D'arcy is eighteen.

This will be my last birthday post for D'arcy. As the family historian, I've assumed the job of documenting her childhood, but her childhood is now officially over. Her life is hers to record and share...which doesn't mean she won't end up on my instagram feed. 

It's been such a joy to watch her this past year as she wrapped up high school and made plans to step out independently into the world. I loved watching her jump and serve the volleyball as a Blue Devil and carefully preparing macarons for each of her friends' birthdays. I loved hearing her move around in her attic bedroom, pounding the keys of her keyboard. Her steps above me were my alarm clock each morning. I loved listening to people's reaction when they heard her sing in the musical. "I had no idea she could sing like that!" I did. 

I loved helping her pick out three yellow dresses, one for easter, prom, and graduation. Several of her friends gathered to get ready at our house and descended two flights of stairs in their long dresses and high heels. Stephen drove her and a friend to prom in his old convertible, but I secretly drove past to see the beauty of a hundred teenagers standing on the library steps in their formal attire. I parked around the corner and cried at the beauty of it all. I loved screaming her name as she crossed the stage at Clewes Hall and seeing her siblings run to hug her as she came out on the lawn after graduation.

There were hard moments as well. She grieved the loss of a couple of close friendships. She struggled to know and accept her part in the breakdown and set healthy boundaries. In late March, she tearfully told me that Notre Dame, her reach school, had officially declined her application. She decided to go to Indiana University, and this summer was mostly a joyful time of getting ready. The night before she left, though, she came into our room crying, feeling scared. And, so, I petted her hair as she laid in our bed and just had a moment. 

She has a great support system at IU, a best friend for a roommate and plenty of high school friends to help her feel less alone. When we dropped her off, we knew we would see her soon. We were picking her up in just ten days (the day after her birthday) for my dad's wedding. I left a gift with her roommate, asking her to put it on her bed on her birthday morning. Her friends surprised her with a sushi dinner out in Bloomington. 

While I didn't see her on her eighteenth birthday, I picked her up the next day. She looked beautiful at the wedding. D'arcy and Julian performed a duet during the ceremony and she gave an impromptu speech. Then she put her tennis shoes on and asked the DJ to play The Wobble. That's my girl. Always my girl. 

Schroeder is TEN.

In the car the other day, Stephen and I listened to a podcast about the enneagram.  Maggie asked me what number she was.  I told her I wasn't sure.  We are still getting to know each of you.  You are still getting to know yourselves.  The enneagram has given me a new way of observing my kids, though.  For example, certain numbers have more energy than others.  Schroeder has energy.  He's up for a walk or a bike ride.  He's gets excited about a fun project or Littlest Pet Shop role playing game with his two younger sisters.  He wants to help cook dinner.  He's eager to join soccer and volleyball.

Schroeder is in fourth grade.  His teacher was Julian's fourth grade teacher, too.  At the beginning of the year, we went to a parent teacher conference ready to tell her all the ways these two boys are NOT the same.  She already knew.  She knew that he always needs a task or job.  She knew that he sometimes needs help staying focused.  She knew that he was curious and eager and impulsive.  She knew he was kind and funny.  It's always, always a gift to have another adult see your child for who they are...the beauty, potential, and problems.

Schroe has worked hard on making good choices at school this year.  On Valentine's Day, he was eager to start his party and became frustrated with a kid who was goofing off.  He made an offhanded threatening comment to the kid and got himself suspended for the day.  Every comment is taken seriously in today's culture.  I came home and wrote this.

"Schroeder threatened a kid today.  He uses inflammatory speech to gain power.  I want to help him gain power in other ways.  He has power when he believes in himself.  He gains power when he can sit with the truth that he isn't good at everything.  He gains power when he can speak what he means without inflating it.
He was so beautiful to me today.  He was humbled and remorseful.  He was eager to help around the house and thanked me for dinner."

He asked for a nerf gun for his birthday.  We told him no after the Valentine's Day incident.  If you can't respect the power of violence in how you communicate, we are going to limit fake guns.  I caught myself saying, "If you get through the rest of the year without any other calls home, maybe we can get you a new, big nerf gun."  Stephen looked at me like I was crazy.  Yeah, never mind.  Bad idea.

Schroeder has a friend who was recently diagnosed with diabetes.  It's such a scary diagnosis.  He has to go down to the nurse to check his blood sugar around lunchtime.  Sometimes Schroeder goes with him.  He can now tell you what levels are normal or elevated.  I can see his tender heart as he talks about his friend.  

He's also so sweet when he plays with the toddlers at church.  

A friend guessed that Schroeder was my favorite kid.  Ha!  My relationship with each of my kids is different.  They are different people.  There is an Avett Brothers lyric that says, "I wonder which brother is better, Which one our parents love the most?"  and the response to the question is "He said I love you, And I'm proud of you both, in so many different ways".  This is truth.  I'm going to make a print of it and put it in the kids' bathroom.  

I love Schroeder for his energy, his curiosity, his hugs, his dimple, his freckles.   I love that his favorite color is purple.  I'm proud of him for his determination.  I connect with him because we're both middle kids.  Plus, it looks like I gave him all my height genes.  I'm just now coming to terms with how my height has affected my life in a million subtle ways so I'm aware of the subtle ways it might affect him.  That impulsiveness was all from me, too.  You're welcome, kid. 

Happy first decade, my beautiful boy.  

That Maggie Girl is six!

Maggie is six!

She is such a sweet, funny girl.  She's an easy one to get along with.

She's an organized girl.  She takes great pride in making her bed.  She organizes her drawers.  I've been simplifying our home over the last year thanks to my Kon Marie.  I've thought of teaching Maggie how to fold the Kon Marie style because I could see her really digging that activity.

She plans her outfits, especially for special events.  She'll say, "Oh, this is the perfect dress for ...."  and "don't you think these shoes will look fantastic with this sparkly vest."

Last winter, she started wearing these red glasses frames.  They were from a 3D movie, I think.  She popped the dark lenses out of them, and would wear them to preschool and church.  She received lots of compliments and several people gifted her other fake glasses.  I believe she has four or five pairs now.  She has them organized on the top of her dresser.  She told me the other day she should make a YouTube video about how to organize your fake glasses.

She says other funny things.  My mom's name is Terri.  That's where Maggie's first name, Teresa , come from.  Maggie came out on the porch a couple of weeks ago, and said, "Wouldn't it be funny if your mom's last name was Gross!"  As in Terry Gross from NPR's Fresh Air.  We're raising this kid right.

Before kindergarten started, we bought her a pair of "Vintage" Sketchers.  It was a compromise because I can't handle those sparkly light up ones.  The shoes have laces.  She asked me to show her how to tie the shoes and practiced diligently for days.  This is noteworthy because my experience with my first three children was quite different.

She started kindergarten and piano lessons on the same day.  She seems to like both.  She has the same kindergarten teacher as the boys had, but she got married and changed her last name to Mrs. Williams.

She was asked to be a flower girl for my cousin Zach's wedding.  He married Kate, and Maggie loves Kate.  She was also very intrigued by the bridesmaids and wanted to be wherever they were.  She got annoyed with me because I had to ask her to give them their space a couple of times. I was cramping her social life.  She was also quite disappointed that the "ring barrier" wouldn't dance with her during the reception.

She is still an anime girl.  She and Schroeder play their Yugioh card game very frequently.  She also likes Junie B Jones.  We've been reading those books together after school and at the dinner table lately.

D'arcy and I both had our ears pierced when we were six.  Maggie asked me last fall if she could get her ears pierced soon, and I told her, "Yes, on your next birthday!"

I made the appointment without telling her for immediately following piano lessons.  I told her and Julian we had one quick stop to make before going home.  When she asked where we were going, I said...

Me: "Oh, I made an appointment for Julian to get his ears pierced."
Julian: "Huh?  I don't want my ears pierced."
Me: "Are you sure?"
Maggie: "I know!  There is an almost six year old who can take his appointment!!"
Me:  "You'll have to ask Julian.  Julian, are you sure you don't want your cheek or nose or belly button pierced?"
Julian: "...no"

So she walked right in that salon, and with no fear and no tears let them put a needle in both ears.

She also asked for and received an American Girl Doll from my parents and me.  Those things are stupid expensive.  She like to brush Leah's hair, and tries to coordinate her outfits to look like her.

We invited our church friends to meet us at Dairy Queen for a treat on her birthday.  Then it rained and kept raining.  Stephen rushed to the store to buy ice cream, and I rushed around the house trying to clean up.  It would have been too disappointing to cancel altogether.

Penelope is FREE!

Happy belated birthday to Penelope.  She turned three at the end of May.  She pronounces it "free" which makes me abundantly happy.  I hope she stays free forever.

Before her birthday, if she found me cooking in the kitchen, she would say, "Oh!  Are you making my birthday?"  When I would ask her what she wanted for her birthday she would say, "A birthday cake!"

We had a Paw Patrol themed party with her birthday buddy, Amelia.  She got skates, and lots of coloring supplies.  A couple of weeks before her birthday, I had it in my mind that she needed a play house.  I looked on craigslist, sent a couple of emails, but didn't get any hits.  Three days later, I received an unexpected text from our neighbors.  They wanted to get rid of their play house and thought they would ask us before they put in on our neighborhood forum.  Yes, please!  The timing felt so serendipitous.

Before she turned three, we finally got rid of the pacifiers.  At some point, I told her if she brought her pacifier downstairs we would make her throw it away.  We were fine with her keeping them in her bed for bedtime, but whenever she was sad, she would go get one and walk downstairs with it in her mouth.  When I told her to throw it away, she just shrugged and put it in the trash.  Sometimes, now, I'll catch her with her thumb in her mouth.

Being three means that she is simultaneously fiercely independent and super clingy.  She can buckle her own self.  She does not need my help.  And she can get her own frozen waffle (she prefers them cold), and she demands to brush her own teeth. But she does want me to hold her a LOT.  I think touch is definitely one of her love languages.

Her whiny voice also comes out when she sees something she wants to eat a drink.  She'll say, "Oh, I'm huuunnnggrry".  She may have just declined some of her dinner because she was full, but as soon as that dessert comes out she realizes how empty her tummy is.

I think about a month after her third birthday, Stephen and I looked at each other, overwhelmed by parenting her, and said, "Man, she really is three!"

She has the narrowest hips.  She can't keep a pair of pants around her waist.   I think I worry about her health more because she is so skinny.  But I'm feeding her plenty, and she comes by those narrow hips honestly thanks to her daddy.

She is a big music fan.  She has her own playlist of songs that she requests every time we get in the car.  The weirdo song (Radiohead's "Creep").  She also requests Hallelujah and Somebody That I Used To Know.  On the way to South Carolina, we stopped in Gatlinburg to spend the night.  I thought it was appropriate that we listen to some Dolly Parton.  At some point Stephen had enough, but Penelope kept crying "Dolly!  I want to listen to Dolly!"  Me too, P!

She really likes playing with her baby dolls, singing her favorite songs on her ukulele, reading books from the library, and coloring and painting.  She likes to hang upside down on our new kitchen island.   She plays mario cart with her brothers, and she is happy to pretend to shoot and blow stuff up with Schroeder.  She really loves her best buddies and cousins.

She's kind of a slacker in the picking up department.  She acts kind of helpless while she lets her siblings do all the work, and sometimes, I let her get away with it.

Not too long ago, she came into the room and said, "Mom, that black jelly bean was really yuck."  Hmmm...we don't have any black jelly beans?  I discovered it was a coffee bean stephen had left on the counter.

Schroeder is 7!!

Schroeder turned seven!  We had a cake and he got a STAR WARS record a couple days before his day.  We spent his actual birthday in California.

His birthday happened to fall on Easter, and I made the whole family go to a Catholic Mission for Mass.  Because...Jesus.  But then he got to spend his day swimming in a pool, dipping his feet in the Pacific Ocean, and walking down the pier in Oceanside to get milkshakes and fries.  Not too shabby.

And then on Monday morning, we went to Legoland.  Because...LEGOs.

Schroeder still loves LEGOs and Pokemon Cards.  He kept sneaking his Pokemon cards to school, and his teacher kept confiscating them.  So, then, he took Maggie's Yugioh cards, snuck them to school, and got those confiscated.

He also likes games.  He says his favorite game is chess.  He and Maggie take the chess set upstairs often.  I have no idea what rules they are following or if the game even resembles chess.

Six was a big year for Schroeder.  He learned to swim.  He learned to ride his bike.  I love his expression when he learns something new and is super proud of himself.

He also learned to read.  On his birthday last year, he was in the very early stages of learning to read.  When he started school in the fall, I assumed he would make quick progress, but he didn't.  His behavior seemed improved from kindergarten, but he was falling behind academically.  Every report card was so frustrating.  In November, I decided it was really important that I read with him or run through flash cards every night.  Being consistent isn't my strongest quality, though, and after school can be a bit chaotic around here.  It felt like a big committment to me.

We worked and worked.  And he started to get it.  Then, he was picking out a new book to read every night before he headed to bed.  I headed to the library to find him more books that fit his needs.  It started to be a joy to him.  He offered to read to his little sisters.  EVENTUALLY, his teacher began to see the work he (we) were putting in, and she moved him to a different reading group.  Then when we got further affirmation on his report card, I teared up.  He played it cool, but that twinkle of pride was there.

So first grade has been kind of hard, and he seems fairly oblivious to it all.  I think he likes school.  I think he likes breakfast, lunch, recess, and friends.   One day, just before his birthday, I pulled out a letter from his backpack.  It was an invitation to attend Sidener Academy, the high ability IPS school.  He took some test that he did really well on.   I was really shocked and emotional about it all.  So we sought the opinions of his teachers, other parents, his principal, and we went to visit Sidener.  Having our kids all together at a community school is so important to me, though.  We ultimately decided to keep him where he's at, but we are open to look again if he continues to struggle.

But enough about school.  Schroeder has the cutest freckles spreading all across his nose and cheeks.  They make me so happy.

He STILL hasn't lost any baby teeth.  The dentist told me not to worry.

When we went on vacation last summer, I gave each of the kids a journal to draw in.  I asked them to look at their surroundings and draw what they wanted.  He drew a cigarette butt, and the carpet on the hotel floor.

Stephen really likes the silverware sorted really specifically based on size and type and even weight of the metal.  And he gets super annoyed when most of us just take the dishwasher container and dump the silverware in the drawer.  But Schroeder is detail oriented and now, despite his complaints, he's sort of stuck with the job.

Schroeder isn't prone to huge fits or anger or emotion, but when he gets tired, he cries pretty easily.  It melts my heart.  I shouldn't have so much pity, though, because his fatigue stems from him sneaking the iPad into his bed.  We'll find him passed out with it in his hands.

The boys share a room.  We unbunked their beds recently.  Julian wrote in this in his school journal that I thought I would end this birthday update with, "I really like the way we remodeled our bedroom yesterday.  It's cool that instead of having to go down the ladder and see my brother, I just have to look to the side and I can see him."

Julian is nine!

Julian turned nine two months ago.  I love him as an elementary aged kid.

In a strange twist, he has the same teacher for a third year in a row.  This is the same teacher who made me angry because she expected more from me and Julian than mediocrity.  She is the same teacher who I happily dunked in the dunk tank at the end of that first year at the school social. Julian loves her.  I think it's lovely that this strong woman who expects excellence from him as a writer and mathematician has been such a presence in his life.   

She is teaching him cursive.  I don't have a strong opinion about whether cursive continues to be taught in school.  But, oh,  those pages of nine year old boy cursive make me really joyous.  I want to frame them.  

Julian has this hair.  It's not all that long, but sometimes he gets mistaken for a girl.  He still isn't tempted to cut it, though.  It was originally my choice, but  he has decided that this is his hair and his style.  He likes his hair a lot. 

He also likes sweat pants.

He's been reading. He read the Phantom Tollbooth and the second Harry Potter this year.  His cousin suggested he read The Lorien Legacies series.  We've been reserving them through the library online system.  He'll arrive home and ask, "Have you gotten an email from the library?"

He's been facing his fears this year. He went on his first roller coaster in Las Vegas.  He is swimming in deep water.  His fears won't always be coasters and slides and water, but I hope he continues to choose bravery.  Be brave Julian.  

He holds my hand when we walk...on vacation, on field trips at school.  He'll run next to me and grab my hand.  He's affectionate.  

He loves Penelope a lot.  He comes home from school and asks to run up and wake her from her nap.  She was wearing a shirt yesterday that said I la la love you.  He told her, "Penelope, I la la love you."  She said, "I don't la la love you."  He laughed really hard because she's two and everything she says is funny.

"Whatever" and "I don't care" are his favorite phrases when he feels out of control and has to do something he doesn't like.   It's been our challenge to help him translate that into something meaningful...to help him understand, manage, and communicate his feelings.  We are battling this view of life that he is tempted to have that he begrudgingly does what he is told even if he doesn't see value in it.  We are helping him build values beyond the things that bring him immediate joy.  

Julian surprised me one day when he asked his friend to be more reverent to God.  I can't remember exactly what his friend was saying, but, this child of mine who doesn't drink the Kool-aid, suggested he be more respectful.  Julian has a clear sense that he comes for a family that values faith.  His faith is coming softly.  

Maggie is five!!!

Maggie Lu just turned five.

Maggie has this exuberant flourish to the way she speaks. She starts every sentence off with, Well...  and throws in words like precisely, exactly, and technically.   We bought a pillow at Frozen on Ice, and she gushed about how it would be the "perfect finishing touch for her bed."  She is a gusher.  Many times a day I am told that "I'm the best Mommy ever" or "D'arcy is the best big sister a girl can have" or "I just love ______".  She adds drama with her hands, head tilts, and eye flutters.

She has a bit of a temper and that tongue full of honey can be quick to lash out, too.  When she can't find a skirt she wants to wear, she'll let me know that if I wasn't so slow to get the laundry done, she would have it in her drawer.  I know where she gets that temper.  In some ways, her temper is easier to deal with than the sad tears that always seem to well up in D'arcy's eyes when she gets mad or upset.

She's back in preschool this year.  Officially, you have to be five by August 1st to go to kindergarten.  I probably could have pushed the point and got her in.  D'arcy, whose birthday is only three days earlier, started kindergarten the year she turned five.  We were living in Texas and the rules were different.  I'm glad to have her home with me and Penelope for one more year.  I'm glad that Schroeder and her won't graduate high school and leave me with a mostly empty nest in back to back years.

When I pick her up from preschool, she and Penelope hug and kiss like they haven't seen each other in weeks.  It's seriously cute.  I think this stems from that gushing she is so prone to.  She didn't get that from me.

Maggie has been voluntarily cleaning lately.  When we have people coming over, she'll rush around and say, "Oh, we just need to get this all picked up.  I want it to look just perfect for them."  I've never ever had a child suggest that we clean before.

She likes this show called Yugioh.  She found it when she was perusing Netflix kids on the iPad.  It's this Japanese anime show.  Stephen says it reminds him of Dragon Ball Z.  Whatever, I don't know.  But, Maggie seriously loves this show and talks about Yugi a lot.

So, she's an anime girl.  Oh, and also, she is the self-proclaimed best dancer in the world.

For her birthday, we invited just a few people over for cake and a pinata.  She got the idea of a pinata from her friend, Charlie.  In an attempt to save some money, I decided to make our own.  I used a balloon, strips of paper, flour and water mixture, paint, and tissue paper.  It turned out pretty well, and held up to two rounds of hitting.  I would definitely make another one.

She asked me to invite a handful of four and five year olds to her party, but also insisted I invite her favorite thirty-something year old friend, Laura, who goes to church with us.  Thanks Laura for being such a lovely friend to her!  Sorry, if she bosses you around and tells you to keep your studio clean!

Maggie got a scooter for her birthday which is a tradition here at the Williams' house.  All new five year olds get initiated into the wild scooter gang.

D'arcy turned eleven.

D'arcy turned eleven in late August.

She is the kind of girl who wants more.  More adventures.  More knowledge.  More great food.  More people.  She's hungry for life, and I know from personal experience the road ahead will include learning to savor, to be content, to be intentional, and to rest.  I'm excited to see her walk and find balance.

Sometime this year, we decided we would take her to Kings Island for her birthday.  Stephen and I haven't been since before she was born, but now D'arcy is tall enough and brave enough to ride most of the roller coasters.  My head didn't handle it well, but D'arcy had a great time riding everything she was tall enough for with Stephen and her Aunt Connie.

D'arcy spent a good part of this past year learning to solve her Rubix Cube.  These days, that means watching a bunch of Youtube videos to learn the algorithms, and then practicing, practicing, practicing to get faster.  She would carry around a paper to record her times.  At the end of last school year, she and her friend, Aria, entered the school talent show to show off their rubix cube skillz.

A ten dollar toy kept her busy for an entire year.  I was wracking my brain for what I could buy her that would entertain and challenge her in a similar way.  I decided on a Ukulele.  She is already playing the piano and trumpet.  I thought the Ukulele would be easy and fun and put her Youtube searching and watching skills to good use.

When the opportunity presents itself, either at our community yard sale of block party, she has started busking.  She'll play Louis Louis on her trumpet hoping someone will drop a dollar into her case.  This year, she can add to her repertoire.

D'arcy also spent the last year....

jumping on her trampoline.

growing a bunch of tomato saplings with her fifth grade teacher, and selling them at their year end picnic.

party planning with her friend Mike.  They started a for profit party planning business for all those top priority parties.  The one party they planned had a guacamole contest with a pretty snazzy trophy, a homemade pinata, and bobbing for blueberries (which was pretty disgusting).

During the summer, she woke up many a day and made her own french toast or omelette.  She would cook up a couple pieces of bacon, and grab some basil and tomatoes from our garden to throw in her eggs.  Our other kids are eating cold english muffins.  

D'arcy, Maggie, and Penelope share a room.  Unlike other older sibling tyrants I've encountered, she doesn't bug her sister to turn the light off.  Instead, she turns it off herself long before the official "lights out" call and yells at her sisters if the complain or try to turn them back on.  I figured out that she needed the room dark so she could watch Netflix on her iTouch screen.  She hates turning up that screen brightness because it really kills her battery life.

Tonight, I just walked by their room and heard her telling her sister, "Don't ever say I don't love you or I don't like you.  I love you very much.  Just because I'm telling you you're annoying doesn't mean I don't love you."

She started sixth grade this year.  She told me a couple times she was nervous about all the homework she will have.  But, really, it was a feigned nervousness.  I believe it was more of an excitement to take on a new challenge.

Year twelve, she's ready for you.

Penelope turned two (90 days ago).

Penelope is two.  She's twenty three pounds dripping wet.  If I'm determined to worry about something, I worry about her weight.

She is still a big Daniel Tiger fan.  She can sing the choruses of a few of her favorite songs, "Shut up and Dance with Me", "Uptown Funk", and "Girls Chase Boys".  During our trip, she started adding a -y to the end of some of her words.  "Can I sit on your wappy?"  "I can do it my selfy."  She thinks she can do a lot of things her selfy like fastening her carseat or walking across the street.  She gets angry if you try to help her out.

On our trip, she spent most of the time in the Ergo carrier while hiking.  We let her out for a bit when we were on Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake.  I suggested she walk around the big rocks, and she decided instead to step on each one.  Because she's big and independent and two.

But, really, she was such an awesome traveller.  She spent time coloring, but mostly just chilled.  We did keep her pacifier in commission so we could pacify her on the road if needed.  Someday soon we'll take her out of a crib and take the pacifier away at bedtime.  There just isn't another baby on the way to need them.

One right of passage that she's eager to get under way is potty training.  She asks daily to sit on the potty, and lets me know when she is going in her diaper.  A diaper free home is in our near future.

Her big sisters and brothers have taught her a few things.  She can count to twenty pretty well.  It's a game.  I'll say one and she'll say two and we'll count together.  Then she'll ask to do it again and again.  She'll also give you a fist bump if you ask.  She follows the bump with a "fa la la la la" as she pulls her fist back and wiggles her fingers.

When she doesn't think she's being listened to, she'll grab my face, put her head up against mine, and whisper her request in the most infuriating and adorable way.  She is quite persistent.  When we were in South Dakota, we watched a little movie in the Badlands.  She was having trouble sitting still, and I promised her a Swedish fish if she would watch quietly.  Less than a minute later, she asks, "I have fish?"  And on and on it went until we headed to the car to get the fish.

In May, we were out shopping, and as we were going into Kohl's she started naming her family...Schroe Schroe, JuJu, D'arcy, Maggie.  I said, "Who else is in your family?"  She looked at me and said, "Daddy!!"  It was this first moment of verbal recognition of who her core people were.  She belonged to us and we belonged to her.  And, I had this rush of joy knowing that she had all these great brothers and sisters to love and care and teach her.  How cool is it to be a fifth baby!

Stephen and I were out of town on her birthday.  We celebrated a week earlier with a little party at our house.  I made her a birthday cake that was collapsing and falling apart.  I topped it with two plastic princesses we have in the house.  She kept asking to look at her cake.  She would sit at the table and just look at the wobbling mess.

Happy Birthday Penelope!

Schroeder is six!

Schroeder turned six at the end of March.  The week before his birthday, I started a little note on my phone and began jotting down little tidbits I wanted to share about him.  Like the fact that after six months of school, all of his pants have holes in the knees.  And if you check his pockets, you will find skylander or pokemon trading cards or a package of leftover graham crackers from afternoon snack.  Before he goes to bed, I have to smell his breath to make sure he brushed his teeth, and I have to make sure he takes his shoes off or he'll just sleep in them leaving gross dark spots on his white sheets.

At school, he has been learning to read and write which he is excited about.  He'll write me cards and stuff them in envelopes.  His name has progressively been getting longer on his work as he learns to write the whole of his name.  Schr.  Schroe.  Schroed.  Schroeder.  I love his name.

There is something about my boys being tender and loving that just melts me.  I'm not sure if it is counter to what we perceive as masculine or if it is simply that most of their time is spent turning items into guns and taking all the enemies down.  But a sweet note, a hug, or sweetness showed to their littlest sister is so dear to me.  I'm glad they get to experience first hand the joy of a baby in the house.

We were at a friend's birthday party the other day, and another dad observed Schroeder hitting the piñata.  He mentioned to Stephen that Schroeder was very athletic.  Stephen wondered if by athletic he meant aggressive?

When we get calls from the school, from the nurse or his teacher, he gets on the phone and literally doesn't say a word.  I have to listen closely for the sound of his breathing to see if he is still connected.  His behavior seems to have improved this semester.  I haven't any discipline calls since January.  The other day, I got a call from the school in the middle of the day and cringed. I picked up the phone and their art teacher said she was calling to discuss some behaviors in the classroom.  She went on to talk about some GOOD behaviors that Schroeder exhibited, and then the whole class yelled how much they liked having him in class.  I started to cry.

I love it when he comes home from school and catches up with Maggie Lu.  They clasp their hand together and have a little talk.  She takes him out to her fairy garden to show him her new setup.  I also hear he and Julian laying in their beds talking about boy stuff, LEGOs and skylanders and minecraft.

The other day, Julian was showing Schroeder a animated video of minecraft characters playing five finger fillet, that game where you stab a knife in between your fingers at a fast paced hoping not to hit one of your digits.  Schroeder reached into the drawer to grab a butter knife and try this game out.  Thankfully, I was there to stop him.  I asked him if his fingers would grow back?  No.  I asked him if we wanted the experience of putting his finger on ice, going to the hospital, and having it sewn back on?  No.  I asked him what was required to play video games?  Fingers.

He has a plan for every big cardboard box delivered from Amazon.  Cardboard inspires endless hours of play.

He has yet to lose any of his tiny little baby teeth.

For his birthday, he asked for a sleepover (which didn't work out), goody bags for his friends, and a copy of "The Day the Crayons Quit".  Believe it or not, I've never done goodie bags for a kids party so this must have seemed like a big treat to him.  We invited a couple of his school friends over for the evening.  We had pizza and cupcakes and the boys played with all the little toys in their goody baskets.  On his actual birthday, we were headed to St. Louis, and I handed back his book.  All the big kids in the car shrieked with excitement.  I would say he is pretty easy to please.

His Grammy and Poppy took him for a night and out to McDonald's and shopping.  He came home the next day, and as we were taking a walk it began to sprinkle.  Schroeder turned to me and said, "I know about this rain."  He had watched the weather report with his Poppy, but the way he phrased it made me chuckle.