Nicole // 10 YEARS!!!

One whole decade.

She's been alive for one whole decade.

I've been a mom for one whole decade.

Nicole had some strong feelings about having to go to 2 hours of dance on her birthday (she's missed a handful of classes from a recent vacation and never made them up, so I told her she couldn't miss class on her birthday), and she was convinced it wouldn't be a great birthday because of that. Plot twist: she told me this evening that it was actually a great birthday. She had a good day at school, got to play a bit of Animal Crossing, was able to eat her favorite pizza before dance (Papa Murphy's) and got to go to a holiday party with her grandpa and siblings before coming home and opening her presents. I hit a bullseye with her presents, apparently.

A small note: I think that the age of 10 is where I might stop doing the blog birthday posts for each kid. As life gets busier and crazier, making blog posts just feels like another thing to do. We'll see if I even make it to the 10-year mark with the other 3 kids.

As always, pictures are... coming eventually. (Maybe pictures are the problem! Maybe I should just stop worrying about attaching pictures to my posts!)

Okay, let's talk about the birthday girl.

Nicole at 10 years old:

- Book worm, always. A new favorite series this year: Star Friends

- Constantly tumbling around the house. It seems like she can't go more than a few minutes without doing some kind of walkover or kickover or roundoff.

- Joined choir and orchestra at school this year and is proud of her natural musical ability. The teacher has had Nicole help lead her section in choir on more than one occasion when they were working on split-part songs.

- Has progressed to the Regionals round of the annual Reflections contest in the "Dance Choreography" category. We'll know by January 2nd if she gets to go on to the state level.

- Finally consented to *officially* learn how to ride a bike... and then promptly outgrew the bike we had on hand for her.

- Got her ears pierced a couple months ago! After claiming that she would never ever EVER get pierced, she noticed that most girls her age had pierced ears and decided that she wanted to after all. She was so nervous. We switched her earrings out for the first time this evening! I got her a variety of earrings for her birthday.

- Picky eater

- A true Hermione at heart. She loves to show off her knowledge, loves to answer questions correctly, loves books, loves to follow rules and let other people know when they're not following the rules or doing things correctly... to a fault, perhaps. She even has the social awkwardness of Hermione.

- Her laugh reminds me of a chipmunk or squirrel. Sorry if this embarrasses future-Nicole. I'm recording this here as a reminder for myself, just in case her laugh changes when she hits puberty.

- STILL insists on wearing jeans with dresses. Someday she's going to ask me "Mom, WHY didn't you stop me from doing that!" and I'm just going to laugh.

- Is finally showing interest in some self-care items (beyond bathing) such as brushing her own hair and learning how to put her hair in a ponytail. I never thought the day would come! She's getting better and better at it.

- Runs cold and has many blankets piled on her bed

- Has the BEST reactions when she comes through the door after school to see that I have put up new holiday decor for whatever holiday is coming up

- Watched all 9 films in the Skywalker Saga and has a mild obsession with Kylo Ren. Shortly after we finished those, we had her watch the first 3 Pirates of the Carribean movies. It's so fun to introduce these films to her, and she's been handling the content really well.

- My constant shadow in the evening when the rest of her siblings have gone to bed.

- Went to a birthday at a reptile house a few months ago. She entered the party with a healthy fear of snakes, and left the party obsessed with them and wanting a pet snake of her own. I told her she'd have to feed it live mice. That deterred her a bit.

- Her 4th grade teacher has two pet bearded dragons, and Nicole has earned a few different opportunities to hold one. This has only increased her newfound affinity towards reptiles.

- Has a tendency to prefer the morally grey, troubled, villain-leaning male characters in a book or movie. Draco Malfoy, Kylo Ren, Anakin Skywalker, Jareth the Goblin King... well, she IS my daughter.

- Such a night owl. It's ridiculous.

- We need to get this singer/dancer into a musical, stat! But WHEN?!

- Loading the dishwasher is her favorite kitchen job.

- Religiously feeds Ava dinner at 5:00 every day (unless she's gone, or Austin manages to beat her to it)

- Sure, she's 10, but she's still just a kid. She loves kid things. She loves to play with Barbies. She even spends plenty of time playing with her sister's Little People sets.

- She IS showing some interest in pre-teen stuff, though. Nail polish. Makeup. Hair. I'm just waiting for the fashion awareness to kick in (hopefully sooner than it did for me... so unfortunate haha)

- Yes, she likes Taylor Swift, but she loves movie and video game soundtracks more.

We love you, Nicole! I'm glad your birthday ended up being great.

Austin // 8 Years

My not-so-little dude turned 8 today. Halfway to getting a driver's license. One quarter of my current age. Crazy to think that he's been around for 1/4th of my entire life. He was all smiles when I went into his room singing this morning, spoiled his classmates with donuts, and was oh-so-patient when Costco didn't have the taquitos that he wanted for his birthday dinner and made a gracious 180 decision to get Chick-fil-A instead. Let's brag on the birthday boy a bit, shall we? (Do I even have to say at this point that pictures will eventually get added to this post? Let's just assume that's always the case now. Ha.)

Austin at the age of 8:

- Kind and caring

- Helpful

- The best friend to those around him and very friendly in general

- I've said it in years past, but this kid is ridiculously good with numbers, spatial awareness, and problem solving. While they're reviewing addition and subtraction in his 2nd grade class, he's over here doing multiplication, long division, and exponents.

- Obsessed with soccer and plays it with his buddies whenever he can

- Learning more and more tricks in his acro class. He's working on backbend walkovers now!

- Has started attending choir at church

- Has quite the Pokémon card collection, and can oft be found sneaking cards to school so that he can trade them with his friends

- Obsessed with our cat Ava. He steals her away on a daily basis to go cuddle with her on the couch, whether she wants to or not.

- Enjoys shooting hoops outside and is hoping to play basketball this winter, if Mom can figure out how to work it into our schedule

- Went through a short phase where he said "Bro" pretty often, but it didn't last long (fortunately)

- Very good at moderating his candy intake when he gets a box or bag of candy. He can make it last a week or longer if he wants to.

- Quick to say a heartfelt "thank you" when someone does something nice for him

- Still has the very best belly laugh. If you get him started, you won't be able to resist laughing with him.

- Loves root beer

- Wants to be a scientist when he grows up

- Does cool tricks off the diving board at the local pool

- Likes writing notes to his friends

- Really wants to be a night owl like his big sister but is SO grumpy the next day if he tries to stay up late. Bro needs his sleep!

- Graphic novels are his book of choice

- Really got into "Avatar: The Last Airbender" this year

- Was given Doug's old alarm clock earlier this year and has become fond of listening to the radio. He's probably better-versed on Top 40 Hits than anyone else in the family.

- Out of all the radio hits he became familiar with this summer, he seems to prefer "Whiskey" by Hozier

You're my favorite son, Austin! I love you a lot. Thanks for 8 years of dimpled cheeks and belly laughs.

Lydia // 3 Years

 Somebody had a birthday about 2 weeks ago! Ummm, so this means we no longer have any babies or toddlers. This girl is a full-out preschooler who chatters the day away and has her first day of preschool in 5 1/2 weeks. We're all obsessed with her, and she was pumped for it to finally be her turn to blow out candles. She chose chicken taquitos as her birthday dinner and brownies with ice cream for her birthday dessert.

[pictures are forthcoming, as per usual]

Lydia at 3 years:

- Obsessed with the soundtrack for the Disney movie "Wish"

- Loves books

- When we ask her a "why" or "why not" question her response is often "Because yes."

- Became very efficient at riding a 3-wheel scooter earlier this year, and got a new scooter for her birthday

- So friendly. Often says "hi" to people we pass at the store or on walks.

- Runs to pet every dog she sees. I'm trying to get her to ask the owner first, but she just gets so excited when she sees a dog.

- Looks forward to church because she loves nursery. She's currently the only child in nursery because nobody else is nursery-aged (except for one other little girl who never comes because of separation anxiety). Lydia gets 100% of the attention from the nursery leaders and revels in it.

- Still takes a nap almost every day

- Finally got moved to a "big girl bed" at the beginning of the year and loves it.

- It's funny how similar she is to Austin, while Nicole and Autumn are more similar to each other. For example: when it comes to sleep and bedtime, Autumn and Nicole are night owls who gave up naps around 2 years of age, stall bedtime, and get out of bed multiple times for water or to sneak books to read; while Austin and Lydia don't fight bedtime, kept their naps past their 3rd birthdays, and never get out of their beds (for naptime OR bedtime).

- Has the best one-liners. I can never remember them though. I need to start keeping a list of the things she says because she really is hilarious.

- Still has a 6th sense for treats

- Enjoys building with Magna-Tiles

- Loves eggs, pasta, applesauce pouches, rotisserie chicken, and cereal

- REALLY wants to pet the cat all the time, but the cat doesn't want Lydia to mess with her because Lydia is kind of loud, high-pitched, and is a bit aggressive with her affection. It's a give-and-take, depending on how thin the cat's patience is running (and she's a very patient cat).

- Started potty training a bit over a week ago, and she's handling things pretty well so far. We aren't accident-free yet, of course, but she knows what to do and gets better and better at it with each passing day.

- It should be noted that she chose Bluey underwear at the store

- Loves to play with her siblings, especially imagination-based play

- Daniel Tiger is her TV show of choice

- Spent the past year helping her mom volunteer at the elementary school in the Home Reading program. We would go in every week to switch out books, and Lydia loved checking the room key out, carrying the book box from the kindergarten room, and playing with the toys while mom checked the books in and out.

- Loves being outside

- Getting more comfortable in pools, but still won't leave the steps or very shallow areas

- Enjoys video calling with my family members

- Steals Nicole's smart watch and hides it under her bed

- Loves wearing dresses

- Almost always puts her flip flops on the wrong feet

- Is finally old enough to participate in the summer camp that the kids do at the dance studio, which starts in just over a week. She is PUMPED.

- She's been dying to start dance classes, but the youngest class was already full by the time she was old enough for it this past year (you have to be 2.5 years old). She'll get to start in late August!

We love you, itty bitty Lyddi! Even though you're no longer a baby, you'll always be my baby. :D