Cody is 6!

Happy #6 Dude!  You are a spunky, silly, sweet, stubborn boy.  You love life and are so full of energy all the time!

Your favorites...

• Singing - you sing...all the time!  You are constant singing or humming songs - some that you've made up, others that you've learned at school (your current favorite made up song is "Drivin' through the city like a crocomole" (lol).
• Playing Legos - your "friends" birthday party was last week and you got at least 10 different Lego kits as gifts.  Every day this past week you have sat down to build Legos and have already built all but one kit one week later.  You do really well following the instructions and building the kits on your own. 
• Playing basketball - you would spend most of every recess at school playing basketball and got to do a basketball camp last week.  You are a great dribbler and are a pretty good shot too.
• You love dinosaurs, Hot Wheels, riding your bike and playing outside
• Your favorite foods are Daddy's smash burgers or Philly cheese steaks and gummy bears
• You weigh 37 pounds and are 43" tall
• You're busy with Ninja training, swimming lessons, T-ball, basketball camp, and soccer camp
• You can officially snap your fingers (and are so excited about it) and can almost whistle!
• You love rock music (especially the harder rock music...you say you love the loud guitar and drums the most) and whenever you hear rock music will start dancing, head banging
• You say some silly things such as "radic" = radical; "efic" = epic; "merote" = remote; "hostible" = hospital; "heart beeping" = heart beating; “cannonbunga” = cannonball; “riterarry” = literally 
• You love to make weird sound effects with your mouth
• You love to make people laugh, especially by doing or saying something silly - you love to pull pranks followed by saying "just kidding!"
• You are very sweet and can be very sensitive - if something makes you happy, you'll say that "it makes your heart happy"
• You're really good at counting (can count to 100+) and have some pretty good math skills already

For your birthday today you requested donuts for breakfast, a movie at the movie theater (it's your first time going to the movie theater in 2 years) where we watched "Peter Rabbit 2", lunch from McDonald's, Daddy's philly cheesesteak sandwiches have been requested for supper and birthday cake.  You got to have a friend's birthday celebration last week at Pump It Up with 14 friends! Tomorrow your sister is throwing you a surprise birthday party that she and Callie have called "Operation Donut" with a few of our close friends.  We'll wrap up your birthday celebration on Sunday with a surprise trip to Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad where you'll get to ride on your first steam train (you're going to be so excited)!  What a way to celebrate turning 6!!

Happy birthday, Buster!  I hope #6 is the best year yet!

XoXoXo,

Mama

Graecyn Turns 9!

Nine years old...where has the time gone?  You are such a kind, sweet, caring soul.  You find the positive in everything and are always such an optimistic person.  You are showing great leadership skills and always make sure to include others in any situation.

You love gymnastics, reading, drawing, doing crafts, making slime, and playing American Girl and Barbies.

You love spending time with your friends, and while play dates during the continuing COVID pandemic are a little different, you make the most of it.  You have mastered Zoom for both school and for play dates...you'll spend hours playing American Girl dolls with Sammie or Callie on Zoom.

You are obsessed with dogs and ask us daily when we are going to get a dog.  You have started taking care of one of your stuffed animal puppies, "Pinky", as though it is a real dog to show us that you are responsible enough to have a pet (feeding it, grooming it, etc.).

Since many places are still closed due to the COVID restrictions and because in-person gatherings (with non-family) are also restricted, we decided not to do a full birthday party now.  Instead you had Callie spend the night and we did a home movie night in our new home movie theater.  We may try to do a friend party this summer when the COVID situation has hopefully improved.

For your "special" birthday gift, you got your ears pierced!!  You have been asking for a few years when you can get your ears pierced.  I got mine pierced when I was in 3rd grade and felt this would be a good time for you to also get yours pierced.  Daddy wasn't crazy about the idea as he felt it would make you too grown up, but I finally talked him into it.  With you wanting more responsibility now, we thought this would be a good way to give you that...you're doing a great job taking care of your new piercings.  I took you to a local tattoo shop that was recommended in our community for kids' piercings.  The piercer, AJ, was so good with you and you were a ROCK STAR!!  He used a needle for the piercing and there was no numbing done.  For the first ear, you were pretty nervous and on the verge of tears.  You held my hand and as AJ brought the needle to your ear, you kept moving away from it, afraid of what it would feel like.  AJ talked to you and got you still and the earring went in quickly.  Before the next ear, you asked him for an extra minute to get yourself ready.  You took a few big breaths and then let him know you were ready.  For the 2nd ear, you didn't even flinch or squeeze my hand...you handled it so well.  Even AJ commented how well you did!

In a few weeks, you'll get to change your earrings...you've already gone through all of Grandma's old 90's heavy, dangly earrings that she gifted to you to play with and picked out the earrings you "think" you're going to wear as soon as you can change them out.  I think it's going to be awhile before those earrings can be worn (lol).

You still dream of being a fashion designer when you grow up and were so excited to get your first sewing machine for your birthday!  You and Callie spent several hours during the birthday sleepover sewing Barbie and American Girl clothes.  As soon as things open up again after COVID, I want to sign you up for a sewing class so you can properly learn the skill.

You are still on Pre-Team for gymnastics and practice 9 hours a week (Tuesday/Thursday from 5-8:30 p.m. and Saturday from 12-2 p.m.).  You love it and are working so hard.  Your favorite is bars and you have mastered your kip; you're now working on a level 4 bar routine: "kip, squat on, jump to the high bar, kip, back hip circle, half back hip circle, swing, dismount".  You're also working hard to get your back handspring and front fly spring on the floor and on beam you're working on your bridge kickover, cartwheel, and dismount from a high beam.  You do handstands non-stop, anywhere and everywhere!

Your favorite foods are still chicken (any kind of chicken, but especially nuggets/strips and drumsticks) and pancakes!  You also love bubble gum and creme soda.  You love babies and cannot wait until you are old enough to babysit.  All of our neighbors also can't wait until you're old enough to babysit as you got a lot of supervised practice this past summer and they all know how responsible and sweet you are.  We often hear from our neighbors and the parents of your friends how sweet and polite you are.  You make Daddy and me so proud!

Happy #9 baby girl!  I can't wait to see what this year has in store for you!

xoxoxo,

Mama