Walking with the Cooks

Friday, July 16, 2021

Happy 5 years, Anna!

Our baby is FIVE! Having big kids is turning out to be quite fun- we are happy to add to Anna to the club!

Weight: 47 lbs 4.8 oz (87%)
Height: 3' 7.5" (72%)

Clothing: 6T
Shoes: size 12

Likes: dancing, being read to, singing, painting

Dislikes: nap time, not being able to keep up

A Day Her Life:

7:00am Anna shares a room with the girls now. They tend to all come down right at 7am. She still loves a warm cup of milk in the morning and still abhors starting with a banana. But she actually does like bananas!

Morning: During school days Anna would play or snuggle while the big kids did school. These summer days have been filled with make believe and library/playground trips.

Lunch: Anna enjoys peppers and fruit. She usually has a PB&J for lunch. Chips are a special treat, but she sure loves them!

1:00-3:00pm: Nap time! Most of the time Anna looks at books and plays in her room. Often an outfit change just for the fun of it is involved. Occasionally she'll tuck herself right in and get a good nap.

Afternoon: Neighbors often come knocking in the afternoon. Anna loves when they play in our yard so that she can play along. They are all very kind and inclusive.

Dinner: Anna loves pasta, cheese, and bread. She isn't a very fast eater unless she is very excited about what we are eating. In most cases she prefers the company and is less interested in the food.

7:00pm: Bed time! She can do most of her evening routine on her own, then we tuck her in with a prayer and a song. If she napped, it is a long evening. If she didn't, she goes right to sleep!

How we celebrated:

Anna chose cinnamon rolls and bacon (which she called toast and decided she didn't love) with apple juice for breakfast. We played at home for the morning and then had rainbow lunch. She picked Frozen II for her nap time movie and McDonalds for dinner out. Her cake of choice was decorated as a unicorn.

Fun Things:

* As Anna's vocabulary grows she is finding her unique voice. A few favorite phrases are "literally", "I don't even know", "I don't loooove it".

* Anna had her first experience with swim lessons last week. She had the time of her life despite being the only kid not to move to level 2 and she even got her hair all the way wet on the last day.

* She got super tickled watching Dave drink from a water fountain recently. We realized she didn't remember them from before the pandemic! It will be interesting to see how COVID shapes our youngest, who doesn't really remember life before.

A chronological look at the past year:

Pockets!

Wearing "all my skirts"

Matching her Sarah :)

That time she traced her hand on the wall.
No hiding the offender!

Anna won a library coloring contest.
Hoppy is as big as she is!

Dad
Anna
The words she writes with confidence!

Sarah had a math project that explored reflection.
A few days later, Anna figured out how to do it with her name.

Working up the courage to step in.

Library craft for the win.

Last day with a 4 year old.

Five is going to be great! We love our girl!

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Happy 9 years, Josiah!

Nine years with our favorite boy! This year we have seen him lean into things that he loves. He played soccer, wore out his library card, and started cooking regularly. He is a gift to our family and we treasure our days with him.

Weight: 75 lbs 13 oz
Height: 4' 10"
Clothes: 8/10, M
Shoe: size 5

Likes: soccer, cooking, science experiments, playing Carol of the Bells on the piano, being home

A day in the life:

7:00am: Josiah has a room to himself now. On weekends he comes right down, on school days we have to wake him up!

Breakfast: Milk, cereal, and sometimes a banana. He can cook an egg, if he gets up in time!

Morning: School time! He likes to save spelling for last...or never. He loves reading!

Lunch: Josiah enjoys leftovers or makes a sandwich.

1:00pm: Rest time! He reads for the first hour and then plays in his room. We've procured a computer for the kids, so sometimes he does coding projects or a typing course.

3:00pm: We clean up, finish any leftover school, and play outside if the weather is nice.

Dinner: Josiah's favorites are mac and cheese, pepperoni pizza, and spaghetti. He has become a very diligent dishwasher loader this year.

7:00pm: Time to settle down for the night. He gets to read until 8:00pm, then it's lights out.

How we celebrated:
This birthday was all about the food. We spent much of the day before his birthday baking and prepping together. The day started with sausage, bacon, velvetta eggs, and a new-to-us cinnamon roll recipe. He opened 1/3 of his gifts (he was very intentional about spacing them out) and spend the morning reading a new book and playing a new game. We had lunch "out" COVID style, which meant that Dave picked up McDonalds. Josiah opened the next 1/3 of his gifts, we had the cake he baked and designed, and watched Snow Buddies. We ended the day with an early rainbow dinner, the last of the gifts, soccer practice, and more cake. I love seeing him know what he likes!

Fun facts:

* Josiah led the kids in starting a Saturday morning restaurant, Breakfast Eats. Good food, great service, and they clean up after themselves!

* He played his first two seasons of soccer!

* Josiah loves science kits and always seems to have something in progress.

* We haven't done piano lessons since COVID, and he has really enjoyed figuring tunes out on the piano. It is neat to see how the freedom has led to creativity.

* He took a coding class last summer and has become comfortable using a computer. He also took a writing course for the first half of the school year and was nervous, but really enjoyed the finished product!

* He mastered the monkey bars!

* Josiah really loves a fresh haircut.

A Look Through the Past Year