100th Day of Kindergarten

And a flashback to Parker's 100th Day of Kindergarten... 

Conway Turns Six!

Conway at 6 Years Old

Height: 46.3in (66%)

Weight: 45lb (46%)

BMI: 14.8 (31%)

Conway is 6 years old and it seems like every day we learn a little bit more about who he is and what makes him tick. For his birthday dinner he chose bacon cheeseburgers with asparagus and Flamin' Hot Nacho Doritos followed by homemade ice cream sandwiches. And here's a little bit more about 6 year old Conway. He...

• has secured a large collection of very important stuffies. They include: Snowy the Snow Leopard, Cuddles the Snow Leopard, Flash the Red Panda, Mama the Red Panda, Fluffy the Panda, and Brownie the teddy bear.
• loves nothing more that snuggling up with his stuffies and resting, except maybe drawing. 
• has become an artist! He loves to draw and he loves doing activities by himself (like making art and making books). He can stick with the same project for an amazing amount of time and he's a bit of a perfectionist on what the final product should look like.  But he’s very proud of work well done!
• started kindergarten and has nailed the routine. Conway excels at following directions...when he wants to.  
• has become a great reader and writer. 
• often still falls asleep on the couch after school.
• still gets a chip on his shoulder pretty easily if he feels like he's been wronged. This is definitely still a work in progress.
• is still a great bike rider.
• is really strong and becoming quite the little sports guy. He loves basketball and he had a fun soccer season with his friends. It's fun to see him continue to get more and more confident in his athleticism. 
• is a self-starter - and a non-starter for that matter. He is still very focused on what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. He is very declarative on where and how he wants to spend his time. 
• loves sports, but often prefers to play them by himself or only with his own brothers. We think his perfectionism and fear of not being as good as another person keeps him from putting himself out there and just having a good time playing.
• loves playing with his brothers. As the middle kid he absorbs all the good (and bad) from his big brother, but then he also gets to be the "teacher" to his little brother.
• really gets into helping and motivating Monroe to do things with him. They're often found playing with their stuffies and whispering to each other that they are each others' best friend. They have a pretty sweet bond right now.
• loves playing basketball and soccer with Parker. He doesn't love taking direction from Parker, but he does love reading and playing make-believe with him.
• continues to be really stubborn. He pushes the envelope on any piece of guidance or request that doesn't align with his plan. And he can stew in his own anger and frustration for a long time. He digs his heals in and he's difficult to pull out of it at times. 
• is a great eater. His older brother started getting more picky with foods by the time he was six years old, but Conway seems to like more and more foods as he gets older, with the exception of cheese in his eggs, apparently. Sometimes I think he likes/dislikes things just to differ from whatever everyone else expects him to like/dislike. 
• loves spiders, snakes, and any and all the scary animals. And he's a huge fan of Red Pandas and Snow Leopards.  
• loves to share information about what he’s learning, what he heard (from a reliable source such as Mama, or a teacher, or perhaps his brother) and repeat it as his own knowledge. 

P.S. Conway Turns Five, Parker Turns 6

Whistler for Mid-Winter Break

Our family has been to Whistler a number of times, but always during the summer when we walk to the village, ride bikes on the trails, and watch the crazy downhill bikers. Some friends talked us into joining them in Whistler for mid-winter break this year and it was so much fun! David and I got to ski together with friends one day while the big boys were in ski lessons and Monroe was at snow camp (aka daycare). Parker and I skied with friends on day two while Conway and Monroe had fun around the village with Papa. And on day three Conway and I skied together in the afternoon after sledding with friends in the morning.  Every day started with a complimentary breakfast at our hotel and ended with après ski cookies, hot chocolate/cocktails, and hot tubbing/pool time. Although we didn't get much new snow while we were there, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful time. Definitely an experience to be repeated!

P.S. 2019 Mid-Winter Break at Timberline Lodge, Summertime in Whistler

Homemade Pasta with Papa

Happy Valentine's Day!

{Valentine Factory}

{Kindergarten celebrated Valentine's Day with a Teddy Bear Picnic}

{What do teddy bears eat at a party? Porridge of course!}

Brought To You By The Number Ten

Monroe's number of the day was ten and he celebrated by making a feast for ten of our stuffed animals. :-)

Big Boy Bed

Monroe is beyond excited about his long overdue transition into a big boy bed. In reality, we just took one side of his crib off and replaced it with a smaller side, but he is still over the moon about it. So far so good on staying in bed, but there seems to be a bit of a learning curve on falling asleep right away. It's hard to fall asleep when you're this excited! 

A Break in the Rain

We have been getting TONS of rain, even for Seattle. So when the forecast showed two dry hours on Saturday morning, we hopped on our bikes and went for an invigorating (read: very chilly) ride.