Xander's birthday interview - 2015

Birthday 3
Birthday 4
Birthday 5
And now here we are, BIRTHDAY SIX!!

Favorites:

TV show - Peep and the Big Wide World

Movie - Despicable Me 2

Song - Sing (by Ed Sheeran)

Musician - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (or as he said, "The guy who sings 'Can't Hold Us'")

Food - pancakes

Candy - M&M's (lovingly called emmys)

Toy - soccer ball

Activity - art

Cereal - cocoa puffs

Vegetable - peas

Drink - tea water

Game - Mexican train

Book - The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! by Mo Willems

Restaurant - Chick-Fil-A

Holiday - Valentine's Day

Animal - monkey

Color - blue

Vacation - beach

Sport - soccer

If you could change your name to anything, what would it be? Landon Donovan

If you could have anything you want this year, what would it be? a toy lawnmower 
(whew, we really struggled with this one! I don't think he really gets the concept of wanting something unattainable...)

What do you love most about Mommy? When she helps me draw stuff.

What do you love most about Daddy? When he cooks pancakes for us.

What do you love most about Amelia Jayne? When she plays with me. 

Bonus - favorite story read by the birthday boy :)

Now We Are Six

When I was One,

I had just begun.

When I was Two,

I was nearly new.

When I was Three,

I was hardly Me.

When I was Four,

I was not much more.

When I was Five,

I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.

So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

from "Now We Are Six"

by A.A. Milne

"Clever as clever" perfectly describes my boy. :)
And how in the world does time keep flying by so quickly?
Six...
In some ways I do wish he could be six forever and ever, but that would get old, too. Each stage brings its own challenges and delights.

Right now I am delighting in my son's independence, his desire to be just like his daddy and do everything his daddy does, his interest in sports, his evident desire and aptitude for school, his sweet hugs (and sometimes tackles) for his sister, his obvious love for his family, and his darling heart that longs to please.

As that sweet boy grows, my love for him grows, too. We were talking the other day and he was fascinated by the fact that he was the one who made me a mommy. He asked me if I'd always wanted to be a mommy and I told him that I always had and that he's the person who allowed me to be just what I'd always wanted. He pondered that for quite awhile.

This morning we got more snow and school was canceled. Although it messed with our plans to have lunch together at school and bring cupcakes to his friends, we're both happier hanging out together at home. :)

My movie-watching, snuggle buddy, birthday boy!

Winter

David and Xander had Monday off from work and school, so we decided to go to the beach last weekend for Valentine's Day and the long weekend. It was COLD! We had a good time watching movies and playing games, but unfortunately all the things we're used to doing at the beach (putt putt, playing in the sand, shopping at the outdoor outlets, etc) weren't an option due to the cold. Even the indoor pool was too chilly for me and Amelia Jayne. We also had to travel outside to get to the indoor pool (crazy!) which was difficult to handle, as well. And would you believe that the only bowling alley was closed for renovations!? The resort had free movie rentals, so we were able to see a couple of movies that we hadn't seen yet (Book of Life was really cute!) but even the theaters don't have any kid-friendly movies out right now. Oh well. It was definitely nice to get away, especially with what was in store for the rest of the week...

Xander and David braved the cold and went out to the beach to play some  "beach soccer." AJ and I just couldn't hang with the cold wind coming off the ocean.

Aaand…we're now on day 4 of being home from school. We got a fairly severe ice storm on Monday night (after we got home, thankfully) which resulted in us not being able to go to school all week. We live in somewhat of a rural town, so there are lots of back roads that aren't safe for busses to travel on yet. The library was closed on Tuesday, as well, and I took the day off on Wednesday. On Thursday Xander was able to go to school with AJ as a drop-in which they both thoroughly enjoyed (and which allowed me to get some work done at the library).  I'm typically off on Fridays anyway, so that allowed me to be home with the kiddos today.

Tuesday: Amelia Jayne "ice skating."

Tuesday: Xander and David playing soccer in the "snow."

We had a brief snowstorm on Wednesday. The kids enjoyed playing outside while it was snowing. Fun!

With our backyard being super-shady and on the northeast side of the house, coupled with the below freezing temps we've been continuing to have for our highs this week, that means the ice has not melted much. Xander is outside playing more ice soccer, even as I type this. :)

We've had hot chocolate galore, played Mexican train and watched more movies than I can count, which has been incredibly fun…but I'm ready for school to start back next week! And regain some "normalcy" in my life. Ha!

Nicknames

I'm not exactly sure why, but I have about a gazillion nicknames for Amelia Jayne. I don't know if it's because her name is so long and I'm lazy about saying it correctly (I rarely ever pronounce each of the syllables) or if it's because her personality lends so well to nicknames.
(Xander has always been very precise about his name and wanted everyone to say it correctly...even though it's technically a nickname...
A quick aside: when Amelia Jayne started saying Xander's name, she called him Xenon or Denon and sometimes it even sounded like Ding Dong. He never got upset with her for mispronouncing his name. I always thought that was very sweet.)


Even when I do say her name, it typically comes out like this:
Mia Jayne
Me-Jayne


Nicknames I call my daughter:
Cutie
Cutie-girl
Cutes
Sweet pea
Sweetie Petie
Sweets
Love
My Love
Love bug
Baby
Baby girl
Tiny
Tiny tot
Little one
Beautiful
Beauty


She's so funny about these names because if I slip up and call Xander one of these, she'll say, "He's not _________. That's my name!" I try to tell her that he's "my love" and my "baby" too, but she doesn't accept that. Ha!


And funny enough, I never call her Amelia or Jayne. I'm fairly certain that's because those are her grandmothers' names. And though I write, type and text "AJ" sometimes, I never call her AJ, either.

Life in the medium lane

I won't say things have been hectic lately, but we have been a bit busier than usual. We've laughed and played in the evenings, struggled to get up most mornings, and truly enjoyed each other over the past few weeks.

Xander's homework has gotten more involved. He now has to read two stories per week, write at least one sentence about each, draw pictures for each, write the titles and his name. He has four word problems for math each week where he must read the problem, write the equation, answer the equation and draw a picture depicting the problem. This doesn't seem like much when I look back over it, but he's in kindergarten, people! He's reading level F books (not that I even know what that means). Each book has about 4 or 5 sentences per page. I'm very impressed with his reading skills. He's kind of kept his abilities to himself, which is typical for him. He tends to not want to share anything until he's mastered it. Thus, waiting to read aloud until he actually can.
He is still obsessed with soccer. And most recently he's been loving some football. I have to say that whatever he's into at any given time is a direct reflection of his father. :)
As I type this he is telling me about four teams that he made up (the Carolina Olafs, Atlanta Elsas, New England Annas and Seattle Kristoffs), their standings, who's winning, who got knocked out and who's in the finals. And every. single. play. Phew. Everything is about sports these days. I love his intense passion and drive. :)

Amelia Jayne is so fun to me. She is dramatic and spontaneous and easygoing and charming and bossy and sweet. She can turn on you in a second. And she can be the most darling and lovable little thing around, too. She loves to be read to and to "read" by herself. She loves to tell stories and act them out. Her favorite thing right now is playing pretend. She has quite the imagination and can come up with some pretty funny things! She enjoys doing her "homework" while Xander does his. She has a little preschool pack with dry erase flash cards that have numbers and letters, crayons and coloring pages, stickers and workbooks. I'm pretty impressed with some of the things she can do, like tracing her letters and numbers and doing one-to-one correspondence.

The kids and I are LOVING Mo Willems books right now. When they fell in love with Knuffle Bunny, I decided to bring a few other Mo Willems books home. I've always loved the Piggie and Elephant books, so when I brought them home and the kids absolutely died laughing over them, I was thrilled. We've read almost all of them now. And since they were so in love with those I decided to bring home some Pigeon books, Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator, Knuffle Bunny Too, and a few others. Xander often reads them to me, too.

As for my man, David is doing really well. He is absolutely loving his job. He enjoys the people he works with and the projects he's a part of. Right now he's working on a couple of skyscrapers in Greenville, SC. He has some super-secret projects coming up that are exciting prospects. ;)
He and I have had some good and challenging discussions as a result of reading the Eldredge book Love & War. We're enjoying small group and really feel that these people are family. It's so nice to get together with such great people each week.
He is an amazing father and truly loves our kids. I am so thankful for his wisdom and counsel. He helps ground me...and I need that more often than not.

I am busy, as usual, but loving it (for the most part). :)
Work has been especially rewarding lately as I'm starting a few new projects: doing workshops for preschool teachers, starting some reading buddies with an afterschool program, and helping to coordinate Dia de los Ninos.
Church is a refuge for me. I enjoy serving each Sunday - talking to parents, playing with kids and visiting with friends. Though Sundays are busy, they're one of my favorite days of the week.
Finding a good balance at home is a struggle at times - being healthy through food and exercise, playing with my kids, parenting them the best way, making and maintaining friendships and spending quality time with my husband - but I try to take it a day at a time, living life moment to moment and making the most of it.