Happy 5th Birthday Zoë Maxine!

Ah, my Zoë.  You are five.  FIVE!  That's a whole hand.  I never knew that a whole handful of years could pass so quickly and yet, here we are.

Words you still can't pronounce:

story=stow-dee
Oliver= Aw-ver
hospital=hospible
blanket=blanqwet
yellow=lellow

This year you:
-Danced in your first major dance recital, costumes and all
-Went on two family camping trips and all of the hiking that accompanied them
-Visited Sunriver, Oregon twice
-Started at your new outdoor preschool in the all outdoor section
-Learned how to ride your bike with training wheels
-Moved up to the big kid ballet class
-Saw the Great Solar Eclipse in Central Oregon
-Ski like a pro!

5th birthday party with a few girlfriends: Princess Tea Party

You are quite the songstress, making up tunes about everything both exciting and mundane that your brain thinks about.  Every song has the same lilting tune but the topics vary.  Sometimes you sing about your family, sometimes about the lunch you just didn't enjoy, sometimes about rules in our house or what you want to do instead of what mama told you we needed to accomplish first.  Your dolls are often your best audience but sometimes you insist I give you my undivided attention.

Taking a car break to admire Mt. St. Helens

The way that you play with your brother is amazing.  He follows you everywhere and wants to do whatever you are doing.  And 80% of the time you let him.  He pretends with you, dresses up in princess dresses with you, you two take turns making each other food in the play kitchen, you build together, lay out your blankets and have picnics together, and whisper together in forts (when you decide to share).  In the mornings he will often wake you up by accident (on purpose) and you two will play together peacefully for as long as it takes me to get out of bed and take a shower.  Sometimes you'll let him sleep with you, though not too often because he talks and keeps you awake.  Even when he is having the most difficult day with tantrums galore you can find ways to make him smile and distract him long after I've run out of ideas.  You're the best at waking him up from his nap.  And boy does he love and adore his big sister "Zoe Zoe".  You did tell me a few weeks ago in tears after being a bit unkind to him and being sent to your room that being a big sister is really hard and it made me tear up because YES, yes it is.  But we made a plan so that you know you can take a break from being a big sister when you need it and I think it helped for you to hear that both your Dad and I are big siblings and that we understand that it's hard.

Celebrating her special day at school

Working on her lantern for the holiday party

Embracing all outdoor preschool has been another of your accomplishments this year and I know you will enjoy the second half of the year as you have the first.  You gush about your teachers and a few friends and just love every moment of the play you get out in nature twice a week.  Even in the pouring, freezing rain.  I'm so proud of you when you come home and can't get your breath because you have so much to tell me about school!  You love to be the trail blazer, the first person in the line up the trail.  You are good at chicken care though I think you enjoy whatever tasks are set up in the garden each day better.  Sometimes it involves digging a big hole so that the rain can make a giant mud pit for the class to play in.  Sometimes your teachers take out cans and who knows what else to make makeshift musical instruments.  Sometimes you plant native plants in the garden.  It is wonderful and I'm so glad we found this special school for you.

Nature Explorer!

Bailey, Kennedy, and Zoe at their sleepover in the backyard this summer

Imaginative play is your specialty.  You tote your dolls up and down the stairs with such frequency that it's hard to determine which room any of them are in at any given time.  You will imagine by yourself, with Oliver, or with friends.  It is so fun to watch you play.  You LOVE your friends Bailey and Kennedy and it is wonderful to have playdates now because you just trot off with them on your own and I know you're all safe and having fun.






We went through a rough patch a few months ago where your pouting face was seen way more than I would have liked to have seen it.  You would huff and puff if you didn't get your way and looking in the rear view mirror to see your arms folded in a huff and your eyebrows burrowed in would make my blood boil.  But I'm pleased to say you're beyond that and are more often helpful to me and your Dad and back to our happy little girl (except when you are frustrated...).

Watching the GREAT 2017 Solar Eclipse

Bedtimes are still special.  You still insist on a song (usually "Hush Little Baby" or, if Daddy's doing your bedtime, "Rapper's Delight") and then you like the "Return to Pooh Corner" soundtrack to play on your Alexa Dot until you fall asleep.  We just finished reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" upon recommendation from another mom of a five year old and you LOVED it, begging me to read you another chapter after each one ends.

At her first Rainier's Game

This week we attended your kindergarten open house.  I can't even believe that in eight short months you are going to be going to Kindergarten.  Nope.  Your mama is going to be (and already has been) crying over this milestone for a while.  You are ready though.  I would let you go today if I had to knowing that you are eager to learn, an excellent student, and getting to be a better and more patient friend every day.  :)

We all love you so much Zoë and are so proud of all the growing you've done these first five years.  I can't wait to see what this next year brings to you!

 

Christmas and More

With a two and four year old in our house, everyone was entranced by the magic of Christmas this year and boy did we have fun!  We hit up our favorites, like Snowflake Lane, Zoolights, and of course, a visit to Santa at the North Pole.  We delivered treats to the NICU on Christmas Eve as Z and I have done every year since she was born but we also took Oliver with us and delivered treats to our neighborhood fire station to thank them for working over the holiday.  We visited reindeer at a new nursery near us in Puyallup and, aside from the stress of worrying that a kid would break something, enjoyed exploring the beautiful space.

Zoë's elf, Alice, brought a new friend for Oliver and he named him Lightning (surprise! from our Cars lover).  Our kids loved finding their elf friends every day and did a moderate job of being nice to each other during the Christmas season as a result.

Zoë requested a singing Moana doll for Christmas from Santa and Oliver requested Cars.  ALL. THE. CARS.  So Santa delivered.  In fact, everything Oliver received for Christmas was Cars related except for his books.  :)  Santa also brought a tacklebox for O decorated in Cars stickers so he could carry all of his Cars all over the house but it's actually too heavy for him to carry up and down the stairs with all of his new ones.  So, well, he has too many Cars.  But Santa sure loves to shop for and hunt down Cars.  It's his new hobby.  I gave Zoë my American Girl doll, Samantha and she is completely in love.  It makes me so happy.  I saved a few dresses to give her over the next year to spread out the fun but Samantha has her bed in Zoë's room, too.

















Angela and Jed were up for Christmas and our kids had so much fun playing together.  The boys are, as predicted, absolutely crazy together but get along so well.  Zoë is still obsessed with (not such a) baby Russell who is experimenting with walking with push toys.  He's going to be on the run in no time!

Oh, I almost forgot!  AND we had a white Christmas!  It started snowing on Christmas eve and didn't stop until about noon on Christmas.  It was very beautiful!

Admiring the snow

Our beautiful house on Christmas morning.

Chris and Vicki took the kids up skiing for Oliver's first ski trip to the mountain and both kids did wonderful!  I'm definitely not a skiing expert but to me they look like pros on the snow.  I can't believe they can stay up on their two feet without much instruction or time practicing.  It is very impressive to me.  And to the two adults that took them...thank you for giving me a morning to myself.

It was definitely a crazy month with way too much sugar and excitement for a tantruming two year old and ever enthusiastic four year old, but that's what the holidays are for!  We're looking forward to getting back to our family routine in January (until, you know, Z's birthday in three weeks).  Happy 2018!

And in final news...I PRed at the Santa Run in Tacoma at the beginning of the month...shaved 13 minutes off of my previous PR!  Woo hoo!

Just an update...

Oliver's verbal skills have skyrocketed and he is Mr. Detail Keeper.  He loves to add details to whatever he's talking about and fill whomever in on the rest of the story.  The way he says "Daddy" or "Mama" with a slight lilt on the end of the word when he's got something exciting to say is just heartwarming.  He is loving gymnastics and his skills are growing.  His forward rolls are on point, he is awesome at the beam, he can jump with both feet, and he surprises (and scares) me each week with what he is willing to try.  He is still napping for two hours every afternoon like a champ as long as we're at home and on our typical schedule.  He goes to bed easily and still wakes up earlier than I'd like (6:45).  He is an accomplished singer of the ABCs (needs prompting at W), counting to 14 (minus number 7), and when asked his name he says "Oliver Finn Seaman Finn Seaman".

Stubborn is still the best descriptor of him and when he doesn't want to do something he screams forever.  He is most stubborn about washing his hands "no touch!", getting dressed to go out of the house, and cleaning up (though he does pretty well with this if we can't do something else UNTIL we clean up).

Zoë is absolutely loving school, though she had a super soggy week last week with one day ending in tears because she was so cold.  I felt so badly because she didn't have waterproof gloves and made sure we picked up the ones I had sent to the REI store the very next day.  She learns SO much and has gotten better at telling me about her day when she comes home, which makes me so happy!  The girl loves to sing and dance and tell stories.  She is an amazing ballerina and I love watching her in class with all of the big girls.  She recently started with the 5-7 year olds and she is the tiniest, cutest, 4 year old with all of those big kids!  What she lacks in muscle and balance she makes up in her focus and determination.  I think we may have a lifelong ballerina on our hands!  Her winter showcase is coming up in a week and a half and I can't wait!

I also just filled out her Kindergarten registration form and I can't believe I have to drop it off at the school in January.  More on that later...but I am going to be an emotional rollercoaster.

We are surprising her with a trip to Disneyland for her birthday and I can't wait!  So much planning already and so much more to go, but I think I've got a good handle on it until at least after the holidays for now.  We are having a SMALL birthday party for her with just a handful of her friends so she doesn't think anything funny is going on and then we'll head out on the 20th to the happiest place on earth!

We've sprung into the holidays full speed ahead.  Zoë's elf Alice brought a friend this year for Oliver and he named him Lightning (after I tried to get him to name Lyle...but that's ok).  Chris did a beautiful job on all of our lights outside and as usual, we have the prettiest house on the street!  We already went to Snowflake Lane, will go to Zoolights tomorrow, and the kids are going to spend two nights at Baba and Dedo's house this weekend to have some fun and give us a breather.  I'm also running my second half marathon in two weeks on Saturday as a qualifier for the Half Fanatics club.  I ran the Seattle Half Marathon last weekend and while it was SUPER hilly and the weather was iffy, it was still fun and felt like an accomplishment.

Happy Halloween!!!

This was the first year the kids both LOVED everything about Halloween (minus Oliver being scared of the creepy decorations in the Spirit Halloween store).  We loved parties we attended and trick or treating.  We hit up Proctor Treats with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Connor first and then headed home so that Chris could take the kids to a few of our neighbors' houses before bedtime.  And yes, they did choose to be Mickey and Minnie on their own.  :)

Our first family trip to Pullman!

Because of Oliver's early obsession with football (of any kind), we figured we had better head to one of our favorite places in the world to watch our favorite football team play and to reminisce about our care-free college days (what in the WORLD did we do with all of our free time?!).  I bought the football tickets and booked the (Motel 6) hotel room back in July and wouldn't you know that they announced the 7:45pm kickoff two weeks ago and we were crushed at our misfortune.  45 minutes after the kids usually went to bed?  It was going to be tricky.  Luckily, Pullman was more about a football game so we just decided to roll with it.















We left around 9am on Friday morning with the intent to get to Pullman before the surplus store closed at 3pm to check out the cool gear they had there.  The kids were pretty good on the long car ride and Oliver had no accidents!  Super proud of him.  We made it to town at 2:40 and Chris sprinted inside the sale while I got the kids out of the car.  They all scored just what they wanted.  Two marching band hats and a fire extinguisher.  :-D















We went and spent a fortune at Crimson and Gray on the kids and then went and met two of my very favorite people, Dianna and Hank, at New Garden for dinner.  After that we sped up to campus to go to the Homecoming bonfire!  There was no fire thanks to high winds, but it was still super fun!  Before it started we dashed into the RV lot to find Butch and the cheerleaders for some hugs and pictures and the kids were thrilled.  BOTH ran right up to Butch for hugs.  And the cheerleaders were smitten with both kids.  We walked over for the rally, had some more hugs from Butch, watched the cheerleaders and dance team  dance and watched a whole lot of sports teams be introduced.  Zoë was done by 6:30pm and was pretty miserable, but she hung in there and perked up a bit when the marching band played the fight song.  We were worried about the next night for the game if she didn't even make it to bedtime before melting.  Oliver was having a great time, dancing and clapping with the music.






The next morning everyone slept in (mostly) and we got up at a leisurely place and went in search of a breakfast spot on a football weekend in (two) small college towns.  We found a diner in Moscow that was just PERFECT and not crowded until after we sat down and were served.  The kids LOVED having a giant mug of hot chocolate and whipped cream and a giant pancake.  We headed to Pullman, grabbed mama a Peanut Butter Frost at the Daily Grind (Pullman achievement unlocked) and headed up to Greek Row.  We walked around the Theta property and then walked up to campus to check out the new student center built in place of the old Bookie, poked our head into the library, and walked back down to get a tour at the Theta mansion.  Zoë loved it and so did I.  :)  I was excited to share it with Chris, too, who had never been inside.  The women were so kind to Zoë and shoved candy and snacks at the kids, which thrilled them.  I can't wait until Zoë is a Theta in 14 years!




We headed to Cougar Country Drive-In for lunch, which was delicious, and headed back to the hotel hopeful that both kids would nap to save our evening.  They did!  It took them about 45 minutes to fall asleep and thankfully they BOTH napped (if only for 45-60 minutes), which was wonderful.  It saved our evening!

We loaded up the car, layered everyone up for the wind and rain that had started at nap time, and headed back to Pullman for some pre-game fun.  We first ran to the Alumni Center to pick up some buttons that play the WSU fight song when you hit them.  Then, we hoofed it over to Ferdinands to get the promised Grabbers for the kids before they closed.  We each got one and then huddled in a little alcove outside to enjoy them in the 40 degree and raining sideways weather.  The kids loved them.  :)

With two hours before kickoff, we trudged through the rain to get up to the CUB and find a spot where we could peel off our layers and relax inside in the warmth for a while.  We found a good table, worked on a sticker book for a while with the kids, and then re-layered them into barely moveable beings before walking the three minutes to the stadium.  The kids did GREAT!  It really was VERY miserable weather but they LOVED watching the marching band and Butch on the field.  Zoë was distressed everytime someone would stand up in front of her, momentarily blocking her view of the field.  She wanted to see everything.  The only part of us that was not warm were our hands, but otherwise everyone was well dressed: success!  We left at the end of the first quarter because everyone was happy and NOT melting.  Figured it was better to end on a high note.  And!  The kids made it all the way back to the hotel and stayed up until nearly 10 having a snack and watching the game on TV while we drank beer.  It was awesome and I was so proud of them.

We also found out that our second born ham was dancing on ESPN during a TV time out.  Of course he was.


















Our weekend was spectacular and I couldn't have asked for more from our first weekend in Pullman.  I can't wait to share more memories there with them over the years.