Go Sounders Go!

Conway Turns Eight!

How can little Conway be eight years old?! It's true! This guy is smart and strong and kind and when he smiles, he has four dimples. His birthday happened to be on the Saturday we were driving back from Whistler, so for his birthday lunch we stopped at Bob's Burgers and Brew and they treated him with a giant ice cream sundae. And here are a few more thoughts about eight year old Conway. He...

• is a four square enthusiast! It is amazing how long he can stay entertained playing four-square. He even used painters tape to mark a two-square court on our basement floor. Unfortunately, it isn't big enough for four-square.
• loves baseball and soccer.
• is still pretty competitive and can get a chip on his shoulder fairly easily if he thinks he's been wronged.
• still loves resting with his stuffies and sleep sacks more than doing just about anything else.
• continues to not be a morning person. He frequently sleeps in on the weekends and we worried that it would be difficult to get him up for school now that they are back to early mornings with in-person learning, but he's loving school so much that for the most part it hasn't been a problem. 
• is so happy to back at school and he's really excelling at making friends. He has always been pretty shy and it's really fun to see him become a little more comfortable and confident in social settings.
• still loves non-fiction books, especially about animals, but he will branch out into other genres now and then. 
• wants to be a zoologist when he grows up and it still really bothers him to see or hear about an animal being hurt. When he comes across a picture of a hurt animal in a book he actually covers it up with his hand so he doesn't have to see it.
• loves pretty much all animals, but his favorites are the inland taipan (it's a snake), snow leopard, red panda, and salt-water crocodile.
• is pretty good at both his big-brother and little-brother roles. With Monroe he usually does some sort of imaginative play with stuffies and his favorite thing to do with Parker is read books and play sports. The three of them like to play basketball, soccer, or two/four-square together, but when they're all together it often doesn't take long before someone is upset or hurt. 
• started taking piano lessons last year and he's getting pretty good at it.
• says his favorite foods are Dick's cheeseburgers, corndogs, breakfast burritos, bell peppers, and pears. His least favorite foods are tofu and frittatas.
• has an amazing ability to focus and he's willing to work hard for what he wants. We can't wait to see where his intelligence, grit, and sweet little dimples take him. 

P.S. Conway Turns Seven, Parker Turns Eight, Conway Benjamin Totten Has Arrived

Mid-Winter Break in Whistler

We finally made it back to Whistler for mid-winter break this year! Yay! We had to cancel our Whistler plans last year because the Canadian border was closed due to Covid. This year, David, Conway, Parker, and I all skied together for a couple of days while Monroe had two full days of ski lessons. It was really cold and the snow was not great, but it was so much fun to be back on those slopes together. In addition to skiing, there was also some sledding, ice skating, pool/hot tub time, and lots of general fun.  

{Chicken strips, French fries, and chips bliss - the lunch of champions}

{All geared up for his first official ski lesson}

{Uh, bedhead much?}

{Parker still loves organizing cars and making up races - this time with an Olympics theme}

P.S. Mid-Winter Break in Bend 2021 

Valentine's Day

These three little cuties wore love themed shirts to school for Valentine's Day and I made a chicken pot pie for dinner, which was decorated with hearts and filled with love.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Super Bowl LVI

While none of us are huge fans of the Superbowl LVI teams, the Bengals and the Rams, we are huge fans of making good food for the event. David tackled some fully loaded nachos and Parker decided we should make lemon bars together for dessert. It was all amazing...and the game was okay too.

{No guys, the Bears did not make it to the Super Bowl this year}

P.S. Super Bowl Sunday

A Day at the Beach

Golden Gardens was cold, but not too cold for a little basketball, soccer, and ice cream!

Raccoon Sighting at Coe

It was a very exciting day at Coe when a family of raccoons were spotted in a nearby tree!