several years having a sandy beach within a mile from our home, but I think we can get used to this new swimming spot.  This one had clams!  Although we might be on the lookout for water sandals to protect our spoiled tootsies from the lake rocks :)

*Burke had been looking forward to challenging his siblings to a 200m freestyle race.  He was very inspired watching Michael Phelps and Team USA in the Rio2016 Olympics.  He has HUGE Olympic dreams :)

Splash Park

(I'm still working to catch up on pictures from June . . . we've been a bit busy ;)

Back in June, the kids and I spent 2 weeks in Cincinnati while we were between homes.  We had a month of transition after Mike had started his new job but before we closed on our new home.  He lived in a hotel, visiting us on weekends.  We stayed 2 weeks in Jackson (through the dance recital and VBS), and then traveled to Cincinnati to enjoy the company of family and a respite from being on our own.

Along with a much needed break for this mama (sleeping in and taking naps was a high priority - Emory was only 8 weeks old), we kept busy during our 2-week stay in Cincinnati.  This was quite a treat for our crew - an outing each day! 

The splash park was one such outing - a perfect place to play with cousins on a hot day.  

Riverfront

(More June photos!)

While in Cincinnati, we visited a new park:  Smale Riverfront Park in downtown Cincinnati.  It was a fantastic place to take the kids.
Of course, we also visited our favorite Cincinnati spots:  Ikea, Skyline Chili, Graeters Ice Cream, Winton Woods, Union Terminal Museum, and the splash pad :)

We were thankful for our time in Cincinnati, and thankful to my parents for hosting us for 2 weeks.
This was a special time for us all in the midst of an overwhelming time of transition in our lives.

Thank you Gramma and Grampa!