Category Archives: us

Avery the Eight Year Old

I know I always exclaim about how fast time flies in these birthday posts, but it blows my mind that almost nine years ago we found out we were expecting our first child, and in another nine, we will probably be touring college campuses with Avery. Wow. Sniff, sniff.

At eight years old, Avery is an awesome little kid. He loves Legos, Star Wars (Clone Wars), playing Wii, basketball, and riding his bike and scooter. He also enjoys reading books and writing and illustrating stories (mostly related to Star Wars). He loves his little brothers, and he and Kieron are especially close these days. It’s hard to believe it, but Avery is pretty quiet and reserved at school. At home, he enjoys his role as leader of the pack and chatterbox. He loves nature, can be quite dramatic, and often plays the role of peacemaker when his little brothers have disagreements.

At his checkup, Avery was 60 lbs and 4′ 4″ tall. The doctor chuckled and said she admired his honesty when she asked if he liked coming to the doctor and he told her no.

Happy birthday Avery. We love you!

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Last night as a seven-year-old selfie. He liked hearing the story of where he was at that time eight years prior, and all the drama that was going on.
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Awwwww!
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Surprise in the garage!
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A Few More Jeep Pics

I’m working on Avery’s birthday post, and came across a few more adorable pictures of Silas and Kieron riding in the jeep. They’re too cute not to share, so here they are:

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The Jeep

It’s a good thing we didn’t spoil Silas with many toys for his birthday. The following week, Amazon had a flash deal on their little Jeeps, and Jonathan couldn’t resist buying one for the boys. I was a little perturbed to hear about the purchase that would soon take up a good deal of real estate in our garage (not to mention, I also find motorized toys lazy and indulgent 🙂 ). However, Jonathan told me he has fond memories of his own little car from boyhood, so I decided to do my best to reserve judgement and see how it went. Well, it has been a blast for all of us! And the the extra bonus – within a few days of the Jeep’s arrival, Silas was pooping on the potty just to ride in it! Genius!

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Kieron’s First Race

Kieron finished his first race in March, the local St. Patty’s Day 1k! (I guess technically, I finished my first too). After a long stretch of beautiful sunny days, we woke up to one very soggy, wet morning. Jonathan and I briefly questioned how badly we wanted to do this, but decided to follow through. As we waited for the whistle, Kieron was definitely showing signs of nervousness, so we started the race holding hands, basically with me towing him along. It helped that his friend, Louis, was also racing with his dad. It didn’t take long for Kieron to warm up (both literally and figuratively). Pretty soon he let go of my hand, and even passed some people. He was so proud when he finished, and seems to have caught the running bug! We’re currently training for the Cinco de Mayo Kids Mile.

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March Madness

Here’s what we’ve been up to during the month of March (in between birthday celebrations).

Avery finished up a great season of basketball.
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Silas graduated from his glide bike to one with pedals a couple months ago. He figured out pedaling pretty quickly, but had a hard time breaking the habit of stopping by putting his feet down on the ground. In March, he worked it all out, which meant we were ready for longer rides. I took this picture at the beginning of his first ride down the parkway, which is a long hill where you can gain quite a bit of speed. The little patch of grass is the only thing that separates you from logging trucks going 40 (or 50) mph. Silas took off pedaling like crazy, and quickly was traveling as fast as his little bike would take him. Meanwhile, Kieron and I sprinted along, imploring him to brake. This only made him pedal faster! I was sure he was going to lose control and crash, and I reached full-on Mommy freak-out mode. Somehow he managed to race down the entire parkway, pedaling like a madman the entire way, never braking once, and came to a nice neat stop at the bottom by the stop light. Kieron and I were breathless and Silas was grinning ear-to-ear! Oh boy!

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Great news! Our school bond (finally) passed! They will improve our high school, middle school, and build a new elementary within walking distance of us! There was a ground-breaking ceremony in mid-March for the new elementary school, but little do they know, Kieron broke ground two days prior. Here he is with his little shovel. He will attend first grade here!
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Playing outdoors
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Cookies! We’re more than happy to support our local Girl Scouts!
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At the CleanScapes store with Kieron
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An excavation mission in the side yard/greenbelt. The boys unearthed this beauty which we placed in our front yard.
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Walking over the Snoqualmie river (that’s the top of the falls ahead). As you can see, the water level is very low.
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Climbing at a local park
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Trying on hats at the party store. I think this one fits his personality!
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Avery teaching Silas to catch a football
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Playing with some of his birthday presents
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Play date with Bode and Deacon at the bounce house
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Sleepover in the playroom with all three brothers. Avery was an angel. The other two, ahem, did not do so well – up very late, and rose early. Parents were quite cranky the following day. It may be a while before we try this again!
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Ninjas. Funny story, I was originally trying to make light sabers for Avery’s Star Wars themed birthday party with these long balloons. When I blew some up as samples, I realized they just weren’t going to work. They had little tips at the end that looked like condoms! Although this would have made for funny pictures, I just couldn’t do it! As you will see in a later post, I came up with a better plan that did not involve reservoir tips!
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I love moments like these. Kieron and Silas reading books on top, while Avery writes a story below.
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